6. Ryder
6
RYDER
I gestured for her to enter before me and I watched as she walked through to her bedroom. The effort it took not to stare at her ass was both monumental as well as fruitless.
When I texted Jason, he told me she was on shift, still, sitting and waiting for her was better than pacing my bedroom. After dinner I drove home and worked a little more before attempting to go to bed. After several hours of tossing and turning, I got up and made my way down to one of the Salinger gyms I was told I could use as part of my stay at the B&B.
That killed another two hours. By the time I got back to my room and showered, the sun was rising and I knew I could pick up some breakfast in the dining room.
Without thinking I found myself outside Shiloh’s house. I didn’t want to disturb her or cause her to worry, so I refrained from calling her.
Even though dinner had gone better than I expected, I could still tell that Ethan did not trust me. And I could hardly blame him. I had abandoned his mother when she was pregnant. I never followed up or even tried to find out why she never contacted me. I was so consumed with my career and trying not to think about how her blowing me off made me feel that I missed the most important thing. She never actually said anything to me . I just believed what the man promising me fame and fortune told me.
While I understood he made money off of me, after all no one worked for free, I didn’t realize then what I now knew as fact. It was never about me or my interests. It was always about what I could do for him.
I had a five-octave range and I came in a pretty package. That made a lot of people a lot of money. Including me. Yeah, it got me laid and I was never without company or friends and other perks. But in all my time in the entertainment industry, I knew I only had two real friends. Jason Wilder and Layla Dean. Not even my band mates were as close to me as those two.
Jason was the reason I was in Marina De Ferrier. He grew up here and we’d decided to do a mini road trip so he could see his parents or something that involved pancakes. I wasn’t quite sure. He was also the reason I was doing some military obstacle course thing later in the morning.
I was staring into the garden, thinking about how my life became what it was when I heard her voice.
“Okay,” Shiloh called. “I am ready to go.”
I turned around to face her and nearly swallowed my tongue. “You’re going out like that?”
The words slipped out before I had a chance to think better of it.
She lowered head, giving herself a once-over. “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?”
Nothing. Absolutely nothing if I didn’t mind sporting a hard-on while trying to negotiate some sort of military obstacle course.
The navy blue shoestring bra-top thing was so tight I could see the outline of her nipples. The hem stopped just before her waist revealing a delicious slice of creamy skin. Then there were those shorts. Not tight, and they could hardly be described as booty shorts, but they showed off enough leg to trigger memories I thought were long buried.
I moved behind the couch to hide my erection. I was wearing sweatpants which meant nothing stayed hidden, if I wasn’t careful
“Nothing’s wrong. Let’s get going.”
She walked to the fridge and pulled out two transparent bottles. The liquid inside was electric blue.
“Here.” She handed me one of the bottles. “Drink. Trust me, your muscles will thank you. The course is not easy.”
I waited on her porch as she locked the door. I dropped my hand to her lower back as I led her to my car. She didn’t protest and I took that as a good sign.
Once we were on the road, she twisted in her seat, the seatbelt squeezing her breast even more. “So, what did you want to talk about?”
I didn’t know how to soften what I wanted to say so I just blurted what was on my mind. “Last night was the last time I’m sitting around doing nothing and Ethan has to stay with a grandparent.”
“What?”
“That’s not how co-parenting works, Shi.” I kept my eyes on the road. “We may not be a couple, and yeah, that means there will be times when one or both of us want to go on a date, but there was no reason why Ethan had to stay with Tess, last night.”
“Ryder.”
“No, I understand you don’t trust me.” My ego had wrapped itself around that notion at about three in the morning. “Hell, I’m sure you have lots of rules I need to follow and things I need to learn. But I am not going to learn them with him at your mother’s and me in a hotel room.”
“But what if…” she hesitated and I knew what she was about to say was going to hurt. “You don’t know him. And you're right. I don’t trust you. It’s not like you’ve been the most responsible person in the last nine years.”
Yeah, I was right. What she had to say hurt like a mother fucker. And I couldn’t deny what she was saying was true. I had spent the better part of the nine years partying. There was a fair amount of alcohol, and a decent amount of designer drugs, though I had taken nothing more than a beer or whiskey in over three years. Still, it hurt more coming from her.
“You don’t know me, Shi.” And she didn’t. She knew the image Terrence had made sure the press put out there. She saw the curated paparazzi pics, the billboards ads, and red-carpet appearances. That was my business. It was necessary for my career. It had nothing to do with the person I was.
“Correct. I don’t.” She narrowed her eyes, tilting her head to the side as she continued. “And you expect me to leave my son in your care. God, I am a single mom and a cop. Trust is not a commodity I hand out easily.” She turned to face the front once more. “I’m not saying I don’t want Ethan to get to know you, but I cannot be stressing about that while I’m on duty. And until I trust you, that is exactly what would happen.”
