Chapter 18 #2
My hands go to his wet locks, and my fingers fist as my eyes roll to the back of my head. My release slams into me, causing my knee to buckle. Ryder was quick to grab my hip to keep me from falling. I had no time to recover from my orgasm before he flipped me onto my knees on the shower floor.
“Did you like it when he fucked you?” He growled, and the rumble from his chest was felt through the floor.
His question threw me so off guard that I had no idea how to answer it. How in the hell did he find out about that? I had liked it, but right now doesn’t seem like the time to say that. Does he also know I was a virgin before that? Oh God.
He lays his palm on my back, right above my ass, and pushes me down until my chest and face are flat against the floor.
“I told you I find out about everything.” Was he reading my mind?
How in the fuck? I’m still too breathless from my orgasm to try arguing.
A hard slap across my ass cheek makes me gasp.
“That’s for fucking Hayden. Everything else I could get over, but that?
” He growls again, and for some fucked up reason my pussy clenches at the sound. “He’s my brother.” He snarls.
“I’m sorry,” I pant breathlessly as a lone tear falls from my eye, rolling across the bridge of my nose.
I am sorry for hurting him like that. Hayden hadn’t known I was talking to Ryder at that time, but would he have taken me into that closet if he had known?
A sticky, dirty feeling coats my skin, a feeling that can’t be washed off. Did I ruin their relationship?
He lines the head of his cock to my entrance and rubs it over my sensitive clit, making me jerk.
He gives no warning before slamming into me, and I cry out.
He’s so thick, too thick and long. Just when I think I can’t take it anymore, the pain fades and is replaced by pleasure, and my cries of pain turn into moans.
“Fuuuck,” I moan as his cock hits that perfect spot, making my eyes roll.
“You’re mine now, nobody else touches you,” He grits through clenched teeth.
It’s not in my blood not to talk back. I’m a mouthy bitch, and now is no different. “Or what?” I dare.
The hand on my hip tightens before he releases it and quickly wraps it around my throat, pulling me off the floor until my back is to his front. His breath tickles my ear as he whispers, “Or I’ll kill them.”
The gulp I took went nowhere with his hand wrapped around my throat.
I try to speak, but his hand tightens on my throat, cutting off my air.
My pussy clenches around him, earning me a groan.
Those tingles erupt low in my belly, and my head falls back against his chest as the wave of another orgasm washes over me.
Ryder grunts, and his pace slows as he finishes inside me.
He releases my throat, leaving me lying limp on the floor. I gulp in air as my vision returns to me. I have never felt something like that, but I most definitely need that again. Ryder’s fist is planted beside my face, and I eye the protruding veins in his hand and wrist.
“We should probably get going,” He sounds almost as breathless as I do, except he wasn’t just restricted of air.
“Yeah.”
Ryder’s the first out, and I continue to lie on my back on the floor after almost having the life fucked out of me. I watch Ryder dry off, and Lord help me, because I want to lick every drop of water off his body.
“Keep eyeing me like that, and we’ll never leave this room.” He says, and my eyes snap to his. “As much as I’d love to fuck the life out of you right now, we have to take care of business at home.”
Home. It feels right calling Ryder’s house home, and I don’t understand why. He wraps the towel loosely around his hips and stretches out his hand to help me up. After Ryder dried me off, I looked around for the clothes I had taken off before the shower and didn’t find them.
“I had these dropped off earlier for you.” He holds up a grocery bag with things inside. I slowly take it and open it up, finding a pair of leggings, a T-shirt, and a pack of underwear—all my size and style.
“Thank you,” I say, voice low. My heart is really starting to change towards Ryder, and I can’t let that happen.
At some point, he had dressed in black jeans and a fitted white T-shirt. “No thanks is necessary. You needed them.” My mouth runs dry at the sight of his lean, muscular form stretching that shirt past its limits.
“Okay,” I say slowly. “Then, shall we get going?” I hooked my thumb over my shoulder towards the door.
He glances at his phone, “We have ten minutes before the crew loads up. I need to talk to you before we leave. There’s a lot I need to fill you in on, since I guess now you’re one of us.”
He waves me over and taps the bed beside him, so I walk over suspiciously and sit. Bending forward to sit, I wince at the pain in my side. Rough sex did not help me in any way.
“You okay?” His face pinched with worry. He didn’t seem all that worried when he had me bent over… Nevermind. Don’t go there, Kelsey. The last thing I need is to get all hot and bothered again.
“Yeah,” I answer shortly.
“Do you need something more for pain?”
“I’m okay. Really.”
He nods, clearly not buying my bullshit. But I guess he figures it’s no use arguing over.
Ryder tells me all about his childhood and how his parents were always gone, leaving only money for Ryder to support himself and Jessie.
Which makes complete sense now and explains why their parents are never seen or mentioned.
My heart aches for them, and I want to wrap them both in a huge hug, even though I’m far from the hugging type.
“So, when I was sixteen, I took it upon myself to start. At first, it was small, and we would bet a couple of hundred dollars. After a while, I saved up for my first car, a used Jag. It took a little TLC, but she turned out to be the best on the strip.” He smiles as he drifts off into his memories. “I still have that car.”
“So, how did all that lead up to whatever mess you’re in now?” I ask.
“I’m getting there, I promise.” He assures.
“So, eventually, I got requests from the big-time street racers. Emailing me asking when they can compete and making bets. The first offer I accepted came from a group in Venezuela known as the Vipers. They placed a half-million-dollar bet, which blew my sixteen-year-old mind at the time.” He snorts, and a slight curve graces his perfect lips.
