Ryder (Scandal U Book 1)

by R. Linda

  I hooked my fingers in the side of her underwear, and she raised her hips off the bed so I could slide them down her legs. Falling onto my back, I pulled my boxers down, kicking them off with my feet, before rolling back onto my side and gripping her hip, pulling her back into me.

  Bailey sighed and wiggled her hips, moving them into a better position. Sweeping her hair up into my hands, I placed a kiss on the back of her neck before returning my hand to her hip. Angling myself better, I pushed into her, filling her slowly.

  She moaned and arched her back, pushing her hips back farther. A small laugh escaped her lips.

  “Now’s not the time to be laughing, love.”

  “It’s a good laugh,” she sighed, moving her hips with mine. “So good.”

  My hand slid under her shirt, massaging, squeezing, and exploring her soft skin. Her hand fisted my hair, tugging on the ends until my scalp stung.

  She was warm and soft and fit me perfectly. “Ryder.”

  I loved the way she moaned my name. She turned her face to the side so I could kiss her. She squeezed my hand, and I bit her shoulder softly.

  My hips moved against her, ever so slightly, taking my time, sending shockwaves through my body. Bailey tried moving her hips faster, but I gripped her tighter, slowing her movements.

  “Easy, love.”

  “What if Jack comes home?”

  “We’ll be fine.”

  I circled my hips, dragging my movements out. It was pure torture, but the greatest feeling in the world.

  I was sweating. From heat. From nerves. Desire. From holding back. And from fear that Jack could walk in at any moment and catch us.

  Bailey’s breath was becoming faster, ragged, her body trembled, and she moaned softly. I was on a high and only climbing higher every time Bailey shifted her hips, the edge getting closer and closer until I reached it.

  “Ryder,” Bailey cried. Her body shook, and her soft whimpers and moans sounded deafening in the silent room. I brought my hand down to her mouth to muffle the sounds, just in time.

  The door opened, and I froze.

  But it was too late. There was no stopping it now. I’d stopped moving, not wanting push things further, but Bailey’s body had a mind of its own. She trembled uncontrollably in my arms, her nails digging into my wrist and her mouth biting down on my hand, muffling the sounds as she fell over the edge.

  Every single time.

  Jack was going to be the death of me.

  He crept across the floor on his toes. He was considerate, trying to be quiet, thinking we were asleep. I’d give him that at least. But would it have killed him to come home five minutes later?

  I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth, as Bailey’s hips still moved of their own accord, threatening to pull me over the edge with her, and pretended to sleep. Her body relaxed, and she sagged against me before she rolled forward slowly, trying to move away from me, but the action only made my eyes roll back in my head and my body tense. I gripped her hip, stopping her from moving, and pulled her back as stars clouded my eyes. My nerves were alight, and tingles spread through my body, my hips jolted uncontrollably, and I pressed my face into the back of her neck, biting my lips to keep quiet.

  She breathed in a shaky breath and lay as still as possible as I came down from my high.

  Holy shit.

  I couldn’t believe that just happened.

  Jack pottered around the room, getting changed, having a drink. Finally, he grabbed his computer and climbed into bed. I didn’t think I’d ever been so grateful for Jack’s need to fall asleep watching a movie.

  He did it every night, and most of the time it drove me crazy not because the light from his computer screen enough to keep me awake, but because he liked to recite the entire script in a British accent. He put his headphones on and rolled onto his side away from us.

  We stayed perfectly still for a few more minutes. When it looked like Jack wasn’t moving for the night, I released the grip I had on Bailey’s hip, and she took that as her permission to move away from me.

  I reluctantly let her go and rolled onto my back. She flipped over, resting her head on my chest, and pressed a kiss to my heart.

  I wrapped my arm around her waist and closed my eyes for real, wishing Jack a fate worse than death as we both drifted into a silent sleep.

  I’d kill Chace tomorrow, after I killed Jack.

  Chapter Twenty

  Bailey

  Date nights were my favourite night of the week. Not only because Ryder took me somewhere special every week, but because they were becoming the only night we had together. After weeks of searching for a job, Lennon hooked me up with a waitress position at the Coffee Pot, so it meant Ryder and I had less and less time together.

