by Adele Niles
And I’d had a really great date with Sydney.
She was beautiful and funny, and far more adventurous than I’d imagined. Maybe a little reluctant to give up her V-card, but that was okay.
It would make it even better when I got her in bed.
But more than that, I liked hanging out with her. Maybe we could make a little arrangement, once she was ready for it. A friends-with-benefits sort of thing sounded fun, and she’d still be able to play and experience single life.
I’d talk to her about it sometime. Later.
I sat at my booth, laying out tiny jars of colored ink. I had a client coming in to get color work done, and it was going to take a few hours. I heard the door open up front and, assuming it was my client, sat up and waved.
It was Kenzie.
And she was looking right at me.
Shit.
She started up the stairs, passing Bradley and Benny, but she didn’t stop at my station. She went back to Logan’s booth, leaning on the half-wall.
“Hey, how are you?” she asked him.
Logan looked up, smiling. “Kenzie, hey. I’m good, thanks. How are you?”
Kenzie smiled. “I’m good. Just dropping by, you know.”
Logan nodded. “Okay, yeah. Hey, are you—”
Bradley lifted his head. “Back up, Logan, you know the rules.”
“What rules?” Kenzie smiled, batting her eyelashes at her brother.
“The rule that nobody flirts with you. Logan knows it.” Bradley looked at Logan, shaking his head.
Kenzie snorted. “Please. Logan’s harmless. And what if I want somebody to flirt with me? Feels nice.” She looked back at Logan for a moment, giving him a smile, then turned away.
She came back to my booth and paused. “Ryker. Got a minute? I need to talk to you.”
Shit.
She came into my space and plopped down in my chair.
I’d just sterilized it, but okay.
“What’s up?” I asked.
She smiled, kicking her feet. “So, what’d you do last night? Did you have fun?”
She must have talked to Sydney. Well, if she was going to play dumb, so could I.
“Oh, I had a great night. I had so much sex, Kenzie. Like, so much. Fucked in like, ten different positions.”
“Really?” Kenzie leaned forward. She was feigning interest—her reactions were too over-the-top to be genuine. “You had so much sex? Who was it with?”
I chuckled. “Oh, man. Sydney has a hell of a body. And she sucks cock like a pro, y’know, I was shocked.”
“Oh, bullshit.” Kenzie lunged before I could stop her. She pulled her arm back and punched me, full-force, in the arm.
God, she was strong.
And everybody was looking at us.
Once again, Kenzie was in the shop beating one of us up. It had never been me before.
I pulled back from her, frowning. “What the hell, Kenzie?”
“If you hurt her, Ryker, I swear to God… She’s been through enough already!”
I frowned. “I’m not going to hurt her. Jeez, Kenzie, you’re crazy.”
“Oh, you have no idea how crazy I can get.” She stood up from the chair and, in another swift movement, snatched my scissors off my work tray.
“Kenzie—”
She leaned over me. Her free hand grabbed the front of my shirt, and she pushed me back in my rolling chair. She leaned close, hissing in my ear, “If you’re doing this just to be her first, I will destroy you. Do you understand me?”
She lowered the scissors. The tip pressed between my legs.
What the fuck was wrong with this girl?
She leaned back, grinning at me.
Oh, no.
“If you fuck this up, I will cut your balls off and nail them to the wall.”
The shop went dead silent. Everyone had heard that.
All of the guys started to laugh.
“God dammit, Kenzie,” I hissed.
She smiled at me, opening and closing the scissors twice.
“Snip snip, Ryker.” She tossed the scissors back on to the tray, letting me go. “I just wanted to make sure we were clear.”
I nodded. “Perfectly. Yup. All clear, Kenzie.”
“Great.” She patted my cheek and left my booth.
Bradley stuck his hand over the half-wall of his own booth. They high fived as Kenzie passed.
As soon as Kenzie cleared the front door, all of the guys started laughing again. Even Zoe was bent over, cackling against the front counter.
I felt my face go red. “Yeah, yeah, it’s real funny. Wait until she’s holding scissors to your dicks next and see how hilarious it is then.”
“Knock it off,” Bradley argued through his laughter. “She’s got good intentions. She was doing it to me a month ago and now it’s your turn. Leave her alone, yeah? Or maybe try not to piss her off.”
“She’s always pissed off.” I shook my head. “One of us so much as looks at a woman now and she’s up his ass, making all kinds of threats.”
“Well, quit trying to get with her friends.” Bradley grinned.
“Shut the hell up, Bradley.”
Chapter Fifteen
Sydney
I told myself to wait until lunch to text.
I started telling myself that as soon as I finished reading the note.
I kept telling myself that until 9:30 in the morning, when I cracked and grabbed my phone and the note.
The flowers are so beautiful!
Do you want to get together tonight?
Drinks at The Republic after work?
Three in a row. That probably made me look desperate, or clingy, or crazy.
I didn’t want to know what he thought. But he had to text me back at some point. Time crawled by. Minutes seemed to stretch endlessly. Every time I looked at the clock, it had barely moved.
I never checked my phone this much. Ever. And now I was checking it every five seconds.
It finally went off.
