Claiming Felicity

by Susan Stoker

  “You okay?” he whispered as he finally moved his hand from between her legs. Even before she answered, he pulled her upright and clasped his hands at the small of her back, holding her to him. In return, she laced her own arms around his shoulders. He felt her fingers playing with the hair at his nape.

  “I’m more than okay. Thank you.”

  Ryder knew he was grinning like a loon, but said, “It was my pleasure, love.”

  At his words, she shifted against him, obviously noting that he was no longer hard. “Was it?”

  He wasn’t even embarrassed. “Oh yeah. I can’t even begin to tell you how amazing that was. How amazing you are.”

  Felicity unhooked her ankles and let her legs drop. Ryder stood back and helped her jump off the counter. He needed to change as much as she did, but when she took a step away from him to head to her room to change, he grabbed hold of her hand and brought it up to his lips. He kissed the palm and let his lips rest there for a prolonged moment before looking into her eyes and saying, “I like this side of you, love.”

  “What side?”

  “The side that isn’t afraid to ask for what she wants and needs. Now that I’ve seen her, I’m not going to let you hide her away from me again.”

  Felicity raised the hand he’d kissed and palmed his cheek before saying, “It’s a good thing. Because she’s a greedy bitch, and she’s going to want to see, sooner rather than later, what you’re packing down there.” She gestured to his crotch with her head.

  Ryder laughed as she grinned saucily at him and walked away, her hips swaying more sexily than he’d ever seen before.

  Yeah, he liked this Felicity Jones. A fuck of a lot.

  Chapter Twelve

  Felicity sat next to Bailey in the tattoo parlor as the artist worked on the ink on her back. The crude tattoo that Felicity’s ex-boyfriend had put on her was gone, and in its place a masterpiece was slowly emerging. There were three huge mountains and a river at their base. Mist was rising from the water, and the tattoo artist was currently working on shading in a beautiful sunset behind and around the mountain peaks. There were several birds embedded into the design, the same birds that Grace and Logan had on their own bodies. Felicity had one of the same bird designs put on her arm as Bailey was being worked on.

  “How you doing?” Felicity asked her friend.

  “I’m good. Surprisingly, the shading doesn’t seem to hurt as much as the outlines of the mountains did.”

  “It’s going to be so amazing when it’s done, Bail,” Felicity told her friend. “Seriously.”

  Bailey picked up her head and propped her chin on her hands as she pierced Felicity with a look. “Thank you. Now tell me what’s going on with you and Ryder. I tried to get Nathan to talk to me on the way down, but he claims it’s none of his business.”

  Felicity leaned back in the chair, picked at the bandage covering the new tattoo on her arm, and shrugged. “In a nutshell, a man who I’ve been trying to avoid has found me. He’s pissed at something I did a decade ago. I was really scared at first, but now I think I’m just angry at the whole situation.”

  Bailey blinked. “What? Are you serious? Why didn’t you tell all of us this before?”

  “Because it wasn’t an issue,” Felicity said. “It wasn’t until I drove home for my mom’s funeral earlier this year that the guy found me. He followed me back to Castle Rock, or had one of his flunkies do it. He bided his time, and now he’s been . . . I’m not sure of what word to use for what he’s been doing.”

  “Stalking?” Bailey suggested a little aggressively.

  Felicity shook her head. “No. Taunting. We both know he’s in town and that he could simply kill me at any point. But he gets off on scaring women. Scaring me. So he’s doing little shit to annoy me and try to break me.”

  Bailey’s eyebrows drew down in concern. “But he won’t, right?”

  Felicity shook her head. “I can’t deny I was freaked out at first. I wanted to run again. But Cole wouldn’t give me the money I put into the gym to start it up. Then Ryder came into town.” She shrugged once more. “Now I’m just pissed.”

  “And you and Ryder?”

  Felicity pressed her lips together. “I like him.”

  “And?”

  “I think he likes me back.”

  Bailey laughed then. “I don’t think there’s any ‘think’ about it. Nathan didn’t have details, but he did tell me that Ryder has been sleeping at the gym with you for almost the last month.”

