Chapter 12
Jordan
My life used to be so simple and easy. I went to work, hung out with my family, and hung out with my best friend and her kids. That was it. Now my insides were all twisted around like a pretzel.
Three days had passed since Ricochet had claimed that he wanted me.
I’d been busy with work and hadn’t seen much of Gwen, let alone her brother.
We’d gotten a call from a concerned citizen about a hawk out near Three Points.
Dad and I had gone out—we were rehabilitators on top of being falconers—and we’d found an injured Red-Tailed Hawk, caught up in some netting.
I’d offered to take the night watch since we weren’t sure if she was going to succumb to her injuries or not. This morning she had started taking food and acting normal, it showed she was finally out of the woods.
Yawning, I hit my blinker, waiting for traffic to pass as I pulled into the parking lot for the local school. It was only an elementary school. Once the kids got old enough Gwen would have to find them a high school inside the city.
I got out of my car and stretched. Gwen had texted me that morning that Sean had a city league soccer game and wanted to see if I could make it.
The school season wouldn’t start until late spring, but the parents liked to get the kids together before that to keep them busy.
The city league teams allowed kids to show up as they had time and was almost like a large pick up game each time.
It worked out really well, especially for overworked parents who had energetic kids at home.
We’d been friends for long enough that I was basically her kids’ honorary aunt. That’s why it’d surprised me that I hadn’t met her brother before now. She’d only ever mentioned that he’d been busy and hadn’t been able to visit much in the last few years.
Now that I’d met him and he’d said those things to me—my core tightened as I remembered him talking about fucking me—I wanted to know everything about him. To know everything, but also to run away. My emotions were all balled up and hard to untangle when it came to him.
“Jordan!” Gwen waved at me from her seat in the stands.
I made my way up and plopped down next to her. “Hey.”
“Hey.” She studied me for a moment. “You look exhausted.”
“I’ve been pulling night shifts, but I did a double and worked my day shift today as usual so that I can get back into the normal swing of things.”
“That sounds awful,” she said.
I told her about the injured bird and smiled when she gave me a worried look. My friend had the softest heart. It was why she’d become a vet tech herself. She loved helping animals. She gave friendship and love to any in need. “She’s going to be just fine,” I reassured her before she could ask.
“You didn’t have to come,” Gwen said, eyes still worried. “You should be home resting.”
“This is going to be so much better,” I told her. The kids ran out onto the field and I let out a giant whoop.
Sean’s strides stuttered and he looked up into the stands. His grin was easy to see even from up here. He waved at me and then continued on, getting in line to warm up.
“He seems better,” I commented.
Gwen sighed. “I told Trent if he couldn’t treat his children with respect he could just fuck right off.”
My eyes widened and I turned to her, mouth hanging open. She laughed at the look on my face, but I couldn’t help it. “You actually said that?”
“Damn right I did.”
“Go mama bear,” I told her with a wicked smile. “He was totally out of line with the way he was treating Sean.”
“And Gage,” she added. “He isn’t welcome in my home if that’s how he’s going to treat family.”
“How did he take it?”
“About as well as you’d expect.” She gave me a sour look. “First he screamed, then he whined. I really don’t know what I ever saw in him.”
“It’s never easy trying to see into the heart of a person,” I replied, watching as the kids ran around on the field. “Some people are really good at hiding who they are. They isolate you, without you even realizing it, and then one day… Bam. They reveal the dickhead they’ve been hiding.”
Gwen’s brows rose. “Is this about Trent or Dan?”
My lip curled in disgust as she mentioned my ex’s name. “Either. Both. Just people in general. Girls can be dickheads, too,” I defended when she gave me a bemused look.
“That’s true enough.” Gwen gave a thumbs up when Sean looked up to see if we’d seen him kick the ball.
He grinned, then looked around the stands. His face fell, but one of his teammates called out his name, distracting him. The game was about to start.
“Gage is late,” Gwen said with a sigh.
“Was that what the long face was about?” I asked. Inwardly, I scolded my heart which was bouncing around inside my chest at the mere mention that Ricochet was going to be here.
“Yeah. Trent was always promising to come to one thing or another and never made it. Sean can be a bit sensitive to being lied to now.”
“Can’t blame him.”
“I didn’t want to miss the kick off, so I asked Gage to pick up Grace from pre-school. Hopefully everything is okay.” Gwen frowned down at her cellphone, as if giving it a probing look would force it to reveal a text from her brother that it had been hiding.
The game had only been going for a few minutes when the rumbling sound of a motorcycle echoed through the air. Everyone in the stands turned to look as Ricochet parked his bike in a spot up front. He reached behind him and held Grace’s hand as she scrambled off the huge Harley.
“Oh my-” a woman sitting in front of us said. She and her friend looked at each other with wide eyed looks.
A quick glance around the bleachers showed all the soccer moms gaping in his direction. I bit the insides of my lips to keep from laughing at their reactions. It was warranted. Ricochet grabbed Grace’s pink My Little Pony backpack and held it as they walked over toward the bleachers.