  It also meant we were one step closer to getting our own place. And it meant our Friday afternoon lunch dates were no longer possible because I had to work.

  I had to work.

  I loved saying that and feeling like I was finally able to contribute. Ryder and I had been talking, and we decided to ask Indie and Jack if they wanted to look for a place to live with us. Four of us sharing rent and expenses wouldn’t be too bad, and we’d still have our own privacy.

  That was what I was doing now. Waiting for Indie to meet me. My shift had just finished, and she was coming here to have a coffee with me.

  “New job?”

  I turned at the sound of Chace’s voice. I wished he’d leave me alone and get the hint.

  “Uh-huh.” Folding my arms across my chest, I walked back out into the kitchen to avoid him.

  “Hi, welcome to the Coffee Pot. What can I get you?” Lennon’s voice carried through the closed kitchen door.

  “I was looking for Bailey,” Chace answered, and I cringed. He wasn’t easily deterred. It was almost like he enjoyed being beaten by Ryder. Every time his bruises were almost healed, he’d do something again to piss Ryder off. Everyone knew Ryder’s kneejerk reaction when it came to me was to throw fists first and not ask question later.

  “Sure, I think she just went out the back. I’ll go get her.”

  I darted through the kitchen, hoping to escape before Lennon saw me. I didn’t particularly feel like going into detail about why I was avoiding Chace.

  Pushing open the back door, I sighed in relief and pulled out my phone to text Indie.

  Bailey: Meet me at my dorm.

  I peered around the corner of the building to make sure the coast was clear and headed in the direction of my building. It was awful that I had to look over my shoulder all the time.

  Indie: What? Why?

  Bailey: Coffee Pot has been compromised.

  If Chace wasn’t messaging at least once a week, begging me to talk with him, he was showing up in the library. And now he’d discovered I worked at the Coffee Pot. Nowhere was safe.

  Indie: Is your dorm safe?

  Bailey: Should be.

  “B, hey. Wait up?” Chace called from behind me somewhere. I sighed and dropped my head, walking faster, hoping to get inside before he caught up with me. I darted up the stairs to my floor and ran down the hall. I hadn’t seen him or heard his voice again, so maybe he left. One could only hope.

  I needed to pack a bag for the night. Something warm, Ryder had said. Whatever we were doing, I would get cold. He also advised me not to wear a dress, so I grabbed the only pair of jeans I owned and threw them into a bag.

  My phone buzzed, reminding me I was texting Indie before Chace followed me. I sat on my bed, bouncing up and down a few times. The mattress felt foreign. The entire room felt foreign, like I didn’t belong.

  Indie: Where is Her Royal Whoreness?

  Bailey: No clue, but she is never in the room on Friday afternoons. Class, maybe?

  Indie: Give me 10 min. I’m running late.

  I laughed. Ten minutes. She was meant to meet me twenty minutes ago. If she got here in ten minutes, then she’d be thirty minutes late. That seemed about right.

  Bailey: I know.r />
  Indie: How?

  Bailey: It’s you. You’ll be late to your own wedding and funeral too.

  Indie: I like to make an entrance. See you soon.

  I finished packing clothes. Socks. A scarf. All the warm things I could find. Ryder wouldn’t tell me what we were doing, so I didn’t know how to dress. Telling me to dress warm didn’t help. I was warm in my maxi dress and jacket. But that didn’t seem appropriate, so I didn’t know what I’d need. I’d just dress like an Eskimo to be safe. Oh, I had a pair of earmuffs somewhere. I’d never worn them, but they were on sale and looked cute.

  There was a knock at my door, surprising me. Had ten minutes passed already?

  I pulled open the door and smiled at Indie. Only it wasn’t Indie. It was Chace. Pushing the door closed, I tried to slam it in his face, but he put his foot out and stopped me.

  “Go away,” I said, pushing against the door, but Chace shoved his way in.

  “I just want to talk,” he said, closing the door behind him.

  I stepped back, trying to put as much distance between us as possible. His unwanted presence was intimidating in this small space.