  “He’s protecting me.”

  “Is that all?”

  “Well, up until this morning, yeah.”

  “What happened this morning?” Bailey asked immediately, not missing the opening.

  It had been a long time since Felicity had talked to a girlfriend about anything related to boys. It felt good. “He . . . we . . . well, let’s just say I’m hoping that tonight we’ll do more than just fall asleep in each other’s arms.”

  Bailey held up a hand, and Felicity fist-bumped it as they both grinned.

  “Do you remember what you told me about the Anderson brothers a while ago?” Bailey asked.

  Felicity scrunched up her nose and shook her head.

  “You said that you were sorry there weren’t any Anderson brothers left for you.” Bailey paused dramatically before continuing. “Looks like there is one more Anderson brother for you, after all.”

  Felicity just stared at Bailey for a second before her lips twitched. Then she smiled. Then she was laughing. She laughed until tears were streaming from her eyes. Bailey joined her, and the tattoo artist had to stop and hold the needle up and out of the way since her canvas was moving too much with her giggles.

  When they’d finally calmed down enough for the tattooist to continue, Felicity said, “I had forgotten all about that. But what are the odds?”

  Bailey stretched out a hand to her friend. Felicity grabbed it.

  “I’m not sure I’m the best person to give advice. Grace is probably much better at it than I am, and you’ve known her longer, but if Ryder is anything like his brothers, you have nothing to worry about. I don’t know your story or anything about the man who is taunting you, but you’ll get through it. I have no doubt. You’re strong and insightful, and Ryder looks at you like Nathan looks at me. When I’m having a bad day, struggling with my crappy past decisions, all it takes is waking up with Nathan’s arms around me to make me realize how lucky I am. One thing I’ve learned is that I can’t change my past. All I can do is look forward to my future. And for the first time in a really long time, I can say that I honestly do look forward to it. As long as Nathan is by my side, I can handle anything life throws at me . . . even a hormonal teenage brother who is determined to be a ‘real man’ like Nathan and his brothers are.”

  “Thanks,” Felicity whispered. “I needed to hear that.”

  Bailey squeezed her hand, then winced as the tattooist’s needle struck a sensitive spot on her back. “What are we doing after I’m done here?” she asked, obviously wanting to concentrate on something other than the tattoo on her back.

  “Ryder said he wanted to take me to meet some of his friends here in Colorado Springs. You and Nathan are invited, but I wasn’t sure what your plans were for the rest of the day.”

  “How do you feel about that? Are you okay with meeting his friends?”

  Felicity knew what Bailey was asking, and she loved her all the more for it. The truth was, she had no problems with meeting Ryder’s friends. He’d told her stories about the men over the last week, and she felt as if she already knew them. “I’m okay,” she told Bailey. “If you want to come, that’s cool, but if you want to get home and have some alone time with Nathan before you have to pick up your brother, I wouldn’t blame you.”

  Bailey grinned, but gestured to her back with her eyes. “Not sure I’ll be able to do much with this on my back.”

  “I’m sure you can be creative,” Felicity fired back, feeling snarky.

 
Bailey stared at her for a moment before smothering a laugh, not wanting to make the tattoo artist have to pause again because she was laughing. “True. God, it’s good to see you like this again.”

  “Like what?” Felicity asked.

  “Like you. Outspoken. Full of comebacks. Your eyes not full of worry and fear. I swear to God you were one of the only reasons I didn’t bolt back when I was sure Donovan was going to find me. You were so strong. I’ve hated seeing you so unsure and scared lately. So it’s good to have you back.”

  “It’s good to be back,” Felicity said honestly. And it was. She felt one hundred percent stronger with Ryder at her side. She knew without a doubt that with Ryder next to her, she was safe, but she also knew Joseph better than anyone. Ryder couldn’t be with her every second of every day. Joseph would wait until the perfect moment to strike and was going to get to her, eventually. But she was done cowering in fear. She didn’t know what he had planned, but nothing she did would speed it up. He’d act in his own time, and no one else’s. Her new attitude felt liberating.

