by Amo Jones
He laughed again, throwing his head back. Grasping on to my chin, he rubbed his thumb over my jaw. His eyebrows crossed as he locked his eyes onto my lips, just when I thought he was about to kiss me he shook his head. “I shouldn’t. You should go back to your friends.” His eyes began slipping back into the guarded look he usually set on me.
I raised my eyebrows. “Okay? Thanks for the drink…” I drifted off, confused by his mood shift. Standing from the sofa, I looked down to him one last time. His face was stern and straight, looking ahead of himself. “Bye,” I said awkwardly before making my way back down to the girls.
Ryker was there, all over Melissa.
“Jesus,” I said with my lip curled.
“Oh, don’t be jealous, Phoebs,” Ryker chuckled from the crook of Melissa’s neck, where he was sucking and licking her slowly.
I scoffed. “Yeah right. The only thing I’m jealous of is the glass wrapped around the vodka I want. I need more alcohol.”
Ryker came up for air, looking between me and the empty space beside me. “Where’s Ryder?”
I shrugged. “Upstairs. He just wanted to apologize for your shit behavior. Then he told me to leave, so I did.”
Ryker’s eyes narrowed, as he pulled Melissa under his arm, whispering something into her ear, making her giggle out loud like a school girl. Great, I’d lost my best friend to the dark side. I looked to Meadow, who was bobbing her head to the music next to me. Ryker started walking back upstairs, slapping Melissa’s ass on his way out.
Jesus.
“You okay?” I asked Meadow and she nodded.
“Yeah, I feel really good actually.”
I laughed, nodding toward her drink. “What are you drinking? I need some happy juice.”
She smiled before yelling, “Tequila!” raising her shot glass in the air.
We both started giggling, so I banged on the bar counter and the pretty bartender came up to serve us. “Hey hon, what can I get y’all?”
“How many has she had?” I pointed to Meadow and the bartender smiled.
“Seven shots, ma’am.”
I laughed. “I’ll get seven shots of tequila then.” She nodded her head with a smile before getting started on making my order.
Melissa pulled out a stool next to me with a stupid grin on her face. “Mel, do I have to have ‘the talk’ with you?” She picked up her drink.
“What talk?”
“You know, the talk where I say Ryker is the biggest player in the history of all rock stars and not to get too attached.”
She waved her hand away, swallowing her drink. “Phoebe, no. I know this. It’s just a good time.”
The bartender lined my shots up on the bar and I rubbed my hands together in excitement, looking at Meadow. She giggled and stole one. “Hey! You thief!” I laughed with her.
Picking up the first shot, I shot it back, the hot liquid sliding down my throat like liquid fire, soothing my nerves, before finally resting in the pit of my stomach. I followed that six times until I had none left, then I ordered a Cosmo.
“I need to dance,” I said, standing from my stool.
“Yeah, but you can’t dance, so let’s just sit here.” Melissa laughed at me.
Bitch.
“Shut up. Just because I think shaking my ass as if I’m humping a blow-up doll looks ridiculous doesn’t mean I can’t dance. I can shuffle.” I began shuffling in front of them, Meadow spits out her drink in fits of laughter. I carried on my shuffling while laughing so hard my stomach hurt when I heard a chuckle come from behind me. I swung my head around to find Ryder, Ryker, Tommy, and Leo all watching me. Tommy had a smile on his face, Ryker was bent over clutching his stomach from laughter, and Ryder was looking at me with his lips curled under his teeth trying to hide his amusement. I punched his arm playfully. “Don’t laugh at me! I can C-Walk too!” I began C-Walking until Ryder picked me up from under my armpits and placed me back on my stool.
“Hey!” I laughed with him. “You know, I’m not exactly light! Maybe I need to beef up a bit more. Any excuse for big greasy burgers.”
“You’re drunk,” he stated with a slightly amused look on his face.
“Yes, I am,” I answered proudly. He was not killing my buzz.
“I’ll take you home.”
