Ryker (The Ride #4)

by Megan O'Brien

  “Yes, and I’m not afraid to admit it,” he replied without hesitation, making me laugh out loud.

  “All right, I’ll come back with the girls to finish up. Put you out of your misery.”

  “Thank you.” He sighed, looking relieved.

  My man was hell on wheels with a hammer, but as it turned out not so much with the décor. Not that I’d expected anything different.

  I was borderline excited by the time we arrived home, until I walked into my parents’ bedroom and was confronted with the closet, still full of both my parents’ clothes.

  I heard Ry come up behind me as I stared at the long, flowing dresses my mom loved to wear, at her scarves and blouses all hung in vibrant color. My fingertips floated over her clothes, almost afraid to touch them. She always loved color—the more the better. The prospect of boxing it all up felt so overwhelming and devastating, I wanted to run from the room.

  Ryker seemed to read my thoughts. “It’s time to let her go, Tink,” his deep voice said from behind me. “You and your dad, you’re not keeping her alive by surrounding yourself with her things. She’s gone,” he said gently. “She’s been gone.”

  “I know,” I croaked, tears streaming down my face.

  His arms wrapped around my chest from behind as he pulled me into his body. “We’ll remember her through our memories, photos and the stories we’ll tell our kids. She may be gone, but she’ll live forever that way—we’ll make sure of it.”

  I turned in his arms, looking up at him through tear-filled eyes, marveling at how much I loved him. “When I came back into town, I think I was in denial,” I admitted. “I was so focused on trying to get my dad well and on the store, I think I hoped I could somehow pretend she wasn’t really gone. Letting you back into my life meant I had to let her back too,” I whispered. “Being able to share her with you has been such a gift. Knowing you loved her like I did. She’d be so happy, knowing we’re together again.” I smiled through my tears.

  His expression warmed. “I hope so,” he grunted, as I saw him visibly swallow back emotion.

  “I know so,” I stated. “You changed my life. Made me find joy again, gave me back hope. Thank you,” I murmured.

  “I’d do anything for you,” he replied, dipping to take my mouth in a searing kiss.

  I knew without a doubt that was true.

  I took a deep breath. “Let’s do it.”

  We moved my dad’s things into the guest room closet, not knowing what he’d want to take with him. My mother’s things took far longer. Ryker was unfailingly patient as I stopped often to remember certain articles of clothing, as we boxed them up for charity.

  A few select items I kept for myself, including a purple pashmina she used to wrap us up in on the couch. I brought it to my nose, breathing her in and began to let her go.

  Chapter 15

  “You need help at the boutique later?” Ettie asked the next day. She, Jill, and Connie had asked me to an impromptu lunch. I was more than happy to join them, especially considering the upstairs of our house was a construction zone. Ryker hadn’t delayed in tearing things apart. I’d tried to help but after thirty minutes of him having to redo every section I’d painted or every nail I’d tried to put in the wall, he’d taken the paint roller and hammer from me.

  “Babe, I’ll never know how you can’t manage to get one nail straight into the wall or one section of paint on it without streaking, but as it turns out, you can’t. If I have to redo all your work we’re gonna be working on this for a month.”

  I’d glared at him, hands on my hips even though I knew he was right.

  “Leave it to me, yeah?”

  I’d agreed without much grumbling. Hence my cue to accept Ettie’s lunch invitation.

  “I think I’m okay today,” I answered her, reaching over to steal a French fry from Jill’s plate. “I put in my notice at the day care,” I shared, glancing at Jill, concerned about how she might react.

  “What? No!” she exclaimed with wide eyes. “Mason loves you,” she protested.

  “Well, I’ll still see him, just not at the day care,” I pointed out. “I need to dedicate all my time to the boutique,” I explained. “It’s nearly ready to open and I’ll be working there every day after then anyway.”

  Jill sighed, sitting back in her chair. “I get it—sorry. I totally support you. We all do. I’m just disappointed. You’re so great with the kids.”

  “Ry and I will still babysit.” I winked.

  “I’ll probably take you up on that.” She nodded.

  Ettie snorted.

