“It’s okay,” she said. “I really don’t have that much stuff.”
She stared down at her two suitcases and her one carryon. Her entire life was in those bags.
“I’m so tired,” he groaned. He stumbled out towards his bed and collapsed on the fluffy bed.
“Me too,” she said as she followed and laid down next to him.
He closed his eyes, and Stormy studied his face. With his eyes closed, he was a living, breathing Jett. She looked at his soft lips and wanted to kiss them. She pulled his arm out and around her as she nestled up into his shoulder. The heat of the early afternoon sun beat down through the window and warmed the bed. She closed her eyes and drifted off to the most peaceful slumber she’d had in weeks.
When she awoke a couple hours later, she found their legs intertwined and his head buried in her neck. She felt so safe and cozy squished up next to him on his soft bed.
She heard Ryder make a few audible moans and sighs as he loosened himself from her and stretched out.
“That was a freaking awesome nap,” he breathed.
“Yeah, it was.”
He rolled back towards her and rested his head on his hand and looked down towards her smiling face.
“Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life,” he said.
“You’re so cheesy,” she laughed. “But that’s okay. I can handle cheesy.”
“You hungry?” he asked as he scooted off the bed and headed towards the hall.
“A little,” she lied. She was starving. She followed him down towards the kitchen where he was grabbing plates and avocados and various tools.
“Guac and chips okay?” he asked as he began whipping up homemade guacamole. He grabbed a bag of blue corn tortilla chips and poured them into a bowl. “Is it too early for margaritas?”
“Not today,” she said.
“I make them pretty mild,” he said with a wink. “Don’t worry. I’m not trying to get you drunk or anything.”
“I can make them if you want?”
He nodded towards the cupboard where she found a blender, an uber-expensive bottle of tequila, Cointreau, and rock salt, and she pulled a lime from the refrigerator.
“Wow, you really know what you’re doing, don’t you?” he said. He was clearly impressed.
“This was the first drink I ever learned to make,” she said as she filled the blender with ice. “I used to bartend back in the day. Well, a couple years ago. Briefly. Jett didn’t like me working so late, so I quit. Learned a lot though.”
They each worked diligently on their little projects until they were finished. They sat side by side at the island, sipping their icy margaritas and munching on chips and guacamole.
The clock on the microwave read half past three. The day was still young.
“I was thinking maybe we could take a walk after this?” Ryder proposed. “It’s really nice out. I’m feeling a little energized from that nap we just took.”
“Sounds great,” Stormy replied.
As soon as the guacamole bowl was empty, they slipped on their shoes and headed downstairs to the street below. Ryder grabbed onto her hand and pulled her close into him as they walked. She loved that he wanted the world to know she was his, especially since she wasn’t a stereotypical California big-breasted blonde.
Most of the women they passed seemed too into themselves to care about some lovey-dovey couple walking down the street. They didn’t give Stormy a second look, and in a lot of cases, they didn’t give her a first look. Sometimes they’d quickly check out Ryder, but it was rare. She was pretty sure the women here were used to being chased, not the other way around.
“I still need to call Brooklyn today,” Stormy said out of the blue.
“That’s right. You should.”
“So did you mean what you said earlier about inviting her out this weekend?” Stormy asked.
“I always mean what I say,” he said as he looked her in the eye. “By all means, invite her out. My treat.”
She slipped her arm around his waist and gave him a side hug. They strolled together, arm in arm down the busy, East LA sidewalk. The whirl of people and honking cars and rumbling motorcycles were like a harmonic symphony of beautiful chaos. It was the soundtrack to her new life, and she decided to love it. She had a feeling things were going in the right direction for once, and she was going to choose to be happy about it. Brooklyn always told her that happiness was a choice, but it never really clicked until that day walking down the sidewalk with Ryder.
They returned to his condo an hour later, and Stormy immediately grabbed her phone and called Brooklyn.
