52. Ryker
52
Ryker
B ella steps away from me, resuming her work, like it never happened. I’ll never understand her knee jerk reaction to dismiss uncomfortable feelings like they don’t exist. It probably shouldn’t surprise me that she won’t talk about it for more than five minutes. She rarely does and it’s starting to piss me off. I’ve tried to stay out of her family issues because I didn’t think it was my business, but I’m starting to realize that this is my business… because she’s my business.
“Bella,” I interrupt her aggressive glass polishing. She’s cute when she’s frustrated, but I need her attention right now. “Look at me.”
Her head tilts my way at the command. “I have an errand to run. You know what to do. Jake and Roxie will be here in about an hour and I’ll be back in a couple of hours at most.”
“Where are you going?” her face twists in confusion.
I grab her face with my hands planted on each side and pull her to meet my lips for a kiss. “We’ll talk about it another time.” You get what you give, sweet girl. Then I release her, heading for the offices and I can feel her eyes on me the entire way.
My insides are vibrating with rage by the time I make it upstairs. I made a last minute decision to storm in without knocking, because I own this fucking place and his ass works for me.
“Axel. You son of a bitch.”
“What the actual fuck, Ryker?” Axel yells as he scrambles to stand from his ridiculously small office chair in a rush, making a point to shuffle around it and push it under his desk. I’ll have Hayes order him a new one. I’m not a total asshole. That thing can’t be good for his back.
“Shut the fuck up,” I order and his mouth drops open, presumably in shock, because historically, I don’t yell. Yelling at people implies I care enough to exert that kind of energy. Until her , no one has been worth the energy. “Your sister is the most selfless woman I have ever known. You’d do well to remember that and lend her a goddamn hand once in a while.”
Thankfully, I’m almost as tall as he is, so when I walk to him, until we’re practically toe to toe, I poke my index finger into his chest… hard. “It would be in your best interest to respect what belongs to me, and make no mistake… Your. Sister. Is. Mine.” I’m pretty sure a growl escaped me at that last part, but I need him to understand I won’t tolerate anyone giving her shit.
“I can’t do what she does, man. Our mother is toxic. I made the decision a long time ago to separate myself from the fucking drama of it all,” he explains. “I get she’s going through it, but Christine Bradley will seep into your pores and drown you from the inside out if you let her. There’s already too much darkness in me. I don’t have room for more.”
Shit. I’ve been so worked up over Arabella, I lost sight of the fact that he’s probably just as much a victim as she is, but it doesn’t excuse him abandoning his sister.
“Did it ever occur to you that your sister might need your help getting out from under her? She stuck around and put her life on hold, and all she’s got to show for it is her low self-worth. You should have helped her, goddammit.” My face is hot while I wait for him to answer.
“Fuck, man. I get it.” He waves his hands in the air. “I figured she'd have gone off to college by now and that would have fixed it.”
Does he not know? “Did you know about the loan?”
His face twists with confusion. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
Wow. He really is clueless. “Your sister took out a ten thousand dollar loan for your fucking mother. Christine was supposed to make the payments but bitched out and left it on Arabella.”
“Shit. How would I know about that?” He throws his arms across his chest as he begins to pace the room. “It’s not like I’ve had any reason to go digging into either of their finances.”
“I took care of it, but there’s more going on here than meets the eye. I just need to gather more info before I can put it in front of your sister. She needs to see the truth for what it is, and I’m afraid she’s going to need hard evidence.” I pause, watching him pace the floor. I can feel my blood pressure rising, the more we talk about this. Anger is starting to boil in my veins once again as the realization settles in how clueless he is. “She gave up her fucking scholarship to help your mother.”
“I… Didn’t know,” he admits, pausing to look me in the eye.
“Maybe if you were around more, you’d know more.” Turning, I grab the door handle and look over my shoulder. “Do not breathe a word of this to your sister. If she finds out I talked to you… I won’t hesitate to fire your ass.”
I don’t bother waiting for his acknowledgement. If he goes against me, he’s dumber than he looks.
I haven’t seen this house in a long time. It looks the same as it did back then, right down to the vertical blinds in the front window. Stepping out of the car, I take a moment to remember how different things were for me back then.
Hayes had already approached me about Gravity and I was considering it, but wasn’t convinced it was what I wanted for my life. I was searching for something back then, and had no clue my future was right in front of me all along.
Stepping up to the door, I wait a moment, collecting my thoughts. I came here for a reason, but I didn’t come with a plan.