  “What?” Jill demanded.

  “You only need to take her up on it because you don’t want Cal to help you,” Ettie accused, with a wink in my direction.

  I sputtered in my iced tea.

  Ettie sighed wistfully. “If I weren’t so in love with my man, I’d give you a run for your money, lady.” She wagged a finger at Jill. “He may be older, but good lord is he beautiful.”

  I had to agree with her there, before looking over at Connie, who’d been quiet.

  “Anyway,” Jill cut in pointedly, wanting to change the subject. “I have to get back to the hospital,” she announced, with a mock glare toward Ettie.

  Ettie grinned.

  “I have to go too, I’ll drive you,” I offered. She’d ridden over with Ettie and the hospital was on my way. “Do you mind?” I asked Connie, who’d caught a ride with me.

  She shrugged as we all threw bills on the table and gathered our things.

  “You doing okay?” I asked Connie, looking at her through the rearview mirror as Jill sat in the passenger seat. I didn’t know how much Jill knew and wanted to tread carefully.

  “Jill knows, she checked me out,” Connie explained.

  “Wes is gonna be pissed as hell you got checked out without telling him,” Jill replied, and I could tell it wasn’t the first time she’d voiced that opinion.

  Connie looked out the window, appearing deep in thought. Jill and I exchanged a look but didn’t push her further.

  A loud roar abruptly tore through the air as several unfamiliar bikes appeared in my rearview mirror.

  My adrenaline spiked to levels I hadn’t known were possible.

  Jill twisted around, delivering the news I already knew. “Black Riders.”

  “Call Ry,” I instructed loudly over the roar, as they started gaining on us. “If you can’t get a hold of him, call one of the guys until you get through. I’ll head for the club.”

  “Ry, it’s Jill,” I heard her say, and I was relieved she’d reached him. “I’m with Piper and Con; there are at least five Black Riders behind us,” she explained in a hurried tone.

  All of a sudden, the bikes were no longer just behind us but beside us too.

  “They’re surrounding us!” Connie shrieked. I could hear Ry shooting off questions in rapid fire. “We’re ten minutes out from the club on Henway Road,” she answered.

  My palms were sweating against the wheel, as I kept my eyes straight ahead, refusing to acknowledge the imposing man riding to my left.

  My poor Subaru was struggling to keep up as I pressed the gas pedal to the floor.

  “The guys are riding out from the club,” she told me, the phone still pressed to her ear. “Five minutes.”

  I winced. Five minutes felt like an eternity, and I wasn’t sure we had that kind of time.

  Then the riders on both sides of us backed off again, taking the rear.

  “I feel like that’s not a good thing,” I muttered, watching them warily in the rearview mirror.

  “Nope,” Jill agreed, craning her neck to look behind us.

  There was a moment of eerie calm before the shot rang out. The car started to skid right as the tire they’d hit blew.

  At the speed we’d been going, the car careened out of control, speeding toward the shoulder.

  It all happened so quickly and yet it was as though we were in slow motion, as the car plowed through the guardrail an
d down an embankment. I could hear the squeal of metal and breaking of glass amidst our screams. Airbags burst out from every direction to absorb the impact. We flipped more times than I could count before landing right-side up.

  Then everything stopped.

  “Jill? Connie?” I cried, frantic, clawing at the airbag to see if they were okay.

  “I’m okay,” Jill’s muffled voice returned. “I think my arm is broken, but I’m okay.”

  “Connie?” I demanded again when there was silence from the backseat. “Connie!” I screamed.

  “I’ll try to get back there,” Jill gritted out, and I could tell she was in real pain. She managed to get her seat belt off and was somehow able to open her door despite how bent and misshapen it was.

  More gunshots tore through the air and what sounded like bikes speeding by filled the air.

  “Shit!” she swore, ducking behind the car, as I inhaled a sharp breath. Then I heard familiar male voices barking orders above us.

  The Knights had arrived.