“Brooklyn,” she began. “Don’t be mad…”
“Oh, geez,” Brooklyn said, clearly annoyed. “Are you back with Hayden? Don’t lie to me.”
“No,” Stormy said, her voice trailing.
“Then what is it?”
“I sort of moved to L.A. with Ryder,” Stormy blurted. She was cringing hard on the inside.
“You did what?” Brooklyn growled. Her voice said it all.
“But I have good news,” Stormy perked. “Ryder wants to fly you out this weekend.”
Brooklyn was silent on the other end.
“Did you hear me?” Stormy asked. “Ryder is going to fly you out for the weekend. That is, if you want to come.”
She knew Brooklyn couldn’t stay mad at her forever. In their almost twenty years as best friends, they’d only been in a handful of major fights and they’d never gone more than a few days without speaking.
“I guess,” Brooklyn sighed. She tried to act mad, but Stormy could tell she was quickly getting over it. “This weekend, you said?”
“Yep. Does that work?”
“Lucky for you I happen to be off work this weekend,” she said. “Just send me the itinerary, and I’ll be there.”
“Yay!” Stormy squealed. “I can’t wait for you to see L.A. You’re going to love it.”
She hung up with Brooklyn and couldn’t stop smiling the rest of the night.
“So she’s coming?” Ryder asked.
“Yep, she is,” Stormy said as she beamed from ear to ear. “I can’t wait until she sees it out here. Maybe she’ll want to move out here, and she can get a place with me?”
“You just can’t be alone, can you?” Ryder laughed. “Pretty soon you’ll invite your family out and then the rest of the city of Coleville.”
“No way,” Stormy giggled. “I left that place for a reason.”
Ryder sat down next to her on the couch and put his arm behind her back. His penetrating hazel eyes seemed to pierce right through her.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Stormy asked. “All intense.”
“I just can’t believe you’re really here,” he mused. “It doesn’t feel real.”
Stormy pinched his arm. “I’m here. This is real.”
“I could just stare at you for days,” he said, smitten.
Stormy remembered a time when she felt the same way about Jett, but she knew for her own good she needed to stop comparing the two. It wasn’t fair.
“That’s creepy and sweet all at the same time,” she replied. “But now I’m always going to be wondering if you’re just admiring my extraordinary beauty or if I have something stuck in my teeth.”
He leaned down and kissed her lips softly. He traced her delicate jawline with his finger and then nuzzled his nose into her hair, breathing her in.
Stormy wasn’t used to getting this much attention from guys, and she wasn’t sure where it was all coming from. For years she had been single without so much as a second look from anyone as she pined day after day, month after month for Hayden. The minute Jett fell in love with her, he insisted on marrying her. The minute Jett married her, Hayden became obsessed with trying to get her back. And the moment she was widowed and met Ryder, he fell hard for her.
What’s so damn special about me? She wondered. As far as she knew, she was the same girl she’d always been, but for w
hatever reason, Jett set off some sort of domino effect.
“You’re intoxicating,” he said. “I don’t know what it is about you, but you’ve just drawn me in.”
“Oh, geez,” they heard a guy’s voice say from the opposite hallway. Zander was strutting towards the kitchen from his room. “Give me a break.”
“Shut up, man,” Ryder said to Zander. “I think I’ve seen your smooth moves in action more times than I’d care to admit.”
Zander laughed as he rifled through the refrigerator and pulled out some leftovers.
“How you liking LA so far, Stormy?” he asked.
“So far so good,” she said. She still felt a little shy around Zander for some reason, maybe because she felt like she was on his turf. She figured it would be a while before she could truly make herself feel at home in the condo with him there.
“How long are you staying here?” he asked.
“Oh, uh, um,” she stammered.
“As long as she needs,” Ryder interjected. “She has to find a job and then an apartment. She’s a nurse. Know of any nursing jobs?”
“Um, check the hospital, man. I don’t know,” Zander said with a mouthful of some sort of food. He grabbed his plate and took it back to his room.
