“Nothing,” she said as she shook her head.
He stepped towards her and kissed her mouth sweetly.
“I had fun with you tonight,” he said.
“Me too,” she replied. “I’m getting tired. Mind if I go to bed?”
Ryder looked disappointed but he understood. “Nah, go ahead. I have work to do anyway. Not tired yet. Still on west coast time.”
She stood on her toes and kissed him goodnight before heading back to her room. The moment she was changed and under the covers, she grabbed her phone and posted a quick ad to Craigslist advertising her house for rent. She told him she was going to move. She had to keep her word.
Now she had to decide if she was going to go undercover in his MC gang. With Jett’s passing, she had kind of hoped to get out of the dangerous MC lifestyle. With Ryder, she knew she was just going to get sucked right back in.
CHAPTER 16
Sunday morning, Stormy and Ryder shared a peaceful hour over two cups of cheap gas station coffee and a box of donuts that Ryder had run out to grab from the store. They flipped through the Sunday paper, discussed current events, and shoved their faces full of sticky, sprinkle-covered confections.
“What would you be doing now if you were back home?” Stormy asked. She wanted to get, in bits and pieces, a glimpse of the life that awaited her out there.
“I probably would sleep in until at least nine or ten, get up, take care of some MC business and check on a few things for Veronica. Every day’s a work day for me,” he said. “What would you be doing if I wasn’t here right now?”
Stormy didn’t want to answer him. She didn’t want him to hear how pathetic her life had become. Her routine was literally doing nothing while he was out living his life to the fullest.
“Pretty much nothing,” she said. “At least nothing compared what you’re used to. Things are a lot slower here. Especially with Jett gone now.”
Ryder nodded and asked no questions as he flipped the page of the newspaper and sipped his steaming coffee.
“I was really hoping to get out of the biker club world,” Stormy mused.
“To tell you the truth,” he replied. “So am I. That’s why I work so hard on my side business.”
“I thought once you’re in, you can never leave?” she asked.
“There are ways,” he said. “That’s all I’m going to say.”
“Oh.”
“So are you interested in helping me find out which of my guys killed Jett?”
“I knew you’d ask that again,” she sighed. “I want to, but I don’t want to. What does it matter? Jett’s gone.”
“And whoever took his life has to pay,” he said with gritted teeth. “Don’t you think?”
“Are you sure this is the right thing to do? Are you sure this is going to work?”
“No,” he said poignantly. “I’m not sure of anything. But I do know if I don’t try, it’ll eat at me the rest of my life.”
“Fine. Whatever. I’m in,” she agreed. She reached for her phone to check her email and was shocked when she saw three different email responses to her rental post on Craigslist. “Hm.”
“What?”
“I’ve got three people interested in renting this place,” she stated. “Maybe that’s a sign?”
“Damn right it’s a sign,” he said with a grin. “That or you’re asking too little for rent. But either way, that’s pretty awesome.”
She clicked through all of them and each one had local numbers and seemed legit.
“Stormy the Landlord,” he said. “Add it to your resume.”
“I’m sure it’ll help me get a bazillion nursing job offers,” she laughed.
“You never know,” he sassed.
She walked to the next room to start making phone calls and came back ten minutes later.
“I, uh, guess I need to pick up a little. I’ve got a couple showings this afternoon,” she said, a little dazed.
“What are we waiting for?” Ryder asked. He was super excited as he began collecting the garbage on the table and straightening up the random assortment of kitchen clutter on the counters.
Stormy followed suit and began frantically picking up everything in sight and shoving it anywhere it would fit.
“This is nuts, right?” she said. “This is really happening.”
Ryder spun around, placed her head in his hands, and kissed her forehead. He couldn’t even contain his excitement.
A few hours later, there was a knock on the door. It was a younger couple who had recently relocated to Coleville for some insane reason. The wife seemed disgusted with the entire trailer, but the husband was fine with it. They said they’d be in touch as they walked out.