“Hands off,” I growl at him loudly so he can hear me over the music. He looks me up and down and must realise he wouldn’t win if he started something with me, then begrudgingly walks off back to his group of mates.
I turn Molly to face me. She puts her arms around my shoulders, leans into me, and whispers in my ear, “Thank you.” I grab her hips and pull her against me.
What started out innocent has quite quickly turned into something…not so innocent. Molly turns in my arms so she has her back to my chest and shoves her arse into my groin. She flicks her head around and smiles wickedly at me over her shoulder.
I look up when I feel eyes on me. Shane’s smirking in our direction while he dances with Chris, Emma, Megan, and Daniel, who showed up for a drink earlier. He nods at me encouragingly, which catches Emma’s attention. She looks our way and her expression hardens. She’s really pretty drunk, and she instantly stops moving and looks us up and down. She looks murderous.
She storms over. “What the fuck do you two think you’re doing? You promised me nothing was happening,” she shouts, waving her arms around in front of us.
“Emma,” Molly says, “We’re just messing about. Right, Ry?”
Emma turns her attention to me.
“We’re just dancing.” Listening to myself slur these words to her, I realise just how drunk I actually am.
“You two must think I’m fucking stupid. There’s no way you aren’t fucking each other.”
“Wow, Emma. Chill out. If they say there’s nothing going on, then there’s nothing going on. Neither Molly nor Ryan would lie to you,” Shane shouts above the music.
“But you just saw them! You were encouraging it!”
“Emma, they’re both drunk. Hell, we all are. We’re all just enjoying ourselves.”
“You said he was like your brother!” she screams in Molly’s direction. “Never in a million years would I dance with Dec like that.”
“Emma, if you don’t believe us, fine. Go home. We’re doing nothing wrong, so get over yourself,” Molly growls at her, which shocks me. I’ve seen her stand her ground with plenty of people before, but I never thought she’d put Emma in her place.
I watch as Emma huffs out a breath and storms off. Daniel comes over, having watched the whole thing, and kisses Molly on the cheek before telling her he’s going to make sure Emma gets home okay.
Molly turns to look at me, and I see a single tear fall down her cheek. I know she feels awful about losing her temper. I put my arm around her shoulder. “Do you want to go?” I ask.
“Yes, please.”
We say our goodbyes to everyone and apologise for ruining the evening. We’re just walking out of the club when Molly’s pulled away from me. I look to my right to see the guy who was trying to dance with her.
“What the fuck are you doing?” she shouts.
“Are you ready to dance now?” he snarls, grabbing her and pushing her up against the wall.
“Get the fuck off me!” she screams in his face, forcing me to move.
Slamming my body into his, I watch him stumble to the ground. I turn to make sure Molly’s okay before focusing on him.
“He said you’d be a sure thing,” he shouts before my fist collides with his jaw.
“Who said that?” I shout at him before taking another shot.
“Me,” a familiar voice says from behind me. “I thought maybe she needed a real man for her birthday.”
“Max?” Molly whimpers.
I land another punch to the dick on the floor before standing up to face Max. I’m barely at full height when I feel his fist hit my jaw.
“How dare you fucking take her from me,” Max growls angrily. “She’s mine. You don’t get to just move her in with you because you’re lonely now your girlfriend’s dead.” I see red and launch myself at him.
“Ryan, stop!” Molly screams.
Max manages to get a couple more punches in before I have him slumped against the wall, moaning in pain.
“You fucking stay away from her, you cheating piece of shit. I’ll finish you next time. I’ll fucking finish you.” I’m shaking with anger and I stretch my fingers out, my knuckles aching. How dare he treat her this way. Molly comes up to my side and put her arms around me. Still fuelled by too much pent-up anger, I push her away, needing a little space. The look she gives me guts me. Her shoulders drop as she turns and starts walking towards the waiting taxis.
She only makes it a couple of steps before I come to my senses, place my hand on her lower back, and guide her towards a car to take us home.
Molly
Ryan is silent beside me and hasn’t said anything since he threatened Max outside the club, but I can feel his body starting to relax against me.
When the car comes to a stop in front of our house, I throw some cash at the driver and pull Ryan out of the car. He stumbles as we make our way up to the front door.
“Steady, Ry, I’m not going to be able to catch you if you fall.”
I open the front door. He trips and crashes into the hallway wall. I grab him around the waist as he starts to slide down, pulling him with me into my room. I sit him on the edge of my bed and place my hands on his cheeks, careful of the bruises and cuts on his face.
“Ryan, are you okay?” I ask gently. He still hasn’t said anything.
“I’m just so angry about how you’re treated by the people who are meant to care about you.”
“It’s okay, because I’ve got you. Thank you for what you did tonight, and I’m sorry you got hurt,” I say, gently running my thumb over his lip, causing him to suck in a breath. “Sorry,” I whisper.
“I’ll always fight for you, Molly. Always.”
