20. Ryder
20
RYDER
I t took me about an hour to get Ethan packed up and over to Tess and Harry’s place. Originally, I thought we’d be sharing a drink at his home. Then, when I didn’t see Jason’s car outside, I thought I was being ambushed.
Turned out none of those things were true. As soon as I walked through the door, Ethan ran up to Harry and double high fived him. “Grandpa!”
“How’s my favorite singing grandson?” He crouched down to put himself at his grandson’s eye level. “Heard you’ve been spending a lot of time at the studio.”
“Yeah, my dad’s been teaching me some stuff.”
“Why don’t you keep your grandmother company until bedtime. I’m going to take your dad out for a drink.”
He stood and smiled at my son. It was like another piece of my heart melted. I never knew any of my grandparents. Well, I never knew my father so his parents were never a factor. And according to my mother, her parents threw her out when she fell pregnant with me. Yeah, I didn’t win the familial lottery. But it looked like my son did. And for that I was grateful.
Before Ethan could run off to his grandmother, I called him back. “Don’t I get a good night hug before I leave?”
Without hesitation, he ran back to me and wrapped his arms around my middle before looking up at me. “Don’t let Grandpa scare you off. He’s a really cool man.”
“I’m sure he is, kiddo.” I kissed the top of his head. “Don’t stay up too late.”
As he walked past his grandfather, he raised a brow that could only be described as an attempt to be stern. “Be nice. My mom likes him.”
Harry smiled at his grandson then gave me a hard look. “Let’s take your truck to the Reverse Cowgirl.”
“The what?” It wasn’t like I hadn’t heard of the place, it just didn’t seem like a place Harry would frequent. Also, I never wanted my woman’s father to utter the words ‘reverse cowgirl’. The thought made me shudder.
“It's a bar in town. My daughter, Maggie, owns it.” He walked ahead of me toward my car. “She’s working tonight and my wife insisted that Maggie be present when we speak to you.”
We?
Oh, right. He’d mentioned that he’d asked Jason to join us. I unlocked the car and we both climbed in. Even though I had GPS on my phone and the onboard system of the car, Harry still gave me instructions. Not that the place was hard to find. Nothing in Marina De Ferrier was.
Inside, the Reverse Cowgirl was as cliché as the name suggested. Fake Texan memorabilia. The staff wore blue jeans, plaid shirts and brown cowboy hats. All the decor had a look of worn down wood and exposed nails. But if you looked closely, everything was plastic and painted to look worn. It was unapologetically fake and I couldn’t help but smile. The decor might have been plastic imitation, but there was no pretentiousness.
As we walked in, Harry ahead of me, he waved at the bartender I knew to be Shiloh’s sister, Maggie. Harry looked around the bar and spotted where he wanted to go. “Follow me.”
Like there was any chance of me doing anything else. Not that I said that. Harry led me to a table. Jason sat there with another man who looked familiar. He’d been at the hospital the night Shiloh had been shot. I just couldn’t remember his name.
Jason was on top of it though. As he stood to give that half hug thing he pointed to the other man. “I believe you met Theo at the hospital.”
“Ah, yes.” I took the man’s offered hand. “You’re Tiffany’s brother.”
“I am.” Theo motioned for me to sit and then moved so Harry could be directly opposite me. “And you’re Shiloh’s…well I’m not sure what you are to Shiloh. But you’re Ethan’s father.”
“Yeah. As for Shiloh. I’m just hers. That’s all.”
All three men looked at me just as Maggie arrived with two pitchers. She smiled at me. “I hope you don’t mind but my dad ordered for you. I think it's supposed to be a sign of dominance or something. You let me know if he gets overbearing. I’ll stick my mom and sisters on him. I’m the nice one, so I don’t scare him.”
Harry raised his brow at his daughter. “I wish everyone would stop letting Ryder think I am scared of my wife.”
“And your daughters.” Maggie’s smile dropped as two men walked in by the door. “Dammit. That’s the last thing I need tonight.”
“Do you want us to chase them out?” Theo tracked the two men as they walked up to the bar. “I don't know why you ever got involved with that family.”
I noticed that neither Harry nor Jason took their eyes from the men either.
Maggie glared at Theo. “I can take care of myself.”
Harry shook his head and looked back at me. “You say you’re hers. What exactly does that mean?”
Both Theo and Jason sat back and folded their arms as they waited for my answer. “It means she’s it for me. I am well aware of my reputation, and I’m not saying it wasn’t earned. But there is a reason I avoided committed relationships for the last decade. As much as I believed Shiloh was not an option, I wanted what I had with her. What I felt when I was with her. She’s it. My one. All I need to do is convince her that I am worth it.”
“Are you?” Harry still didn’t look convinced. “Because I am convinced that no man is good enough for her. What makes you think you’re different?”