The way I left things with Christine wasn't pleasant, but I had to end it. Clearly, she hasn’t gotten over that night, or forgiven me and I hate she’s holding that over my girl’s head. That’s why I’m here. To clear the air and somehow not let on that I’m fucking her daughter.
No time like the present . I rap my knuckles on the door three times in rapid succession, and within a couple minutes, the door slowly swings open. She’s got dark circles and bags under her eyes, but her hair is separated into sections, wrapped around curlers on the top of her head.
Her eyes widen, her spine straightens and she smooths out the loose strands of her hair, as soon as she registers who’s knocked. Sorry, but that ship has long sailed .
“Ryker? What are you doing here?”
“We need to talk.” The door opens wider and she waves me in. A wave of nausea hits me at the realization that this is likely what my sweet girl walks into every time she comes over. The house is a mess, and that’s putting it lightly. It’s not dirty , but it’s cluttered, like I just walked into an amateur episode of hoarders, with paperwork stacked on almost every surface and a thick layer of dust lining everything else.
“Ryker, this is quite the surprise. I haven’t seen you in so long.”
She looks terrible and I find myself wondering what I ever saw in her to begin with. Our time together feels like a lifetime ago.
“Christine, did you tell–or insinuate–to Arabella that it was her fault I ended things between us?”
A mix of anger and shock begins to mar her face at my accusation, followed by a hand to her chest in mock horror. Is she seriously going to play this up and try to lie to me?
“Seriously? I would never do that!”
“Cut the shit,” I said, my voice slowly rising in volume. I have no tolerance for her games right now. “You and I both know how things went down that night and why. You need to knock off the fucking guilt trips. She’s your goddamn daughter.”
Her mask lifts at my admonishment and suddenly, the Christine I remember is standing before me in all her fucked up glory. “I saw the way she looked at you. Like she was storing your image away in her brain so she could get off to thoughts of you. You were mine,” she shrieks .
“Were you seriously jealous of a seventeen year old girl just looking at me? Do you hear how psychotic you sound?”
She closes the space between us and places her gaunt hand on my chest. “Why are you really here, Ryker? Surely, not to talk about my slut of a daughter.”
Every ounce of blood in my veins seethes at her words and the insinuation I’m actually here for her . Knocking her hand away, I step back, adding as much distance between us as I possibly can.
I have to tread lightly here.
If I say too much, she’ll know exactly why I’m defending her daughter and the last thing I want is to add more fuel to the fire.
“Arabella works for me.” Not a lie . “She showed up to work one day in tears after being with you and when I questioned her, she told me you still blame her for our breakup. She ended up leaving early. Why I’m here doesn’t even matter anymore. When we were together, I cared about your kids. I still do, but I can’t have you fucking with my staff like this. Need you to lay the fuck off of her. No more. It’s done.”
Her brows pull together in confusion, but she doesn’t respond to my demand. It’s strange, because silence was never in her vocabulary. She always had more words than necessary for every situation. Eventually, she gives me a slight nod.
“No one’s forcing her to spend time with me, Ryker. I’m her mother and that’s a bond that supersedes every other.” Is she fucking serious? If she thinks I’m going to fall for her bullshit, she has another thing coming.
Then something catches my eye in the corner of the room and pieces start coming together. Unfortunately, she catches my eyes and shifts to stand in front of me.
“What’s all that in the corner, Christine?” I don’t need her to tell me, but I am curious which route she’s about to take.
“I don’t know what you mean, Ryker.” Ok, she’s playing dumb.
“Are you telling me, you don’t know there’s a neck brace adorning the corner of your living room floor? Now that I think about it, you never used to curl your hair, unless you were going somewhere. Where are you going?” The neck brace is on the floor, discarded like trash, while her nice coat and high heels are waiting for her neatly on the couch. She’s definitely going somewhere.
She scoffs. “Ryker, how dare you.”
“Don’t even think about trying to convince me you’re not going out to do god knows what, when you have your daughter convinced you aren’t allowed to drive due to all your medical issues.” I pause, giving her a moment to challenge me, but she doesn’t. “Looks like your neck is feeling better, conveniently.”
A hint of fear washes over her face for the briefest of moments. She doesn’t usually show any, but maybe I’ve cracked her armor.
“It was just a temporary neck thing,” she stiffens. “Not wearing it anymore, means nothing.”
She’s full of shit and she knows it. “You and I both know better, Christine. I’ll give you one chance to tell her the truth, or I will. And if I get wind of any more issues, I’ll see to it that you never see your daughter again.”