Unforgettable

by Alexander, S. B.

  My father’s deep baritone voice grew louder as I wound my way down a hall into another wing. Arlene was right. He would probably be livid if I disturbed him. His office wing was off limits to everyone in the house, other than Roya if she was cleaning, his security, and his aides if they were at the house to work.

  “Lorna, don’t worry about my daughter. She will not be going anywhere near Ryker. I promise. Yes, your daughters have full access to him now.”

  The air jetted from my lungs as I froze outside his door.

  “Listen,” he said in a tone that permitted no argument. “When I say I’m going to do something, it gets done. Now I will not discuss this any further. I will send it over.”

  Bastard.

  It was just as I’d suspected. My father was pleasing his mistress and trying to keep Ryker away from me so Tabitha and Beverly had free access to the quarterback.

  Adrenaline rushed to every extremity as I tried to get my body to move. I had a good mind to storm in. But that wouldn’t accomplish anything other than sparking a yelling match that ended with no outcome.

  I was tired of my father’s bullshit. I was tired of trying to get him to see me as something other than a problem. For once, I wanted him to be a dad who loved his daughter unconditionally. I wanted him to support me no matter what I did or who I dated.

  I wound my way back to where I’d left my suitcase, trying not to scream at the top of my lungs. Screw staying here. Screw my father, and screw his rules.

  I passed Arlene, who was sitting with Baxter while she read from her iPad. “Tell my father he can shove his rules and deals up his ass.”

  When I reached the foyer, my suitcase was still there along with my purse. I was surprised Roya hadn’t taken them to my room. Maybe Arlene knew I wouldn’t be staying long. Smart lady. I would give her that.

  Hiking my purse on my shoulder, I grabbed my suitcase and didn’t look back.

  Arlene chased after me. “Where are you going? Your father isn’t going to be pleased.” She sounded as though she would get scolded too.

  I made quick work of throwing my things into the car. “Don’t care. Tell him not to look for me because he won’t find me.” I suspected he would if he sent out his security goons.

  Once I was speeding down the long driveway, I screamed at the top of my lungs. Vengeance, rage, jealousy, and so much came out in that scream.

  I had no idea where I was going. I couldn’t go to the dorm. He would look for me there. I knew one place that could be my sanctuary. So I drove to Ryker’s house—the one located right off campus.

  Forty minutes later, I was circling the neighborhood, searching for a parking space. Cars lined the street on both sides, and more cars were parked three deep in some driveways. The area was predominately college students who had either purchased or rented the two-story stucco houses, which varied among three designs.

  Ryker’s stuck out like a sore thumb, only because partygoers were streaming into his house while others spilled out or lounged on the porch.

  This was a bad idea. With my luck, one of the Sims sisters, or maybe both, were there. After all, it was a party, and my father had just told their mother that the Ryker empire was open for business.

  I found a spot a block down and away from campus. Ryker’s house might be the second in line after my dorm, but I had a thirty-minute or more head start.

  Once inside, I pushed through groups of people laughing, dancing, and talking over the loud music. The last time I was there, Ryker had been in his room, but something told me to check the kitchen first.

  I found Lucas twisting a cap off a bottle of beer. “Haven?” Those tawny-colored eyes bugged out.

  Yeah, Ryker had told him about what had happened with my father in my dorm room. Not that I cared. The whole building knew what had happened. I wouldn’t be surprised if their fight made the headlines in the university paper.

  “Where is he?” I didn’t have time to chitchat.

  “What are you doing here?” Lucas asked.

  “Just tell me where he is.” And please don’t tell me he’s screwing some chick because I would go postal on the man.

  He flicked his unshaven jaw to the door that led down to the media room. “He’s down there last I knew.”

  A hint of weed floated in the air as my feet sank into the shag carpeting at the bottom of the stairs. It was the same carpet Ryker had puked on the night I’d met him, which seemed liked eons ago.

  Music spilled from the speakers while a couple made out on an oversized chair near the TV. When I rounded the large square beam, my gaze landed on Ryker, and my heart stopped.

