Resisting Ryder(60)

Stormy’s face fell. She didn’t want to wait that long.

“I was able to change Brooklyn’s flight. She’s leaving this afternoon,” he said.

“Thanks.”

“She’s inside packing right now. We have to leave in an hour or so.”

“Okay.”

“Sorry her trip didn’t turn out the way you planned,” he said.

“It’s fine,” she replied. “It was more important get justice for Jett anyway.”

Stormy and Ryder dropped Brooklyn off at LAX Saturday afternoon and headed back to the condo. It had been a long, action-packed couple of days with Brooklyn and they were ready to relax.

“So what did you think of Brooklyn overall?” Stormy asked as they merged onto the freeway.

“She’s pretty cool,” he said. “I can see why you two are friends. You kind of complement each other.”

“I wish she’d move out here,” Stormy replied. “She was kind of open to the idea of it before, but after everything that went down, I think it just solidified her plans to stay in Coleville for the rest of her life.”

“I’m sure you’ll make new friends out here,” he said.

“I need to focus on getting a job first,” she said. “Then I can worry about making new friends.”

“What if you can’t find a job?” he asked.

Stormy looked at him as if his question was out of line, but she knew competition was fierce in bigger cities. She was only less than a year fresh out of nursing school with no real nursing job under her belt. She tried not to be too naïve about it, but she also didn’t want to feel hopeless.

“I hadn’t thought about that,” she said.

“You know you can stay with me as long as you need to,” he reminded her. “In fact, I prefer you stay with me so I can keep you safe.”

“Thank you,” she said as she reached over and grabbed his hand. “You’re too good to me.”

He pulled her hand up to his lips and kissed it.

“Let’s cross our fingers that I get the job though. I don’t want to be dependent on you forever,” she said. “It feels wrong. I want to start making my own money.”

Ryder laughed. “I don’t mind. It’s okay. I like taking care of you. It’s what Jett would’ve wanted.”

The car ride grew quiet after the mention of Jett. He was constantly in both of their thoughts, even if he wasn’t always mentioned, but the mention of him always drew silence from each of them and reminded them of the turn of events that had brought them together.

As soon as they returned to the condo, Stormy retreated to Ryder’s room to relax and try to take a quick nap. She wanted to prepare for her interview that next afternoon and had a lot of research to do on interview etiquette. She was determined to get that job and wanted it to be absolutely perfect.

Ryder decided to hang out in the living room and get some work done while she napped, only Stormy found herself tossing and turning the entire time. She was hot and then she was cold. She was sweaty and then she was freezing. Her mind was racing, and she didn’t know why. She wondered if maybe she just hadn’t had time to process all the life changes that were happening so quickly. She wondered if Jett really would’ve wanted this life for her. She wondered if she was doing the right thing. She chalked it up to pre-interview jitters. She was looking for something to stress out about, she told herself. She shut her eyes and tried to relax.

The moment her eyes closed, her mind began to replay the night before like some kind of movie. She saw the images of Zander and the gun and Ryder’s threats and Brooklyn being pushed and Zander making sexual remarks about her and him trying to leave and being knocked out by all the men dressed in matching leather jackets.

She thought about how Ryder jumped her bones the night before, hardly taking no for an answer. Then she thought about Jett, lying dead in the cold, hard ground. He was too good to her. He would’ve wanted her to move on and live a safer life, not get wrapped back up into all the MC drama.

“It could take years,” she remembered Ryder saying.

She didn’t know if she could wait that long to get out of that lifestyle. What if she fell in love with him? What if he changed his mind? She’d be his old lady forever, always living on the edge, always living in fear.

For the first time all week, she felt like she had made a mistake. A huge, gaping, enormous mistake. She wanted to get out of there. To go back to Coleville, to forget any of this ever happened and to move on.

She heard his bedroom door open softly and shut, and she felt the weight of his body shift around on the opposite side of the bed as he crawled under the covers next to her. He slipped his arm around her waist and curled in close. Stormy wanted to throw up. Everything that had felt so good the night before, suddenly felt like poison.