THIRTY-TWO
Lisa
It was déjà vu when Lisa opened the door and saw Tomb on her doorstep.
“Not again!” she huffed. “I already know you guys lied your asses off. Ryan is fine.”
“Sorry about that, darling.” he looked contrite with a half-smile. Then that smile dropped. “Can you come to the clubhouse with me? Splice needs you.”
She blinked, concern changing her demeanor. “What’s wrong?”
“There’s been a situation, and he’s in a bad way emotionally. He needs you.”
That was all she had to hear. She raced inside to grab her house keys, not even bothering to change out of her PJ pants and comfy house cardigan she wore while working on putting subtitles on her current work project. She slipped on a pair of tennis shoes and locked up.
So far, she didn’t have any good memories attached to the brick building Tomb was parking in front of, and Lisa’s belly clenched with dread, but she was too wired, worried for Ryan, that she slipped down from the tall truck before it was fully stopped and waited for Tomb to open the coded door.
“Over there, Lisa.” he pointed to the far end of the room. She saw Ryan, dressed in his club colors, leather jacket included, slumped on the couch, his head back, staring at the ceiling. Unmoving.
Mouse and Reno were with him, and they looked around when they saw her speed-walking through the room.
“Thank fuck, Lisa is here.” Mouse declared. “He hasn’t spoken for hours,” he explained.
“Give Lisa some space with Splice,” Tomb said to the others, who jumped to their feet. “We’ll be over there, darling, if you need anything.”
Lisa didn’t even nod to acknowledge Tomb’s words; she crouched by Ryan and rubbed his knee. “Hey, sweet boy. What’s happening?”
He had never appeared so lifeless or so ashen to her before.
Tomb had kind of explained the situation on the drive, and she was sick to her stomach that Ryan had been hit with so many confessions at once. He must be devastated to know about Vince’s true self.
It was as if hearing her voice unlocked Ryan, and his head reared up from the back of the couch. He blinked, focusing on her face.
“Lisa...”
The devastated tone cracked her heart open, and she had one thought: to wrap her man up in so much love. She didn’t give a thought to how many men were around; she climbed to her feet, slipped onto his lap, and bundled Ryan into her arms.
“I’m here, baby. Right here with you.”
Ryan’s arms immediately wrapped around her waist, and he held her in a tight embrace.
“I have you. Breathe, okay?” She stroked Ryan’s hair, just holding him for as long as he needed.
Love wasn’t always about joy and desire.
It was the dark times and the sad moments that split you open.
It was about the person who was standing with you in that pain.
Love meant being present in another’s darkest moments, offering comfort and reassurance that they wouldn’t face their struggles alone, and sharing their pain for as long as necessary.
“I have you,” she whispered into his hair, “I love you, sweet boy.”
“Don’t let go yet.” She heard him mumble, and Lisa smiled.
“As if. You’re mine now.”
Over the hours, they remained glued to each other on that too-small couch, talking quietly. Lisa soothed her biker man as best as she could, using the only things she knew to use: her love and her arms around him.
His biker friends brought over drinks and food but gave them space.
She saw more than one of them looking over to check on their brother. She learned over those hours how closely bonded the men were, and she quickly came to appreciate them all for their deep care for Ryan.
Over more hours, he came back to himself.
“I love you,” he said, running a thumb over her lower lip.
She leaned in and kissed him this time, repeating the sentiment.
It would be love that got Ryan through these dark days ahead.
It would never be easy for him to digest the truth, to know his life would always be connected to Vince’s, but Lisa silently vowed she would fill Ryan up with extra love.
The swoony love, the obsessed love, the take care love, the can’t be away from you, love, the love that filled him to the surface and would make that hurt fade into the background of his life, eventually.
Love was a fantastic engine when used for the right reasons.
And Lisa, as she cuddled with her strong, brave man, knew love had brought them back together.
Fate and serendipity had worked in tandem to re-thread their lives together once more.
Only this time, she swore not one thread would ever fray around the edges again.
She was sticking with Ryan until the end of time, and even beyond.
Because as determined as Ryan had been to win her heart again, she was just as determined to keep him.
To keep him and make her sweet boy happy.
* * *
Lisa, still groggy, glanced at the clock. She groaned when she heard her phone ring, realizing it was 2 a.m. However, the moment her mind registered that it was Ryan calling, she answered right away.