Glad you liked them
Drinks would be great
I’ll head there after work, get us a table and some beers.
I texted back, Sounds perfect! I can’t wait!
I’ll head straight over after work.
Maybe I could get him to come home with me again.
That would be nice.
I didn’t text him again, although I did find myself rereading our messages over lunch. I’d started sitting in the employee lounge with my coworkers instead of hiding in my office, and it was usually nice. It was a lot of inane chatter, but that wasn’t bad, considering how serious some of the stuff we dealt with could be.
But today, Jay was in the lunchroom.
It should have been fine.
Maggie knew I wasn’t interested. She said she’d make sure Jay knew I wasn’t interested. Apparently, he hadn’t gotten the message.
He sat down close to me. “So, I was thinking, I came on pretty strong last time. And I’m sorry.”
I put my phone down. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. And I thought I’d ask if I could take you to dinner. No pressure, no expectations, just dinner. As friends.”
I looked up at him.
God.
Maybe I needed to say yes.
Ryker was a fling, not a future. He was a little fun for now.
A guy like Jay could be a future.
He was stable and safe. He had a boat and a membership to the nearest country club. He went on four vacations a year—two to the islands.
But Ryker was fun.
And a little risky.
And maybe I wanted to take some risks for now. I was young, and for the first time in my life, a single adult. I had some freedom that I’d never had before.
Settling down with a safe bet like Jay was the last thing I wanted.
“I appreciate that, but, I’m good.” I smiled. “Thank you. It really does mean a lot.”
He frowned. “Oh. Well, fine. Okay.”
> “Okay.”
“Fine.” He got up and walked out of the lunchroom.
* * * * *
Mr. Bridges walked into my office at ten to five with a stack of manila folders in his hand. “Sydney,” he said.
I knew that tone, and it meant that this was a big deal.
He dropped the stack of folders on my desk. “Sydney, I need you to go over this case. Immediately. It’s very important and can’t wait until tomorrow.”
“I—”
I had plans.
With Ryker.
And I really, really didn’t want to blow them off.
But this was my job, and it’s not like I had a lot of room to negotiate. I was still the newbie on the team.
I put on a smile. “Yes, sir. I just need to send a quick text, rearrange some plans I had tonight.”
“Good girl.” He turned and left.
I hated being called that.
The last thing I wanted to do was stay and work on this. No—the last thing I wanted to do was text Ryker and cancel our plans for tonight.
But I didn’t have a choice. I shut my eyes, took a deep breath, and grabbed my phone.
Hey… I hate to do this, but I’ve gotta stay late tonight.
Can we get together tomorrow maybe?
Or another night this week?
The reply back was fast, but not what I wanted.
Oh. Okay.
And that was it.
No follow-up text, no agreement to meet later.
Just Oh. Okay.
Chapter Sixteen
Ryker
It sucked to have our plans fall through.
I had genuinely been looking forward to seeing Sydney again tonight. I hadn’t been able to knock the big stupid grin off my face—something the guys kept commenting on throughout the day.
At least Daisy was happy to see me when I got home.
We sat on the couch together, splitting beef and broccoli and fried rice. She put her head in my lap, giving me the sad dog eyes every time she wanted another piece of steak.
“This isn’t the date I had in mind, you know.”
She huffed and rolled over, closing her eyes.
“Eh. I guess you’re cute enough for me to hang out with.”
I fed her another piece of steak, dropping it on the couch for her to gobble up.
I sighed and looked down at Daisy. “I guess I could go get some drinks, huh?”
She opened one eye and looked up at me, then closed it again.
She wouldn’t mind being alone for a little while.
I took her out on a walk, though, and left her a few more pieces of beef as a treat. She was munching happily when I left.
Maybe I could swing by Hills & Bridges?
Sydney could surely use some company.
No, she was working, and I’d just be a distraction.
I’d let her work in peace and text her again tomorrow. Make plans for another night. Maybe over the weekend, so we wouldn’t have to worry about getting up early in the morning.
I’d love the chance to get her off again. More than once, in a perfect world.
Honestly, it didn’t even matter if I got laid. Seeing her like that was enough for me.
I went to The Republic and parked. It was busy already, and I had to park my car on the street and hike to the door. I walked in, taking a quick look around for anybody I might know.
Benny and Bradley were at a table close to the bar, talking animatedly.
“Hey.” I dropped into one of the empty seats at the table.
“Hey, Ryker.” Benny nodded at me.
Bradley just raised his eyebrows, expression blank.
Ah, they’d been discussing the expansion of No Regrets.
“Am I interrupting?” I asked, even as I held my hand up to get a waitress’s attention.
“Uh, kind of.” Bradley shifted in his chair, glancing at Benny. Even though they were co-owners, Benny was the one who called most of the shots.
And to my relief, he smiled, shaking his head. “Nah, it’s cool. Ryker knows.”
Bradley looked at me. “You do?”
I nodded. “Yeah. I was a real pain in Benny’s ass until he told me. But I’ve kept it quiet, don’t worry.”
He nodded slowly. “Okay. So, Benny, you want to tell him the good news?”
