Chapter Two
Ryker
“
R y guy, don’t do this to me,” Theo whines through the phone.
Fucking Theo and his stupid nicknames.
I honestly don’t know how we’re such good friends. We met in kindergarten and we’ve been best friends ever since, despite being complete opposites. Theo’s all sunshine and jokes, while I’m just not.
Don’t get me wrong, my life is great. I just don’t radiate sunshine like this fucking guy does.
Unless you account for my dad walking out on us when I was twelve and never looking back. That may be my issue. I have no idea where he is. Hell, I might even have siblings now. But I don’t care either way.
He left and he’s been dead to me since.
What kind of man walks out on his family? Because he was bored ? I remember my parents fighting when I was little and that was always his argument. My mother had no time for him. My mother worked too much. My mother wasn’t fun anymore. My mother loved me more than him.
Fuck him .
Fuck him for making my mother feel like less than she is. Fuck him for leaving us because we weren’t enough for him. Fuck him for ruining any desire I had to ever fall in love.
If my own blood could up and leave me, who’s to say someone else won’t? I’ve been left high and dry once. I’m not going through that shit again.
“Ry guy?” Theo drawls, reminding me he’s waiting for a response.
“I’m not going out tonight. Halloween is for children,” I mutter, erasing a line on my iPad from a sketch I’m working for a client that I’m tattooing on Tuesday.
“We’re all kids at heart really, aren’t we?” Theo chuckles to himself.
“Theo,” I groan, wanting to end this painful conversation. “You have lots of friends. Ask someone else.”
“But I want to ask my closest friend. C’mon, Ryker, come out with me for once.”
“I don’t have a costume,” I retort, shading in the scales on the koi fish that’s wrapped around a flower.
“Wear your baseball uniform from the team for all I care, just come,” he pleads. “Aurora will be there, and Cameron. Your new siblings-to-be.”
Great.
They’re nice, don’t get me wrong. But I’m not exactly looking to add more people into my life. I’d rather it just be me, my mom, Theo, and baseball. But my mom said yes to Aurora’s dad’s proposal, making us soon-to-be siblings once they get married next summer.
“And her friend Jasmine, who’s also my bestie now too. You’ll like her. She’s witty. Oh, and Camille will be there also,” he continues on as if her name didn’t make the digital pen fall from my hand and to the ground at the mention of it.
Camille .
The one woman in this world who stirs something in me. Annoyance for one because of her damn overly bubbly personality. But if I’m being honest, most of that annoyance comes from the fact that I think she’s the most striking thing to walk the earth.
I hate it, and her, for it. What business does she have being that fucking beautiful?
She also makes me fucking stressed. The moment I saw her at the gala last year, I nearly stopped breathing, not just because of how pretty she is, but because of the primal feeling that throttled my veins.
Something inside of me yearned to protect her. From what, I don’t know, yet I felt this overwhelming need to look out for her. It might be possessive and overprotective of me, but these are two things I can’t feed.
Because if I have something to protect, it also means I have something to lose.
I can’t control it when it comes to her, and it drives me fucking crazy. I haven’t slept with anyone since the gala last year because every time I even consider it, I see her in my mind.
Then I saw her at that club a few weeks ago, and I nearly lost it when that guy put his hands on her, even more so when she reacted the way she did. The minute her eyes widened, her skin paled, and her spine went ramrod straight, I knew I had to step in.
Maybe it’s the glacial, nearly silver hue of her eyes, the dimples in her cheeks, or the silky champagne hair that I want so badly to run my fingers through.
There’s something vulnerable about her that I’m drawn to. She comes off like the sun radiates through her, yet I can see something more beneath the surface. And I want to dig through her barriers until I find out what it is and hurt whoever is responsible for it.
After our time outside the club, I found myself wanting things I couldn’t have. Things I know I shouldn’t want. Like pushing her up against a wall and kissing the hell out of her. Or spreading her thighs, lifting her skirt, and tasting what I know will be heaven. Even simply feeling her arms around my waist while she sits on the back of my bike.
I went for a long ride on my bike once I saw her walk back in to meet Jasmine, needing to clear my head.
I don’t believe in that fairytale crap. And she’s too good for me.
It’s what I told myself over and over again on that ride, promising myself I’d let the rush of unwarranted feelings go. They’re temporary. That’s all.
Yeah, right , my mind chimes in.
It’s been two weeks since that night, and as much as I try to ignore it, I keep thinking of her. Wondering what she’s doing or if I’ll run into her again. I truly don’t know anything about her, other than her name, that she speaks French, and that she likes baseball.
Spring training is so damn far away, but maybe that’s what I need. More time for these persistent thoughts of her to fade. Because they will. There’s no reason they shouldn’t.
Or maybe I need to see her again, scratch the itch, and see if it goes away.
At least, it’s what I tell myself when I tell Theo I’ll meet him there later.
