by P. J. Fiala
***
“Are you riding with us tonight, Ryder?” JT asked.
They were sitting around the kitchen table having morning coffee. The three brothers rented Joci’s house. When she moved in with Jeremiah, she asked Gunnar if he was interested in renting it. He and JT were talking about moving in together anyway. Ryder had a nice little apartment he liked so he initially said he wasn’t interested. But, after a few weeks, he realized he loved being here with them, so he moved in as well. They each had their own bedroom and plenty of garage space for their vehicles and bikes. It was a great ranch-style house with a full basement that had become their “party” room. That way they kept the mess downstairs when they had friends over. There was a workout area as well.
“Nah, I’ll take my truck. That way when you guys hook up, I can just slip out.”
“Well, you might hook up, too.”
Ryder shrugged. “Maybe.”
Gunnar walked into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee.
“Mom just called. They’re at the airport and will be home in about an hour. Did you guys want to run over and see them this afternoon?”
“Yeah,” JT and Ryder said in unison.
***
“Glad you guys are home. Did you have a great time, or aren’t we supposed to ask that?” JT asked, smirking at Jeremiah and Joci.
Jeremiah pulled Joci into his side and kissed the top of her head. He looked at the boys and smiled. “We had a great time. We lay on the beach every single day. We didn’t really do anything, but rest, relax, and talk. We shopped a little bit and saw a couple of dinner shows.”
“What’s going on around here? Did we miss anything?” Joci asked.
The boys shrugged. “Not much. We didn’t burn anything down. The shop is still standing and everyone that was working at the shop is still working there, so I guess you didn’t really miss much.”
Jeremiah leaned down close to Joci’s ear, “Told you.”
Joci smirked. “Ok, well, we’re having a working lunch on Wednesday this week to finalize the plans for Danny Schaefer’s build next weekend. We need you guys there. Pizza for everyone,” Joci said.
Danny Schaefer is the veteran receiving the majority of the proceeds from the Veteran’s Ride this year. They were adding a first-floor bedroom and bathroom to his home. He had a leg blown off while in Afghanistan. His two-story house is laid out so the bedroom and bathroom are upstairs. The addition will help him with his daily living needs. The purpose of the Veteran’s Ride each year is to help local vets with needs, whatever those needs are.
“I’m going to ask Molly to take pictures of the build at Danny’s house. We’ll need them for the website and I want to add them to a DVD before I have them burned. That way we can show the ride and then how the proceeds for the ride were used. I also want to get an interview or at least some comments from Danny for the end of the DVD. What do you guys think of that?”
Ryder froze at the sound of Molly’s name. She was going to be around next weekend? He would be seeing her again. His heart started beating a rapid tempo in his chest. He’d find a way to ask her out for sure. Yes, this was perfect; he would see her next weekend and find the courage to ask her out.
Joci looked at Ryder. His face took on a look she hadn’t seen before.
“Ryder? Is that ok with you?” Joci asked.
“Ah, yeah, it’s good,” Ryder said as his face turned red.
Joci looked at Gunnar with her brows furrowed. Gunnar smirked at Joci and shook his head no. She got it.
“So, what’s up with Ryder and Molly?” Joci asked Gunnar.
“So far, nothing. He hasn’t called her, even though I gave him her number, thanks for texting me back so fast. He’s moped around the house all week. He’s frustrated with himself. It’s good that Molly will be at the build. It’ll give Ryder another shot to ask her out.”
Joci nodded. “You’re welcome. So he still hasn’t been able to talk to Molly. Poor kid.”
“Yeah, I get that he’s shy and it’s hard for him, but seriously, he needs to just go for it.”
“Well, that’s easy for you to say, you aren’t shy.” Joci walked over to the desk and sat down at her computer. Gunnar shrugged and left the office to get back to work.
***
JT, Ryder, Gunnar, Joci, Jeremiah, Frog, and some of the other employees from Rolling Thunder were standing around a tall table at The Barn celebrating Frog’s birthday. By nine-thirty, Joci was stifling a yawn when a tall, leggy blonde walked over and pushed herself between JT and Ryder. She reached over and ran her hand over the spikes on Ryder’s hair and whispered something in his ear. Joci raised an eyebrow as she watched Ryder’s face turn bright red. He looked down at the table and the blonde leaned in and whispered something more. Of course, blondie’s breasts were rubbing against Ryder’s arm. Ryder looked up and then stood up completely stiff as his eyes grew large and the color drained from his face.