  “Why won’t you talk to me?”

  “There’s nothing to say. The past is the past. Leave it there.” I pressed into the wall.

  “But it doesn’t have to be, Bailey. Don’t you get that?” Chace was pacing the room, and I took in his appearance for the first time. He was a mess. His clothes were wrinkled, and his usually perfectly styled hair was in disarray. There was a wild, feral look in his eyes that scared me.

  I didn’t answer him out of fear of provoking him. He looked volatile, on the verge of exploding, and I didn’t want to be near him when that happened.

  “Give me a chance,” he pleaded, his eyes darting around the room. Was he on drugs? “Let me show you how sorry I am. Prove to you that we should be together. It was always us, B.”

  I slid along the wall, edging toward the door slowly. Chace was too distracted, pacing frantically across the room, to notice. I wouldn’t speak. I wouldn’t draw attention to myself.

  “Christina was a mistake. One that never should have happened. But you and me, baby, we were magic. You can’t deny that.” His words slurred together. Maybe he was drunk? But I didn’t smell alcohol.

  My stomach dropped. He really was crazy. My fingers found the door handle and grasped it tightly.

  “Better than Ryder. He treats you like a possession. Like he owns you. He’s too controlling. That’s not a relationship. That’s a dictatorship. I made you a queen. Let me do that again. We can rule together.”

  My breath shook as I took in his words. He truly believed them. Truly believed he was better for me than Ryder. I twisted the door handle and pulled it open. Darting out of the room, I made it maybe three steps before Chace’s fingers grabbed my arm and yanked me back inside.

  I cried out. “You’re hurting me.”

  He pushed me onto the bed and towered over me. His eyes were pitch black, and not in that sexy, smouldering way that Ryder’s eyes got. Chace’s eyes were dangerous. I sat up and pushed myself back on the bed, pressing against the headboard, trying to make myself as small as possible.

  My stomach churned, and my throat ached.

  Chace’s fingers curled around my ankle, pulling me toward him. I tried to move away, but he leaned over me, pinning my hands to the mattress above my head. I struggled against his hold. “Chace, please.”

  “Yes. Beg me. I knew you wanted me. Knew you wanted what I could give you.” He licked my cheek, and I squeezed my eyes shut, willing the tears to stay away.

  “Stop. Don’t. Please. You’re hurting me.”

  “Let me show you what I can do, B. Let me rock your world, and you’ll never think of Ryder again.”

  “No!” I shouted. I twisted and turned, struggled against his hold, hoping he wasn’t serious and was only trying to scare me because he was doing a bang-up job of it. “Stop.” I tried to knee him, but my legs wouldn’t move. Taking a deep breath, I screamed, “Help!”

  Chace slammed a hand over my mouth. “Stupid bitch. Just keep your mouth shut for five minutes.”

  Tears streamed down my cheeks, and my wrists burned from his grip. I couldn’t breathe. My chest ached. I tried to clear my mind and imagine I was anywhere else but where I was.

  The door burst open, and Chace was pulled off me with such force, it took me a moment to realise the weight of him had gone. I was too afraid to open my eyes. There was a crash on the other side of the room, and the sound of flesh hitting flesh. I rolled onto my side and curled in a ball, trying to block out the sounds of the scuffle.

  It went quiet, and then hands slid under my body. I flinched and screamed. “Shhh, it’s okay, angel face. I got you. You’re safe.” Jack lifted me into his arms and carried me out the door.

  I must have passed out or fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew, I woke up in Ryder’s bed to voices. Jack’s and Indie’s. “Stay with her. I’ll be back.”

  “Just call.”

  “I can’t, baby cakes. I have to go to him.”

  The door closed softly, and the mattress sank under the weight of Indie sitting beside me. Her hand brushed the hair from my face, and she took a shaky breath. It sounded like she was crying. Opening my eyes, I rolled over to look at her. She was crying.

  “I’m so sorry, Bailey. If I wasn’t late, then…” She sniffed back her tears, choking on them.

  I shook my head and croaked, “Not your fault, In.”

