The Way We Are
Page 28
Regina shakes her head, denying my claims. “I never said anything.”
“You didn’t say anything, but you most certainly implied it. The night of Savannah’s accident, you gave me the same reassurance you did when you promised to protect me from my dad.” I abruptly stand from my chair, sending the steel legs scraping across the ground. “You lied to me, just like every other person in this building—you are a liar!”
“You want the truth, Ryan? You want me to hit you with straight up honesty?” Regina asks, her anger as volatile as mine, her fists as tightly clenched.
When I nod, she shouts, “I’ve been nothing but honest with you since the day we met. I put my job on the line working your father’s case after I was removed from it. I pulled in favors left, right, and center to shift his anger onto me instead of your mother. I slept outside of your house for weeks after I gave you my word I wouldn’t let him hurt your mother again because I wasn’t going to let anything stop me from keeping my promise. And what do I get in return? You belittle my dedication to the job I live for. You run to the very men responsible for every fucked up thing that happens in this town. And you sit in front of me, lying to my face like I am an imbecile.”
If I hadn’t pushed my chair out of my reach, her honesty would have me falling into it. Everything she said is true. Every. Single. Word.
“I... I ...”
“He's protecting me as Tobias does you,” says a soft voice at our side.
Savannah floats into the room, her steps as sporadic as the beats of my heart.
“That’s why you see in Ryan what you do. He’d rather hurt himself than risk hurting anyone else. He appreciates everything you have done for him, Regina, but when you force a man to pick between the woman he loves and his own well-being, he's always going to come off second-best. Not all men are wired like Ryan and Tobias. They have a natural protectiveness engrained in them that others won’t get for many years, if ever.”
As I listen to Savannah reason with Regina, I realize Savannah never called Regina, nor are we being tailed. She's simply reading Regina’s emotions because they reflect hers in so many ways.
The rattle of Savannah’s arms is noticeable when she pulls a card out of her pocket and slides it across the table to Regina. “Tobias asked me to give you this and say, ‘the sun loves the moon so much, he dies every night to let her breathe.’”
“He’s here?” Regina asks, her tone hopeful.
Tears glisten in Savannah’s eyes before she shakes her head. “He was, but he isn’t anymore.”
Regina quickly snatches the card off the table before pivoting in her seat to face the only solid wall in the room. Her body barely registers as moving, but her breaths are easily audible in the awkward silence surrounding us. The guilt encompassing every inch of me eases when Savannah curls her hand around mine. She doesn’t say anything; she just offers me silent comfort, understanding I never set out to intentionally deceive Regina.
Confusion makes itself known when Regina mumbles, “You can go. Both of you.”
I stare at Savannah, certain my hearing is playing tricks on me.
I realize there's nothing wrong with my hearing when Regina mutters, “If I’m required to say it again, I will change my mind.”
She doesn’t need to tell me twice.
After snatching my keys and jacket from the tabletop I threw them on nearly an hour ago, I make a beeline for the door. My long strides are hindered by Savannah’s dead weight. She remains standing where she originally was, her sorrowful eyes locked on Regina.
“Can you give us a minute?” she mouths in silence when I stare at her in shock.
Even being confused as hell doesn’t stop me from nodding. I promised to give Savannah the world, so if she needs something that’s free, I have no reason to deny her request.
The motive behind her appeal comes to light when she paces around the table where Regina was interrogating me. She wraps her arms around Regina’s shuddering frame. I don’t know what she whispers in her ear, but every movement of her lips eases the shaking hampering Regina’s tiny frame.
After taking a moment to relish Savannah’s nurturing side, I enter the hallway, shutting the door on my way out.
35
Ryan
“I think you should reconsider Regina’s suggestion.”
My eyes drift from the roadside to Savannah sitting in the passenger seat of my truck. These are the first words she has spoken to me since she joined me at the curb of Ravenshoe PD nearly thirty minutes ago. Although I am dying to find out what she discussed with Regina, it feels wrong snooping on obvious girl talk.