“Hi Joci, Jeremiah. How’re you doing?” Molly was glaring at the blonde and then shot Ryder a look that could kill.
“Molly. It’s so good to see you. How are you? I can’t wait to see the pictures.” Joci was smiling and trying to get Molly to look at her.
Molly looked away from Ryder and looked at Joci. “They turned out great. I can’t wait for you to see them.” Molly motioned to her friends.
“I’d like you to meet my girlfriends. Tammy, Cara, and Suzie. Girls, this is Joci and Jeremiah Sheppard. And, of course, their sons, JT, Gunnar, and Ryder.”
To Tammy, Molly said, “Not sure who the woman is with her tongue in Ryder’s ear.”
Joci heard her and looked at Molly. “She’s not with us. She just walked up and started whispering in his ear.”
Molly shrugged her shoulders. “Doesn’t matter. We’re going to go over to the other side and find a table by the dance floor. Can we get together on Monday to look at the pictures? They’re amazing, if I do say so myself.”
Tammy piped up. “I saw them and they’re perfect. Wow. All I could say was Wow!”
Joci smiled at Molly and Tammy. “Thank you. I can’t wait. Can you come to Rolling Thunder around ten on Monday?”
Molly didn’t hear her. She knew she didn’t have any right to be jealous. Ryder didn’t call her because she wasn’t pretty enough or he wasn’t interested. Apparently he liked them blonde and tall. So, fine. It hurt though. She had thought about him all week. She had dreamt about him. She woke up two mornings with the sweats; the dreams had been so real. She never thought she was a real beauty. She had boyfriends, but she didn’t look like Blondie here. Ryder and every other man liked women like this blonde. Tall, thin, long blonde hair, big boobs. Molly needed to get away from the table. She felt sucker punched, it was hard to breathe, and she felt tears threatening.
Ryder was staring at her, waiting for her to acknowledge him in some way, but she refused. What the fuck? He didn’t do anything wrong. Finally, Molly looked up at him just as the blonde whispered something in Ryder’s ear. Ryder shrugged away from her and she smirked. Blondie looked at Molly with a Cheshire cat smile and wrapped her arm around Ryder’s shoulder.
“Molly?”
“I’m sorry, Joci. I didn’t hear you.”
Joci nodded. “How about Monday at ten? At Rolling Thunder?”
Molly nodded. Tammy recognized the hurt in Molly’s eyes. “Come on girl, let’s go shake what God gave you. Nice to meet you all.”
With a wave, they were off to the other side of the bar crowding around a table by the dance floor. Tammy quickly pulled Molly out onto the dance floor and they started shaking their booties.
“Don’t let it bother you, Moll. He didn’t look interested in her at all, he was staring at you.”
“Let’s just dance and not think. Maybe tonight I’ll get wasted and forget.”
“That’s my girl.”
***
Ryder looked at Joci and shook his head. Women! Blondie leaned in and whispered, “Come
on baby, let’s get out of here.”
“Get lost Rachel. Not interested.”
“Fuck you, Ryder. You weren’t saying that two weeks ago. Jerk off!”
With that, Blondie or Rachel, or whoever stalked off to her friends. Jeremiah chuckled a little and Joci shot him a look.
Ryder looked over at the dance floor where Molly and her friends were dancing. She looked fabulous. Long legs, black heels that said, “Fuck me.” She was wearing a short white dress with black polka dots on it. He could tell she was mad. He didn’t ask Rachel to come over and whisper in his ear. He didn’t even know she was here. He hadn’t thought of any woman since he’d met Molly. She was shaking her sweet little ass on the dance floor and smiling with her friends. God, he wanted her to shake that sweet ass against him. His cock swelled just thinking about it.