  For the second time within an hour, I lost my breath as the emotions my father elicited from me intensified.

  Ryker’s head rested on the back of the couch. His eyes were closed, and a faint sound of him snoring tickled my ears. But what had me ready to get arrested was the hunger to send Tabitha Sims to the hospital. She had her head on his chest and one hand on his abs.

  I clenched my teeth, my fists, and every muscle in me.

  Tabitha batted her blue eyes and stuck out her tongue at me.

  Bitch.

  I trudged over to the stereo, found the power cord, and yanked on it. The couple who had their tongues down each other’s throat broke apart.

  Tabitha laughed.

  Ryker didn’t move or wake up.

  His chest was moving, so I knew he wasn’t dead. That could change, though.

  I kicked his bare foot, which was resting on the coffee table.

  The man didn’t budge.

  “Leave him be,” Tabitha cooed. “He’s had a hard day.”

  I busted out with a snort and a growl. She was acting like she and Ryker had a long ongoing relationship. Nevertheless, a part of me felt sorry for her. The other part wanted to pluck her off him by her blond ponytail.

  I tapped Ryker on the face.

  Tabitha shot up and tried to scratch my face. “Get away from him.”

  Revulsion and fury pulsed in my veins.

  Ryker stirred, and when he opened his eyes, he shot straight up, wobbled, and fell back down to the couch.

  Déjà vu hit me as I remembered how he’d acted that first night I’d met him. Nevertheless, I clamped down on my tongue. We weren’t dating, so I shouldn’t care what chick he had on him. But Tabitha wasn’t any chick. She was the daughter of my father’s mistress, the girl who wanted to bury her pink-painted nails into Ryker, the same woman who was bringing out a side of me I didn’t like. I’d never been one to physically fight, but I had a mean kick thanks to a kickboxing class I’d taken in boarding school.

  His eyelids fluttered as he shook off his sleepiness or drunkenness. Or maybe he was high. None of that mattered when he laid eyes on Tabitha. The sight of her seemed to sober him up. “What the fuck are you doing?” He sounded repulsed rather than guilty.

  She tried to touch him.

  He lifted his hands in the air. “Get off me.” His voice was hard and pitted. Then his wild expression rounded to me, and his jaw came unhinged.

  I hugged myself. “Why am I not surprised?” It was more of a question for Tabitha than him.

  Ryker pushed to his feet and listed to one side. “Fuck.”

  Tabitha yanked on his hand and pulled him back down. Ryker went easily, mainly because he was tipsy or trying to shake off sleep.

  He tried to stand again. “Tabitha, if you touch me one more time, I’m calling the cops.”

  Her thin eyebrows furrowed. “I’m calling your father,” she said to me, whipping her phone from the back pocket of her shorts before she stomped away.

  “Tell him I said hi.” At least she was confirming my suspicions.

  When Ryker was upright, he roughed two hands through his thick black hair. “What are you doing here?”

  “Catching you with other women,” I teased.

  “No, seriously,” he said as if he were stone-cold sober.

  My father’s ringtone alerted me to a tex
t.

  “I have to go,” I said. “If my father finds me, you won’t ever see me again.”

  Ryker tensed. “Come on.” He started for the stairs.

  When we reached the kitchen, Lucas was leaning against the island as though he were waiting for us. “Need help?” he asked.

  “Stay with her,” Ryker said to Lucas. “I need to get my shoes.” Ryker darted out.

  “Where did Tabitha go?” I asked Lucas.

  He scratched his jaw. “She went into the living room, or maybe she left. Are you in trouble?”

  Before I could answer, Ryker was back with shoes on and a T-shirt covering his toned chest instead of the light-blue unbuttoned shirt that he’d been wearing. “If anyone shows up looking for Haven,” he said to Lucas, “tell him she was never here. If they ask about me, make up a story.” Ryker tugged me along, out a door, and through the garage.

  I had no idea where he was taking me, but his hand in mine and his need to protect and help me made me relax for the moment.

