Double Coverage (30 page)

“So worth it.”

Chapter 15

Knots formed in Ryker’s stomach as time ticked down. He was going to meet Ashlin Harris, so they could get to know each other before their upcoming photo shoot, but that wasn’t why his stomach was in knots. The reason he had the cold sweats and felt like he was going to throw up was because of the woman who just walked through the door. Hannah’s shift had started.

Ryker was nervous to see her because he hadn’t seen her since he went to her apartment. He was too nervous to see her and see her battered face again. He didn’t think he could stomach looking at her angry bruises. When he looked up and made eye contact with her icy blues, he was relieved; her bruises were covered up with makeup and her eye was no longer swollen. She looked as beautiful as ever.

“Hey, Boo.” Ryker said, while swinging around on his bar stool so he was able to talk to her while she got ready for her shift.

“Hey Ryk, isn’t everyone meeting a little later?” She was referring to the get together he, Mason and Jake were having. Ryker was pretty excited about it.

“Yeah, but I have to meet someone beforehand and thought, why not here?”

“Good choice.” She gave him a wink and filled up his glass. He was about to ask her how she was doing when she interrupted him. “Don’t you guys have a game tomorrow?” Ryker nodded, while taking a sip of his beer. “Then why are all of you drinking before a game? Isn’t there some kind of rule or something?”

Ryker laughed at the way her cute little nose scrunched up when she asked the question. “No, that was only in college. Basically, as long as we don’t show up hung-over, we’re good. Plus it’s a pre-season game at night, so we’ll be good. And hey, the starting quarterback of the opposing team will be here, so we can make sure we get him all liquored up.”

Hannah tapped her head with her finger. “Good thinking.”

“So, how has it been…?”

“Oh my God. Ryker, is Ashlin Harris the person you were meeting here?”

“Yeah, how did you know that?”

“She just walked in the door.”

Ryker turned on his bar stool and instantly felt his pants get a little tight. Ashlin Harris walked in the bar and acted like she owned the place. Her skin was a beautiful bronze color. Her brown hair was naturally streaked with golden highlights and her mint-green eyes pierced his soul. She was wearing one of the tightest dresses he had ever seen, which showed off her famous cleavage and long-ass legs. Damn, she was hot and, even though she stirred his loins, she was still nothing in comparison to Hannah.

“She’s so pretty,” Hannah said, while drying a glass.

Ryker tilted her chin up to look at him. “You’re prettier.” He waved Ashlin over, while Hannah guffawed at Ryker.

“What planet are you living on? I could never be that pretty. She’s so exotic looking and I’m…I’m just the girl next door.”

“Ryker?” Ashlin interrupted Ryker before he could disagree with Hannah.

“Ashlin. It’s great to finally meet you. Let’s take that booth over there.” He pointed to the booth that he and Mason usually sat at. “What would you like to drink? I’ll grab it and bring it over there.”

“Sex on the beach.” She winked at him and sauntered over to the booth. Hot damn!

He turned to Hannah, who was now staring at the two of them. The look in her eyes nearly killed him. She really truly thought Ashlin was prettier than she was. Yeah, Ashlin was pretty in an obvious way, way too obvious, but Hannah…she was simply beautiful. A natural beauty who didn’t need all the finesse like Ashlin.

“Look at me.” He was now around behind the bar with her. He grabbed her hand in his and rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb. “You are so beyond beautiful, sometimes it hurts me.”

“Ryker don’t…”

“Just listen to me, damn it.” Hannah was shocked at the tone of his voice. “You are more beautiful than Ashlin could ever be. You’re real. She looks like that because of makeup, push-up bras, dye jobs and everything else you can think of. You, you are naturally beautiful.”

She gave him a weak smile. “It doesn’t matter anyway because I’m with Todd, but thank you for the compliment.”

“It matters to me.”

“Come on Ryker…”

“You think this is a game, don’t you? Well, it’s not; when I say you’re going to be my wife one day, you will.”

