Forever My Protector (The Ryder Brothers), page 5
“In spite of my military background.”
“Probably because of it. Hell knows, an experience like that shapes you. When my brother was on leave, I could tell he was different. More mature, more sure of himself, confident, if you will. It made him grow up faster than he already had to. He was different, but I liked the new him just the same. And I respect the Army. I just wish it didn’t take the only family I had left away from me.”
Before I could respond, my phone rang, startling both of us. I looked at the phone on the console and noticed it was Damon ringing. “You should answer that,” Scarlet said.
“It’s my brother. This’ll only take a second.” I answered and put it on speaker so I could still keep my eyes on the road.
“Geez, three rings later,” Damon said.
I laughed. “Sorry, man, we’re just coming back from the service.”
“We? Is his hot sister with you?”
Son of a bitch. Now I wish I never put it on speaker. “Yes she is and you’re on speaker.”
“Hey,” Damon loudened his voice. “What up, Scarlet? My brother here is the man. He’s a real catch.”
Scarlet couldn’t stop smiling. “I think so, too, Damon.”
“Oh, and sorry about your brother, Scarlet. Colt’s been real torn up about the whole thing. Hopefully the service brought you some sort of peace.”
“It did actually. I think it was just the closure I needed.”
I looked over at her, happy for her, that she could finally get past all of this. “Why’d you call, though, Damon?” I asked, turning into Scarlet’s neighborhood.
Damon answered, “Oh, that’s right. I wanted you to hear the good news first. I’m taking the future Mrs. Damon Ryder out tonight. It might be too soon, but it’s salsa dancing.” As if that made it okay.
“So you asked the red-head out from last night?”
“Oh, hell no. She was awful. Ate with her mouth open. I’m talking about the other girl I met last night. Rachel. She’s great.”
“And apparently your future wife?”
I put the car in park as Damon blew bubbles. “Yeah, man. Are you listening? Anyways, you and Scarlet should totally come. Double date. Could be fun. If it’s not too soon.”
I put him on mute for a second and turned to Scarlet. “What do you think? You don’t have to say yes.”
She shook her head. “I’ve mourned my brother long before today. I could use a little fun and I’ve never been salsa dancing. The distraction is exactly what I need.”
I unmuted him. “Sure, Scar’s up for it, so I’m in, too.”
“Great, I’ll tell Rachel. She’s going to love this idea.”
“Man, a double date? We haven’t done this since—”
Damon inserted, “Christina and Marge.”
It was such a long time ago, but it felt like just yesterday. “All right, man, I gotta go, but text me the address and we’ll see you tonight.”
When I hung up, Scarlet giggled. “I like your brother. He’s fun.”
“Yeah, he also has a big mouth.”
“No filter-kind-of-guy? I like that. Leaves nothing up to the imagination. He just puts it all out there.”
“Sometimes it gets him into trouble,” I said.
She nodded. “I can imagine,” she responded. “So, is Marge your ex?”
“No, Christina, actually. We dated in high school.”
“What happened?”
I didn’t really want to get into all of this, but if she wanted to know, I’d tell her. I had nothing to hide. “We broke up before I went in.”
“Wow. Why before?”
I shrugged. “Just made things easier.”
“For you or for her?” Then she added, “Sorry, I don’t mean to pry. I’m just curious, that’s all. You can stop me any time you want.”
“I get it. It’s fine. I don’t want there to be any secrets between us, especially if we’re going to give this thing a shot.” I cleared my throat. “It was probably more so for me. I didn’t want to think about her when I was gone, how she was, what it was doing to her, and then God forbid I wasn’t fortunate and something happened. I already had my family to worry about if that were the case, but I couldn’t do that to Christina, too. Letting her go was the right thing to do. And she’s married now. Expecting her first baby.”
“So, it all worked out,” Scarlet inputted. “Sort of.”
“My time will come. I want to start a family. I’m just not looking to settle and if that takes longer than I’d like, then so be it.”