She made a fair point. I could not force the trust issue. If she was distracted in the field, something could go seriously wrong. I tried not to focus on how my gut twisted as I thought about everything that could go wrong if she didn’t have her full focus while on duty.
We needed a solution. Not something that would cause her more stress. “What about this? If you have to work the night shift again before you trust me, Ethan and I will go to your mom’s for dinner together.” If I wanted to win this war, I needed to concede a few battles. “I stay there until bedtime. And I go back there in the morning to get him ready for school. And then I can take him to school instead of Tess. I’m guessing that is the arrangement you have with her?”
Shiloh shook her head. “No. Usually I pick him and drop him off before going home. I asked Tess to take him because you wanted to talk and we have the obstacle thing this morning.”
So, I had stopped her from seeing her kid this morning. That was the last time that happened as well.
I pulled onto the Salinger Farm and drove past the B&B and across to the Salinger Security building. Shiloh showed me where to park, but she was out of the car before I had a chance to get around and open the door for her.
Together we walked past the golf carts and across the field with picnic tables until we reached a huge wall with a solid iron gate. Shiloh scanned her card and I pushed the door open, allowing her to step ahead of me.
A number of people had already arrived. Jason was standing to the side talking to the man he’d introduced as Aidan a few days back. He was apparently a Navy SEAL and his eyes were narrowed on Skylar and her boyfriend who were arguing about Skylar’s clothes. Which was a damn sight more than what Shiloh was wearing, or the other woman whose name I didn’t know.
Shiloh walked up to Aidan. “Have you heard from Cat and Holden yet?”
He nodded, and Shi’s shoulders relaxed. “Cat’s team leader checked in just after midnight. All targets present and accounted for. They also found the rest of Holden’s team.”
“What were the other targets?” She sported a devious smile as she spoke to him.
Obviously, there was military speak. Aidan eyed Shiloh. “That’s classified.”
I tried not to eavesdrop on a conversation that was obvious Shiloh was not meant to be having, when the woman in the tightest booty shorts and sports bra combo stepped up to me. “Hi, I’m Tiffany Snow. Salinger Security receptionist and community gossip monger.”
“So you can cause trouble with your words and still have the best in the business around to protect you.”
“It really is a sweet gig.” She narrowed her eyes and I could tell that all the playfulness was just a show. “So, you’re the baby daddy.”
Wow. News travelled in this little town. “I am.”
“Why did you leave her?” She placed her hands on her hips. “Shiloh is not only a good woman, she is the best woman I know. She doesn’t deserve some asshole rockstar walking out on her.”
It was hard not to like Tiffany. I liked that she stood there fearless as she defended her friend. She was confident no harm would come to her. Only partly because she was surrounded by people who would protect her with everything they had.
I never had a chance to answer because another man, older with dark hair sprinkled with grey, and dark eyes, walked out.
“Good morning, everyone. For the one person who doesn’t know me, I’m Oliver Salinger.” He stood at the entrance to the obstacle course. “I’m not in the best mood. Some cock-blocking cop called my wife out of bed in the middle of the night. Shiloh, for that little stunt, my money’s on Jason today.”
Who knew what that was about.
Shiloh rolled her eyes. “Technically I didn’t call her but I can’t help it if I had something that interested your wife more than you in the middle of the night.”
He rolled his eyes, then continued to give us instructions including warning Aidan about helping people. And then he got us all to the starting line. Once his whistle sounded, we were off and we all raced to the first set of ropes.
The course was not easy. When they said military grade, I thought they were joking. I also learned the difference experience could make. Hilton and I brought up the rear, though he was quite a distance behind me. Meanwhile Tiffany was a little ahead and Skylar was quite a bit in front. I couldn’t see where Shi and Jason were, but I could see that Aidan had already rounded the corner.
I tried not to focus on anyone and just finish the damn course.
When I got to the end, I noted that Aidan had won by a landslide. Then came Shiloh, and a second later was Jason. Skylar was about two minutes behind them with Tiffany and I almost neck and neck. Hilton was last, coming in almost six minutes after Aidan. For some reason Oliver felt the need to stress that while Skylar only glared at him.
Once we were all rested, Hilton threw a tantrum. And the look on Skylar’s face told us she knew it was coming. He’d gone on about how she could’ve warned him about how difficult the course was and how she wanted him to look bad in front of her friends.
Aidan and Jason exchanged a look but neither intervened. It took a while for everyone to start leaving but as they did, Shiloh walked over to me. “Maggie is on pick up duty this afternoon. We share pick up and drop off since we both have kids.”
“Alright.” I knew she was trying to let me know that it was not personal. “What do you need?”
“I can’t sleep now.” She walked over to my car. “We messed with the shifts and I need to get back to day shift tomorrow. So I need to sleep tonight. Which means no naps now. Keep me entertained.”
“That I can do.”