by Bec Botefuhr
“Listen to me, I know it looks bad but I am telling you, and I swear with my whole body and soul it isn’t a lie, I am not fucking her. I have no intentions of being with Janelle again, I have no interest in it. I want you baby, you know I want you. I wish I could tell you what is going on and when the time is right, I will but please, just trust me.”
“I do.” I whisper, meeting his gaze.
“Then stop giving me those pained eyes.”
“I just don’t want you to go.”
“I have to, I have been with you a few days now and I have things to take care of.”
I sigh. “Fine.”
“You want me to make it worthwhile?”
I give him a little glare. “Maybe I am still mad with you.”
“Maybe, you need me to fuck you until you aren’t mad anymore.”
“I thought you had to go.”
He tears his shirt off and drops it to the ground. “Ever had a quickie?”
“Um, no.”
“Come here.”
He grips me and slants his lips over mine, dragging me in for a long, hot kiss. I whimper as he pushes me against the door and shoves my shorts down. When I have nothing on the bottom half, he yanks at his jeans, lowering them just enough to release himself. He lifts my legs and hooks them around his waist and presses me firmly against the door.
“Just like this, no foreplay?” I breathe.
“No baby, just hard and fast.”
“Oh.” I clench at the thought.
He slides into me and I whimper, his pace goes from slow to hard in a matter of seconds until he is thrusting into me with such frantic strokes my back slams against the door. Holy crap. The pleasure shooting through me is intense, he growls and bites down on my neck, causing me to cry out. I drag my nails across the skin on his back and throw my head back, letting him suckle and nip at the flesh on my neck and chest.
“Ryder.” I cry.
“Come for me baby, come for me.”
I clench around him and let off a ragged scream. He follows seconds behind, shuddering as he explodes inside me with a feral hiss. When he slows, he lets me down and helps me pull up my shorts.
“Well then.” I say, shaking my head.
“That baby, was a quickie.”
“Oh.”
“Did you want foreplay?”
I shake my head. “Oh no, that was sufficient. I…just…wow.”
He kisses me again, then strokes his thumb over my bottom lip. “Behave yourself tonight.”
“I could say the same.”
“Believe me, my dick isn’t coming anywhere close to getting out of my pants.”
“And your mouth.”
“Not going to touch a woman.”
“I hope so Ryder.”
“I am a lot of things, but I don’t cheat. I have only one sandwich I wish to unwrap each night and it’s you.”
“How flattering.” I pout.
He kisses me again. “I gotta go, be good.”
“I won’t.”
He gives me a hot look and smacks another kiss to my lips. We head out pick up Sandy and by the time we get home, Ryder isn’t there. I feel an emptiness inside and it aches. I love him, I didn’t want to, didn’t intend to but I do, I love him with every ounce of my body and soul. Sandy and I rent a few movies and get a few bottles of wine, then curl up on the couch with Stroganoff. Nate plonks down beside us.
“So where’s hot stuff?” Sandy asks.
“He is out.”
“Oh?”
“Long story, tell me what you have been up to.”
“Oh you know, school, school and more school.”
I laugh. “Sounds fun.”
We laugh and chat, giggle and snort throughout the movie. When bed time comes around, we both curl up in my bed laughing like little girls. I have missed my sister so much, and we curl together like we used to as kids when we were afraid.
“I miss you.” Sandy says.
“I miss you too, little sis.”
“I am glad I am here.”
“Me too.”
CHAPTER 8
That one worked a darned treat, the looks on their faces when they pulled up. Priceless. Her trembling lip as she saw all those nasty words, poor Maya. I wish I had of seen her face when she got that newspaper. That will show her. It was so easy to do, stupid blonde reporter took my money and the picture with no questions. Idiot. I should have snatched her, just for a bit of fun but she was too old.
Amy squirms beside me, I turn and grin down at her. Her big baby blues are wide and frantic. Oh Amy, I have plans for you my little cherub. You are the next scare on the list before the final touchdown. I didn’t plan on taking another victim but my idea changed a fraction. Soon she will be in my grips pleading and begging for release. That cop lover thinks he can save her but he can’t, no no he can’t. I am going to make her life a living hell, oh yes, and it will be divine.
“Please.” Amy whimpers.
I turn and glare at her. “Speaking without permission, that is a bad girl.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Oh Amy, you know they all say that don’t you? Why me, what did I do wrong? It’s simple really Amy, so simple. You breathe.”
“Please, I will do anything, if you want sex, you can have it.”
Well now that just makes me mad, I slap her face so hard I hear her jaw crack.
“Stupid Amy, now you have just made things worse for yourself. I was going to fuck you nicely, but since you are begging like a pathetic whore, I might have to change that.”
I look around the room and spot the knife, well well, won’t this be fun. I wonder how much she will want to be fucked, when it is done with this.
* * * * * *
“My hair looks awful.” I mumble, adjusting my hair angrily.
“It looks gorgeous.” Sandy fusses.
“I will look incomplete next to him, to them.”
“Never, you are gorgeous Maya, believe it.”