They have decades in age between them, but I’m certain that's what Savannah and Regina did for the hour I was left lingering outside. They talked like the women they are.
“The academy has an excellent program that will nurture your natural protectiveness,” Savannah adds on when I fail to reply to her first comment. “And you’ll look super-hot in a uniform.”
Her last remark isn’t one I’ve heard the past week. Although I appreciate her compliment, it doesn’t alter my mindset. We barely left Ravenshoe PD without cuffs on our wrists; I’m not willing to go back there for anything.
“I’m not interested in becoming an officer of the law.” I overenunciate my last four words, hoping the playfulness in my voice will cushion her disappointment.
Savannah sighs before slipping her feet under her bottom and turning her torso to me. “Why? If you can give me one reason why this isn’t a good idea, I’ll drop it.”
I’d rather grill her about the red rims circling her eyes than answer her question, but since I want to keep our conversation light, I decide to answer. “It just not something I’ve ever considered doing.”
“That’s not a good enough excuse, Ryan,” Savannah replies with a cute roll of her eyes. “Try again.”
“It’s not my... thing,” I say with a shrug of my shoulders.
Savannah’s sculptured brow becomes lost in her hairline. “And flipping burgers was?”
“No... It’s just...” I stop speaking when I fail to find a plausible excuse.
I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel of excuses, as every one I’ve given the past week, Savannah has rejected. If her reasons for denying them weren’t authentic, I would have more than half a leg to stand on. I’m running out of excuses.
“You need a job. Regina is offering you a place on her team. I don’t understand your hostility?” Savannah’s tone relays she isn’t being malicious. She's genuinely confused.
“I’m not being hostile. I’m just—”
“Stubborn,” Savannah interrupts, knowing she has hit the nail on the head.
I swing my eyes from the road to Savannah when she discloses, “I like Regina, Ryan. She sees in you what I always have. You are perfect for this role. You are protective and commanding. You respect authority without being walked over. You are a detective in waiting.”
“Detective?” I ask through raised brows. “It’s a mighty big jump from a police officer to a detective.”
Savannah quirks her lips, not the least bit deterred by the touch of laughter in my reply. “I call it as I see it, Ry. I thought that’s one of the things you like about me?”
“It isn’t one of the things I like about you; it’s one of the many things I love about you.”
My accolades award me a heart-stopping smile I’ll never tire of seeing, but that isn’t the only trait coming out to play. The fire in Savannah’s eyes is as blinding as her smile, a wicked glint that warns of imminent danger.
My assumptions are proven dead accurate when our conversation veers in a direction I never saw coming. “Would you like to see me in handcuffs, Ryan?” Savannah asks, her voice a seductive purr that thickens my blood.
I’ve barely had time to replenish my suddenly dry throat when Savannah continues her inappropriate—and highly fucking erotic—ploy of persuasion. “If you accept Regina’s offer, you’ll not only have unlimi
ted access to handcuffs, but you’ll bring home a big, heavy, and dangerous pistol to play with every night.”
I don’t care if she lays her hand on the Bible and pleads innocence, her last sentence had nothing to do with a deadly weapon. She's staring right at my crotch, the hunger in her eyes amplifying the seductiveness of her words.
“I know what you’re doing,” I mutter, returning my eyes to the road, needing to focus on anything but her beautiful face before I get us killed. “It’s not gonna work.”
For the past week, Savannah used the smart, career-oriented points of persuasion. This is the first time she’s brought out the sex pot approach.
Savannah’s teeth graze her bottom lip before she murmurs, “What’s not going to work? I’m just sitting here, staring at my boyfriend, daydreaming about how sexy he’d look in a uniform.”
I grip the steering wheel with one hand before using the other to roll down my window. It's fucking hot in here, and it has nothing to do with the blistering mid-morning sun pelting down on us and everything to do with the sexy ass moan Savannah released at the end of her lust-riddled statement.