Ryker grabbed his drinks and went over to Ashlin, who had her legs crossed in the booth, showing off a good amount of leg. Lord help him, he hadn’t had sex in a while, thanks to Hannah, and Ashlin was here to flaunt it. When she saw him approaching, she gave him a bright big smile with her amazingly straight white teeth. She was gorgeous, but she was also fake and he didn’t really do fake, so working with her wouldn’t be a problem…he hoped.

“Here you go.” He set the drinks on the table and sat in the booth across from her.

“Thank you.” She looked around. “This place is kind of awesome. It looks like a dump from the outside, but it’s actually quite modern inside. Not to be rude, but at first I thought, where the hell is Ryker sending me?”

Ryker laughed. “Yeah, I bet a lady like yourself never had to walk down rough areas like here, not that it’s much of a rough area.”

“Oh, how little you know about me.” Ashlin became very serious and twirled her glass with her fingers. “Everyone thinks I’m some kind of spoiled hot girl, but I worked my ass off to get to where I am today.” She waved her hands up and down her body and said, “This is all a façade.”

“Getting a little deep for the first date aren’t we?” Ryker said, trying to lighten up the mood from the black cloud Ashlin had cast over them.

“You should probably know about me, since you will most likely hear it once we start working more closely together. I mean, we’ll practically be having sex in front of a studio full of people.”

Ryker’s eyebrows shot up. “What?”

“Have you seen some of the stuff I have to wear? I looked at the picture boards this morning and they have us in some compromising positions. It’s a bedroom line, so they want to make it look like we are in the bedroom…together. Are you okay with that? I said yes because I knew you would be a gentleman about it. I’ve heard great things about you, Ryker Lewis. You are the main reason I agreed to such extremes.”

Interesting. What had she heard about him? Ryker liked to keep his life personal, for the most part…well, his family life, anyway. That was a grey area he never talked about and one of the main reasons he didn’t really do interviews because that was a topic they were bound to touch upon.

“What have you heard about me?” he asked, while leaning back in the booth, draping one hand over the back of the bench and taking another sip of his beer.

“That we come from the same low-life childhood: trailer parks, drugs, being homeless and doing whatever it takes to put some food on the table,” Ashlin said, while looking down at her hands.

Ryker was shocked and angered at the same time. He leaned in and said, “Who told you that?”

“Ryker, you really don’t recognize me?”

Ryker looked at her closely and then it hit him like a ton of bricks. “Ashley?” She nodded as a tear fell down her face. “Holy shit!” Ryker quickly sat on her side of the booth and pulled her in tight for a hug. He could not believe it. Ashley, his one and only friend from his childhood, was sitting next to him. She was the main reason why he didn’t turn to drugs like the rest of his family, she was the reason why he was able to make it through school and she was the reason why he worked hard to make a name for himself.

“I can’t believe it. Where the hell have you been? I thought I lost you forever the day your dad beat the shit out of your mother that one night.” Ryker was holding her face with his hands.

He couldn’t believe Ashley was sitting next to him. They were best friends, each other’s first and the reason why both of them were alive today. He would never have made it through the hell hole of his childhood without her. The night her dad lost control and beat Ashley’s mom to the point of being unrecognizable, Ashley was taken away and he never heard from her again. He was brokenhearted, but realized he needed to keep moving forward and make something of himself, for her.

“I don’t want to get into the sordid details now. I’m just glad you recognize me. It’s been so long and, damn boy, did growing up treat you well. You’re no longer the skinny little boy I used to love.”

Ryker playfully squeezed her nose. “Speak for yourself, twiggy. You kind of grew into those legs and, damn, can I just say you are one fine-ass woman?”

“Why, thank you,” she said with a shy smile.

“Damn, I can’t believe I never put two and two together. Why the name change?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I wanted a new start, but that’s a long story for a different night. Let’s celebrate our reunion and talk about this photo shoot. I hope it won’t be too awkward, now that you know who I am.”