As the night wore on Ryder couldn’t do anything but watch Molly. A couple of guys had joined Molly and her friends on the dance floor and Ryder wanted to go over and push them away. One guy wrapped his arms around her waist and let her wiggle her gorgeous ass against him. That almost killed Ryder. He didn’t have any right to be jealous, but damn it, he wanted her. In a weird way, he already thought of her as his.
***
Molly and her girls were having a great time. Molly tried in vain not to look over at Ryder. When she couldn’t take it anymore, she would spin around on the floor so it didn’t look like she was looking at him. He was always watching her. It always hit Molly hard. Fuck! He was wearing tight jeans that accented his hard thighs and a tight t-shirt. He had a tattoo going down his right arm that looked like a snake or something. It slid down and around his arm to the elbow. Most of it was tucked under his t-shirt. She really wanted to see it, all of it. But he wasn’t interested in her so she would be left wondering about that tattoo. She spun around one more time and there he was with that blonde again and she had her hand in his front pocket. Fucker.
Tammy pulled Molly off the dance floor back to the table where the girls had shots lined up and waiting.
“Drink up, girls. Here’s to Saturday night!” Tammy yelled.
Everyone downed their shots. Molly’s head was already spinning since she’d already had a few shots. She wasn’t driving, but still, she didn’t want tomorrow to be a total waste. It was the only way to keep from thinking about that frigging blonde whispering sweet nothings in Ryder’s ear. Bitch!
Cara and Suzie pulled Molly out onto the floor for another dance just as a hot guy came to the table and started talking to Tammy. Molly stumbled a little and started to giggle. So did Cara and Suzie. Some cute sandy-haired man came up behind Molly and slid his arms around her waist as he pulled her back to him.
He leaned down and whispered in her ear, “Let’s take off beautiful. I can think of a few things we could be doing right now that we can’t do here on the dance floor.”
Molly stiffened and her eyes got big. She whirled around to look at him. He was smiling at her.
“No. N-not interested,” Molly slurred.
“It looks like you’re interested doll. You’ve been teasing me with that sweet little ass all night.”
Molly shook her head to try and clear it. “N-no I haven’t. I’m dancing with my girls.”
Molly looked around to see her girls each dancing with other guys. Uh oh, not good.
“Come on you little tease. Let’s get out of here. Now!”
His anger bubbling to the surface, he grabbed for Molly, but she stepped back just in time. He lunged forward again and caught her arm in his hand. He pulled her roughly to him and with a little more force and menace said, “Like I said. Let’s get out of here. You can play hard to get later.”
Molly pushed against him, but he was stronger than her and not nearly as drunk. She pushed again and looked around at Tammy, Cara, and Suzie to get their attention. They were otherwise occupied. She pushed against him again, but he didn’t budge. Feeling nauseous and dizzy, Molly started to panic. Shit. Tears sprang to her eyes.
Abruptly, the man holding her arm jerked away. Molly blinked back the tears in her eyes to see Ryder hit the guy in the face.
“The lady said no. That means no, fuckface.”
The jerk flew across the floor on his ass. Ryder looked at Molly, his jaw set tight.
“You okay?”
Molly was so relieved that tears started flowing from her eyes. She wiped the tears from her face and looked up just in time to feel strong warm arms come around her and pull her close.
“It’s okay, Molly. I won’t let anything happen to you.” Ryder held her close for a few moments, letting her compose herself.
She felt good in his arms. Soft and warm. Her scent wafted up to his nostrils, heavenly, like a spring breeze and powder. He leaned down and smelled her hair. His cock thickened.
They were jostled as the guy lunged at them and pushed Ryder from behind. Before he could swing around JT and Gunnar each had a hand on him and were dragging him back.
With his mouth close to her ear, Ryder said, “Hey, why don’t I make sure you get home?”
Molly nodded and looked up at him. She finished wiping her eyes. Her head was swimming and she felt unsteady. Suddenly her stomach lurched and she started running for the front door. Ryder followed her outside just in time to see her throwing up alongside the building. He smirked as he walked to where she was hunched over, spilling her guts onto the parking lot. He stood just close enough that he would be available if she needed help, but he wanted to give her some privacy. He pulled a napkin out of his pocket. It had Rachel’s phone number on it, but he didn’t give a shit. He told her he wasn’t interested and she insisted on shoving it in his pocket anyway. When Molly lifted her head up, he walked over and handed her a napkin.