“He pretty much hangs out in there all day,” Ryder said. “He’s harmless, really. Take everything he says with a grain of salt. I think he was dropped on his head as a baby or something.”
Stormy laughed. “Does he work at all?”
“He’s our secretary,” he said. “He spends most of his days doing things for the club and most of his nights down at the bar, getting hammered and cruising for a good piece of ass.”
“How are you two even friends?” she asked. “You seem like polar opposites.”
“We were both recruited at the same time,” he said. “We just sort of clicked. We were both scared and trying to prove ourselves. We had some good fights, but we came out of it as best friends. We’ve lived together ever since.”
“Ah, I see,” she replied. “Brooklyn and I always talked about living together, but she’s too crazy for me. We’d probably fight like cats and dogs. She’s a lot like Zander.”
“When you live with someone, you just have to make adjustments,” he said. “It’s give and take. You get used to things and you figure out a way to make it work.”
“Jett was the first person I ever lived with outside of my family,” she said. “I thought it was going to be weird at first, but it was just effortless. We clicked somehow. It was almost too easy.”
Ryder winced at the mention of Jett’s name.
“Sorry,” she said as she saw the pained look on his face. “Should I not talk about him with you?”
She figured he was still grieving. That or he didn’t want to be reminded of the man she loved more than anything in the world.
“No, it’s fine,” he said. “Talk about him as much as you need.”
“That’s not very convincing,” she said with a frown.
Ryder shook it off and changed the subject. “So, anyway. You were saying?”
CHAPTER 18
Ryder had various club meetings and work lunches scheduled throughout the rest of the week and spent most of his time glued to his laptop when he was home. He tried his best to make sure Stormy wasn’t too bored, but he couldn’t attend to her every beck and call. She didn’t expect him to keep her entertained, but she couldn’t help but grow a little bored with each passing day.
The only thing keeping her excited that week was Brooklyn’s impending visit. She was set to arrive Friday afternoon, and Stormy couldn’t wait. She wasn’t sure what they’d do that weekend, but she was elated to bring a little piece of home to California if only for a brief couple of days.
Ryder sprung for a little Mac Book Air for Stormy so that she could apply for jobs, and when she wasn’t job hunting, she was doing small things for his business. She felt she had to earn her keep, even if he insisted it wasn’t necessary. Stormy was many things, but a mooch she was not. He gave her a few data entry type things and spreadsheets to update, but it was never more than an hour’s worth of work in any given day. It still made her feel better though.
At night, she was growing more and more comfortable with helping herself around the kitchen. She began cooking for the guys, who appreciated her traditional, hearty Midwest pastas, casseroles, and creamy sauce ladled dishes.
“Your old lady is totally trying to fatten me up,” Zander said to Ryder one night.
They hadn’t discussed labels at all. It wasn’t really even in the forefront of their minds. They didn’t know what they were, but it was so weird for Zander to call her his old lady, even if that’s what she was.
“Yeah, my old lady can cook,” Ryder replied, clearly comfortable with the label.
“You don’t have to eat my cooking,” Stormy teased.
“How can I say no?” Zander replied. “I smell this stuff in my room every night and it’s like I just follow my nose and I end up right here with a big old plate of whatever it is you cooked up.”
Stormy smiled. She was starting to see how harmless Zander really was, and she was growing more and more comfortable around him with each passing day. She also couldn’t help but wonder what was going to happen when Zander met Brooklyn. There was no doubt in Stormy’s mind that they were perfect for each other. They were both blonde, wild, unfiltered, and up for anything.
“Are you going to be around this weekend?” Stormy asked Zander.
“Uh, yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” he asked. He was such a smart ass.
“My friend is coming to visit,” she replied. “We should all go out or something.”
Zander looked at Ryder who shrugged and nodded in agreement.
“Yeah, we can do that,” Zander said. She could tell he had a hunch that he was being set up. “This isn’t like some double date thing or something is it?”
