Chapter 21 #2
I threw my arm in front of Ryder to hold him back, saying, “This is Phillip, my ex-best friend.” To Phillip, I said, “This is Ryder’s land, so I suggest you watch your mouth.”
“Is that right?” Phillip gave Ryder a once-over, then offered his hand.
When Ryder ignored it, I could’ve kissed him. He repeated, “I asked what the hell you’re doing here. Now, I expect an answer.”
“Do you now?” Phillip glared. When Ryder said nothing, Phillip appeared to consider his options for a moment before answering. “Thad had his lawyer send me a contract to buy him out of our company. It was insulting, to say the least.”
Oh fuck. I glanced sideways at Ryder who was wearing a puzzled frown.
“It’s your company?”
“Ours.” Phillip’s finely honed predator instincts kicked in, and he snorted. “Thad didn’t tell you we had a fifty-fifty partnership? How remiss of him.” Phillip shot me a positively gleeful smile, and all I wanted to do was crawl into a hole and die.
Ryder’s Adam’s apple bobbed with a hard swallow, but he did an admirable job of schooling his shock.
“Thaddeus’s business dealings are his own affair,” he said graciously.
“He doesn’t answer to me.” His arm slid from my waist and he took my hand instead, the warmth of his grip going some way to reassure me.
There’d still be a lot of questions to answer when Phillip left, but so far, so good.
Phillip nodded thoughtfully. “That’s very understanding of you, Ryder.
” His attention shifted from Ryder to me, via our joined hands.
“I have to say, you two seem very . . . cosy. How sweet that you’ve found someone new so quickly, Thaddeus.
” He eyed me up and down. “Perhaps Judd was right all along. Maybe you always did have one foot outside the door when you two were together.”
The jab struck home as it was meant to. Ryder dropped my hand and took two steps forward, bringing him face to face with Phillip. He had a few centimetres on my ex-best friend, forcing Phillip to look up. “I think you should leave before I feel obliged to make you.”
Phillip looked around Ryder’s shoulder to grin at me. “Oh, I like him. Very . . . Jack Reacher.” But when his smile quickly dropped, I braced myself. “Is your new boyfriend aware that he’s harbouring the enemy?”
Oh fuck.
Ryder’s head did a slow turn to face me. “What is he talking about?”
I locked eyes with Phillip and gave a small shake of my head. “Don’t do this, Phillip.”
Ryder looked between us, his eyes frantically searching my face for reassurance.
Phillip smirked and stepped sideways, out of Ryder’s reach.
“Didn’t Thad tell you? Our company is bidding on a software contract for the data facility that’s going to be built right here on your land.
All credit to Thad for even getting us onto the shortlist. He’s quite brilliant, don’t you know?
He must’ve found staying on-site quite the inspiration because he’s been sending in some excellent work. ”
“Phillip, stop it.” I turned a pleading look on Ryder who was staring at me wide-eyed and with something like horror written on his face. “I pulled out of it. I’m not finishing. I—”
“But you made an excellent start,” Phillip interrupted, the gleam in his eyes growing. “Whoever follows will have an easy time completing the work.”
But Ryder wasn’t listening anymore. His miserable gaze was glued to my face. “Is this true?”
“N-no . . . I mean, yes . . . but . . . it’s not like he’s implying,” I stumbled. “I was going to tell you tonight, I swear.”
“Aw,” Phillip mocked. “Did I spoil the surprise? I’m sor—” He stopped mid-sentence, silenced by Ryder’s right fist slamming into his face and sending him careening off the top of the steps. He fell to his back on the wet grass, one hand cradling his face as blood streamed from his nose.
Ryder followed him down.
“Stay the fuck away from me.” Phillip scooted backwards on his arse as Ryder loomed over him, his face ablaze in anger. “You’ve lost your fucking mind. Both of you.”
“Get the hell off my property, now,” Ryder boomed.
“I don’t care what Thaddeus might or might not have done.
That’s between him and me. But no one, especially Thaddeus, deserves a motherfucking arsehole friend like you.
No one. Now get out of my sight before I decide to empty a ton of concrete dust on that damn fucking Porsche blocking my driveway. ”
Phillip’s gaze darted to mine. “You haven’t heard the last of this.” And back to Ryder. “That was assault, you arsehole.”
“You slipped down my stairs,” Ryder corrected. “Thaddeus will back me up. Now about your Porsche—”
Phillip scrambled to his feet and ran to his car like his fucking tail was on fire.
I would’ve laughed if I hadn’t seen Ryder’s face and known my entire world was about to collapse . . . again. He was watching me from the path, his cool blank expression weighing like an anchor on my heart.
I scrambled for something to say, anything to prove that Phillip’s words weren’t what Ryder thought. Except the truth was, some of them were exactly that.
A few seconds later, Ryder climbed the steps, cast me a short, disappointed look, and strode past me into the house.