Yeah—no. Not happening. I was perfectly capable of taking myself home. I was also so sick of controlling men.
“No, I’m cool. I’m with my best friends and I’m safe in this town.”
“Safe, hmm?” His hand wrapped around the back of my neck, his fingers running across my skin lightly, leaving a tingling sensation in their wake. My breath caught, my thighs clenched involuntarily and he paused for a second, bringing his eyes down to my lips then meeting my lustful stare. His eyebrows drew in, his face inching closer to mine, so close I closed my eyes his minty breath grazing across on my cheek. His lips brushed lightly but casually over mine and my breath paused, my chest heaving about to explode like a box of TNT. He smirked, ducking around the side of my neck and placing his lips over my ear. A shiver broke out all over my body when his soft plump lips slid over my ear lobe and his low soft voice grumbled into my eardrum, vibrating down to my very core like an unspoken language between Ryder and my hormone switch. Did I just say hormone switch?
Jesus, I am drunk.
“Look around, Phoebe.” His voice low, soft but full of command. “How many men do you see that are looking at you and your friends?” He pulled back with raised eyebrows. Leaning into his ear, his muscle-laced arm wrapping around my waist, and pulling me into him a little more tightly. My body at this point had decided she knew what she wanted, screw what my mind was thinking.
“They’re probably staring at this super famous rock band. I hear they’re supposed to be here tonight. Can’t say I’m that much of a fan, though?” I retorted, pulling back, and looking into his eyes. His grip tightened slightly around my waist around the same time his eye twitched.
Smirking, he pulled me up against his chest, my breath pausing again. I really hoped it stopped doing that because breathing was important.
Looking down at me, he smiled. “Come on, we’ll take you girls home.”
Melissa was nodding like a schoolgirl while Ryker ran his tattooed hands up her body. I pulled my gaze away from their activities, looking at Meadow.
“Do you want to go?” I asked Meadow.
She nodded, finishing her drink. “Yeah, I don’t mind.”
I smiled at Ryder. “Come on then, bossy.”
He laughed, gripping his hand into mine possessively. “Me, bossy? Never.” Smirking while tugging me to follow behind him. Melissa pulled me back and out of Ryder’s grasp. He faltered in his step, making sure we were following behind him before he carried on to the door.
“He totally likes you,” she whispered into my ear. I was suddenly having a flashback to the time she told me Pauly was into me in high school.
Because that’s what this felt like.
High school.
I smiled at her, shrugging. “I don’t know if he even knows what he wants, Mel.”
We all walked out the front where a huge stretch limo was waiting along with a few paparazzi. I ignored all the evil stares we were getting from the women in line. Dumb females, for all they knew we could have been their sisters…or cousins.
And Ryker could be into incest.
Covering my face with the back of my hand, I attempted to hide myself from the paparazzi. Ryder opened the door for me and I slid in with him getting in and sitting directly next to me. Everyone else piled in, with Meadow taking a seat next to Ryder, probably the safest option.
“So do you usually hijack a girl’s night out?” I asked Ryder quietly as we pulled away from the club. He laughed, placing his arm around the back of my headrest casually.
“No, not usually. You’re refreshingly different, Phoebe. You don’t seem fazed by who we are and you give Ryker lip.” We both looked at Ryker, who winks at us.
&nbs
p; I rolled my eyes. “I treat everyone as equals, Ryder. I don’t believe you should idolize famous people just because they’re good at something. Sure, you’re great at singing…I have heard a few of your songs…but there’re people all over the place who are great at things. For instance, charity givers, people who take in the homeless, who help poverty with kids, firefighters, animal shelters, and our police officers, most of them are good…the ones that weren’t ordering my car off the road for illegal modifications that is.” I smiled while looking out the window, watching the town lights disappear into the deepness of the night. “They’re all good at something Ryder, but they’re not famous so no one cares. Well, I do. I care. They’re the people I’m grateful to meet. Not a rock band…no offense.”
I looked at him quickly after realizing he was silent and I may have just offended him. He was smiling at me with a slight twinkle in his eye.