I glance in the mirror and my long, soft curls. My eyes are shadowed with silver colour and mascara. My lips are red and rosy. My dress is red and clings to me in ways no dress should, it is revealing. The hemline touches the floor and it has a sweeping back, so low it touches my hips.
“I feel stupid.”
“He is going to die when he sees you.” She breathes.
I turn and sit on the bed, pulling on some heels. I am going to a police charity ball tonight with Ryder and Nate, and I am dead nervous.
“Ready?” Sandy asks.
“No.” I grumble.
She takes my hand and tugs me out the door, when I see the two men, decked out in suit and tie I just about faint. They look gorgeous, so beautifully gorgeous. Ryder’s eyes widen and he makes a strangled sound.
“Holy Christ.” He breathes.
“Well fuck, you look stunning Sweetheart.” Nate says, taking my hand and kissing it.
Ryder pulls me close and breathes in my scent. “You are beautiful, so beautiful.”
“You look good yourself GI.”
He grins and tugs his tie. “I don’t do ties.”
“You look amazing.”
“Shall we?”
“We shall.”
The ball we arrive at is upper class. Women in gowns and dresses so exquisite, I want to melt. Men, all decked out in suit and tie look simply stunning. The huge hall is set up with fine china and crystal chandeliers. Red velvet carpet lines the floor. Ryder leads me in and Nate is swooped off in seconds. Keeping my arm through his, Ryder takes me and introduces me to everyone he knows.
“Dance?” He breathes into my ear.
“Please.”
He pulls me onto the dance floor and crushes me to his chest, the moment is intense, amazing and beautiful. We hold each other, gazing at one another with all the love in the world. He lowers his head and brushes his lips against mine, I tangle my hands in his hair. I can’t imagine my life without Ryder in it, he is my whole heart an
d soul now.
“Maya?” He murmurs into my ear.
“Yeah?”
“I…” He hesitates. “I am in love with you.”
I tense, whoa did he just say that? I pull back and look at him, unable to speak.
“Speechless, finally.” He whispers, moving a stray piece of hair from my forehead.
“You are in love with me?” I stammer.
“I am in love with you.”
“Oh.” I squeak.
He drags me into a deep, hot kiss that I melt into. When the dancing is over and my heart has stopped fluttering with his confession, I excuse myself and make my way to the bathroom. I pat my face down and catch my breath. I feel like a fool, I said nothing, I just stammered like an idiot. I turn and am about to head out when Janelle walks in. Well goody.
“Oh Ali, how nice to see you.”
“Stop with your bullshit Janelle. We both know you know my name and we both know you dislike me.”
She puts her hand over her heart. “I never said…”
“Cut the shit and get it out. You followed me in here for a reason, what is it?”
“It’s not my place, really.”
“Look, whatever shit you are trying to pull, stop. Ryder is with me, he just told me he loves me, you can say whatever the hell you want, we both know who he is with.”
“Oh how sweet, he told you he loves you. Did he tell you he has been with me all those nights he is away, with our family.”
“Excuse me?”
“He didn’t tell you did he, tell you about our daughter.”
My blood runs cold and I flinch. “I beg your pardon?”
“He comes and stays with us, playing with her and taking us on outings. Why I have a picture of them right here.”
She shoves her phone at me and I glance down at the picture of Ryder with a beautiful little blonde girl. I blink rapidly and look back up at her.
“I don’t…”
“He didn’t tell you. I can’t see why, if he loves you so much?”
“You are just trying to break us up, for all I know that is his damned niece.”
“Oh, you insolent shit. He told you I cheated on him didn’t he? He didn’t tell you why though did he? The two men you cherish most in your life, are keeping a massive secret from you.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about!” I snap.
“He never told you about the three of us did he, about him, Nate and I? Never told you how we all used to fuck.”
I am heaving now, gripping the bench. “You are lying.”
“Aw, no, I wish I was. It used to be quite an occurrence, all three of us. Nate loved it, considering how much he loved Ryder. He started the taste for it, but didn’t like it when I tried it with another two men.”
“Liar!”
“Go and ask him, go on. Why do you think he took that newspaper clipping so badly. Face it, you are far out of your league, you will never be enough for a man like him. You are just a petty child.”
I turn and fly out of the bathroom, panting and clutching my chest. It is a lie, it has to be. I find Ryder and Nate at the bar, I storm over and stop in front of him. My hand connects with Ryder’s face first, then Nate’s. Both gape.
“Tell me, what she just told me isn’t true. Tell me you two didn’t fuck her!”
They both gape and then gaze at each other.
“Oh, God, no.”
“It was a long time ago, baby, it meant nothing.”
“NOTHING!” I scream. “I adore you two and you both lied to me!”
“Sweetheart…”
“He has a child, did you know that?”
Nate gapes and turns to Ryder.
“Oh fuck.”
“It’s true isn’t it, that child is yours?” I whisper, tears thunder down my cheeks.
“Baby please, let me talk with you.”
“Go to hell!” I snarl, turning and tearing through the crowd of people.
“MAYA!” Both men call after me.
I run, tearing through the crowd desperately. I need air, I can’t breathe. I run out the front door and wave down a taxi. I leap in and slam the door shut, rambling off my foster parents address just in time, Ryder and Nate make it out the door as the car is pulling out. Ryder’s hand slaps on the glass, but I instruct the cabbie to drive. He does. When I am out of view, I crumble, truly crumble.