  “If it’s truly okay with you, I think I’ll take you up on your suggestion and take Nathan back to our house and have my wicked way with him,” Bailey said with a grin, as if she really was thinking about all the ways she could make love to her man without being on her back.

  The two friends smiled at each other. The tattoo artist sat back and patted Bailey’s arm. “That’s it for today. I think one more session to even out the shading and add in the little details you want, and we’ll be done. Wanna see it?”

  Bailey nodded eagerly. Felicity got up and went to stand behind her.

  She heard her friend’s breath catch as she saw the additional work that had been done on her back. “I can hardly believe it,” she said in a whisper. “I can’t tell the other tattoo was there at all.”

  “And I can’t believe some asshole put that shit on you in the first place. Fucker.”

  With wide eyes, both Bailey and Felicity looked over at Alicia, the incredibly talented tattoo artist who had been working on her art for the last three sessions. She hadn’t ever had one comment about what she was covering up, except to say she’d easily be able to make it disappear.

  “What?” the woman asked a little belligerently. “If you must know, I was so upset after that first session that I got shitfaced drunk. My girlfriend had to talk me off the ledge. I wanted to hotfoot it up to Denver and find anyone who ever called themselves an Inca Boy and kill the motherfuckers myself. Oh, and Bailey, I’ll cover up whatever other ink you want for free too. Us women have to stick together.”

  “Oh . . . uh . . . thanks.”

  “See you next time,” Alicia said, waving off Bailey’s gratitude. Then she spun around and went up to the front of the store, most likely to get her next appointment.

  Felicity’s wide eyes met Bailey’s. Alicia hadn’t ever really said much about the tattoo she’d been tasked with covering up, and Felicity hadn’t thought she had much of an opinion about it. Guess she’d been wrong.

  “Everything go all right?” Ryder asked after Felicity had said her goodbyes to Bailey and Nathan at the tattoo shop. She and Ryder were on their way to a pool hall/bar called The Pit. Apparently it was where he and his friends hung out whenever they weren’t out on a job. Each of the six men had “regular” jobs as well as being hired mercenaries and used the pool hall as a place to relax and even to have meetings about upcoming and previous jobs they’d done.

  “Yeah,” she said, answering Ryder’s question. “Bailey’s tattoo is amazing. Alicia is a true artist.”

  “You get a new one too?” Ryder asked, gesturing to the small bandage on her forearm.

  Felicity nodded. She fingered the bandage. “A bird like Grace and Logan have. I know it’s their thing, but I talked to Grace a while ago, and she said she wouldn’t mind if I got one too.”

  “I can see that,” Ryder said immediately. “You guys are as close as sisters.”

  “We are,” Felicity agreed. “I can’t imagine not being able to see her every day.”

  As if he could read her mind, Ryder said, “You won’t have to. We’re gonna make it so you can put even more roots down in Castle Rock so you never have to leave.”

  She smiled weakly at him. “I hope so.”

  Ryder didn’t try to placate her. He simply rested one of his big hands on her leg and squeezed. He left his hand there until they pulled into the parking lot of a hole-in-the-wall building.

  An old wooden sign hung crookedly on the side of the building proclaiming that they’d arrived at The Pit. A picture of a set of three pool balls was next to the lettering. There was only one window in the front of the building, and it looked as if it had never been cleaned.

  She stared at the ramshackle building in dismay and turned to Ryder when he began to talk.

  “It looks like a piece of shit, but that keeps the yuppies and college kids away,” he said softly. “It’s not as bad on the inside as it looks from out here.”

  “God, I hope not,” Felicity said before she could stop herself. Then she slapped a hand over her mouth and mumbled, “Sorry, that was rude.”

  Ryder merely smiled. He climbed out and walked around to her side of his sports car. He held out his hand. “Nathan had the same reaction, and by the time we left to get the two of you, he was a convert. Come on, love. You can see for yourself.”

  She took his proffered hand and couldn’t help but marvel at his strength as he pulled her upward out of her seat and into his side as easily as if she weighed no more than a child. He closed the door and beeped the locks as he wound his arm around her waist and pulled her into his side.