“Savannah...” I growl in warning when she unlatches her seatbelt and slides across the cracked vinyl to nibble on my ear. “Put your seatbelt back on.”
Her hot breath fans my ear when she asks, “Why? Are you going to arrest me if I don’t?”
My dick stiffens to the point it's painful from her seductive purr rumbling in my ear. It's throaty and breathless—an exact replica of the one she uses in the middle of ecstasy.
“Please, Officer Carter, don’t arrest me. I promise I’ll be good... Unless you want me to be bad?”
I groan. It's a painful groan. I’m so hard, I’m considering punching myself in the dick just to ease the throb digging into my zipper.
“You don’t play fair,” I grunt when Savannah slides her hand down to grip the rock-hard lump in my crotch.
Her tongue darts out to lick the shell of my ear before she replies, “No, I don’t. But you can. All you have to do is say yes.” My clutch on the steering wheel turns deadly when she unzips my jeans to grip my stiff shaft in her smooth, soft hand. “Do you want to say yes, Ryan?”
Any reply I’m planning to give lodges in the back of my throat when she glides her thumb over my engorged knob to gather a bead of precum pooling at the top. I nearly careen into oncoming traffic when she raises her thumb to her mouth to lick off the sticky drop of excitement.
“Mmm,” she purrs in a long throaty moan I’ve never heard before.
My eyes dart between the cars surrounding us when her head narrows in on my crotch. The metal painfully pinching my shaft is a forgotten memory when her breath flutters the crest of my dick. “Say yes, Ryan.”
“What am I saying yes to?” My voice is so deep, I scan the cabin of my truck, certain a fifty-year-old man snuck into the cab when I was distracted by Savannah’s wicked tongue.
“Everything,” Savannah replies, inching even closer to an area dying for her attention.
I swallow several times in a row. “Everything?”
“Everything.” I could come just from her husky reply.
The desire to throw back my head and close my eyes is overwhelming when her lips hover millimeters from my dick. She's so close, the heat of her breath leaves tiny balls of condensation in its wake. You’d think with how many times she has sucked my dick the past week, I wouldn’t be so turned on, but that isn’t the case. I don’t care if she has sucked my dick ten times or ten thousand, I’ll treasure every time as if it is the first.
My balls clench closer to my body when Savannah whispers, “One word, Ryan. I only need to hear one word.”
With all the blood in my body rushing to my lower extremities, the word “yes” falls from my mouth before I can stop it.
“Yes?” Savannah double-checks.
“Yes! Fuck yes!” My patience is wearing as thin as my zipper from my dick bulging against it.
When I steer her head back, her giggles vibrate my knob. Any worries about her laughing while homing in on my male anatomy fly out the window when her velvety tongue follows the path her thumb trekked mere seconds ago.
Even knowing I just fell for the oldest trick in the book doesn’t weaken my excitement in the slightest. The girl of my dreams has my dick in her mouth. I would have sided with the devil if he guaranteed the same outcome.
36
Ryan
“You don’t have to do this. You don’t owe anyone anything, much less him.”
Savannah’s worried eyes drift from Axel leaning on the front quarter panel of his car to me. When he first demanded to speak with Savannah after handing him the two hundred thousand dollars we negotiated last week, I denied his request. It was only when it dawned on me that the right to deny him didn’t belong to me. It's Savannah’s choice whom she speaks to—not mine.
“Did he say why he wants to talk to me?” Savannah asks, returning her hopeful eyes to me.
I dust away a strand of hair stuck to her temple before shaking my head. “I can come with you. If you want me to.” I hate the panic in her tone.
Savannah is the strongest and most determined woman I’ve ever met, so I am fully expecting she’ll deny my request, so you can imagine my surprise when she doesn’t. “Will you?”
“Of course.”