He was in his usual jeans, t-shirt, leather cut, and boots, but he wore it so damn well.
My mouth dried out just watching him protectively eye his niece while she maneuvered the stands.
His hand was out in case he needed to catch her should she fall.
My heart melted in my chest. I was positive every other woman’s was doing the same.
“Ladies,” he rumbled out as he climbed up behind Grace. He was oblivious to the hungry eyes following his every move. No, those pale blue eyes were too busy latching onto me. My heart sighed, my libido rejoiced. The tiny part of me that was conflicted only grew more worried.
Quickly looking away from him, I caught a dirty look from one of the mothers sitting nearby. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t thrilled when he chose to sit next to me, his shoulder brushing mine. Grace took a seat on his other side.
Gwen leaned around me and glared at her family. “What? No one wants to sit next to me?”
They just gave her matching smiles and it hit me how much Grace and Sean looked like Ricochet. Which made sense, since he was Gwen’s twin, but that devilish look the kids got all the time? That was one hundred percent gifted to them by the tattoo-covered hunk sitting next to me.
I stared down at the field, trying to ignore him. The scent of leather and some kind of spice I couldn’t identify hit me and I had to fight back the urge to rub against him like a cat.
“Where have you been?”
Looking over, I met his gaze. “Huh?”
“You haven’t been home the last few nights.” There was something dark and dangerous there in the blue depths that had me swallowing hard.
“That’s none of your business.” I didn’t know why I wasn’t telling him about the bird. The way he had asked just rubbed me the wrong way.
Let him rub you the right way then.
I had to mentally slap my inner hussy down. The way he was watching me right now, like a hawk eyeing a rabbit, made me squirm on the hard metal bench.
“Not sure you quite understood what I was telling you the other day,” he replied, keeping his voice low so Grace didn’t overhear.
“What? You mean about you wanting me to be your old lady?” I shrugged. “Nowhere in there did I hear you ask me to go out with you,” I reminded him. “And I didn’t agree to anything.”
“I don’t need you to agree, I've already claimed you.” His eyes narrowed. “Where have you been the last two nights, Jordan?”
His words came out as a growl and loud enough that everyone sitting around us was now watching us. Gwen’s eyes were wide as she looked between her brother and me. There was a half-smile on her face, like she couldn’t believe he was acting like this, but it obviously delighted her that he was.
“I already told you, it’s none of your-” I swallowed the rest of the words and let out a little squeal as he stood, jerked me out of my seat, and then my world tilted on its axis.
I twisted so that I was staring at Gwen and Grace’s shocked faces—not to mention everyone else’s—as this barbarian carried me down the bleachers over his shoulder.
My embarrassment didn’t allow me to pound my fists against his back, though I very much wanted to.
Self-preservation also kicked in and had me holding still so he didn’t drop me.
I wasn’t a tiny woman. It took effort to carry me like a sack of potatoes, though he didn’t seem to be struggling.
“What is wrong with you?” I hissed at him as he cleared the stands and walked away toward a few trees back behind the field.
“I asked you a question. You didn’t seem to want to talk about it in front of others, so I took care of that.” There was amusement in his tone.
“You think this is funny? Those women are going to be gossiping about this for weeks.” I wasn’t sure if it was self-consciousness or hanging upside down that was causing my cheeks to heat.
“Let ‘em.” He gently bent forward and placed me on my feet near one of the large mesquite trees.
I slapped at his hand when he reached out to steady me. “Don’t touch me. You’re an asshole.”
His grin was fast and sharp. “Tell me something I don’t know.” He cocked his head. “Like where you were the last few nights.”
“Oh my God!” I glared at him as I swiped at my hair, running my fingers through it to comb the tangles out of it. “You’re relentless.”
“I know.”
Placing my hands on my hips, I scowled at him. “I had to work.”
He glowered right back at me. “Where do you work that you have to be out all night?”
I sighed and shook my head. This hadn’t needed to go this far, but I never would have imagined that he’d do something crazy like cart me off in front of a whole group of people. “I work at The Arizona Wildlife Sanctuary.”
“Last time I checked, visiting hours ended at ten p.m.”
Giving him a look of bewilderment, I tried to sort through my emotions.
I’d never had a man act so…jealous over me before.
A tiny buzz raced over my skin at knowing he was being this way because he thought I’d been shacking up with some other guy.
Another part of me was angry that he thought he could behave this way toward me.
He didn’t have the right to question me.
It didn’t matter that he was claiming me.
I’d never agreed to anything. “I told you. I don’t do one night stands. ”
“Who said anything about one night? I’m just making sure you know who you belong to now.”
Pure shock held me still. “Do you even hear yourself when you speak?” I asked.
He chuckled. “You’ll get used to it.” He purred the words out, a promise more than anything. He stepped closer to me, forcing me to back away.
“Go away. I’m mad at you, Ricochet.”
“Never going to happen.”
My back hit the trunk of the mesquite tree and I looked up into his triumphant eyes. I was in so far over my head with this man. And I couldn’t get enough.