“I feel the same way.” She began playing with the purse she held in her lap. “There’s nothing more I want than to build a family, especially since I don’t have one myself. I want to have a lot of children so that they don’t ever have to feel alone in this world and they’ll have each other, you know?”
I could see the emotion on her face and placed my hand on top of hers. “I hope you get everything you want, Scar.”
She exhaled, releasing the emotion with it. “Frankly, I thought I had that with my ex, Nick, but he turned out to be nothing but a liar.”
So this Nick character was an ex. Excellent. I wanted to know more, but I didn’t want to push, so I just let it go. For now. “Do you want to talk about it?” Fuck it, I figured I’d ask for good measure.
“No,” she said almost too fast. “Maybe some other time,” she added just as quickly. “It’s been an emotional rollercoaster today and I think I just need some rest. Plus, I have to get ready for our date tonight.” I saw her eyes light up then, and seeing her happy was really all I wanted. Turned out Damon did good inviting us out tonight of all nights.
I replied, “Sure. You should head inside, then.” I opened my door when she opened hers and said, “I’ll walk you up.”
When we got to the door, there was a box sitting on the floor. Before she picked it up, I saw it was from New York and then I read the name and knew exactly who it was from—Nick. As though she knew I was thinking about it, she said, “He’s probably sending me the rest of my things. It’s no big deal, really. It’s right on pace with the rest of this day.”
“Did you just break up?”
She swallowed hard. “Um, yeah, I guess you could say that. But, truthfully, we haven’t really been a couple for a while now. His doing.” She unlocked and pushed open the door to her apartment and turned to me. “Thanks for driving me to and back from the service. Meant a lot to me that you were there for me today.”
“Of course.” Then I added, “And I’ll see you tonight?”
“Absolutely.”
“Try to take a nap, you’ll feel worlds better.”
“Thanks, I think I will. That and a shower should do it.”
“Okay, then. I’ll stop by and pick you up later.” I felt like I was treading on water whenever she brought up her ex. It seemed like there was a lot more to the story that she wasn’t ready to share, but I could see the fear and pain in her eyes. It made me want to pay the guy a visit and punch his face in. Scarlet didn’t deserve to be going through this on top of everything that was happening.
She smiled, leaned over and gave me a chaste kiss on my cheek. “I cannot wait.” Then she closed the door and left me standing there like a dork, thinking about how badly I wanted that kiss to be so much more.
Chapter Seven
Scarlet
Rafe’s not finished.” That was all the paper read. Asshole stuck it right on top of all my belongings, probably to ensure that I didn’t miss it. Fat chance in that happening. Now it was just sitting on my coffee table, staring me right in the face. I didn’t know what it meant or what the heck Rafe was looking for from me, but whatever it was, he wasn’t going to get it. I didn’t give a damn about Rafe or Nick, to be honest. I just wanted my life back, and I already said I wouldn’t utter a word. If law enforcement ever found out about their machinations and illegal activities, it wouldn’t be from me.
I clasped my hoop earrings and decided to forget about the whole ordeal when I heard a knock at the door. For the briefest of seconds I thought it might be Nick or Rafe here to finish whatever it was they had in mind. An outsider would’ve thought I was blowing this out of proportion, but I knew better. I wasn’t an outsider. I knew Rafe. Unfortunately. And the bastard wasn’t ever done with someone until they were gone. Then there was Nick—loyal to the very end. He would do anything Rafe asked of him, even if it meant doing his dirty work. He’d done it before without blinking an eye and he would do it again. I just wasn’t sure if he would go so far as silencing me for Rafe. After all, there was a point in time when Nick loved me. When we were planning a future together. Only, that was well in the past and Nick probably felt burned over my ending things with him the way I did.
“Scar, it’s Colt.” The sound of Colton’s voice was all I needed to silence my racing heart. I took a deep breath and answered the door, so grateful that it was him.