Why the fuck I agreed to come out tonight is slowly fading from memory. There are people everywhere at Beers n Cheers, making it more overcrowded than usual. Don’t even get me started on the costumes.
There’s not a single original one in sight.
I lift a bottle of beer to my lips, savoring the crisp orange flavor on my tongue. Theo and I have been sitting at a high-top table for the last hour, waiting for his friends to arrive .
We’ve actually been having a good time, catching up on our lives and all things sports. But with each minute that passes, I get more and more agitated. Do I really need to be spending the night with her when I already can’t stop thinking about her?
As if on cue, Camille enters the bar. I barely register anything around me once I see her costume. She’s dressed as a mermaid—correction, she’s dressed as the sexiest fucking mermaid I’ve ever seen.
Her bikini top is shaped like starfish, a pale pink that meshes with the iridescent blue scales on her long skirt. There are pearls wrapped around her neck, and it nearly undoes me.
Because I’d rather give her a different kind of pearl necklace.
I shoot up from the table, startling Theo before he can grab her attention. “I need to go. My mom needs help at the house.”
Theo’s widespread grin fades, a pout on his lips. “Dang it, Mama Lewis!”
I eye him, my eyebrow perched. “Watch it.”
Theo holds his hands up in defense. “You know I’m joking. I love your mama. Go help her out and tell her that her favorite son says hello.”
My lips twitch at his long-time running joke. “Not likely. Have fun tonight,” I tell him, then escape from the bar without having her spot me.
The cool rush of October wind hits me in the face as I step outside. I only had a sip of my beer, so I’d be fine to ride my bike home, but I find myself hesitating.
Suddenly, the idea of leaving her here at the bar filled with all these fucking people makes my skin crawl. I know she’ll be with her friends, but something urges me to stay.
I tilt my head toward the black sky and focus on the few stars poking out from the drifting gray clouds. I release a breath up into the air, trying to fight this goddamn pull I feel toward her.
A group of guys exit the bar and huddles in the smokers’ area, lighting up as they begin chatting. “Hey, did you guys see the blondie little mermaid in there?” one of them coughs over his exhale of smoke.
My head snaps their way instantly, knowing exactly who they’re talking about.
“I call dibs,” another pipes up, a disgusting smirk on his face.
My blood boils, my chest heavy as anger pumps itself in every crevice of my body. “Don’t even fucking think about it,” I growl, loud enough for them to hear as I near the entrance.
Looks like I’m staying now.
“You don’t look like her Prince Eric.” One laughs before taking a hit.
I ignore the dipshit and enter the bar. I look at where Theo and I sat but don’t see them there. My eyes trail around the bar until I find Theo and Camille at a table to the far right side. So I stay on the left side and out of sight, but just enough that I can still keep an eye on their table while I nurse a beer.
Eventually, Camille and her friends make their way to the washroom. When they’re gone for what feels like too long, I decide to take a trip there myself just to make sure they’re all okay. I’m just rounding the corner when I see them.
My eyes instantly find Camille’s, while desire fuels my veins as I look at her. Fuck, she’s so pretty. Her cheeks flush as we continue to stare at one another, but Aurora interrupts the spell.
“Hey, Ryker, how’s it going?” she asks hopefully. She’s been trying to bond with me for a while now, and I gotta give the girl credit. She doesn’t stop trying.
“Fine. You?” I respond, my tone clipped.
“Jeez, still grumpy as ever. I’ll get you to smile one day.”
“Don’t count on it.”
“Maybe you need to get laid, loosen up a bit,” she suggests with that no-filter mouth of hers .
I see Camille stiffen from the corner of my eye, and I find that interesting . Is she as attracted to me as I am to her? Fuck, maybe we could get rid of the itch together. One time and be done.
But I knew deep down that one time wouldn’t be enough for me.
I focus back on the conversation at hand, needing to get away from that line of thinking, and narrow my eyebrows at Aurora. “I’m going to forget this conversation happened,” I mutter, walking past them and into the bathroom.
I grip the sink while taking deep breaths, needing to calm the hell down. Maybe that’s what I need, to get laid. Aurora might be right.
But as soon as I entertain the idea, the only person my cock gets excited for is Camille. Nobody else appeals to me right now. Jesus fuck.
I splash some cold water on my face before looking at myself in the mirror.
I’m stronger than this. Physical desires can fade, and I can control them. She doesn’t need me to watch out for her. She’s been fine all her years here, and she’ll continue to be fine without me lurking in the shadows because of some damn craving I feel to be near her.
It’s then that I make the decision to abstain from any contact with her. I don’t see her around as it is, but I’m not going to go out of my way to try to see her like I did tonight.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from watching fairytales with my mom, it’s that every character has a weakness that pulls them in a different direction. And I fear she could be mine.
There’s no such thing as fairytales in real life, but I’m going to stay away just to be safe. Because I’ve been burned once, and I’m still figuring out the remedy.