Chapter 16
16
RYKER
I was unraveling.
Isabel was gone. Will was missing. And I was stuck in this fucking house, pacing like an animal that had just realized the cage door was welded shut.
It felt like before.
Like him.
One second, my father had been there—larger than life, unshakable. The next, gone. No warning. No time to prepare. Just sudden, awful, heart-wrenching absence.
My hands flexed at my sides as I forced myself to breathe. Will wasn’t dead. I couldn’t think like that. But Isabel—she had run, and not knowing where she was, not seeing her, had my pulse slamming against my ribs.
I needed air.
The house felt too goddamn small, so I stepped outside, the heavy night heat settling against my skin. The glow of the pool cast long, shifting shadows across the deck, the soft rippling of water the only sound in the quiet.
And then I saw them .
Marcus, Noah, and Charlie lounged in the chairs near the deep end, drinks in hand, their posture too damn relaxed.
And then I saw her.
Isabel.
She was in the pool, her arms resting on the ledge, shoulders slick with water, skin glistening in the moonlight. Her dark hair was slicked back, droplets trailing down her throat, disappearing beneath the waterline.
Relief hit me like a fist to the gut.
Then anger.
I stepped forward, my voice low, even. Dangerous.
“Leave.”
The conversation between my brothers cut off immediately.
Marcus glanced up, reading the look on my face. He didn’t argue. Noah exhaled through his nose, shaking his head slightly, but stood. Charlie hesitated the longest, his gaze flicking between Isabel and me before he drained the rest of his drink and pushed off the chair.
One by one, they walked away.
I didn’t watch them go.
I was too busy looking at her.
She wasn’t running now. But she should have.
Because I wasn’t walking away this time.
She was still sitting there, watching me with those wide green eyes, her lips parted slightly. She was safe. She was here.
I should have been furious. Should have dragged her inside, read her the riot act for running off when I was trying to protect her.
But all I could think about was how much I fucking needed her .
I pulled my shirt over my head in one fluid motion, tossing it aside. My boots, my belt, my jeans—gone in seconds. She sucked in a sharp breath, her fingers gripping the lounge chair as I stepped toward the edge of the pool, wearing nothing but hunger and reckless fucking desire.
Then, I was in the water.
I moved through it like a predator, silent and certain, my eyes locked on hers as I closed the distance. She sat frozen, her pulse visible at the base of her throat.
She should have run.
She didn’t.
I reached her in one smooth motion, my hands finding her waist, pulling her into the water with me. She gasped as the warmth surrounded us, her fingers instinctively clutching at my shoulders.
“Ryker—”
I silenced her with my mouth, capturing her lips in a searing, claiming kiss. She melted against me, her body soft and warm and fucking perfect.
My hands slid over her, gripping, exploring, taking. I found the hem of her thin shirt and yanked it over her head, baring her to me, my breath catching at the sight of her soaked skin glistening in the moonlight.
Then, her panties. Gone in one rough pull, shredded fabric floating uselessly away as I lifted her, positioning her exactly where I wanted her.
No hesitation. No second thoughts.
I thrust inside her in one powerful motion, swallowing her gasp as I filled her completely, my body pressing her against the side of the pool.
She clenched around me, tight, perfect , her nails digging into my shoulders as I moved.
Thrusting .
Needing.
Fucking taking.
I buried my face against her throat, groaning as her warmth pulled me deeper, her breath hitching with every movement, every sharp, desperate snap of my hips.
I had waited long enough.
She was mine now.
I couldn’t stop.
I should have been satisfied, should have been able to walk away, regain control, put this fire out before it consumed me whole. But the second we made it back to my room, the second I kicked the door shut and turned to face her, I knew—I was too far gone.
She stood there, flushed and soaked, her breath still uneven from what I’d just done to her in the pool. Her hair clung to her skin, her lips swollen from my mouth, and when she met my gaze—hesitant, needy, unsure—I fucking snapped again.
I grabbed her, dragging her against me, her slick body pressing into mine as I kissed her hard, my hands greedy, desperate. She gasped against my lips as I lifted her, tossing her onto the bed before I covered her with my body, pinning her beneath me.
I needed more.
I needed all of her.
I tore at the sheets, spreading her thighs wide, my cock already thick and hard again. Her body was flushed, her nipples tight, her skin a map of where I’d already claimed her.
“Ryker,” she whispered, voice trembling.
I didn’t answer .
I couldn’t.
I lined up and slammed inside her in one brutal thrust, stretching her all over again. She arched beneath me, her head tipping back, a choked moan spilling from her lips as I drove deeper, pushing past the slick resistance of her body, forcing her to take every inch.
“Fuck,” I growled, my forehead pressing against hers. “You feel like you were made for me.”
Her hands clawed at my back, her thighs locking around my waist as I started moving, fucking her in deep, devastating strokes.
It wasn’t slow.
It wasn’t gentle.
I wasn’t wired that way.
I fucked like I fought—hard, relentless, with nothing held back. I gripped her hips and yanked her closer, tilting her just the way I wanted, making her take me deeper, making her body mold to mine, forcing pleasure into every inch of her.
She was moaning now, high, breathy, her nails dragging over my shoulders as I took her. Her body clenched around me, her legs trembling as she met every brutal thrust, as I drove her closer and closer to the edge.
“Come for me,” I ordered, my voice low, wrecked.
She was already there.
She shattered beneath me, crying out my name as she tightened, her body pulsing around my cock, squeezing me so fucking tight I almost lost myself right then and there.
But I wasn’t finished.
I flipped her onto her stomach, dragging her ass into the air, her knees pressing into the mattress.
She gasped, barely catching her breath, and then I was inside her again .
I buried myself deep, my hands gripping her hips as I started moving, harder, rougher, watching her shudder beneath me as I fucked her just the way I needed to.
She loved it.
She moaned, whimpered, begged, her fingers twisting in the sheets as she pushed back against me, meeting every punishing thrust.
I could feel another orgasm tearing through her, the way her body started shaking, the way she gasped my name like she couldn’t help it.
“Ryker— fuck ?—”
I slammed into her one last time, my body locking as I came, my cock pulsing deep inside her as a guttural growl tore from my throat.
For a long second, the world was nothing but her. Her scent. Her body. Her warmth.
And then?—
I collapsed beside her.
I shouldn’t have. I should have gotten up, left the bed, let the heat burn off before it settled into something worse. But I didn’t.
I dragged her against my chest, my arms still locked around her.
And then—something I had never done.
I fell asleep next to her.