“All I can say is that I intend to work every day to be worthy of her.” I knew who I was, and that I would never be good enough for her. “She’s the damn trifecta. I am just lucky she let me into her orbit.”
Harry narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean, trifecta?”
Of course he would pick up on that.
“Have you ever walked into her cottage close to dinner time? It's warm and cozy and while everything is in its place, it feels like home and smells like a dream. She’s got my son doing his homework and dinner cooking and that’s after a full day of doing her job. And don’t get me started on that. She’s so committed to keeping this town safe, it bleeds into everything she does. It scares me every time she holsters up, but she loves her job and she’s good at it. I am well aware I am never going to be good enough for her. That doesn’t mean I’ll stop trying.”
Out of the corner of my eye I spotted Jason making a gagging motion. I had no doubt Theo was also rolling his eyes. But I kept my focus on Harry. His eyes narrowed. “You said trifecta, that means three. You’ve only mentioned two. What’s the third thing?”
“I’m sorry, Sir.” My face heated, but there was no way to avoid the question. “But I am not comfortable discussing that with my woman’s father.”
As was already established, I’d had a considerable amount of sex. And some of it was pretty good. There was a misnomer that easy tail was lazy tail. That wasn’t always the case. Sometimes that eagerness to please would work in my favor. But the sex with Shiloh was the best I had ever had.
Harry finished one pitcher of beer with us, then stood. “Let me have your keys.”
“What? Why?”
“So I can drive home.” He held his palm open. “Are you saying you don’t trust me with that overpriced gas-guzzler?”
“I can drive you home.”
“No. These two are going to get you drunk.” He made an impatient grab motion with his outstretched hand. “Consider it your welcome initiation or whatever. But I have a wife to go home to.”
I could feel the sulk take over my face as I fished my keys from my pocket and handed it over to the man I knew at that moment would always be my family. “Give my son another hug from me.”
Harry nodded in agreement and then looked over at the bar before turning to Theo and Jason. “You’ll keep an eye on what’s happening over there?”
“Already am.” Theo was scanning the bar with narrowed eyes.
I didn’t know who those men were, but they looked like trouble. They sat at the bar and it didn’t seem the conversation they were having with Maggie was friendly.
As Harry left the bar, Jason moved his gaze between the two of us. “I’d feel better if we sat at the bar. Those two look in fine form tonight.”
“Who are they?” I agreed we needed to be close in case there was trouble. But I was still completely in the dark.
“Those are Maggie’s ex brothers-in-law.” Theo stood and abandoned the pitcher that at most had one more serving in it. “Charles and Keith Ripper. Brothers to convicted felon Frederick Ripper.”
Those names meant nothing to me as I followed them to the bar. Theo chose the bar stool closest to the brothers. They looked to be about the same age as us, late twenties, maybe early thirties at a push.
The man sitting closer to the edge noticed us first. “Oh, look, Fred’s ex slut has called her guard dogs.”
My fists clenched at the same time Theo and Jason’s bodies stiffened. Neither of them liked a woman being spoken about like that. Least of all one who was as close to them as Maggie.
“Charles.” Maggie let out a sigh. “Leave them alone. They have just as much right as you do to be here.”
Theo raised a brow. “Just as much? I’d say we have more right. We’re your friends. They’re the assholes who tried to leave you destitute.”
I turned to Jason, hoping he would explain. He did not disappoint.
“The Ripper family has their fingers in all sorts of messy pies.” Jason didn’t even drop his voice as he started his explanation. “When they bought this place, they needed it as a way to launder money. And to keep things on the up and up, dear old Fred put this in his wife’s name. But the sale went through only after his arrest and the divorce was finalized. She got this and sole custody of the kids in the divorce settlement.”
“She stole this from our family.”
“Oh, please.” Theo stood from his stool. “She was entitled to half of everything that asshole had. We all know that she was entitled to a lot more.”
The vehemence in his voice gave me pause.
But Charles seemed to want the last word. “She was entitled to nothing.”
Theo shook his head and turned to Maggie. “I warned you about getting involved with this family.”
“So did everyone else.” Maggie’s glare at Theo was lethal. “But the only one who seems to hold it against me, is you. I made a mistake. That mistake gave me two precious gifts, but you don’t see that do you? You big oaf.”
Keith chose that moment to enter the argument. “You two seem to argue like she’s spread for you already.” The man’s comments made my hands clenched into fists once more. “Tell me, is she as dead in bed as my brother described?”
The punch came out of nowhere. One minute Keith was standing upright, the next he was on the floor and Theo was shaking out his hand. A minute later all hell broke loose.
Charles stood and aimed his fist at Theo, but Jason got to him before I could. Keith was thrown in my direction. He aimed a fist at my face. That was not going to happen. I ducked and landed a left hook to the man’s eye.
After that it was hard to tell whose fist landed where. Maggie shouted at all of us, but we ignored her. That was until we heard the sirens.