I really don’t know how to reply to that, so I stand and get the first aid kit from upstairs, as well as something cold for his face and hand. I’m stood at the sink filling a sandwich bag with ice when a shiver runs down my spine and a feeling that I’m being watched has me on full alert. When I look up, I see the woman next door staring at me through the window. Grimacing at how nosey she is, I release the blind string and cut her off. When I return, Ryan’s exactly as I left him but with his head in his hands. As I move closer, he lifts his head to look at me. His lips quirk up at the corners when I smile at him.
“I’m not even going to attempt to get you upstairs and into bed, so you can stay here. Let’s get you comfy, and I’ll clean you up and put this ice on you to try to reduce some of the bruising. Arms up.” He does as he’s told, and I carefully pull his polo shirt over his head, minding his cuts and bruises. Leaning down, I remove his shoes and socks, and then I pull the duvet aside, ready for him.
“Right, lie down with your head on the pillow; you’re going to have to help me with your jeans.” He follows my orders, undoes his fly, and lifts his hips so I can pull them off. I cover him quickly.
I clean his cuts, making him wince before grabbing the ice bags and placing one on his eye and grabbing his left hand to hold it in place. Then, I turn his right hand over and rest a second bag over his knuckles.
“Are you going to be okay while I get changed?”
He groans, so I take that as a yes, grab a pair of pyjamas, and head to the bathroom.
When I emerge ten minutes later, ready for bed, I’m surprised to see him sat up, drinking the water and looking at me. I was sure he was going to pass out as soon as I left the room.
“Hey. How you doing?”
“I’m fine. Come on, get in.”
I walk round to the other side of the bed and follow his instructions. I lie on my back, staring at the ceiling for a few minutes, my heart pounding and my skin tingling with awareness. Goosebumps prickle my skin where Ryan’s eyes run over me, so I look over to him and smile.
“I really hate him,” Ryan says. “And your parents, and Emma a bit right now.” His arm comes around my stomach and pulls me to him until he’s spooning me.
“Ry, can we not talk about them, please? I just want to forget for tonigh
t. Let’s go to sleep.” He kisses the top of my head and settles in for the night. I fight to keep the small smile from my lips at how right this feels.
I lie awake in Ryan’s arms for ages, but it doesn’t take long before his breathing slows. My mind’s running around all the events that happened this evening. Emma—she’s my biggest problem. Do I try to see her and talk to her, or do I let her stew for a while and hope she comes to the conclusion that she overreacted? What if she tells Susan and Pete, and they’re on her side? I don’t want to fall out with them, too.
At some point, I must have fallen asleep, because I’ve just woken up with Ryan still wrapped around me. He makes me feel safe, but at the same time it scares the shit out of me. What I’m not so happy about is his morning erection stabbing me in the bum.
I try to sneak out of his hold, carefully lifting his arm and sliding out from under him, but I’m suddenly pulled back.
“No,” he grumbles. I find myself in exactly the same position, and my body tenses.
“Are you awake?” I whisper.
“No,” he replies, making me smile.
“Really?”
“Go back to sleep.”
“I can’t.”
“You’re not going anywhere, I’m too comfortable.”
“Well, I should tell you then that I have a problem.”
“What now, Molls?”
“There’s something stabbing me in the butt. It’s not very comfortable.”
He grunts. “I see your problem, and I know a number of ways it can be resolved.”
Turning my head, I find a huge grin over his face. I pull myself away from him and turn so I’m facing him squarely.
“Not happening, Evans,” I say. “Get yourself under control, please.”
“Sorry, my body can’t help it, especially while it’s cuddled around such a hot one.”
“Stop it, Ryan.”
“Sorry,” he pouts. I smack him gently on his chest. I know he’s only teasing—well, I think he is—but that doesn’t stop my body from reacting in ways it shouldn’t.
“I’m warning you now that we will be having a conversation about what’s going on here.”
“Molls, do I need to give you a sex ed lesson? It’s called an erection; men get them when they’re turned on, or first thing in the—”
I put my hand over his mouth. “That’s not what I am talking about.” I wave my hand between us. “I’m talking about what’s been going on between us. I need to get my head together, and so do you, because my guess is that you feel like shit this morning.”
“I’ve felt better, and my face is killing me.”
“Well, that’s what happens when you get into a fight with two dickheads.”
He sucks in a breath as if he’s remembering. “Max.”
“Don’t worry—you left them in a worse state than you’re in right now. I don’t think they’ll be bothering me again.”
A few hours later, I find myself sat on a bar stool in Cocoa’s, chatting to Megan while she finishes up for the day. I spent a couple of hours upstairs making plans for what I need to do this week and looking at the projects I have at the moment, before coming down to get Megan’s opinion on my situation with Ryan. I watch as she locks up and comes to join me where her coffee is waiting. She groans as she sits down.
“Long day?”
“Yes, and it’s not helped by the hangover which, by the way, you are totally to blame for.” She points at me.
“Tell me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure at some point yesterday you told me you wanted to get wasted because you haven’t in so long.”
She laughs. “So, I have this weird feeling that you’re here because you want to talk about someone.” Megan tilts her head and raises her eyebrow.
“No need to be so smug.” I tell her about the fight she missed after we left, what happened when we got home, and then this morning. She listens to everything and nods in all the right places.