“Here you go, Molly. Can I get you some water or something?”
Molly took the napkin and wiped her mouth with it. She couldn’t look at him. She had just humiliated herself. Great. Not only did he think she wasn’t hot enough to date, now for sure he would never want to go out with her.
“No, thanks. I’ll be fine. I’ll just go and see if the girls are ready to go.”
Ryder stepped forward. “You said I could make sure you get home, Molly.”
Molly looked at him for a long moment. Shit, her brain short circuited when he was around. Well, why not, he already saw her throw up. Sheesh, how much worse could it get? She nodded and closed her eyes.
Ryder put his arm around her shoulders. “My truck is over there,” he said pointing to his right. She had a hard time walking a straight line and put her arm around his waist to keep from falling. Ryder chuckled to himself. He helped her into his truck and reached across her to fasten the seatbelt. As he walked around to the side of the truck, he glanced up at Molly through the windshield and saw her eyes closed.
“Hey. Wait a minute!”
Ryder looked over and saw Tammy running towards him.
“Hey. Are you taking Molly home?”
Ryder nodded. “Yeah. She’ll be fine. I won’t hurt her.”
Tammy smiled at him. “Didn’t think you would. I have her purse.”
Tammy held Molly’s purse out to Ryder. He took it from her as he said thanks and turned to get in his truck.
“She really likes you. Don’t you go hurting my girl.”
Ryder looked at Tammy a moment, then back at Molly. He smiled and nodded as he climbed into the truck, turned the key in the ignition and realized he didn’t know where Molly lived. He looked back to ask Tammy, but she was gone. Now what? He could go digging around in her purse, but that wouldn’t be right.
Ryder drove to his place and carried Molly into his bedroom. She never woke up as he laid her on his bed and removed the heels from her feet.
“How the hell do women wear these things anyway? Geez.” He put them on the floor next to the bed, along with her purse. He pulled the wastebasket close to the side of the bed in case she got sick in the middle of the night. He brought a bottle of water and two aspir
in and set them on the table next to the bed. He covered her up and ran his hand over her forehead, then slid his fingers through her hair, loving the feel of it as it fell through his fingers.
Ryder leaned forward and kissed Molly’s forehead. “Good night, babe.”
Molly opened her eyes and looked around. She didn’t recognize anything in the room. She didn’t remember this place at all. Her heart started hammering and her head, God, her head was throbbing like crazy. Her mouth felt awful. Yuck. She closed her eyes and tried to remember what had happened last night. Oh geez, that man on the dance floor. He’d grabbed her and was pulling her off the floor. Her heart was pounding now. She sat straight up in a panic. What she saw was Ryder, looking at her.
“Morning. How do you feel?”
Molly sat perfectly still. She was stunned. She was with Ryder? She looked down at her clothes, she was fully dressed. He was still wearing the clothes he had on last night. He was sitting in a chair at the foot of the bed, his feet propped on the bed.
“Did you sleep there last night?”
Ryder smiled at her. “Yeah. I wanted to be close in case you needed something. But I didn’t want to freak you out or scare you by lying in bed next to you, so I slept here.”
“Where’s here?” Molly was starting to remember. Ryder punched that guy on the dance floor and walked her out. No wait, she ran out and threw up. Fuck that’s right. She puked in the parking lot in front of Ryder. Just. Fucking. Great.
“I brought you to my house. You fell asleep before I could ask you where you live.”
He was watching her very closely. He still thought she was gorgeous, even after waking up from a night of partying with her hair messed up from sleeping. He could imagine that’s how her hair might look after he fucked her. Her blue eyes were staring warily at him. She licked her lips and rubbed under her eyes.
“Oh.”
“You didn’t answer my question. How do you feel?”
Molly wrinkled her face. “My head hurts. My pride hurts. I’m embarrassed.” She took a deep breath. “Mostly, I’m embarrassed.”
Ryder laughed. “I’ve been there. Actually just last week after my mom and dad’s wedding.”