The flutter of her pulse in her neck triples when I crank open the passenger side door of my truck to aid her out. Ignoring Axel’s eyes narrowing into thin slits, I curl my hand around Savannah’s then guide her into the isolated parking lot. I’m not doing it to rub salt in his wounds; I’m doing it to show Savannah my support. I don’t give a flying fuck that Axel and his douchebag friends are eyeballing our exchange from the sidelines. Savannah will always be my number one priority.
“Can I talk to you alone?” Axel asks, his focus locked on Savannah.
“She wants me here,” I answer on Savannah’s behalf.
Axel’s jaw ticks as his squinted gaze strays to me. I can see a million thoughts streaming through his eyes, but not a word spills from his mouth.
Well, not until he returns his eyes to Savannah. “Is this really what you want? Him? You know the statistics, right? He’s gonna turn out just like his father. Is that what you want?”
My charge for Axel is halted when Savannah tightens her grip on my hand. “Yes. Ryan is exactly what I want. He has everything I need and so much more.”
Her reply wipes away my anger while fueling Axel’s. “Why would you want that, Savannah? I can give you everything...”
He stops talking when Savannah shakes her head. “You could give me everything, but you’re too selfish to figure out money can’t buy compassion.”
When Axel’s brows furl as if confused by Savannah’s reply, she clarifies, “We were together for over a year, and how many times did we do anything that didn’t involve your family or friends?”
Axel blubbers a string of words, none of them making any sense.
“Not once, Axel. Not one single time. I spent months with your family, yet you’ve never met mine. You’ve never came to my house for dinner or asked about my family situation. Unless it involves you or your uncle, you don’t care.”
“I’m supposed to care? We were together for a year, and you wouldn’t touch me. You treated me like I had the fucking plague,” Axel retaliates, the anger in his voice picking up steam. “Why would I wine and dine you? Guys do that shit to get into your pants. I knew that wasn’t going to happen, so I didn’t bother trying.”
He stops high-fiving his friends when I snarl, “Nah. You just show her she’s special by bribing her to be your girlfriend. If you’re such a stud, why force someone to be with you? Your half-chewed walnut not working out for you?”
Axel glares at his friend when his cough can’t hide his chuckle. I didn’t even refer to Axel’s cock, yet his friend still knew what I’m talking about. Clearly, I’m not the only one who thinks he has a bag of nuts for a crotch.
He steps closer to me, bringing our chests to within touching distance. “If you were smart, you would have figured out what I’ve known all along.” The glassy gleam in his eyes is pushed aside for arrogance in the seconds leading to him revealing, “When you want a girl, you do anything to get her. Anything at all.” He says his last sentence loud enough to ensure Savannah will hear him. “You can even frame her mother for a theft she didn’t commit if you have to.”
My eyes lock with his, seeking any untruth in his reply. “You didn’t... You wouldn’t have... You’re not that smart.”
I know I’m blubbering, but I lost my train of thought when I spotted the truth in his eyes. Savannah’s mom didn’t steal three million dollars from his Uncle. Axel did.
Loving how pale Savannah’s cheeks have grown, Axel winks cockily. “It was the easiest money I’ve ever made...”
Savannah charges for him, ramming the remainder of his arrogant statement into the back of his throat. I seize her elbow to drag her behind my body, not trusting the murderous fire in Axel’s eyes. He's more like his uncle than I thought.
Although my movements are quick, Savannah’s are quicker. Axel’s head slings to the side when her fist connects with his left jaw. She smacks him so hard, the sound of his teeth crunching together breaks through the pulse ringing in my ears.
“You son of a bitch. Do you have any idea the hell you’ve put me through the past two years?”
She thrashes in my arms, struggling to get free. Although I’d love nothing more than to witness Axel getting his ass handed to him by a girl, now is not the time for revenge.
“Your uncle will kill you when he finds out what you’ve done.” My words sizzle off my tongue since they are surrounded by so much anger. Not just mine—Savannah’s as well.