by C. A. Harms
“You sure aren’t giving up easily, are you?” She bumped shoulders with him, and he smiled at her. “Oh my, and still he has that pretty-boy smile. Only it’s backed up by all this yummy goodness.” She squeezed his bicep and faked a shiver. “And he smells damn good too,” she added, then took a deep breath and let her eyes flutter shut.
Ryker’s chuckle made my stomach flip. I was going to beat the snot out of my useless best friend.
“Still the same fireball of fun, I see,” he said to Liz, and she shrugged like she wasn’t surprised to be referred to that way. “But to answer your earlier question, no, I don’t give up easily.”
It took everything I had not to argue with that comment. He sure as shit didn’t find it hard to let go of me once before. I looked up just in time to meet his gaze. He winked, and I rolled my eyes, busying myself again. Why did he still affect me like he did? Avoiding him was going to be a whole lot harder than I thought.
“I need another shot over here, hot stuff,” Liz hollered in my direction as she slapped the bar.
“I think you need a bottle of water or a steaming pot of coffee,” I told her without looking up.
“You said if I came tonight and ran interference you would supply the booze. Now that Mr. Buff and Yummy is here, you can’t just cut me off.”
I hung my head in embarrassment. I guess I’d completely forgotten about her loud mouth when alcohol was involved. I looked up and narrowed my eyes at her, trying to force her to shut up, but she just grinned as if she’d completed a goal, and I knew then what she was doing. I snagged her half-empty beer out of her hand just as she lifted it to her mouth.
“Hey,” she protested. “That’s mine.”
“It was yours. That was before you set some matchmaker plan into action, which I can assure you isn’t gonna work,” I told her as I moved down the bar, dropping her beer in the garbage on the way. I busied myself waiting on customers and avoiding anyone near Ryker or looking in his direction.
I could still feel his eyes on me, and on occasion he would chuckle at something Liz said. She and I were going to have a long talk about her loyalty to her best friend when she was sober tomorrow.
Elle stepped up to the bar, rattling off the drink order for one of her tables, and I began mixing the drinks and placing them on her tray.
“I have to admit Liz is right.” I looked up from the drink I was preparing and arched an eyebrow in question. Elle was staring in Ryker’s direction, and I knew immediately what she was referring to. Averting my eyes once more, I chose not to respond, only it didn’t stop her from continuing. “The Marines have done him well. I mean, look at those arms. You can’t pretend he doesn’t get your blood boiling.”
“That was a long time ago, Elle. Things change,” I told her as I set the last drink on her tray and dried my hands on the towel I’d thrown over my shoulder.
“Well, then you wouldn’t mind if I gave it a shot, right?” she asked and clicked her tongue on the last word.
When I looked at her with a panicked expression, she laughed. “That’s what I thought.” She picked up her tray and smiled. “Darlin’, you can keep trying to pretend, but I see right through you.”
I took a chance and looked back down the bar, only to find that Ryker was still watching me. Part of me wanted to go around the bar, walk right up to him, and tell him how badly he had hurt me, yet another part of me wanted to climb over the bar and straight in to his lap. I had missed him with every fiber of my body for so long that having him this close made going to him so hard to resist.
A large hand slapped down on the edge of the bar, and I jumped in surprise. It shoved a fifty dollar bill toward me, and I looked up into Tyler’s eyes. “What’s this?”
“You said you needed money.” He was drunk. I could tell from his bloodshot eyes.
“No, I said you needed to start supporting your daughter. I never said I needed money.”
“You need to fucking make up your mind,” he said as he pulled back the fifty.
“I need to make up my mind?” I said in disbelief, and all the irritation that had been wound up in me so tight broke free. “Your sorry ass needs to be a man. I’ve raised Tori on my own since she was born. I work and do all I can to give her a home and everything she needs to be happy. And her pitiful excuse for a father shows up every few months offering me a damn fifty for my trouble?”
“You just love making this all my fault, don’t you?” Tyler said as he shook his head, acting like I was overreacting.
“Is there a problem here?” Ryker’s voice caught our attention, and Tyler’s face morphed into an expression of hate.
“Well, looks like the local hero’s back in town,” Tyler said as he squared his shoulders and faced Ryker. The comparison was humorous. Their builds were similar, but Ryker had at least four inches on Tyler and wore it so much better.
“This a family matter, between me and Nicole, about our daughter.”
I couldn’t help the sarcastic laugh that escaped me. They, of course, both turned to look at me. “You’re joking, right? Our daughter? Don’t you mean my daughter? You were just the sperm donor. It takes a whole hell of a lot more than that to be a father.” Tyler had no idea what a sweet little girl Tori was. He had no idea what her favorite food was or her favorite color. He was worthless.
I saw the anger in his eyes as he took a step in my direction, and everything seemed to move in fast-forward.
I hadn’t intended to say a word. I had watched Nicole ignore me for close to an hour. I watched as she moved around behind the bar in jeans that stretched tight over an ass I remember fondly. She was still the same sinful girl, only now she was a woman.
A woman I had every intention of making mine again, one way or another. I just had to find the best way to break down the walls she had built up around her.