Benny grinned. I didn’t think I’d ever seen him so happy. “Yeah. Yeah, I do.” He turned in his chair, his attention fully on me. “The paperwork went through. Everything’s good. We’re going to start looking for a location and hopefully open in about four months.”
Holy shit.
Holy shit.
“Are you serious? Congratulations, man!” I clapped him on the shoulder, then turned and grabbed Bradley’s shoulder. I gave them both a little shake. “That’s the best fucking news. I’m so happy for you two—for all of us!”
They both laughed. Benny took a long drink of his beer. Bradley shook my hand off his shoulder but continued to grin. “We’re thrilled. So fucking excited.”
“Well, yeah.” I let Benny go as my beer was delivered, and took a sip of it. “You two have really busted ass to make No Regrets something great. And it’s paying off now.” I paused, then held up my bottle. “So, cheers. Or something.”
“Cheers or something.” Benny tapped his battle against mine.
Bradley rolled his eyes but followed suit.
We all downed what was left of our beers and I put my hand up. “Next round’s on me. So, tell me what you’re planning?”
They both started to talk excitedly. Benny was already starting to look at artists he might want to hire; Bradley was in charge of researching equipment. They wanted the new shop to have a sort of biker feel to it and planned to update the decor at our shop to match.
It sounded perfect.
And it was good to see these guys so happy about something. They really had worked hard for this, and they deserved the payoff of seeing No Regrets succeed.
I suddenly wasn’t as upset that Sydney had cancelled our date. It meant I could be here, listening to my friends plan the future of their business.
We were so wrapped up in the conversation that none of us noticed the girl coming closer until her arms were around me.
I gasped, head jerking up.
Emily.
She was a regular at No Regrets. Hot, kind of goth, and covered in ink—all of us had done work for her, and I was pretty sure all of us had hooked up with her. She always wore dark lipstick, a lot of eyeliner, and tight shirts that hugged her tits perfectly.
Last time I’d seen those, Bradley was inking bats on to her underboobs. It was cute.
But she didn’t really do anything for me now.
I looked up at her and suddenly wished Sydney was the one clinging to me.
“Emily. Can I help you?”
She laughed, pressing her tits against the back of my head.
“Whoa, hey, not looking for company tonight.” I chuckled uneasily, leaning forward. She followed, bending over my chair.
“Ryker, hey. You know you’re my favorite, right?” She glanced up at Bradley. “Especially now that Bradley’s off the market.”
The disdain in her voice made Bradley frown. “No need to be rude, Em. And I can still be your favorite artist.”
“Nah, I’m going with Ryker from now on.” She combed one hand through my hair. She reeked of alcohol.
“Emily, how drunk are you? How long have you been here?”
She shrugged. “I dunno. Five-thirty, six?”
I’d seen her drink before. She could put it away fast.
She was definitely too wasted for anybody to take home.
I shifted in my chair and wrapped one arm around her waist. “Hey, whoa, you can barely stand. Why don’t you sit down and drink some more water, huh?”
“I’ve got whiskey at our table. Come share it with me?”
“I think you need water. And some of those pretzel sticks they make. Soak up a little
of that alcohol before you go home.”
She laughed, pushing herself against me. Her tits were in my face.
Dammit.
“C’mon,” she said, “don’t you want to take me home?”
“No, I really don’t.” I kept my arm around her. Even with me supporting her, she was swaying, clearly unsteady. I sighed and stood up, shifting my arm to her shoulders. “Come on. I’m gonna call you a cab. Okay?”
I had cash in my wallet. I could cover the fare.
I turned toward the door.
It opened.
Sydney walked in.
She was still dressed for work, in another pencil skirt and button-down blouse. She’d undone a few buttons of her blouse.
She smiled at me, for just a second. Then she seemed to realize that I had another girl on my hip. Fury flashed in her eyes.
“What the fuck, Ryker?” She turned on her heel without giving me a chance to explain.
Shit.
I turned and dropped Emily down into the seat I’d just vacated. “Watch her!”
Benny and Bradley both nodded. Benny jerked his head toward the door. “Go get her.”
I turned and half-ran to the front door of the bar.
“Sydney!” I shouted, pushing the door open.
She was already gone, her tires squealing as she hauled ass out of the parking lot.
“Son of a bitch!” I kicked the doorframe, then turned and went back inside. I slapped two twenties from my wallet on the table. “Make sure Emily gets home safe. Don’t let some asshole take her home.”
“Already called a cab.” Benny gave me a sympathetic look. “We got it. Go do what you gotta do.”
I’d have to buy him and Bradley coffee tomorrow as a thank you.
Chapter Seventeen
Sydney
I was already in tears before I parked at my duplex.
I was so stupid.
Kenzie had warned me that Ryker was trouble. That he went through women fast, that he was a player who would never settle down.
And I hadn’t listened. I’d decided it would just be for fun, and we’d fool around and then it would fizzle out, and then…
He’d sent me flowers. I’d told myself he was into me. I’d let myself think I could be into him, too.
I parked and sat in my car for a moment, tears rolling down my cheeks.
I had seen his car while I was driving home, and I thought I’d surprise him, and it had ended up like this.