  “Are you okay?”

  I shrugged. I didn’t know how I was. I was numb. Nothing happened. Jack arrived in time, but it shook me to my core. My heart was pounding in my chest and my stomach rolled, over and over. I wanted to throw up.

  Indie shifted on the bed and lay down beside me. “Get some sleep. I’m not going anywhere.” She wrapped her arm around me, and I closed my eyes.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Ryder

  His face was a dead giveaway. He didn’t need to speak. One look at Jack, and I knew something bad had happened. I threw the grease-soaked rag into the toolbox and rushed over to him. Someone else could finish the oil change. He wouldn’t be here if it weren’t an emergency.

  My legs were unsteady, and my hands trembled. “What happened?”

  Jack shook his head. Nothing happened? Or he couldn’t say it?

  “Is Bailey okay?” I swallowed the lump in my throat.

  “Physically, yes.” He nodded. “Mentally, I don’t know.”

  “What the fuck happened?” I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and shoved him backward.

  “Just come.”

  He wouldn’t give me a straight answer. I didn’t know whether that was because we were here or because he was worried I would fly off the handle. If it had anything to do with Bailey, then he was right to worry.

  I took a deep breath and tried to calm my nerves.

  “Is Indie okay?”

  “Yes.”

  “Anyone dead?”

  Jack paused and winced. “Not yet.”

  What the hell?

  I stormed over to the office to see Tony. “I gotta go.”

  “You’ve got two hours left, kid.” Tony put his pen down and stared at me.

  “I know, and I’ll make it up. I just have to go. Sorry.” I didn’t wait for a response. I turned and walked out of the room, slamming the door shut behind me.

  “You,” I pointed at Jack, “can explain in the car.”

  He nodded and walked over to his car, while I walked to mine. “Get in,” I said.

  “No. You come with me.” He opened the passenger door of his car for me. “You can’t be trusted on the road.”

  I searched his face for any sign of humour and found none. I didn’t think I’d ever seen him this serious before. Usually, there was a joke, crude comment, some sort sexual advance, or inappropriate touching. But nothing.

  I didn’t know this Jack. I didn’t like this Jack.
r />   This Jack was too serious.

  This Jack scared the life out of me.

  I climbed into his car and waited for him to back out of the parking spot. “I’m going to ask this once, and once only.”

  Jack sighed, resigning himself to the fact he had to tell me what was going on.

  “What happened?”

  “I went over to Bailey’s room, you know, to see if she needed help with picking out clothes for your date night. I know how boho chic she is and how it really wouldn’t work for ice skating, so I wanted to go and offer some advice without ruining the surprise…” He paused and took a breath.

  “Don’t care about the lead-up, Jack. Get to the damn point.”

  “I was walking across her floor when I thought I heard a scream. I paused and listened to see if I imagined it or someone really had screamed.” His fingers tightened on the steering wheel.

  My jaw clenched, and my heart was about to burst through my rib cage.

  “I hadn’t imagined it. It sounded like Bailey.”

  I paled, literally felt the blood drain from my face. My head was spinning.

  “I ran over to her room and pushed open the door. And—and, that’s…” Jack stuttered and sucked in a breath. “Th-that’s when I saw them.”

  My blood ran cold. Them?

  “Chace had Bailey pinned to the bed. She was struggling against his hold. His hand was covering her mouth so she couldn’t scream again. I pulled him off her and threw him across the room. Broke Her Royal Whoreness’s voodoo shelves when he hit them. I punched him a few times, and then I scooped Bailey up and ran her the hell out of that room.”

  Spots clouded my vision, the edges fading from black to white. Everything was a blur. I faintly heard Jacks voice, but he might as well have been speaking Chinese. None of it made sense.

  “She’s okay.” Jack reached over and grabbed my hand, and for the first time, I didn’t push him away. I took comfort in the fact he got her out of there. He saved her and then came to get me, knowing I would be in no state to drive if he had called and told me over the phone. “Physically, she’s fine. Maybe a bruise on her wrist, but that’s it. I got there before anything, you know. But she’s shaken. Scared.”