  It felt like an eternity passed while we listened to the chaos above us, not knowing whose bullets were flying, whose tires were squealing. My fear spiked higher still, as I struggled to breathe. I couldn’t tell if I was just panicking, if it was the airbag, or something more serious. I felt liquid trickling down my forehead and tried not to focus on the fact that it must be blood.

  Jill had managed to open the back door to get a look at Connie. “She’s unconscious, but her pulse is strong,” she told me.

  I breathed a small sigh of relief. She was alive.

  “Christ, Jill!” I heard what I was fairly sure was Cal’s voice exclaim as the sound of boots slipping and sliding down the embankment could be heard.

  “Piper!” Ryker’s anguished voice rang out, as he stooped low to peer through the broken driver-side window.

  “Connie!” Wes’ tortured cry tore through the air, as he ran to her side.

  A siren wailed in the distance, growing closer by the second.

  “I can’t catch my breath,” I told Ryker, struggling to breathe. “Can you cut the airbag?” I pleaded.

  His expression was tortured as he looked at me. “I can’t, baby, you could be seriously hurt. The paramedics will be here in just a second. Hang in there.”

  I bit my lip against the panic and nodded. “I’m okay, take care of Connie. She must have hit her head.”

  His large hand stroked my hair back, as he kneeled by my side. He looked back at Cal, Jill, and Wes. “They’ve got her. I’ve got you,” he assured me.

  “Are you okay? All the shooting…,” I fretted.

  “I’m fine. They. Are. Not,” he ground out.

  The sound of a siren being cut off, doors being slammed, and yelling pealed through the air.

  “Wes, she’s pregnant,” I heard Jill tell Wes in an urgent tone, as the paramedics drew closer.

  “What?” he roared.

  “She’s ten weeks along,” Jill continued, sucking in a breath.

  “You need to sit down, honey,” Cal murmured to her.

  “Is the baby okay?” Wes demanded as the paramedics reached us. “My wife, she’s pregnant,” he told them, his tone harried and desperate.

  “Okay, sir, give us some space so we can take care of her,” one of them answered.

  “I’m right here, okay, right here,” Ry told me, as he backed up to give the paramedics room.

  They worked quickly, examining us as best they could from the car, except for Jill, who was placed on a stretcher right away and lifted up to the ambulance. Finally, I was free of that wretched air bag.

  Ry hopped up into the ambulance and I was lucid enough to notice Cal doing the same with Jill.

  “I bet I look so sexy in this thing,” I quipped, gesturing to the neck brace they’d put on me. Despite being in pain and scared, I was desperate to get the look of absolute devastation off his face.

  His hard expression remained. “You’re gorgeous,” he returned firmly.

  “I’m okay, Ry,” I tried to assure him.

  “You’re not,” he countered. “But you will be.”

  ***

  “When can I get out of here?” I asked, not for the first time, later that same day. After some blessed painkillers and having the cut on my forehead taken care of, I was feeling much better. I’d heard news that Jill would be fine. She had a broken arm and some neck soreness, but was otherwise okay.

  Connie was now conscious and everything with the baby was okay. One thing was for sure, it was a hell of a way for Wes to find out he was going to be a dad.

  Ry growled at me. He’d been cagey and more possessive than usual since arriving at the hospital. “You have stitches in your head, whiplash, and more cuts and bruises than I care to count.”

  “Yeah, well, I still want to go home,” I muttered, petulantly. I hated hospitals.

  “You’ll go home when the doc says you can go home, not one second before,” he replied firmly.

  I assessed his dark mood warily. “Are you mad at me?” I found the nerve to ask.

  “Fuck no,” he bit out. “What I am, is irate that they were able to get to you. They hurt you. What I am, is pissed at myself that you didn’t have better cover. I let you down.” He shook his head in frustration.

  I reached over and placed a hand against the back of his neck.. “Babe, you had no way of knowing things would get to this.” I spoke softly, wanting to free him of his guilt. “I’m okay; the girls are okay. Plus, I needed a new car anyway,” I tried to joke, but he just glared at me.

  “Okay, not ready for jokes. So noted,” I muttered in a dry tone.

  “I’ll never be ready to joke about this, Pipe,” he growled.

  “Okay, Ry,” I agreed.

