by Hope Stone
I knew the voice before I even turned around.
“Ryder!” I swung around to face him.
“Paige.” He was looking down at me and I couldn’t help but notice those damn eyelashes again.
“I didn’t hear your bike.”
“I’m in my car.” He nodded to a VW Bug that was hooked up to a pump.
“You drive a Bug?” That just didn’t compute.
“It’s going to be my sister’s in a month or so when she gets her license. I could only afford one car and I let her pick it out.”
I was listening but I was also very aware of how close he was standing to me. He smelled like leather, coffee, and…pie? It was almost enough to make me forget about my car.
“Do you have the number?”
For a second I was confused. Was he giving me his number? Did I miss something?
“What?”
“The number to the tow company.” He gestured to the sign that was on a pole right near where I’d left my car. “Aloha Towing Company.”
“Oh. Right.” I punched in the number and spoke to the guy. They had my car, but the impound yard was closed for the night. I was going to have to wait until the morning to get the car.
Ryder had gone back over to his car to finish getting gas, so I walked over to where he was.
“Thanks,” I said. “You were right. They have my car.”
He stood there staring at me for what felt like a full minute. Then he asked, “How are you getting home?”
“I’ll take an Uber or something.”
“Where do you live?”
“Banner Manor.”
His face registered surprise. “You live there? How did you end up there?”
“It’s kind of a long story. Why?”
“I’ll give you a ride home.” He nodded to the car. “Get in.”
“No, really. I’m fine.” I didn’t appreciate the way he was ordering me around.
“Seriously. Paige. I insist. That is no neighborhood for you to be alone in at night.”
“Ryder, look. I appreciate your concern. But it’s really…”
“Get in the damn car, Paige.” It came out more like a growl than a sentence.
I did as he said. It was only a couple of miles and I’d rather save the Uber money. “Okay. Thanks.”
I slid in the front seat and noticed the evidence of a teenage girl everywhere. There were magazines and empty Starbucks cups, hair ties and empty candy bar wrappers. Ryder didn’t look like he ate too many candy bars. He was all muscle.
“So your sister is sixteen?” I asked, making conversation.
His jaw was clenched pretty tightly, but he said, “Sixteen going on twenty-one.”
“My sister is sixteen, too. I definitely get that.” I kept stealing looks at Ryder as we drove. His profile was strong and the angles of his face were incredibly masculine. His broad hands had long fingers, and there was a jade ring on his right ring finger. He tapped the steering wheel impatiently, as if he were in a hurry to drop me off.
It took less than five minutes for us to pull up in front of my apartment complex. I started to open the door when he grabbed my arm. He leaned in really close and I could smell him. The scent went through my skin and my heart started pounding. He was silent for a moment and for a second I thought he was going to kiss me. But he released my arm instead.
His voice was raspy as he spoke. “What are you doing, Paige?” The words came out like an accusation.
“I’m going into my apartment.” I wasn’t sure what he meant.
“No. I mean here. In La Playa. What are you doing here?”
“I’m just…living here.”
“You shouldn’t be here. You’re too…good for this place.” He nodded toward the big red doors. “This is not a safe place for a woman like you. I saw you yesterday at the bar. Talking to Padre. You’re playing with fire, Paige. Go back to where you came from.”
I couldn’t believe he was saying these things to me! “Look, Ryder. I know I look soft but I’m not. I went to school in one of the roughest parts of LA. I worked at a free clinic in Terrance. I’m not some innocent thing that needs to be protected, okay? I came to La Playa so I could make a difference, and I’m not leaving until I do.” I yanked free from his grasp and opened the car door. “Thanks for the ride and the advice, but I can take care of myself.”
“Fine. Suit yourself.” Ryder put the car in gear. “Just don’t say you weren’t warned.” As soon as the door shut, he sped off into the night.
Ryder
Even though I drove away, I pulled over to make sure Paige got inside okay. Banner Manor was not the kind of place a woman like her should be living alone. It was filled with druggies and criminals. And not the kind that were a member of an MC, either. At least we had loyalty and some moral values—even if most folks didn’t agree with them. We lived by a code of honor.
But the kind of people that lived at Banner Manor? Those were the ones who didn’t have any code and they had no problem doing whatever they needed to do to benefit themselves.
As soon as I saw the light in her apartment turn on and I could see her shadow moving across the window, I pulled out from the curb and made my way home.
I passed by the Blue Dog and thought about stopping in. But I had groceries in the car and I didn’t want to have coffee. I was mad at myself for getting so close to kissing Paige earlier. For the first time in a long time, I wished I had the mind-numbing effect that alcohol would provide. Except I didn’t drink, and alcohol would probably only make it worse. That woman was getting under my skin.
I’d love to get under her skin, too…
Passing by the shop, I noticed a light on. Padre was probably working late, doing the books or something. There were only two bikes in the lot—his and one I didn’t recognize. He’d been acting kind of weird lately, and if I didn’t know the guy so well I’d think he could be fucking around on his wife or something.