  31

  Ryker

  Fucking Tabitha. Fucking senator. My mind wasn’t exactly clear, as the alcohol was doing a number on my equilibrium. But hell if I hadn’t sobered up when I’d laid eyes on those big emeralds beaming from Haven. She had an uncanny ability to make me forget how dismal things were for me. The minute I started remembering that Mom, Dad, Randal, and Leigh were no longer there, I thought of Haven.

  Even now with her hand tethered to mine, I was able to breathe. I had honestly been in mourning over not seeing her in three days, which was crazy.

  “Where are we going?” She sounded more curious than worried.

  I gripped her hand like she was my lifeline. In part, she was. She gave me a sense of purpose, like I had a future, like I might make it through the heartache that hurt like a motherfucker every minute of the day.

  I was grateful for friends. I was grateful for football. I was beyond grateful that I’d met Haven despite her old man or despite how scared I was to dissect the feelings I had for her.

  “You’ll see. Hurry. I don’t want Tabitha to find us.” With my luck, the blonde would be hiding in the bushes, taking pictures of us and then sending them over to Senator Hale.

  Haven grunted when I said Tabitha’s name, followed by, “Seriously, I can’t go on campus.”

  “I wouldn’t throw you to the wolves.” I veered down a side street with the lights from campus glowing in the distance. On my way to get my shoes, I’d asked Erik if I could use his place for an hour, or maybe the entire night.

  Five minutes later, we were walking into an immaculate home where everything was in its place—two couches, a large-screen TV, a coffee table, a weight bench and workout gear in the dining room, and a kitchen that glinted with shiny stainless-steel appliances.

  I flipped on a switch, and the light on an end table illuminated. “Erik, Vin, and Ajax live here.”

  Haven scanned the floor plan, which was a wide-open space. “Are you sure three men live here? The place is spotless.”

  “You don’t know Ajax. His dad is military. Everything has to be clean.”

  I crossed the carpeted floor of the family room and headed into the kitchen, then I snatched two bottles of water from the fridge. My throat was parched from all the scotch I’d been drinking since I’d gotten home from the game.

  Haven glanced at pictures on the fireplace and on the walls. The guys might have been big brutes, but each of them had a talent when it came to their living space. Ajax was the cleaner. Erik was the designer. He believed a home, even one with three dudes, needed to be homey with pictures and stuff. Vin was the cook, and the guy could whip up some mean sushi rolls.

  I set one bottle down on the marble island, which took center stage in the kitchen, and uncapped the other before drinking the entire contents.

  Haven finally joined me. It was then I had a chance to really check her out, not that I hadn’t noticed the thin fabric of the low-cut T-shirt she was wearing or the shorts that rode up her thighs, stopping midway. I liked that she showed skin, but I was digging how she didn’t wear those short shorts that revealed her butt checks only because I would kill any man who dared to see underneath her clothes.

  “Thirsty?” she asked.

  I was thirsty for more than water now that we were alone and the haziness in my brain was dissipating.

  She took a swig from her bottle. “So the guys are at your party? I didn’t see them.”

  “They’re there. What’s going on?” I didn’t have to ask. I knew she was there because of something her father had done. Or maybe she’d told him to fuck off, and she’d come to tell me that she would move in with me.

  All of a sudden, those butterflies that had died when she declined my offer awakened.

  Swallowing water, she rested against the sink across from me. “Could you not feel Tabitha on you?”

  I chuckled. “That’s what you want to talk about?”

  I had other things on my mind than Tabitha, who was turning out to be a stalker in my book. I skirted the island and cocooned Haven between my body and the sink, gripping the edge of the counter on either side of her. I was careful not to touch her yet. If I did, we wouldn’t talk.

  She craned her neck up, those glistening emerald orbs sucking me in.

  Follow the yellow brick road.

  I searched her face. “Let’s get something straight. I want nothing to do with Tabitha or her sister. I’ve never slept with either of them. And I might take out a restraining order if I find them anywhere near me again.”