“It sounds like a mafia,” I presume.
“Kind of is, when you think about it.” His confirmation of that assumption has my nerves drawn tight. What the fuck have I gotten myself into? I think I’ve asked myself that question more times this week than ever.
“How’d you know it was legit?” Surely a sixteen-year-old wasn’t out here meeting random mafia-like strangers for a supposed large sum of money.
“I didn’t.” He says dryly, his face etched in all seriousness now.
“I bought my first gun the next night and had Hayden go with me to the strip. I won that race hands down, and the Vipers were pissed, but they kept making bets, and I kept accepting and winning every race. To this day, I haven’t lost a single one, and that’s how we got where we are today.
We now have four consistent competitors that we race twice a month. ”
“But… How is this dangerous? Like, for me? I don’t understand.” What he’s saying is a cool story and all, but none of it answers how I got abducted and damn near killed. I was fucking shot, and thank God it was only a graze.
He nods his head, pulling his lower lip between his teeth. “Yeah, I’m getting there.” He says with a grimace.
“So, I mentioned the Vipers and how they were pissed about losing. Well, they are constantly placing higher and higher bets. I have always wondered how they can place those types of bets and always lose.” He waves his hand, changing the subject.
“Anyway, they accuse us—also known as RAGE—of somehow cheating the races and stealing their money.”
“Wait, wait…” I blink quickly, trying to process this all. “RAGE?”
He looks at me, nods slowly, “Yes, that’s what my organization, or what you like to call it, mafia, is called. It’s my team. All these people you’ve met. The security, the medics, Jessie, Hayden,” He holds up fingers as he goes down the list. “Teegan, whom you’ve not met yet, but will soon enough.”
“Who’s Teegan?”
“Think of him as the jack of all trades. Without him, it would have taken me even longer to get to you.” He inhales sharply, “I owe him majorly.”
I can’t think of anything else to say, besides, “Wow.” With wide eyes.
His smirk is back, only briefly, before he continues. “Back to the Vipers. They have a grudge against me, and I think that’s why they took you, but…” His brows pinch in thought. “Evidently, we have a snake within the team, and I will have to lure them out somehow.”
So, the guys who took me were the Vipers. Good to know. “You think that’s how they knew to get to me? But why me?”
“Somehow, they knew you were important to me. I still have my suspicions on that, though.”
My lips flatten into a tight smile. What’s that supposed to mean?
I’m not important to him, or I am? Why is that where my thoughts went, anyway?
That’s not even important right now, Kelsey.
The man literally killed people to get to me.
Obviously, I mean something to him, or it was Jessie threatening his balls like she did Hayden’s.
“You didn’t happen to recognize anyone there, did you?”
His question catches me entirely off guard.
Pursing my lips, I decide whether I should tell him about Lilith or not.
I mean, I only remember her from a very brief encounter with my parents.
So, technically, it doesn’t count, but I did recognize the guys from the bar that night with Hayden.
“No, but I recognized those guys from the bar. Alejandro, I think was his name.” I half lied.
Disappointment flashes briefly through his green eyes.
Does he know I’m lying? How would he, though?
“You’re sure?” He prods.
I swallow and nod my head yes.
“Okay.” He smiles, but it’s not a real one. He knows I’m lying, but I can’t seem to bring myself to tell him about Lilith.
His hand comes up too quickly, causing me to flinch, anticipating the smack, but none comes. I shouldn’t worry about that with Ryder, my gut tells me he’d never physically harm me. He only brushes a loose strand of hair over my shoulder.
His face hardens, noticing my reaction. “I’d never hit you, you know that, right?”
Snapping my gaze to my lap, I nod softly. He hooks a finger under my chin, forcing my eyes back to him. “They’ll all pay for what they did to you.” He promises, and I believe him.
His phone dings with an incoming text, and it makes me wonder, “Where’s my phone? It was in my pocket when I tried escaping back at the house, but I guess they took it.”
He thinks for a moment, “I can see if Teegan can hack and track it, but I’ll have a new phone ready for you in the meantime.
” He stands, offering me his hand, and I lay mine in his warm, calloused palm.
“But it’s time for us to head home with our cargo.
” He winks, flashing a full grin that makes my thighs clench.
This man does things to me, but I need to keep my distance as much as possible.
“Cargo?” What an odd thing to say, surely he isn’t referring to me.
“Graves and Rocky.” He says nonchalantly, like they’re nobodies. I mean, they are, but they’re also people who stole bits and pieces from me. Pieces I’ll likely never get back, and for that, I want to put them through Hell myself.
I look up at Ryder, tracing the sharp edges of his jaw where his stubble is growing out into a short beard. I fully turn to face him, “Can I see them, like after you have them tied up and whatnot?”
His brow lifts, and amusement glistens in those leafy-green, gold-flecked eyes. I had never really noticed the gold in them before. They’re absolutely stunning.
“Does my girl have an interest in violence?” He says teasingly.
“Yes.” I deadpan.
I can tell my response has taken him aback by the way his head jerks. He tilts it slightly, as if studying me. “We can make that happen, just for you.” Then he’s catching me off guard when he leans in and presses the softest kiss to my temple.
“I’ve been wanting to do that since I got to you yesterday.”
My eyes sting, but I blink it away.
I clear my throat, “Why didn’t you?”
He shrugs, “I don’t know.” His brows pinch, “I guess I wanted to wait for you to be awake and remember it.”