The situation was tense enough, and it only got worse when Tyler entered the bar. I gripped my beer bottle tighter as he approached Nicole. It took everything I had not to rush at that piece of shit and bust him right in his cocky mouth. He and I had never seen eye-to-eye, and his connection to my Nicole only intensified my hate for him.
I did my best to remain seated, but when he raised his voice, I couldn’t keep my distance. Whether she was mine or not, no one was going to mistreat her.
But everything went to shit real fast.
Tyler lunged toward Nicole, and she jutted out her chin in defiance. She refused to back down. I, on the other hand, gave him no time to reach his mark.
I grabbed the back of his shirt and jerked him away from her, spun him around, and slammed his back against the wall. “Wrong fucking move,” I said as I stepped in closer. “You ever lunge at her like that again and I’ll break your fucking neck.”
“You ain’t shit, Ryker,” he slurred.
My blood was rushing to my head as I did my best not to wipe that smirk off his face. “Say that again and I’ll be more than happy to prove you wrong.” I held his stare, daring him to repeat his earlier comment.
“Enough,” Nicole said from my side as she placed her hand on my arm. Her touch soothed me just enough that I looked toward her, temporarily letting my guard down.
And that was his in. All the coward needed was one moment of weakness, and Nicole always made me feel weakened. Her eyes grew wide as she looked toward Tyler, and I followed her line of vision just in time for his fist to connect with my jaw.
I lifted my hand to my chin and wiggled my jaw, doing my best to massage the slight ache his punch caused, and chuckled. “That all you got?” I taunted. “I always knew you were a pussy.”
The rage that covered his features was comical. His face turned red, and he lunged at me, swinging his fist once more, only to miss. I guess I shouldn’t have chuckled at his lack of control, but that shit was funny as hell. He looked like a girl swinging his arms uncontrollably, stumbling around.
But the humor faded fast when Nicole stepped between us to break up the fight and took a right
hook to her eye.
Anger shot through me as I nudged her out of the way and punched Tyler, laying his ass out.
“Damn it, baby, are you okay?” I gripped her face in my hands and tilted it up to get a good look at her eye. The corner of it had a blood spot, and the surrounding area had already turned a bright purplish-pink.
“Motherfucker,” I said as I turned back to Tyler, not giving a shit that he still lay half against the wall, half slumped on the floor. I wanted to break his fucking face.
“I got this,” Greg, a guy who worked behind the bar, said as he stepped in front of Tyler, blocking my view. “Go help Nicole.”
I was torn between going to her and beating the ass of the guy who’d hurt her. But she won. She’d always win.
I followed Liz as she led Nicole to the back office. She had sobered up pretty quickly, it appeared.
“Sit,” Liz insisted as she eased Nicole into a chair and knelt before her.
“I’m fine,” Nicole tried to get up, but Liz pushed her back down.
“Oh honey, you ain’t fine. In fact, you are quickly beginning to look like someone that’s having one hell of an allergic reaction. It’s like you’re trying to grow a whole new head out of your eye socket.”
I hung my head and shook it. Liz had a way with words.
“I brought ice,” Elle said as she rushed into the room. She looked back over her shoulder as she passed me and winked. Damn girl hadn’t changed, either. She was just as crazy as her older sister.
“I need to get back out to the bar,” Nicole said.
“Nope, we got it, no worries,” Elle said as she grabbed Liz by the arm and began dragging her out of the room. Of course Liz resisted until she saw me standing at the door. Her face lit up and she beamed.
“Take care of her,” she said as they both exited. Liz had apparently just become my ally in this battle for Nicole’s love.
“I’m fine, honestly. He hits like a girl,” Nicole said with a gentle laugh.
Her comment made my stomach ache.
“Has he ever hit you before?” I asked, kneeling in front of her and placing my hands on her knees.
“No, Ryker,” she said, offering me a smile for the first time since I returned. “He’s never hit me before. In fact, after that one night, I refused to let him touch me in any way.”
I looked down at her legs, trying to wipe away the image of him touching her at all. It pissed me off that he was given that privilege. He didn’t deserve it.
“You know whatever it is you’re picturing, I can guarantee you’re not even close.” Nicole sounded sad, pulling me back out of my head. “The only good that ever came from that night with Tyler was Tori. If it wasn’t for her, I would completely regret that night.”
I slid my hands up her thighs and gripped her hips as I nudged my way between her knees. I just needed to be a little closer.
“I wish that had been me,” I whispered. “That I was the man that got you pregnant.”
“But you weren’t,” she said in return.
Silence settled over the room as I looked at her and she looked down at my body positioned between her thighs. “I’m sorry,” I said, my throat burning with the words. “I thought I was doing the right thing, because I didn’t want to hold you back. But now I wish I hadn’t.”
She lifted her head, and her eyes were filled with tears. I cupped her jaw and forced her to keep her head up as I said what I had to say.
“I love you, Nicole. I never stopped. It’s always been you in my heart. I meant what I said all those years ago: I’m forever yours, baby.” Without giving her a chance to fight it, I placed my lips against hers, and for a moment everything felt like it had fallen into place.