Nodding his head. “That’s all very true.”
Tommy smiled at me around the rim of his glass that held an amber liquid. “New home…” he clenched his fist together before looking back to me, “…that’s one of our charities. The girls do a fantastic job at providing a new, safe home for young children who were abused as kids. There are only three of them at the moment, it’s small. They need more in home moms to help out and rotate with them so they can take on more kids.”
“Like foster care?” I asked, tilting my head and scanning his large frame.
He shook his head. “Nothing like foster care. These women, they genuinely care about these kids. They purchased the old hotel on State Highway Five. There’s only three of them at the moment because they’re very selective about who they hire.”
I smiled. “They sound like angels.”
Meadow coughed from her seat nervously. “Where is this hotel?” she asked quietly.
Attempting to hide my hurt for her, I smiled. Tommy’s eyes shot up in surprise before he settled on a smile. “State Highway Five, on the outskirts of Westbeach. It’s a big white hotel-like building and has a sign ‘New Home’ out the front.”
She swallowed, bobbing her head. “Thank you.”
The vibration of my phone in my clutch shook against my hands, so I pulled it out to see it was a text from Melissa. I peeked up at her, smiling before sliding it open.
Melissa: Can we PLEASE go back to their hotel?
Me: No.
Melissa: Please! I’m begging you.
Me: I don’t see any begging…
Melissa: Don’t make me do it.
She dropped to her knees in front of me with a pout on her dark maroon lips. Gripping onto her arm quickly to save her the embarrassment, I laughed. “All right woman. Shit!”
Ryker smiled a polite smile. “So you coming?”
“Yes. Fuck.”
Ryder’s chest was shaking with silent laughter as him and Ryker winked at each other in silent achievement. What was that little exchange about, and what the hell had Melissa gotten us into this time?
We pulled into a huge gated house that sat right on the main beach. The front yard was sand with its own private access to the beach. It was beautiful.
“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised,” I mumbled as I exited the limousine.
Once Ryder was out, he pulled me in under his arm with my body molding into him naturally. Almost too naturally. Sparing a glance at Meadow to check to see if she was okay, I see her chatting to Tommy, only this time Tommy wasn’t flirting with her, he was talking with her like old friends. This made me relax a little more.
We walked up the steps with Ryker and Melissa laughing as Ryker pushed open the large white doors, with them disappearing up the stairs.
“Gross,” I muttered under my breath as we made our way into the kitchen with me still under Ryder’s arm.
He finally let me go. “Want a drink of anything?” he asked walking toward the huge stainless steel fridge that sat in a massive kitchen decorated in pure white. White marble counter tops with an island in the middle and a line of pots dangling down above it.
“Beer?” I answered as I looked out to the ocean through the long stretch of glass going across the kitchen sink that wrapped all the way around to join up to the floor to ceiling sliding doors in the living room. The ocean looked to be a little too close to the opening glass going off the dining room, like maybe if there was a big enough wave it would come to the front steps.
He walked up behind me, strong chest brushing against my back. My eyes closed as I attempted to control my breathing. The pop from the beer he opened snapped my eyes open again, he smirked, handing me my beer.
I took a drink of the bitter tasting liquid. “It’s beautiful here, you guys own it?” I asked, voice shaky.
Pull yourself together. Right now, Rendon.
Slowly pulling my eyes off the ocean, I looked up to Ryder, wanting to reach out and run my hands over the short stubble that framed around his strong jaw.
But I didn’t.
That would have been creepy.
“I own it, yeah,” he muttered, not taking his eyes off mine. Taking my hand in his, he nudged his head toward the outside porch. “Come on.”
I followed him, stepping outside as the salt water hit my senses instantly. I loved the smell of salt water and the sound of the waves crashing, it’s what home has always felt like. I smiled and looked down to where he was sitting, on one of the steps. He smiled back, tugging on my hand, pulling me down onto the step next to him.
I sat on the stone porch, glancing at him in the corner of my eye. “It’s breathtaking here.”
