Chapter 32
SLOANE
A week had passed, and Ryker and I had barely left his bed. For the first time in my life, I felt safe. Protected. Back then, the night I’d held his hand and thought he’d died, I never would’ve imagined this. That I’d be here with him. Touching him. Waking up beside him. Kissing him.
Jade called back and apologized a million times for missing my call.
She hadn’t seen it soon enough. The one time I needed her to.
The night I was hiding in my own house, trying to reach her after someone had painted a rabbit on my wall in blood.
I told her where I was staying. Not everything but enough.
That I was safe, and I was with someone I trusted.
She and Eli went back, scraped a sample, and sent it to the lab. The results came back: blood. Pig’s blood.
Eli offered to stay at my place while I was gone. I took him up on the offer, but as much as I loved living in this bubble with Ryker, reality was going to crash in soon.
I woke up and rolled over. Ryker was already out of bed. The clock read a little after nine, so I sat up and stretched.
After I used the bathroom and brushed my teeth, I grabbed his charcoal-gray hoodie from the top of his dresser and pulled it over my head. I still hadn’t gone home for more of my clothes. I’d made one quick run to the store for necessities, and the rest of the time I’d lived in his sweatshirts.
I was more than okay with that.
“Good morning,” I said, my bare feet padding along the kitchen tile.
His eyes roamed over my body, and he smiled. I loved that smile. It was the most beautiful thing to wake up to.
“Morning.” He leaned back in the barstool. “I look good on you.”
I smoothed the oversized sweatshirt and returned his smile. “Is this one okay?”
He slid off the seat and walked over to me, shirtless, gray sweats riding low on his hips.
I’d gasped the first time I saw him naked. Muscles for days, that hard vee I could’ve worshiped until my tongue went numb.
I dropped to my knees in front of him, willing. Submissive in a way that didn’t feel like weakness.
If Jade knew, she’d take my temperature. I didn’t submit to anyone. Ryker was different, and I was okay with that.
“You can wear anything of mine you want.” He lowered his head and pressed his mouth to mine.
I ran my hand along his back, feeling every dip and valley of his muscles. A frown creased my forehead. “Are you wet?”
He nipped at my earlobe. “Yeah. I went to the gym this morning while you were asleep. I showered when I got home.”
“I didn’t hear you.”
“I used the hall bathroom. I didn’t want to wake you.”
A smile crept over my face. “That was sweet.”
He chuckled. “Don’t tell anyone. I have a reputation that says differently.”
The sound of the Ring doorbell filled the house, and Ryker immediately stiffened. “Stay here.” He kissed my forehead, then grabbed his phone off the kitchen counter and tapped the screen. His expression didn’t change, so I wasn’t sure who it was at the door.
“This should be interesting.” He walked away, and I busied myself making a cup of coffee.
A woman’s voice made my ears perk up, and I chided myself as jealousy prickled my skin.
“Hey, it’s good to see you,” he said.
I peeked around the corner into the entryway, catching him give a gorgeous dark-haired beautify with big green eyes a hug. My nose twitched. Who was she? Why was she here, and what did she want with my man?
I sipped my coffee and ducked back into the kitchen when I realized they were coming this way.
Ryker had his hand on the woman’s back, protectively. Jealousy wasn’t a good look on me, but I couldn’t help it. She was so pretty, and they were clearly familiar with each other. He still hadn’t moved his hand.
I leaned against the counter as she smiled up at him. When she saw me, her brows shot up.
“Oh, hi. I’m so sorry. Ryker, why didn’t you tell me you had company?”
“Because I wanted you to meet her.”
She pursed her lips, eyeing me in his sweatshirt. Then she gently elbowed him in the side and stepped forward, extending her hand.
“Hi, I’m Ella. I’m Ryker’s best friend’s wife.”
I shook her hand. “I’m Sloane. It’s nice to meet you.” I sipped my coffee again, needing my brain to work faster.
“Sebastian’s wife,” Ryker echoed behind her.
The jealousy I’d been nursing thirty seconds ago shriveled into pure embarrassment. His best friend’s wife. Of course.
“Oh, okay. Ryker has talked about Sebastian.” I didn’t want to mention I’d also seen a picture of her husband on the mantel of Ryker’s parents’ house. I wasn’t sure what territory I was in yet.
“So.” Ella looked back and forth between us. “Ryker, you seem to be doing well. I just wanted to check on you.” She patted his arm.
“Did Bass mention anything about his visit?”
“Not much, but a little.” She paused, and I suspected she was choosing her words carefully. “Why don’t you two come over for dinner?”
Ryker looked at me, assessing. I gave him a slight nod. Meeting his friends meant stepping further into his world. Part of me wanted to run. A bigger part wanted to stay.
“What time?” he asked her.
“How about six? It will give me time to run to the store and get everything together.”
“Sounds good.” He leaned down and gave her a quick hug.
Ella gave me an apologetic look. “Um, I hate to be rude, but I need to talk to Ryker outside. I’ll see you tonight, Sloane.” She waved before they left the kitchen and went outside. The door clicked behind Ryker as they stepped onto the porch.
My mind sorted through what I already knew. Sebastian had lived with Ryker after he lost his parents, but I’d never pushed for details. The timing was never right, and I didn’t need the story to see what it had done to them. It made them brothers. Not by blood. By choice. By what they’d survived.
Ryker also hadn’t been alone the night he killed Mick. That monster. Two others had been with him. I was trained to read people. Movement. Micro-expressions. The little tells you can’t fake if you don’t know they’re there.
Ella gave me nothing, not even when she invited us to dinner. Maybe that was just her.
Or maybe she knew exactly what Ryker did when he wasn’t pretending to be normal.
Either way, dinner was about to get a lot more interesting.
Ryker came back a few minutes later, his shoulders tight as he stepped into the kitchen.
“Everything okay?” I asked. “It’s not my place, but you look … serious.”
“Yeah. It’s all good.”
Which meant: drop it.
“We’re going to your place today,” he said. “You need more clothes. I need to see the house.”
“Do I need to stay there after dinner tonight?”
He frowned. “No. I know Eli’s been there, but I want to look around myself. See what you’ve got on Nate and the rabbit, if you’re okay with that.” His gaze tracked past me, sharp and assessing. “And we’re probably repainting your bedroom.”
I blinked. “I didn’t even think about the paint. Even if Eli got most of it off, there’ll still be … traces.” My stomach turned. “I don’t love the idea of staring at a wall that had pig’s blood on it.”
He crossed to me and tipped my chin up. “I’ll paint it.” His voice was calm, final. “But you’re not going back alone. Understood?”
His protectiveness made my knees weak. “I won’t. Trust me, I’m not too excited about the idea that someone was in my house while I was there, and I had no idea.”
“Yeah. That shit doesn’t work for me either.” He backed up, took my hand, and led me to the bedroom. “What color do you want?”
“White is fine.”
“Really?” He squeezed my hand. “You never wanted something different growing up? Probably not, huh?”
I let out a breath. “I never stayed anywhere long enough to care what color the walls were. Nate and I moved a lot. My only goal was keeping us together. Not letting them split us up.”
A week with Ryker had given me things I’d never really had. Safety. Fun. Companionship. The kind I only let myself imagine for a second before I shoved the loneliness back into a dark corner.
Maybe what I was building with him would hold. Maybe it wouldn’t.
But I’d learned this much from bouncing house to house … take the good while it was there. Because it might change in the next hour.