It might be a little awkward, Ryker thought, but he would get past it. This was Ashley, the only girl he ever loved.

At that moment, Hannah came to their table and set down two refills, one for each of them. Ryker looked up at her and noticed there was a hint of sadness in her eyes. He quickly popped out of the booth and sat back down in his own seat.

“Hannah, this is Ash, uh Ashlin Harris. Ashlin, this is Hannah.”

“It’s lovely to meet you. You are just absolutely gorgeous. You are going to give Ryker a run for his money. It’ll be good for him.”

“I sure hope so,” Ashlin said, while looking straight at Ryker, making him gulp. They were no longer teenagers and the look she was giving him meant business. Ryker looked up at Hannah and saw her shoulders slump in defeat. His heart reached out to her.

“I guess I’ll get going. Please let me know if you need anything else. It was nice to meet you Ashlin.”

“You too.” Ashlin gave Hannah a sweet smile and then turned to Ryker, replacing her sweet smile with a devilish grin. “Who’s the eye candy girl next door? You like her don’t you?”

“Yeah. Is it that obvious?”

“I feel like you practically started drooling when she came to our table. What’s her deal? Why haven’t you made a move yet?”

“Oh, I have. She has a dickhead of a boyfriend and, even though I told her she was meant to be with me, she refuses to acknowledge it.”

Ashlin took a sip of her drink while she looked Ryker up and down, making him feel completely naked. “Her loss, my gain.”

***

She could get through this night. Mason was not going to do anything to her. He was all talk. He had been at the bar for over an hour and had yet to say anything to her. Maybe that was her punishment, being completely exiled by him. She could do that; that’s what she wanted, wasn’t it?

When he walked in the bar earlier, her heart skipped a beat when she took him in. He was wearing his typical leg-hugging jeans and button-up shirt with scruffy face. He was gorgeous as ever. His sleeves were always rolled up, showing off his corded forearms and tattoos. He was pure perfection in her eyes.

She wanted him to talk to her; it was torture having him around and having him not acknowledge her. She knew she shouldn’t want his attention, but it hurt that he didn’t even say hi.

The gang was hanging out over in the corner and the patrons of the bar, once again, left them alone. Ryker was sitting next to Ashlin Harris, who was beyond beautiful. He had his arm draped over the bench behind her and she noticed they were very close, which surprised her since they just met. Hannah refused to acknowledge the denial that was radiating off of her, so Piper let her friend stew about Ryker and Ashlin.

Jake and Lexi arrived not too long after Mason. Of course, Lexi stopped and gave Piper a giant hug before Piper shooed her away so she could do her job. Once the night calmed down a little, she would hang out with her dear friend a little while longer.

Piper was filling up some beers for a couple of the old guys at the poker table when Mason startled her, making her overfill the glasses of beer. When she looked up at him, he wasn’t smiling; he wasn’t happy to see her, no he was pissed. His jaw was tense and it almost looked like he was grinding his teeth.

“Back room, five minutes.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me.”

“Where do you get off ordering me around?”

“If you did what you were supposed to, then I would have gotten off the other night.”

“You’re awfully sure of yourself. Who’s to say you could even get it up?”

Mason leaned in closer so his breath was tickling her ear. “You know damn well I can get it up and more than a few times in one night. Don’t fuck with me Piper, back room. You now have three minutes and if you choose to disregard me this time, you really aren’t going to like what I do.”

“Don’t you dare threaten me.”

“Don’t make me.” He turned and went toward the back room.

Ugh, he was so infuriating, she thought. She hated that he thought he could get everything he wanted, just like her dad. She dropped off the beers she was refilling for the poker players and almost didn’t go to the back room out of spite, but decided to because she didn’t want Mason to cause a scene. She knew he really didn’t give a crap, so he would embarrass her if he wanted to.