Chapter Eleven
Ryder
Groggily, I slowly woke, honestly thinking that was the end. When I felt the burn of the bullet slice into my shoulder and the blood leaving my body, I figured that was it. I had a good run.
Looking around the room, I was shocked the walls weren’t white like I’d seen many times in movies or read in books. They were, however, a dismal soft peachy tan color, and the floors were a dark wood.
The monitors, well, those were white.
And very loud.
The constant beep was annoying, but hey, I guess it meant I was alive.
Seeing the door open, I smirked as my parents walked in, followed by Beck and Rachel. Behind them, Blade, Jack, Cash, and King.
“Well, the gang’s all here,” I said sarcastically.
“Be nice, Ryder,” my mother chastised.
“Where are my girls?”
“At our house with Avery. We didn’t think they should stay in the apartment tonight,” Dad said.
I just nodded, then turned to Jack.
“Charlie?”
“She’s home. Carrie, in her delusion, took her to the hotel Derek was staying at. Thought they would be a family. He kept my baby safe. Carrie can’t hurt her again,” Jack explained. “There’s more to the story. We can fill you in on it later.”
I nodded, though I wouldn’t ask.
It was club business.
Beck sat in a chair on one side of the bed, and my mother sat on the other.
“How are you feeling?” Beck asked.
“Like I got shot,” I said, looking at her, seeing her eyes water. Lifting my hand, I wiped a tear that rolled down her cheek. “Hey, none of that.”
“Don’t you ever do something so stupid again,” she hissed.
“Me not stepping in front of that bullet and letting it hit you would have been stupid. Besides, I didn’t even think about it.”
“See what I mean?” Mom smiled at Micah.
“What?” I asked, looking between the two.
“Nothing, Son. Your mom was just bragging about you out in the hallway,” Dad informed. “Now that we have seen for ourselves you are ok, we are going to go home to be with the girls.”
“Good, they need you more than I do. Tell them I love them.”
“We will, Son.”
Mom quickly kissed me on the head before the two of them walked out the door.
“How about you and Rach walk them out, Beck?” Blade asked.
“What? Why?” she questioned.
“Come on, Beck.” Rachel grabbed her hand, pulling her from her chair. “Ryder, we’ll be back soon.”
Rachel and Beck followed my parents out of the room, leaving me alone with four Silver Shadows standing at the end of the bed.
“Why are you all here?” I asked.
Jack opened the box in his hands and laid what was inside on my legs. I stared at it for a moment, then glared up at them.
“What the fuck is that?” I growled.
“Your cut,” King simply replied.
My eyes narrowed at Blade, then moved to King.
“I told Sam weeks ago the club doesn’t work for me. My girls come first. The time put into prospecting would take too much time away from them. Besides, he didn’t want me there,” I snarked, hitching my thumb toward Blade.
“We aren’t asking you to prospect. What you did for Beck, an old lady, and my family,” King gruffly said, closing his eyes.
I knew he was thinking about what could have happened if I hadn’t been there. I didn’t want to think about that, either.
Taking a deep breath, King continued, “That shit showed me more than a year of prospecting ever could. The truth is, we wanted to approach you from the beginning. Blade asked us not to.”
Blade grumbled. “Thanks, man.”
“You agreed to this?” I asked, looking at Cash.
I knew he wouldn’t. Cash hated me. Hated my connection to Rachel. He knew that Rachel and I would always be close. Would always have a bond they never would.
“I wasn’t at first, then Blade reminded me that as VP, I could order you not to touch my woman ever again.” The fucker grinned, which made me snort.
Fuck that.
“I appreciate the offer, but I can’t accept,” I said, pushing the cut back toward King.
Blade groaned. “Would you stop being a stubborn ass?”
Turning toward my supposed best friend, I huffed. “Exactly how long were you a stubborn ass? Seven fucking years. I think I am entitled to at least that long.”
I tried to cross my arms over my chest, but I couldn’t. With one arm in a sling, the movement made me wince.
“You told me you knew who I was as soon as I came back. That means you have already used up five of those seven fucking years,” Blade argued, crossing his arms over his chest and grinning.
Fucker was only doing that because he knew I couldn’t.
“Then come talk to me in two more years,” I countered.
“Come on, man. I told you I was sorry. You have to at least try to see it from my side,” Blade pleaded. “You think Becca’s gonna let you keep acting this way once the baby gets here?”
“What?” Jack whispered.
Mine and every other head in the room turned to Blade.
“Fuck, she’s gonna kill me,” he cursed, then quickly pointed at King. “You know nothing, and you say fucking less to your brother. If you tell him before she does, there won’t be anywhere you can hide.”
King just grinned. “Dec is gonna lose his shit.”
“Beck’s having a baby?” I muttered.
“Yea.” Blade grinned at me. “I need you with us, brother. Need you to love my kid like I love yours.”
“I wouldn’t do anything less, but I don’t need to be in the club to do that.”
“Ryder,” King started.
“No, King. I appreciate the offer, but I can’t.”
“Ry,” Blade begged.
“I said no, goddamn it! Now get the fuck out, all of you,” I shouted.
Jack grabbed the cut and placed it back in the box. He handed the box to King before ushering the men out the door, only for him to return moments later.