  Felicity snuggled in close, loving being near him. She’d missed him today. Which was crazy because they’d only been apart a couple of hours. But since they’d been together practically twenty-four/seven over the last couple of weeks, she’d gotten used to him being around. Close by.

  Ryder held open the surprisingly thick door for her and gestured for her to enter the dimly lit bar ahead of him. She walked in and stopped, letting her vision adjust from the bright Colorado sunshine to the darkness of the interior of the building. Ryder had been right, it wasn’t a complete dive inside.

  It was surprisingly big. There was a large open room with tables and chairs sprinkled sporadically around the area. Felicity could see a door leading into a back room that was filled with row after row of pool tables. At this time in the afternoon, there weren’t a lot of people there, but she could still hear the clink of pool balls hitting each other emanating from that back room. A large bar ran along the right side of the room, and she noticed a huge bear of a man standing behind it, smiling at them. Before she could decide if she wanted to risk smiling back, Ryder squeezed her waist.

  “Come on,” Ryder said into her ear. “I want to introduce you to Dave before you meet the rest of the guys.”

  Felicity shivered at the feel of Ryder’s breath on her ear. For a split second she wanted to tell him that she didn’t want to meet his friends, after all. That she didn’t care about Joseph. She’d been looking over her shoulder for so long, she’d gotten used to the threat Joseph posed. She wanted to think about something else. About Ryder. Wanted to tell him that she wanted to go straight home. To her bed. With him. But she took a deep breath and forced herself to walk calmly next to Ryder as he steered her to the bar.

  Ryder grinned down at her, as if knowing exactly what she was thinking. She decided he had to be able to read minds when he leaned down and whispered, “Don’t worry, as much as I like my friends, I’m not about to spend all day shooting the shit with them when I’d rather have you all to myself back at your place.”

  Goose bumps rose on her arms at his words, but she concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other so she didn’t fall flat on her face. Tripping over her own feet wasn’t exactly the first impression she wanted to give his friends.

  Ryder steered her over to the large bar, and once again she was s
truck by the openly friendly look on the bartender’s face as they neared. He was tall, probably a few inches over six feet. His hair was cut fairly short on his head, but he had a short beard that covered the bottom half of his face. There were speckles of gray interspersed with the black. His lips were large, his nose looked like it had been broken a few times, and she could see a long scar trailing down the side of his neck, disappearing into the neckline of the tight black T-shirt he wore. He was dark skinned, either from his heritage or simply from being in the sun, Felicity couldn’t tell. His arms were covered in dark tattoos, every single one black, with not one splash of color among them.

  All in all, he was an imposing man, one she would definitely not want to meet in a dark alley. He looked like he could be a hired goon for someone like Joseph Waters . . . which didn’t make her feel too comfortable to meet him.

  “It’s about time you brought your woman down here to meet us,” the large man boomed.

  Ryder didn’t comment on the other man’s words, but instead simply said, “Dave, I’d like you to meet Felicity Jones. Felicity, Dave. The best bartender Colorado Springs has . . . bar none . . . pun intended.”

  Felicity bravely stuck out her hand. If Ryder wasn’t concerned about her meeting his friend, then she needed to stop thinking about the large man hauling her over the bar and slitting her throat. It wasn’t nice, and she trusted Ryder implicitly. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  The other man grabbed hold of her proffered hand, engulfing it with both of his huge hands. “You’re all the guys have been able to talk about,” he gushed. “And you’re as beautiful as Ace said you were. Welcome to The Pit. Anything you want to drink is on the house . . . unless you’re a lush, then I’ll have to cut you off at some point, but I doubt you are because Ace wouldn’t be with someone who would drink excessively. I—”

  “You wanna give my girl her hand back, Dave?” Ryder interrupted.

  The bartender looked confused for a moment, then dropped her hand he’d been shaking nonstop as he’d been talking. “Sorry, sorry.” He chuckled. “I have a tendency to ramble sometimes. Ignore me.”