What he did in the bedroom was none of my business, though, and so I turned the corner to head home. Lily’s Chunky Monkey ice cream was probably melted already and I needed to get it in the freezer before it was completely ruined.
Lily wasn’t home when I got there, so I turned on Cops while I put away the groceries. I sure the hell hoped she wasn’t with Scorpion again, but I bet she was. I couldn’t stand the guy or anything he represented. But it was partly my fault that she was attracted to a guy prospecting with an MC. After all, I’d been the one who brought this world into her life.
Nonetheless, she was in danger and I was torn as to how to handle it. On the one hand, I wasn’t our dad, and I couldn’t exactly lay down the law like he would have. He’d have locked her in her room or something. I honestly didn’t know, but it would have been some parental way of handling it that wasn’t my style.
I was her brother, and even though I was the one in charge and had basically raised her, we didn’t have that kind of relationship.
On the other hand, the Las Balas were scary. I wasn’t scared of them, of course. But Lily should be scared, and she wasn’t. That was what scared me. If I pushed her away by being too controlling, it would only draw her in closer to the Las Balas.
The story about Annie being kidnapped and killed had zero effect. Lily was still playing with fire, and it was just a matter of time before we all got burned. I had to find another way to get through to her—I just didn’t know what it was yet.
Cracking the top off of a non-alcoholic beer, I went to sit down and watch the show. Part of me wished I could just command her to stop seeing Scorpion. But if there’s one thing true about a teenage girl, it’s that they don’t like being told what to do.
Maybe it was time to take matters into my own hands.
“Here. Put it in your hand. Like this.” She was facing away from me, and the cascade of blond hair fell to the middle of her back like one of those smooth water fountains. She was standing so close to me that her ass was pressing up against my thighs, and I w
as sure she could feel my raging hard-on. She had to know the effect she had on me.
I took her hair in my hands as she suggested and looped the silky strands around my palm. Gently but firmly, I pulled her head back so it was pressing into my chest. Her entire body was pressed against me as I leaned down to smell her.
“You’re not going to be able to make a ponytail if you have me pulled so close.” She was smiling and looking up at me, still facing forward.
I wasn’t thinking about putting her hair in a ponytail. All I could think about was getting my cock inside of her. I knew it would be as soft and smooth as her hair.
I growled in response, and I swear to God the woman pressed her ass into me even more. Dropping her hair, I snaked both hands around her front and grabbed her breasts. Her nipples were thick and pressed through the thin material of the T-shirt she was wearing. She obviously wasn’t wearing a bra, and so I slid both hands under her shirt and made my way up to those perfect breasts.
She leaned her head back into my chest and moaned in pleasure. Her legs spread open a bit and I took the cue. I slid my right hand down her belly and inside the waistband of her jeans. If she was wearing panties, the fabric was so thin I couldn’t feel it.
My cock was straining to get out of its confinement as my fingers explored her soft wetness. My index finger found its way to her sensitive clit and I began playing her body like an instrument. She was moaning and pressing into me, and it was just a matter of time before she asked me to do what I’d been waiting all night to do.
“Can you open this for me? The lid is frozen shut.”
My eyes flew open and I realized that I wasn’t with Paige. I was on my couch, thankfully covered with a blanket as Lily stood over me holding the ice cream container. The eleven o'clock news was on and I must have fallen asleep.
“Ryder?”
As I took the ice cream from her, I was dazed and a little annoyed. If I couldn’t have Paige in real life, at least let me have her in my dreams...
Paige
It had been about a week since my car had been towed and I was lying in bed trying to sleep, but my irritation and anger were growing by the minute.
I know people like to have friends over on the weekends. I get that you want to have a party now and then. But this was ridiculous. My neighbors treated this apartment complex like it was some kind of nightclub on the weekends. Ubers and Lyfts pulling in and out at all hours of the night. People walking up and down the hall outside my apartment, laughing and talking in full voice—not even attempting to be quiet. Many nights this went on until 3am, and it had been happening every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night since I moved in.
I’d tried calling the property management company and they never even called back. I called the cops who said they would “send someone out.” No one came. I would go and talk to them myself, but after what everyone had said about this neighborhood, frankly I was a little afraid to confront them.
So instead, I lay here at 1:00 in the morning listening to some chick puke on the sidewalk below and her friend telling her that she needed food and they should go to Tiny’s. I didn’t have the energy to tell them that Tiny’s was closed. I’d closed it myself when I left work earlier.
Angrily rolling over, I grabbed my phone to check Facebook or something until I could sleep. Before I got the chance, though, it rang. As soon as I saw the name and face on my caller ID, my heart froze. It was Bailey. Why the hell was she calling me at 1:00 am?
“Bail? Is everything okay?” My heart was pounding in my ears. What if it were something with Mom or Dad?
“Paiggggee.” I heard a lot of laughing and loud music. “Can you hear me?”
Unless Mom or Dad were having a medical emergency at a nightclub, this wasn’t about them. “I can hear you. What’s going on?”
“Paige?” The music was booming so loud we could barely hear each other.
“Bailey. Yes. I’m here. Can you hear me?” I felt like that guy on the Verizon commercial.