“I told you guys to leave.”
“And they did. I stayed because I wanted to talk to you.”
“There is nothing more to say.”
“There is a lot to fucking say,” Jack argued. “The day Carrie and Derek were at the store. We got called back to the club, and you didn’t come with us. You missed a lot of fucking information.”
“That was club business,” I reminded him.
“Which you would be a part of if you got off your high fucking horse. But that isn’t the point. That day, I found out Derek was my brother.”
I looked up at Jack. I knew the surprise showed on my face.
“Yea, talk about a fucking plot twist. Anyway, I went to talk to him, to see if he knew.” Jack held the railing at the end of the bed, where he stood. “He knew I existed, but didn’t know where I was until the first day we met when he came to the clubhouse. Said he suspected it was me because we looked so much alike. He said I looked like my mother.”
He ran his hands through his hair, and I could see his shoulders rise and fall with the heavy breath he took. Jack grew up without a family, so learning that his brother knew about him and didn’t bother to look for him had to weigh heavily on him.
“I never thought I would ever know who my family was, and I found out my brother was married to the woman I loved. The woman he put in the hospital when he found out she was pregnant with my child.”
“Fuck,” I whispered.
“Yea. He rejected me then. Still wanted nothing to do with me. I didn’t think I could ever forgive him for what he did to Sammy. Then he saved my little girl’s life. Kept her safe for me until I could get to her. I’m not saying we’ll ever be close, but I’m willing to try. Because despite everything he did, he was my brother when it mattered the most.”
“Micah’s not—”
“He is. In all the ways that matter, and you know it. Family isn’t just those you share blood with. There will come a day when you need him and the club to stand at your back. Wouldn’t it be better for us to already be there?”
I laid there, staring at the ceiling.
I didn’t want him to see what I was feeling.
“Think about it,” he said, rapping his knuckles against the end of the hospital bed before walking out of my room, leaving me to think about everything he’d said.
The nurses came and went, doing their thing as I laid on that bed, thinking. It was all I could do.
A small knock sounded, and the door opened slowly.
The blonde that walked in was the last person I expected to see.
“Hi.”
I almost didn’t hear her. She said it so lightly.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
She walked carefully into the room, closing the door behind her. Walking over to the bed, she paused. Her eyes roamed over my body, stopping at my shoulder. That was when I saw the glassiness in her eyes.
“I, um… I wanted to see how you were doing.” Her hands twisted at her waist.
“Miss Perry.”
She didn’t pull her gaze from my shoulder. I wanted her to look at me, not my injury.
“Rayne,” I said softly.
She turned her eyes to mine, and a tear escaped, making a trail down the side of her cheek.
“I’m ok,” I told her.
I didn’t trust myself to reach up and wipe away the tear like I had for Beck. There was something about this woman that unsettled me. She made me feel things I hadn’t felt since Tammi.
Things I hadn’t felt with Tammi, if I was being completely honest. That confused me. I had little interaction with her, but I knew there was a connection between us for some reason.
She bit her lip, and my cock came to life.
I pulled my knee up so she wouldn’t see, knowing I wasn’t wearing anything under the thin blanket covering me.
“Miss Perry,” I started again.
Rayne was too intimate for what I was feeling right then.
“I need to confess something,” she interrupted, looking away from me again. “Rayne Perry is my pen name. It’s what I go by when I am working with bookstores. But since I am considering staying in Diamond Creek, I have been introducing myself to the people in town with my real name. Ellery Livingston. I prefer Ellie, though.”
Ellery was different. It was pretty, delicate.
Like her.
“I know you said you wanted to keep things professional, but… well, I figured after what we did on Saturday, that…”
“Wait, what?” I asked.
“Um, Saturday. At the bar.”
“What exactly did we do? I don’t remember seeing you at the bar.”
Her lips parted, and she stared at me, blinking slowly.
“You don’t remember?”
“Miss Perry—”
“Ellie,” she corrected.
“Ellie,” I repeated. “I was at the bar Saturday. I had a few drinks, and I went home. Alone.”
“Yes, you went home alone. After we danced and had sex outside behind the bar. Where, as soon as we were done, you slapped my ass and said, ‘thanks, babe,’ and left me there with my jeans still around my ankles.”
I stared at the woman I barely knew.
She was lying. She had to be.
I didn’t have sex with strangers. And I didn’t fuck in public behind a bar where anyone could see me.
“What game are you playing?” I carefully accused, narrowing my eyes at her.
She swallowed nervously. I didn’t know what kind of game she was playing, but I was in no fucking mood.
“I am not playing a game, Ryder.”
“Are you planning on coming back in a few weeks to tell me you’re pregnant? You think I’ll marry you? I did that shit once. I’m not doing it again,” I snarled.
Miss Perry or Rayne, or Ellie, whatever the fuck her name was, took a step back. “I didn’t… I’m not trying to do anything. I just…”
“Get the fuck out!” I yelled. “NOW!”
Ellie gasped at my outburst. Her hand going to her mouth as a nurse rushed in, asking if everything was ok.
“No, it isn’t fucking ok. I want her out of here.”
“Miss, please come with me.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered and left the room, crying.
How did I always manage to find the manipulative women?
Did I have a sign on my forehead that says sucker ?
FUCK!