4. Ryder
4
Ryder
I wake up with a familiar ache in my muscles, and the taste of sawdust in my mouth. I feel like shit, and not just because we’ve been running endless drills in training. It’s because I’ve never been the kind of guy to screw with others, and I hate that I did it to Everly yesterday.
Taking a minute to stretch and shake off the stiffness, I proceed to go through my morning routine while only half awake. My protein- and carb-packed breakfast sits waiting for me in the fridge thanks to Ms. Lopez, my parents’ housekeeper, who was kind enough to help manage my staff when I moved out on my own. I make my way to the breakfast nook where I sip coffee and fuel up on an egg sandwich full of tomato, cheese, spinach, sausage and avocado on a whole grain bun. Outside, the sun is just peeking over the horizon and Dallas is already bustling with early morning traffic. Meanwhile I ponder how low I’ve sunk in the world.
Sure, I’m a national star playing as a starter for the Dallas Mavericks, so life is, generally speaking, fast and hard while simultaneously awesome. Now, somehow I’ve gone from respectable basketball playboy to “insatiable fiend” who struggles to keep his dick in his pants and also runs people off of the job to compensate for it. I set down my coffee mug and lean back in my chair to stare at the pink sky while wondering how this happened.
I mean, Everly came out of nowhere. I haven’t seen her in years, haven’t thought about her. But suddenly she’s there, and she’s holding my dick, and just thinking about it I’m dying to strip down and let her finish the job.
Maddie was someone to play with, a model I’d known and dated in the past, so a quick hookup on the job when both of us have been single for a bit made sense in the moment. But the second I laid eyes on Everly, no – the second she laid hands on me - the universe shifted. It’s like Maddie no longer existed. She was part of the photo shoot, but I didn’t pay her a second thought after Everly arrived. I don’t even know when Maddie left.
I lean my face down into my hands and groan. All night long I endured wet dreams of Everly’s green eyes and that perfect “O” of her gorgeous wide mouth as she visually took all of me in. God, I want to do it again!
And that’s exactly how I got here. I spent the entire photo shoot trying to hide the fact that my manhood was stiff as a plank. With the models around it probably looked normal - I mean, they were for the most part naked, and in extremely close proximity to me. But when it was just down to Everly and me, there wasn’t any way to hide the fact that she was the only one around, and I was still aroused.
I was a complete jackass, but I’d do it again because there’s no way in hell I was going to come onto my little sister’s best friend. I feel like I’ve just hit puberty all over again and don’t know how to handle it. Heaving a last sigh, I get up from the table to prep for morning practice. Today we’re running drills in the morning, weights in the afternoon, and then more photo shooting for me after training.
Six hours later I pull up to the location for the photo shoot. It’s a private facility several stories high with parts of the building built out into warehouse-like extensions. In essence, it’s huge and has a number of different parking areas, but this is the one closest to the locker room privately reserved for the Mavericks players.
I pull through the security gate and circle around only to find Everly standing in my parking space. Shit. What does she want? The only thing worse than having her fired off the set yesterday is having to see her and talk about it now. I haven’t yet figured out how I’m going to face Rachel, and I’m kind of surprised she hasn’t called me yet to give me an earful. I’m going to have to do something big to make up for this.
For the moment though, Everly is still there, and I pump the breaks of my sedan and consider just backing right out of the parking lot. Maybe I could park somewhere else?
“Hey Ryder, can we talk for a minute?” she calls as she approaches my car.
Shit! So much for leaving inconspicuously. I can’t quite disguise the wariness in my voice when I answer with false bravado, “Sure, what’s up?”
“Look, I know things got heated between us during the photoshoot, but I wanted to apologize….”
I’ve rolled my window halfway down out of politeness, but I’m not about to encourage this conversation. One thing a player knows is when to keep his mouth shut and walk away. It doesn’t faze her.
“I’m sorry for bursting in on you in a private moment. That was… really unfortunate, and if I could take it back, I would.”
She’s looking for some kind of response, but I’m not sure what’s worse, having had her hands on me and not being able to do anything about it, or having her regret it.
“I want my job back.” She says it humbly, quietly, firmly. For a second the only sound is the hum of my engine as we stare in some kind of stare-off. I was a moron, a total jackass to her, and here she is again. This woman’s got balls.
“So, you’re apologizing? That’s unexpected, but I already said what I said. I don’t want you on the project. To be honest, I don’t know why you’d want to stay when I’ve made that clear.”
Okay, so it would be uber gratifying to my ego if she were to stay on because she can’t stop thinking about me, but just like I have for the past twenty-four hours I thrust the thought from my mind. It doesn’t bear thinking. She’s still the brat who annoyed me all through my teen years. I hold my stance and see the moment her eyes flash a brilliant jade full of fury.
“You know what…? it must be nice floating around on your cloud of privilege. I mean, you’ve grown up with support on all sides and this phenomenal talent that just opens doors for you wherever you go.”
I roll my eyes. Not this again. Seriously, I work just as hard as the next guy on the team, but that doesn’t seem to matter to anyone else since I’m from a wealthy family. Everly is still talking.
“Is it that easy for you? You just walk out of one job and someone hands you another?” Okay, she has a point there. If the Mavs dropped me, I could take my pick of other jobs, maybe not the one I wanted, but there’s no question of whether I could find work.
“Well, silver spoon boy, that’s not how the real world works. It’s not that easy for normal people to just get another job.... It’s hard out here for us common people. Look, I’ll be honest. I really want to tell you to go fuck yourself, but I’m not the only one affected if I lose this job, so… So, I am not leaving till you let me back in.”
And that does it. I’m not an asshole. That’s not who I am. Okay, I’m half an asshole, and half a stand-up guy. That’s the best I can call myself because I can’t take this. I can’t make myself unsee and un-feel everything she does to me. Even now the wind is blowing through her hair and some kind of fresh fruity cucumber scent hits me with every little gust, and it’s turning me on - again .
I don’t like my options. I can suffer through blue balls for the next several shoots with God knows how many other people surrounding us, or flat out turn her down - the woman who took a break in her career to care for her cancer-ridden aunt. Fuck me.
“You’re annoyingly persistent, you know that?”
“I’ve been told.”
I pull forward and park before hopping out of the car to her expectant face.
“Fine. I’ll have my media manager, Jack, clear it with Ed. You’re back on the project, but if you ever feel it’s too hard, I will gladly accept your resignation.”
“You won’t be getting it.”
“We’ll see now, won’t we?” I say to her as I turn to walk toward the building. “You coming?”
The grin that splits her face is one of the most endearing things I’ve ever seen, and I turn my eyes away because I know there’s nothing for me here. Behind me, she follows with a little skip in her step, but I’m already formulating a new plan. Maybe she doesn’t have a new job option just yet, but I’m sure if I make this one unpleasant enough, she’ll keep looking. When she finally moves on, I can get back to life as normal and pretend Everly hasn’t shaken the foundations of my world.
She really wants this job?
Let’s see if I can change that.