  She beamed from ear to ear, her chest rising and falling.

  That smile had my pulse soaring to new heights.

  Tell her how you feel. Listen to Lucas.

  I didn’t know if I could articulate my feelings into words.

  Her phone sang “I Walk the Line.” Her damn father. I swore he had a camera on us somewhere nearby.

  She tensed as her lips pursed.

  I took that moment to press my mouth to hers, soft at first as the sound of her phone faded. Once it did, she opened for me, allowing me to invade her mouth with my tongue. She tasted of the future, home, and sunshine. No matter what happened after tonight, her lilac scent and the taste of her would always be forever embedded in my memory.

  Her small hands flattened against my chest. “Your heart is beating crazy fast.”

  “You have that effect on me. Do you want to tell me what’s going on?”

  Or can I strip you naked and take my time making you feel like the most beautiful woman in the world.

  While I was sure she would let me, we probably should talk before her old man did find her. Knowing him, he could probably track her phone.

  “Do me a favor? Shut off your phone for now.”

  She blinked then jerked. “I’m so stupid.” She hurried to turn it off.

  I began pacing, thinking of another place in case it was too late.

  She sat down on a barstool. “I overheard my father talking to Tabitha’s mom on the phone earlier. He confirmed he’s keeping me out of the picture to allow the Sims sisters to pursue you.”

  Motherfucker!

  I rubbed my fisted hand. I was ready to punch a wall or maybe the sliding glass door I was near.

  My bad fucking day just got a million times worse. By the end of the night, I might be in jail for killing an elected official. “I’m going to talk to your father.”

  She jumped up and clutched my wrists. “Not a good idea.”

  “He’s already made waves by calling Coach today. He needs to stay out of my personal business like everyone else.”

  “He called your coach? I’m so sorry.” Tears brimmed in her eyes. “I only agreed to obey him because he threatened you and your football career.”

  I put my finger on her lips. “Never apologize for your father. His actions are his own. And he can’t ruin my career. I mean, he can try, but he won’t get far. And wait. What? You obeyed him for me?”

  Holy shit! I t
hink I fell harder for her.

  She shrugged. “Of course. We’re friends.”

  I cocked an eyebrow, debating whether to ask if friendship drove her to obey her old man or if she had deeper feelings for me. But that weak spot somewhere inside me was afraid she would stick to just friends.

  “Thank you for having my back, but, baby doll, you got to stand up to him. You can’t let him dictate who you’re friends with or what guy you like.”

  She shied away. “I know.”

  Slowly, the puzzle pieces were fitting together. “It’s all making sense now. Remember that morning you stormed over to my house and tore Beverly a new one? Well, when I woke up that morning, I found her in my bed.”

  “You didn’t invite her?”

  “At first, I thought I had. I mean, I barely remembered you when you showed up that morning. But as the alcohol cleared, the events of the night before returned. When I went to bed, I was alone. After Franklin, my lawyer, left, Lucas and I had a cup of coffee then called it a night.”

  “You barely remembered me, huh?” she teased. “And now?”

  I cupped her face and kissed her slowly and sensuously. “Unforgettable.”

  Her body became mush.

  If she thought my heart was beating fast, she should feel it now because it was going fucking wild. If I kept taking and tasting, we would be naked and not talking.

  I pressed my forehead to hers. “Any idea why your father is so determined to please Ms. Sims and her daughters? He doesn’t strike me as a man who does things for love.”

  She sucked in air. “Maybe to keep his affair quiet. After all, he’s in the public eye.”

  A form of bribery. That made sense.

  “You’re right. I need to confront him, and I need to do it tonight.”

  “I’ll come with you.” I couldn’t let her face him alone. After all, I was the main reason she was going through hell with her old man.

  She lifted up on her tiptoes and kissed me. “Thank you. But I need to do this by myself. And I don’t want you to ruin your football career for me.”

  “I would ruin it and tear down buildings and people for you.”

  She crashed her mouth against mine and kissed me as though it was our last one ever.