Until she pulled back from me and I was forced to let her go. I sat back on my feet as she stood and rushed from the room, and I felt like my heart had split in two.
I couldn’t help but wonder if the way I felt in that moment had been how she felt all those years ago.
“Oh no, run, it’s a monster,” Liz said in mock terror. “Run, Tori, we need to hide.”
She took Tori’s little hand and jogged down the hall as my daughter looked back over her shoulder, laughing.
“Ha-ha, aren’t you a comedian.” I rolled my eyes as I closed the front door and walked toward the kitchen.
It had been three days since Ryker kissed me. Three days since I’d seen him and three days of hiding out in my apartment. After my father had seen my eye, it was easy to convince him I needed a few days off. The sad part about it was my eye felt fine; it was my heart that ached.
“Are you planning on hiding in your apartment for the rest of your life?” I turned around to find Liz holding Victoria on her hip at the other side of the snack bar that separated the kitchen and living room. Tori was licking away on a sucker that was almost as big as her head.
I ignored Liz and her questions and pointed toward my daughter. “Honestly?”
“What?” she asked.
I swear I couldn’t wait until the day she had a child. I was so going to pay her back for all the shit she pulls, without remorse. “A sucker after she just had her bath?”
“Please, stop being such a downer.” Liz rolled her eyes in a playful manner and pulled a chocolate bar out of her bag. “I could’ve given her this instead.”
“Don’t you dare,” I threatened, and she smiled even bigger as she bit the edge of the package and tore it with her teeth. I knew the moment Tori’s eyes lit up that there was no stopping her. She had already noticed the candy bar.
“One of these days I am gonna repay you for all this. I hope you know that.” I turned around and wet a washcloth before I held it out in her direction. “You’re cleaning her up.”
“I’d be glad to,” she said as she jiggled her hips, causing Tori to bounce. Tori giggled as she alternated between the Hershey bar and the rainbow sucker.
Something told me she wouldn’t be going to bed in an hour.
I had just dropped Tori off to May Berefield, Liz and Elle’s mother’s. She had agreed to keep Tori until my dad finished up at the bar.
Today was the day Liz and I volunteered at the youth center. We did it twice a month, and it was something we both actually enjoyed. Liz was almost finished with her counseling degree and intended to take a full-time position once she graduated, but I loved feeling as if I was helping, even if it was just a little.
As I was walking up the front walk, I glance over toward the side street and stopped dead in my tracks. I would know that truck anywhere. I had fond memories of nights out by Mitchell Lake with Ryker in the back of that truck.
I shook off the memories quickly as I continued on toward the youth center. I had hoped he was at the diner across the street or maybe visiting Mr. Parrish at the hardware store, but those hopes were crushed once I pulled open the front door and took a step inside.
Ryker was out on the basketball court with a group of teenage boys. He appeared as if he had been there for some time because he was all sweaty and winded. He hadn’t noticed I’d entered until the loud bang of the door behind me caught everyone’s attention. He smiled and a few of the boys hollered out their hellos as I walked farther into the building. My gaze locked on Ryker and the tattoos he hadn’t had when he left. His right shoulder was covered with some type of symbol with wording just below. I was still too far away to see the exact details. A second tattoo across the right side of his chest looked as if it was some type of verse.
“Mouthwatering, isn’t he?” I jumped at the sound of Melanie’s voice. She was the director of the center and was married to the chief of police. She had to have been my father’s age, but she appeared to be years younger. Liz called her a cougar, but I honestly think she was just a harmless flirt.
I smiled and looked back at Ryker, who had returned to running up and down the court. His basketball shorts hung low on his hips, showing off his tapered waist and toned legs.
We stood in silence, watching as he moved with
grace, his arms flexing as he shot from the three-point line. My body was soon achy from the torture I was putting it through.
He was perfection, and he knew it. And he was cocky and arrogant about it.
“That’s the guy I told you about,” I said, not taking my eyes off Ryker.
“The Marine?” she asked.
I nodded, and she let out a low whistle.
“I know,” I said in defeat. I wasn’t stupid enough to believe denying Ryker would be easy. In fact I was sure it would be harder than anything else I’d faced, but I was determined to prove I wasn’t the same gullible, dependable girl he left years ago. I was stronger, and I had to remain that way. Because I wasn’t the only one that could get hurt here. Tori could too, and I refused to allow that to happen.
“So what do you need me to do today?” I asked, trying to distract myself. I turned to face her, placing my back to the court. She smiled, and I tilted my head and arched a brow, daring her to keep going. But my look must have told her any amount of Ryker was too much.
“Liz is in the TV room. I have new furniture being delivered at three, so we have to organize and rearrange to make room in there. Plus someone donated about four boxes of DVDs and video games that need to be unpacked too.” I followed her out as she continued to list the items on our to-do list.
Entering the open room that served as the television/game room, I couldn’t help but laugh. Liz stood in the center, hunched over a stack of boxes. She had her iPod playing as her butt bounced to the beat of the music.
Melanie and I began to laugh, yet she had no idea because of the earbuds jammed in her ears. I walked up behind her and began shaking my own hips against her rear. She spun around and screeched in surprise, holding her hand to her chest.