“It is. I prefer this to Hollywood,” he stated, looking out over the water.
“Is that where you usually live?” I asked, realizing that they may not have a home, as such. They were probably always touring. I thought. I don’t know how the life of a rock star plays out.
“I have an apartment there and in New York, but this is my only house.”
“Westbeach?” I laughed, looking at him. “You chose Westbeach to buy your only house?” I love my town, yes. And even if I ever won it big in the lottery I’d still live here, but that’s because this has always been home to me. I never thought someone like Ryder Oakley would prefer little old Westbeach to buy his only house.
Plus ten points.
He laughed back at me, nudging me with his shoulder. “Westbeach is a hell of a lot better than Runners.”
“What’s Runners?” I asked looking at him, noticing the change in his face.
“It’s where Ryker and I were raised,” he stated then wrapping his, what I guess, soft lips around the rim of his bottle. He swallows his beer, causing the Adams apple on his throat to bob. My mouth dries out as scenarios flash through my mind of what I could picture those lips doing. I snapped out of my dirty thoughts when he asked, “What about you?” bringing his eyes to mine.
“What about me, what?” I ask absent-mindedly.
He laughs, shaking his head. “What’s your story? I know Blake is your brother, so I guess you have one hell of a story that you probably can’t share.” He said with a smirk.
I nodded my head and chuckled, wrapping my arms around myself before bringing my eyes back to the ocean in front of me. “Yeah, you got that end part right. My life, though? I wouldn’t change it for anything.” He sat back, leaning his weight on the elbow closest to me, looking at me under his thick black eyelashes.
I blushed.
Actually fucking blushed.
Fuck.
“What?” I asked shyly from over my shoulder, trying to use it to hide my smile.
He shook his head lightly, moving his weight onto his other shoulder while using his arm that he was leaning on to hook around my waist, pulling me to him.
“You’re pretty fucking different,” he mumbled, almost to himself.
“You barely know me, Ryder,” I stated dryly.
“True, but I plan to change that. And what can I say, I’m all about instant gratification,” he answered matter-of-factly.
“Oh, is that right?” I asked with raised eyebrows. “Aren’t you a little busy playing master to the universe?”
He chuckled, getting out of his position. “Nah, we have two weeks off.”
He watched my reaction carefully. Getting to know Ryder Oakley, there could be worse things I could be spending my two weeks doing.
“And do you have a plan on how you intend on getting to know me?” I asked him with a smile.
“Well, I thought…we could start with this.” Wrapping his strong hand around the back of my neck, he pulls me into him slowly and gently before running his—yep—soft lips over mine and smiled.
My breath had stopped again, my skin heating to the temperature of a furnace.
Latching his lips onto mine harder, the burn my skin was feeling intensified. His lips were supple and he tasted of mints and beer. It’s strange how that taste only added to my need of him. Running my hand around to the back of his head, I gripped his hair lightly, before opening my lips a little to give him more access. His tongue licking and sliding expertly over mine, causing a small moan to escape my throat all on its own. The longer we kissed, the needier I got. A box of fireworks had erupted deep in my belly and the ricochets of the destruction had left pleasure needles prickling under my skin, itching to come out or be played with. This wasn’t butterflies, this was fire and explosions. His teeth pressed down on my bottom lip then he pulled back, searching my eyes. I rested my head in his palm and smiled.
“Did Ryder Oakley just tongue kiss me? Oh-Em-Ge! I totally need to tell all my little friends!” I said sarcastically behind a smile. He laughed, showing his straight white tooth smile before bringing his eyes back to mine.
“Oh yeah? I can show you something else ‘Ryder Oakley’ does with his tongue.” I snapped my mouth closed, laughing a humorous laugh. “Yeah, slow it down. I don’t ride on the first date.”
His face turned serious, keeping a small smirk across his lips. “I’d be disappointed if you did,” he replied sincerely.
Melissa was right. Ryder is nothing like the usual pussy hungry rock gods. He was…different.