“No,” Stormy laughed. “But I think you’ll really enjoy meeting her.”
Zander rolled his eyes. He was not one to be tied down, and he rarely had a girlfriend and preferred no-strings-attached one night stands from what Ryder had said about him, which was exactly why he was perfect for Brooklyn. She was the female version of him.
Zander finished his dinner and trekked back to his room, shutting the door.
“Good old Zander,” Ryder laughed. “He really doesn’t like being set up, just so you know.”
“Oh, this is not a set up,” she said. “Brooklyn hates that too. This is more of an experiment for me. Think of it as our entertainment for the weekend. Either they’re going to be all over each other or they’re going to hate each other. My money’s on the former.”
“My money’s on the latter,” Ryder said.
“If I had any money, I’d make you a real bet,” Stormy smirked. “Just be prepared to lose.”
“We can make a wager,” he proposed.
“Okay,” Stormy said, intrigued. “And what are the terms of our little wager?”
“If I’m right and they hate each other, I’ll cook you a five star, gourmet dinner every single night next week,” he said. “I’ll do the dishes and everything.”
“Okay,” Stormy said. “Keep talking.”
“And if you’re right and they are crazy about each other, I’ll take you on a shopping spree, Pretty Woman style,” he said. “Rodeo Drive or wherever. No limit. Anything you want, my treat.”
“Wow,” she said as she thought hard about it. “You really think they’re going to hate each other don’t you?”
He laughed and nodded. “You don’t know Zander.”
“You’ve got yourself a deal, mister,” she said as she extended her right hand.
They shook on it before sliding off the bar stools and cleaning up the mess Stormy had made in the kitchen. They made a pretty good team as they washed and dried the dishes and left the kitchen as immaculate as she had found it. She still hadn’t seen a cleaning person come all week, so she had d
etermined Zander and Ryder were just two guys who liked a clean place. Most of the guys back in Coleville were complete slobs.
Stormy’s phone buzzed on the table as a private number called. She wiped off her wet, soapy hands and answered.
“Hello?” she said. “Yes, this is she. Yes. Absolutely. What time? Sounds great. Thank you so much.”
Ryder watched intently as she finished her call.
“I just got a job interview at Cedars Sinai Hospital,” she said.
“That’s one of the best hospitals in LA,” Ryder said as he flashed a huge smile. “That’s amazing, Stormy!”
He picked her up and swung her around.
“When is it?” he asked.
“Monday at ten,” she said. “So, I’ll kind of need a ride.”
“Just take my Audi,” he said.
“Really? Okay,” she said with a grin. “I’ll need directions.”
“It has GPS,” he said. “You won’t get lost. I promise.”
The sun began to set outside, and Stormy felt drawn to the balcony. She wanted to breathe in the fresh, California air and relax outside for a bit. She wasn’t used to such balmy, mild weather. It was probably ninety and scorching and humid back home, and she probably would’ve been sitting in her house in the A/C avoiding the swarms of mosquitos that hovered in large groups every ten feet.
Ryder followed her after a bit and sat next to her on the outdoor couch. So far they had been inseparable that week, and she hoped it wasn’t just the new-and-exciting phase of the relationship.
“So I was thinking after we pick up Brooklyn tomorrow, I would just give you guys a few hours of alone time,” he said. “I’ve got a few errands to run, so I can just drop you off back here for a bit. When I get back, we can all go out for dinner and drinks. Sound good?”
“Yeah, sounds great,” Stormy piped. She was glad he was taking care of making the plans. She’d only lived in L.A. for less than a week and felt weird about showing off a city that still felt like vacation to her.
She cuddled up under his arm, her new favorite place to be, and leaned her head back as the sky darkened and filled with twinkling stars. She was getting very used to her new little life out west. She was thinking of Coleville less and less each day, though Jett was always in her mind. She couldn’t help but think about how much he would’ve loved traveling out there, and in her mind, he would’ve loved to see his big brother too.
Resisting Ryder Page 13