By the time we pull up at my foster family’s home, I am heaving and my body is wracking with pained sobs. I tumble out, and give the stony faced cabbie a twenty, then stumble to the front door. I can’t open it, can’t find my key. Jesus. I knock furiously until finally someone answers, it is my foster father, who I love as my own. He has been amazing to Sandy and I over the years.
“Oh baby, what is happening?”
“Dad.” I croak, stumbling into his arms.
“Who is it Paul?” My foster mother says, rounding the corner. “Maya, oh my baby.”
She yanks me into her arms and I wail loudly. Sandy comes rushing out and soon I am in her arms.
“What happened, sweetie, what happened?”
“R-R-Ryder lied. He h-h-has a child. The rest is t-t-too painful to tell. B-b-broke my heart.”
“That useless cop, I will have a word…
“Paul no, leave it.”
“Come on, let’s get you upstairs and we can talk.” Sandy soothes.
I let her pull me upstairs, and I swipe furiously at my tears, hating I have let someone crack my shield, hating that I have let Ryder into my heart. I should have known, men like him didn’t love, they played, they lied, they cheated. My phone rings furiously, I toss it across the room and fall onto Sandy’s bed. She curls up beside me, wrapping her arms around my body.
“What happened, tell me everything.”
I do and she falls silent a moment.
“She had a threesome with them, I thought the cop was gay?”
“So did I, he let me wonder what the deal with Ryder and Janelle was when all along he knew. Not to mention, he had been screwing her too, now it makes sense why he is so hung up on Ryder. He got a taste of having him in his bed and then it was taken. They lied to me.”
“Does it hurt that they did it, or that they lied?”
“Both,” I sniff. “I love Ryder, God Sandy I love him and the thought of him and my best friend in the world being with that dragon, their hands on her body, it kills me. I feel cheated, I feel less.”
“You shouldn’t, you are beautiful.”
“He has a deep sex craze, he loves two women, he loves dominance. I should have known I would never be enough for him.”
“You are more than enough for him, if he can’t see that it is his own stupid fault.”
“I love him.” I wail.
“I know sweetie, I know.”
“MAYA!”
I hear my name being called, Sandy and I stand and rush to the window, then peer out. Ryder is in the yard, looking flustered and beautiful. Nate is beside him. I see Paul go tearing out and grip him by the throat, I turn to run but Sandy grips my arm.
“Let him go, he won’t hurt Ryder.”
“You bastard, what did you to do my girl?”
“Please sir, let me speak with her. It was a misunderstanding.”
“You leave, you hear? Leave, and don’t come back.”
“I love her!”
“You ought you have seen her you gutless bastard, she was truly broken.”
“I never meant, please, it was all read wrong.”
“You tell me what was read wrong and I will tell you if I agree.”
“It was a long time ago, Nate, Janelle and I…”
“You better be talking about anything other than what I think you are.”
“It was a mistake. I never meant…”
Paul’s fist connects with Ryder’s face and he stumbles back. Ryder is a big man, bigger than Paul and he could clearly knock him down but he doesn’t, he takes three punches and only when Nate steps in, does Paul s
top.
“You scumbag! You leave, leave now!”
“Please, just let us talk with her.” Nate pleads.
“You want what your little buddy got?”
“I need to stop this.” I cry.
I rush down the stairs and out the front door, Paul is gripping Ryder again but they all stop when I come out. Ryder’s eyes fill with pain as they scan me, Nate’s quickly follow. Ryder is heaving, his eyes are glassy and his gaze is desperate.
“Maya, baby…”
“Dad, let him go. If he tries to come near me though, I give you full permission to knock him out.”
“Maya.” Ryder says, hoarsely.
“You lied to me, no, that doesn’t cut the betrayal you have made me suffer. I have nothing to say to you Ryder except it’s over, I want James Clancy to give me a transfer, I refuse to go back to your house.”
“Baby, I never meant.”
“Save it!” I snap.
“Sweetheart, it was a mistake…” Nate cuts in.
“You,” I point at him. “Are meant to be gay yet you had a dandy time banging his wife!”
“It wasn’t for her and you know it.” He whispers.
“No it was for Ryder, because you are so in love with him. You know what Nate, save it, I don’t care to hear it. You did it, regardless of the reasoning.”
“Can we talk about this,” Ryder pleads. “Just talk.”
“Do you have a child Ryder?”
“Yes.”
“Do you go and see her?”
“Yes.”
“How long have you known?”
“I found out just after you came.”
“Did you fuck Janelle?”
“No.”
“Did you fuck her with Nate back then?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“What?”
“How long!”
“A year.”
“Did you both love her?”
“Yes, no.” I hear, one from Ryder the other from Nate.
“Then that is all the talking I wish to do, now if you don’t mind, I want you to leave.”
“Please…”
“Son, you have five seconds to get off my property or I get my gun. Cop or not, I take you down!” Paul growls.
I turn to walk back in, and Ryder yells out to me.
“I won’t give up, I will make this better!”