“I think this conversation is going to take longer than I have. James is going out this evening, so I need to be back for Oscar. Do you want to follow me back? We can order a takeaway.”
Twenty minutes later, I’m following Megan into the flat she shares with her boyfriend James and their son.
“Mummy!” Oscar screams when he sees her.
She picks him up and kisses him. “Hey, little man. Have you had a good day with Daddy?”
Oscar is the cutest kid I think I’ve ever seen. He turned three not so long ago. Like his dad, he’s pretty tall, but he has his mum’s dark hair and eyes. Megan keeps his hair quite long and scruffs it up with a bit of wax to make him a smaller, dark-haired version of his dad.
“Hey, baby,” James says, coming over to Megan and kissing her forehead. I’m so jealous of their easy, yet loving, relationship. They’ve been together for seven years now, and I’m just waiting for an engagement announcement sometime soon.
“Molly, what did you do to my girlfriend last night? She was up half the night, puking.”
“Sorry, but that is not my fault. She’s a grown woman and should know when to stop,” I laugh.
“Have a good night, ladies,” he calls from the hallway.
“I’m not a lady,” Oscar shouts from his bedroom.
“No, you’re not, little man, sorry. See you later, ladies and Oscar,” he chuckles as he leaves the flat.
Megan leaves me to order the dinner while she puts Oscar to bed. I ring and place an order for our favourite Chinese dishes and pour us both glasses of water.
“So, Molly. Million-dollar question. Are you going to get under him or over him?” Megan asks as she comes back into the kitchen, trying not to laugh.
“In the back of my mind, I just see it going tits up and then losing him. I would rather fight to keep him as my friend than do something to remove him from my life completely.
“Then there’s Emma. Since the accident, she’s distanced herself from everyone. She’s made her opinion quite clear. I don’t want to trash my friendship with her, and I’m yet to find out if Susan and Pete share her feelings. I cannot lose them; I see them as my parents.”
“I understand all that, I do, but what if you make a move with Ryan and it’s amazing, and it lasts?” she asks, ever the romantic. “What’s the alternative?”
“Putting myself back out there and going on some dates, I guess. Finding out if this attraction to Ryan is because of him, or because I need a bloke in my life.”
“Are you sure that’s what you want?”
“As sure as I can be.”
She pauses. “If you’re serious, I have someone I could set you up with.”
I nod at her. Megan has good taste in men and is a good judge of character, so I’m as hopeful as I can be. “Okay, who?”
“One of James’ friends from work. I think you’d get on great. Should I give him your number?”
“Sure. What’s the worst that could happen?”
Chapter Eleven
Ryan
I’ve spent all day lying on the sofa in front of the TV, thoughts of Molly and everything that has happened over the last couple of weeks floating in and out of my mind.
She said before she left this morning that we were going to talk about what’s been happening between us. I’ve been going backwards and forwards over what I want for hours. After the chat I had with Shane last night, what he said keeps coming back to me. What if he’s right? What if this is meant to happen?
I eventually give up waiting for her to come home. I haven’t heard from her all day, but she said she needed to get her head straight, so I don’t want to interrupt her. It’s just before midnight when I hear the front door shut. I wait for her to come upstairs, but she doesn’t, instead going straight to bed.
After another hour of lying in bed, not sleeping, my need to see her gets the better of me. Knowing she’s downstairs is torture. I quietly make my way down to her room. Luckily, her door is slightly open. I peek around the doorframe to see her s
ound asleep, facing me. A bit of hair has fallen across her face and the rest is lying across her chest. I bite down on my bottom lip and clench my fists. My need to walk over and fix it becomes too much. She’s wearing a vest top and tiny shorts, so tiny they don’t go anywhere near covering her arse. Her legs are tangled around the duvet at the bottom of the bed. I stand there for a few minutes, just looking at her and listening to her breathing.
It’s in that moment that I realise just how much I want her. Just how much I need her.
Rolling over, I pull my eyelids open. It’s already getting on for ten o’clock. Oh, I love the holidays—late nights and even later mornings. Heaven. I jump out of bed and quickly shower and get dressed before heading downstairs, hoping Molly will be there, ready to talk.
When I get to the kitchen, there’s no sign of her. I flick the kettle on, then head down to her room to see if she’s there. The door is open, but there’s still no sign of her. She was obviously up early to get the office set up. I guess my little speech will have to wait.
I end up spending most of the day working out, going for a ridiculously long run, then hitting the weights, trying to keep myself busy.
When I get home, I FaceTime my mum. It’s taken me years to get my parents to be able to use it, but I think we’ve got there at last. I’d totally forgotten about my black eye and busted lip, but one look at me has my mum in a right tizz. It takes me a full ten minutes to calm her down. I explain to her what happened in as little detail I can. She’s made it quite clear in the past that she doesn’t really like Molly. It didn’t bother me before, but now I could throttle Hannah for telling my mum all about her best friend’s antics. I always end up having to defend her to my mum, and I hate it.
Falling For Ryan: Part One Page 10