I smiled when I saw the bouquet of red roses. “Right on time.”
“Old habits. Being prompt is sort of engrained in me.” He handed me the roses. “These are for you.”
“Thank you,” I said and lifted them up to my nose. “They’re beautiful. I’m going to go put them in some water.” When I walked inside, I prompted him to come in.
“Are you sure? We don’t want to be late to—”
I chuckled. “It’s fine. Unlike you, I’m never on time. I’m always fashionably late.”
Grabbing a vase from my kitchen table, I added some water from the kitchen sink and popped the roses in. “All right. We’re all set.” That was when I caught him looking at my coffee table. His eyes scrolling over the paper I forgot to hide. Damn it. Maybe he didn’t see anything. “Those are just bills,” I lied.
“Scar,” he softly responded. “I know they’re not bills.” He raked a hand through his hair. “Are you okay? What’s going on?”
“Nothing, really.”
“Who’s Rafe? I thought your ex was Nick.”
I walked closer to him and took his hand in mine. “Colt, not now, please. Maybe one day I’ll explain everything, but we just met. It’s not the right time and frankly I’m not ready.”
He squeezed my hand. “Scar, I can help. If you’re in trouble, I can help. I want to. I feel something for you, don’t minimize that. You just have to let me in.”
I sighed. “I know and I appreciate that, but I can take care of myself. It’s my mess, I’m going to clean it up. I just need a little time, that’s all.”
He didn’t push, which I was grateful for. “‘Kay. But if you need anything, I’m here.”
“That means more than you’ll know,” I replied and stared at his lips. He was right, there was something between us. I wouldn’t deny that, but this was not something I was ready to share. The moment was heady enough. I couldn’t look away. All I wanted were his lips on mine.
As though he knew, he leaned down ever so slowly and continued searching my eyes. I met him halfway, went on my tip-toes, and closed my eyes. The warm and soft touch of his lips made me feel comforted and safe. It also made me ache for more, so I parted my lips, giving his tongue access to slip inside. We were in sync, our tongues sliding across one another, exploring. He tangled his hands in my hair, the gesture making my heart pound. With our bodies pushed up against one another and the wild images of what this could lead to flashing in my mind, I was on the brink of telling him to forget salsa dancing and take me to my bedroom. When we parted, we were both out of breath but couldn’t help smiling. I knew we hit the point of no return. I wanted him more now than before and I was sure he felt the same way.
His voice was deep when he commented, “We should probably get going.”
I bit my lip knowing there was no way I was getting through this evening without wanting to kiss him again. But if we didn’t leave soon, we never would.
After I finished locking up, we walked hand-in-hand outside, and that was when I noticed the silver Chevy Corvette and gasped. “Get out! This car is awesome. I love ’vettes.”
He laughed. “You like it?”
My mouth was still agape. “Like it? This is a hot car.” He was just staring at me, smiling. “Wait, I thought you had a Cadillac. How many cars do you own?”
He laughed. “The Cadillac is Wyatt’s,” he explained, “my brother. When one of us is deployed, we take care of each other’s cars. Take them out for rides, keep the oil clean, stuff like that. Maintenance. So when we get back they still ride like a dream.”
Now I understood. “That makes sense. Brandon gave me his car, but not for the same reason. Mostly because I needed transportation and we shared it when I was in high school, so once he went away it seemed like the most practical thing instead of being saddled with another car payment.” Okay, I just killed the mood. “Sorry, didn’t mean to ramble like that.”
“Don’t apologize,” Colt whispered. “You can talk to me about whatever whenever. It’s fine.”
I tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear and waited for him as he unlocked the doors and opened the passenger side. “After you,” he said and gestured for me to get in.
“Don’t mind if I do,” I joked.
I’d never actually been inside this exact sports car before, but some of the popular kids at school had one, or another sports car, and I fawned over them. Cars were always interesting to me. I used to know the make and models as well as most of the guys. “My dad loved restoring cars. In his spare time, of course. It was just a hobby,” I commented.