  A knock sounded on the door before it opened to reveal Axel, Sophie, Ettie, and Mack. “Can we come in?” Ettie asked with wide, worried eyes.

  “Yeah.” I smiled.

  “A word,” Ryker ground out toward his brother and Mack.

  Axel nodded and without a word he and Mack followed Ry out of the room.

  “He’s so pissed. I’ve never seen him so upset,” I fretted, as the girls drew close to my bedside.

  “Honey, you were shot at!” Ettie exclaimed. “We’re all mad as hell,” she added.

  “You think Ry’s angry, you should get a look at Cal,” Sophie shared.

  “Yikes,” I mumbled. “Who’s with Mason?” I asked.

  “Scarlet picked him up from day care. He’s with her and Cole until Jill gets discharged.”

  I nodded, feeling wiped out all of a sudden. The pain meds were making me sleepy and the events of the day were taking their toll.

  “We’ll let you get some rest,” Ettie said, picking up on my exhaustion. “We’re so glad you’re okay.”

  “Thanks, guys.” I sighed, sinking lower into the bed. I was asleep before the door shut behind them.

  Chapter 16

  The sound of raised voices woke me up the next day. I’d been discharged the previous evening and though I was glad to be out of the hospital, I was debating how much better off I was at home. At least the nurses hadn’t acted like I was going to die if I set a foot on the ground.

  To say Ryker’s mood hadn’t improved would be a massive understatement. He’d barely spoken since we’d arrived home, despite the fact that he hadn’t left my side. His gaze tracked my every movement, his jaw clenched.

  Sleep had been the only escape and so I’d fallen asleep early and slept late.

  I rose from bed, drawn to the noise downstairs.

  “Do I need to lock you down?” I heard Axel demand of his brother, as I hovered on the first step of the landing, unable to stop myself from eavesdropping. “You look like you’re losing your shit and that can’t happen, not now, bro. We gotta play this smart.”

  There was a pregnant pause before Ryker delivered a begrudging, “I know.”

  “We’re pulling everything in tight,” Cole’s voice cut in. “We’re setting
up a full perimeter around the town. No one’s getting in.”

  “When are we hunting these motherfuckers down?” Ry growled.

  “When Prez makes that call,” Axel replied. “This surpassed business into being personal a long time ago. He wants this handled, but he wants it done his way. For now, we’re focused on security.”

  “Jill and Connie all right?” Ry asked.

  “From what I hear,” Cole replied. “I need you to be cool, man. Wes is fucking losin’ it, I need you rational,” he ordered.

  Connie and the baby had been given a clean bill of health, but the fact that his pregnant wife had been run off the road wasn’t something Wes was going to get over anytime soon.

  “How’s Pipe?” Axel asked.

  “She’ll be okay. When I think about how much worse this could have been—”

  I winced at the pain in his voice.

  Axel cut him off. “Don’t go there, man.”

  “She’s just starting to move on—to smile more. I don’t want this shit setting her back.”

  “She might be smilin’ more, but brother, you aren’t,” Axel’s deep voice rumbled. “I used to have to fight for you to keep your shit straight. Now, I just want to see you lighten up.”

  I heard Ry sigh. “Never been happier, not since I knew she’d be mine again. But fuck, never felt a bigger weight than the fear of something happening to her.”

  At that point I stepped back into the bedroom and got back into bed. Whatever Ry’s fears might be, I wanted to hear them from him directly—not from listening in where I shouldn’t be.

  I heard the front door slam shut moments later and the sound of Ry’s feet hit the stairs with the dogs in tow.

  “Hey,” I murmured as he leaned in the doorway, his gaze sweeping over me.

  “Hey,” he replied.

  “Come here,” I beckoned.

  He stepped into the room and lay carefully on his side of the bed. “I’m okay, babe,” I assured him, reaching out for his hand and squeezing. “Really. It was scary as shit, I’m not gonna lie, but I’m just grateful the girls and I are okay. Everything else, I know you’ll take care of it—of me,” I assured him.

  He turned his head to look me in the eye. “That’s a promise,” he swore.