“What’s up?”
“Sweetheart, it’s snowing. Meet me at the door.” He said, hanging up.
Her crazy, sweet man.
He was the only one who could call at two in the morning, after she’d been working her socks off until midnight, and tell her to come outside.
In an ankle-length granny-style nightie, she slipped on a pair of slippers, not caring that her hair was probably like a bird’s nest. Ryan liked how she looked, and yep, he was smiling when she opened the front door, though he had his own key.
She noticed him at first, of course; he was too gorgeous to ignore, but then she saw the fat snowflakes falling from the dark sky.
Outside her house was so still and white.
Sheer perfection, and she stepped out but shivered, remembering what little she was wearing.
But Ryan was already slipping out of his leather jacket, and he encouraged Lisa to put her arms in the holes.
He zipped the coat to her chin; she giggled when it swamped her smaller frame.
“How do I look?”
“Fucking gorgeous.”
“Flatterer. You’re lucky it’s snowing because I’m so tired.”
“I knew you wouldn’t want to miss it,” he smirked, much more like her sweet boy.
It had been a somber three weeks, and now it was the first week of the new year.
They quietly celebrated Ryan’s birthday on Christmas Day.
He attempted to ignore it, and she’d said, “Hell no!” She wanted to celebrate the man he was, so she’d baked him a lemon-frosted cake, knowing how to win her sweet-toothed biker around. He’d almost eaten the entire thing in two days.
They’d talked so much over those weeks, helping Ryan to heal.
He’d decided not to tell his mom what he’d learned, not wanting her to relive those dark days again.
All Tammie knew was that Vince had moved away.
Sure, she thought it was a little suss but ultimately accepted it.
What came in the future, they’d deal with together.
It was left to Ryan to sell the dealership, and he was donating all the proceeds to the local women’s shelter.
As she smiled and held out her hand to catch snowflakes, she noticed him pull out his phone, and then a slow song began playing.
“Dance with me in the snow, sweetheart,” he husked, holding out a hand until she put hers in his.
Carefree and so in love, Lisa danced with Ryan in her front yard, with her heart wide open to the biker who had not only pursued her with a single aim of owning her but did it so openly and honestly that she knew their life together would never have to deal with lies.
He was entirely sincere and pure for a bad boy.
The younger man’s energy was very real. Ryan walked like he were bathed in confidence. And because he loved her, she got a contact hit of that confidence being around his kind of energy.
As he twirled Lisa and dipped her under the streetlight, making her laugh, he was so captivating that she was crazily in love with him.
“This is exactly what I wished for on a bucket list I made ages ago,” she shared, and watched how Ryan smirked.
“I’ll tell you something about that one day, sweetheart,” he said, confusing Lisa, but she was having too much fun to ask what he meant.
This man made all her dreams come true and more.
He continued a bit later, when they were warm in the house, and Lisa was being railed at the end of the bed, her fists in Ryan’s hair, groaning his name as he hit a particular spot to turn her blind with pleasure.
She’d told him to get her out of her nightie when they came inside, and Ryan, being the wonderful man who could follow her orders to the letter, nearly tore the cotton off her and dropped to his knees to put his mouth between her legs.
Now he had one of her legs over his shoulder as he stood at the end of the bed, only half undressed because he was too impatient to fuck to get naked fully. She let go of his hair and arched back, watched his stomach muscles bunch up in those thick slabs, and her mouth watered.
“Harder, Ryan,” she instructed and saw his eyes flash.
There was nothing this biker man of hers liked more than being told what to do when it involved his cock.
He was so easy to please that it pleased her in return.
He groaned and slammed forward, burying those delicious inches to the depths of her.
Lisa would swear she could taste him in the back of her throat.
That might be the quick suck she’d had of him, though, before he got inside her.
Blinded by passion, he fucked her madly, meticulously, thrusting his hips up and down, hitting all the angles that turned Lisa into a raging, horny woman.
He talked her through her orgasm, using the filthiest, sexiest words. The praise made her orgasm radiate through every cell until she was nothing but sweaty skin and massive amounts of love left behind.
After Lisa’s shaking ceased, she felt Ryan shift his position. He then released her leg and moved between her thighs, pressing his mouth against the side of her neck.
“Baby. Sweetheart. My goddess, I fucking love you.”