“No kidding.”
“Yeah, he used to sit in the garage for hours after work, and on the weekends if you couldn’t find him in the house, you knew that was where he was. My mom used to get so upset. She couldn’t understand why he’d want to sit out there and play with cars. He said it was like a puzzle that he never tired of.” Reminiscing, I added, “I sat in there and just watched him work. He never let me get my hands dirty and help, said there were too many things that could go wrong. So I just watched.”
“You’ll get along great with Damon, then. He’d love to have someone to talk about cars with. I know the basics, but Damon, he’s on a whole other level.”
I sat up, pulling on the seatbelt. “Tell me about your brothers. I know Damon, but then there’s Wyatt, right, tell me about him.”
He grinned and I could tell he liked the topic of his family. “Wyatt’s the second oldest. He’s a tough nut to crack, but once you get to know him, he’s a real teddy bear. Though, you didn’t hear that from me.”
“And you said he’s the second oldest, so Damon is the oldest?”
He chuckled. “No, he wishes. He’s only a few years older than me. In a line up, it goes Deacon, Wyatt, Damon, me.”
“Deacon?”
He turned into the studio. “Deacon’s everything you’d think the eldest would be. He’s serious, well-mannered, mature. A real planner, never likes surprises. He has a steel-plated armor vest that protects his heart. Coming home, going back to civilian life was the hardest for him. He’s better now, but for a second there, we weren’t sure the old Deke was in there. He grew melancholy and that wasn’t usual.”
I cleared my throat, unsure what to say, but knowing that crickets weren’t going to help. “Did all of you go into the Army?”
“Yes, it was what our father wanted. He’s a vet and he expected us to all follow in his footsteps. We all fell in line, of course. For some of us it was out of duty, but for others it was because we wanted to better the world and believed that fighting for our country was the only way to do that.”
“Which one were you?” I asked, knowing this would be pivotal to really knowing this man beside me.
Sitting in the parking lot, he looked around and waited for a moment as he responded, as if making sure he could speak his truth. Suddenly, I knew before he even answered and my heart broke for this good man, this loyal man. “Duty,” he finally said before opening his door and walking around to open mine.
I nodded my understanding, grabbed his hand and squeezed. Changing the subject, I asked, “Do you have moves or two left feet? You know, we never actually talked about that.”
The smile returned to his face. “Honestly, I have no idea. The last time I danced was at prom and it was really just holding each other up, swaying.”
“That’s cute.”
“I don’t need to ask you, because I already know you’re going to be amazing.” He opened the studio door and continued, “I saw all of those pictures on your wall of you and your friends. You were a cheerleader.”
I lightly swatted his chest. “You snooped?”
“Hey, you were passed out cold and my eyes wandered. You asked me to stay.”
I just shook my head. “You’re bad.”
“Oh, you have no idea.”
Then he got a mischievous look in his eye that made me want to turn right around and go back to my place. “Maybe we should just go. Damon will forgive you, right?”
Colt patted my backside and moved me along. “Nice try, but we’ve already been spotted.”
That was when I saw my friend Rachel in the studio. I shrieked. “What are you doing here?”
The man who had his arm around her waist looked confused. Rachel answered, “Girl, there’s so much you missed when you went home early last night.”
“All the fun, right?” I laughed. “Same ol’, same ol’, I’m sure.” I turned to her date and said, “Sorry, we’re being rude. I’m Scarlet.”
His voice was deep, but the way his smile reached the corner of his eyes reminded me of— “It’s nice to meet you, Scarlet. I’m Damon. And you weren’t being rude at all. I didn’t know you knew Rachel.”
“Wait, your date is Rachel?”
“You bet. This should be fun,” Damon answered.
“Small world,” I said as Colton hooked his arm around me, too. “Right, Colt?” I didn’t say what I was thinking, that little crack Damon made about meeting his future missus was about Rachel!
“Small world, indeed.”