“The quesssion is can YOU hear ME. I’m the one who called YOU? 'Member?”
Good lord. She was drunk off her ass. “Bailey, where are you?”
“I’m here. But the thing is, I need to go home, but I can’t go home because, I don’t know if you can tell this or not, but I had a couple of beers or two tonight and Mom would kill me if she knew. She’d say I was turning out just like you.” She then hiccuped and said, “No offense.”
“Bailey. Where is ‘here’? Where are you?” I figured I should at least get a location in case the call got interrupted or something.
“Paige?” She was slurring her words. “Can you hear me?”
“Yes, Paige. I can hear you.” Talking to drunk people is the worst.
“Not where Mom and Dad think I am, thasss for surreee. Am I right?”
“Where does Mom think you are?”
“She thinks I’m in my room.”
Shit. This was not good. “Are you at a party?”
“Yeah. Cameron’s parents are out of town and so I snuck out and got a ride from Aiden and Ryan.”
I had no idea who these people were, but she was right. Mom and Dad would kill her if they knew she snuck out and went to a party with two guys and got drunk.
“Are they bringing you back home?”
“Thas the thing. They’re passed out in the pool house. Thas why I called you.”
On the one hand, I was irritated that she thought I was some kind of Uber or something. I live 25 miles away and it was the middle of the night. On the other hand, she called me instead of letting some drunk friend drive her home. This was what every big sister hopes will happen.
“You want a ride?”
“If it’s okay. I mean, if you have a guy there or something…” She giggled as she said it.
“Very funny.” I rubbed my eyes and yawned. It was going to be a long night. “Text me the address and I’ll be there in about 40 minutes.”
“Thanks, sis.”
An hour later we were in my car. I’d had to go into some frat house down by Cal State Dominguez Hills and go inside to find her.
It was like some kind of horrible gauntlet of drunk college boys. “Hey there. What’s your name?”
“My name is ‘I’ll kick you in the balls if you don’t take that hand off my arm.’”
“Geez. You don’t have to be like that.”
The entire place smelled like cheap beer and weed. It reminded me of my college days, honestly. Empty pizza boxes all over the place. Red Solo cups. The party seemed to be winding down, but there were still probably 25 people hanging around, drunk and laughing and being obnoxious kids.
Finally, I found Bailey outside on a bench, looking like she was about to hurl. I was a combination of furious and relieved. This was no place for a sixteen-year-old girl. But the lectures could wait until tomorrow.
We got her things and made it down the hill to my Honda. As I was buckling her up, I noticed that she reeked of alcohol. There was no way Mom and Dad wouldn’t notice. Hopefully the smell would dissipate before morning.
“Where are we going?” Bailey was in the passenger seat of the car and I was just praying she didn’t puke in the ten minutes it would take to get her back home.
“Home. Where did you think we were going? Taco Bell?”
“I can’t go home like this!” Bailey said. “They’ll know I was drinking.”
“Just sneak back in the way you snuck out.”
“My room is on the second floor! I can’t climb that tree.” I knew from experience that she was right. It was much easier to sneak out of that house than to sneak back in. The house alarm would activate unless you left your window open a crack when Mom or Dad were setting it so it would bypass your room. Then, if you opened any other window or door, the alarm would sound.
“So what are we supposed to do, Bailey?” I was annoyed. It was late. I was tired. I just wanted to go home.
“Mom and Dad have tennis in the morning. Can I sle
ep at your place and then you bring me back while they’re gone?”
Nothing like an extra fifty-mile trip. “Sure, Bailey. You can sleep on my couch.”
Remind me never to have kids…
For a second, I forgot where I was. It was quiet and there were birds chirping and the gentle sound of an airplane flying overhead. The peace and calm reminded me of being home in Verde Hills. Until I heard a siren and remembered that I was in La Playa.
La Playa. Such a nice-sounding name for a shitty place to live. To be honest, not every place in the town was bad. There were some really nice areas near the university and the country club. But the areas that were bad were SO bad.
The memory of last night started to come back to me and I remembered that Bailey was here. We needed to get her back before Mom and Dad got back from tennis and then their weekly lunch with the Schweigers at the club. I would talk to her about making better choices on the way there.
Rolling out of bed, I grabbed my robe and yelled through the door, “Bail? Are you up yet?”
The apartment was silent, so she was probably still passed out. I opened my bedroom door and called her again. “Bailey. We need to get going if we’re going to get you back home before Mom and Dad.”
No response. “Bailey?”
She wasn’t here! The blanket that she’d used was on the floor and the bathroom door was open, which meant she wasn’t in there. That was all there was to this apartment. She was most definitely not here.
Where the hell could she have gone?
Ryder
I needed to stop by the shop to change the oil on my bike. Sunday was the best day to work on it because Ortega’s Autos was closed and the regular guys were off riding or getting drunk or whatever the hell the other mechanics did on weekends.
Pulling up the driveway, I was relieved that no one was here. I’d just be able to get in, get the work done, and get back home in time for Cops.