Ryder's Redemption (Badboy Rockers #2) (8 page)

My attention instantly returns to the game just as Cole spikes the ball down, nearly hitting his opponent on the head.

Finally, his gaze turns toward us. His grin is at once triumphant and cocksure. My pulse quickens as I realize he’s looking straight at me, like he’s almost demanding my attention.

From the corner of my eye, I can tell that Nadia is bristling at the attention Cole is showing me.

Elated, I smile back at him.

TEN

Ryder

“She’s not answering.”

Deklan is chewing away on his lip ring. The boy is nervous and it’s not pretty to watch. I almost want to hand him one of the Xanax’s in my pocket. I slipped another one while he wasn’t watching and it’s working its magic. Combined with the Oxy, I am floating and all my problems have mysteriously faded away into oblivion.

Even the guilt of using again has gone by the wayside. Today, I’m going to enjoy myself. Tomorrow is a new day. I’ll stop using then.

“Maybe she left with her brother and his buddies,” Deklan says, and I hate that he’s become such a fucking pussy when it comes to this woman. Seriously, what the hell was the matter with him?

“An hour ago she was sunbathing with Ange and hanging with her brother. Maybe she’s gone for a swim. Think about it. It’s not like she’s going to take her phone into the water with her.”

He nods, but he doesn’t look any less worried.

“And two hours before that you were getting busy in Uncle Steve’s office, so I’m seriously doubting she’s on her back on someone else’s desk.”

Usually he would grin at that, but now he brushes a hand through his dark hair. He’d just finished with Mrs. Easton’s tattoo, and all we had to do was clean his station before we left. “Her brother has friends. Like friends who are fellow athletes.”

Deklan had an insane body for someone who wasn’t into working out. Genetics had been kind to him, and he never met a punching bag he didn’t like. I can’t help it. I laugh. “Seriously, bro, your woman is crazy for you. You may not see it, but I do.”

The sides of his mouth lift. “I trust her…it’s just that I don’t trust other guys. And we had our first real fight last night. Like she was seriously pissed off.”

“Fight—about what?”

He hesitated, so I immediately know the argument had been about me.

“You should trust her, dude. She’s crazy in love with you. It’s like there’s no other guy in the room when you’re there.”

“You think so?”

“I know it. So let’s get out of here already.”

Within fifteen minutes we had switched on the CLOSED sign at
Branded
and we’re heading down the freeway toward the lake. Deklan had grown quiet, glancing at his phone every few seconds to see if he’d missed a call.

I check my phone as well and see the notices about Ange’s post. There’s pictures of a sunbathing Kenzie, and I have to say, the pics are extremely flattering. She looks amazing and there are already a good twenty comments that say the same thing, the majority from blond-haired surfer types who say they miss the gorgeous Parker girl.

“Well, I have the answer. This pic was taken a few minutes ago and she’s sunbathing.”

He grabs the phone and practically swerves off the road.

“Dude,” I say, and snatch the phone out of his hand before we get into a wreck.

“Fuck,” he says under his breath, while running a hand down his face.

“So what’s it like?” I ask.

Deklan frowns. “What do you mean?”

“What’s it like to really love someone? To be so into them that you can’t focus on shit.”

I have to wonder if he thinks I’m talking about someone else, because he looks confused. “Seriously? Am I really that bad?”

“Dude…”

He shrugs and releases a long sigh. “It’s incredible. I just want to be with her all the time. Don’t get me wrong—I like hanging with you and the guys. Kenzie just makes me feel like a better person.”

“I get it.” I laugh under my breath. The drugs have me in a relaxed state, and I have the insane urge to crack up over nothing, but this is not the time, especially when I’m having a rare heart-to-heart talk with my best friend.

“Do you think you’ll marry her?” I’m being a complete smartass.

“Definitely…one day.”

I thought he’d look at me and smirk or ask me if I was serious because Kenzie still has another year of high school left. Deklan always was the monogamous type when it came to his steady girlfriends.

“She’s mine,” he says, and there’s no mistaking the possessiveness in his voice. “I feel protective of her, and I just want to be everything she wants.”

“I think it’s safe to say she feels the same.”

“You really think so?”

“You’re blind if you don’t see it.” I stare out at the passing landscape, wishing I had an ice-cold beer to alleviate my cottonmouth. I feel a flash of sadness come over me. Deklan has found someone he wants to be with forever. I wonder if I will ever have that. It must be incredible to be able to look into the future and already know what it is you want. I wonder if I will ever feel that way, or if I will always be alone.

Ange

I’m glad Curtis thought to bring an air mattress and was nice enough to offer it to me. Floating around a lake had to be one of the most incredible ways to pass an afternoon. Plus, it was a nice reprieve from having to listen to Nadia clap and bounce up and down every single time Cole or his team made a point.

I think girls have a sixth sense when it came to competition. We all knew what the other one was thinking, and therefore it made it easier to piss the other one off. Nadia had gotten under my skin and she knew it. Every time I glanced her way, she seemed to make an effort to flirt even more outrageously with Cole.

The trick was pretending like you didn’t give a shit when really, it bothered the hell out of you.

Although Brooke drove me a bit crazy at times, I was grateful for the comedic intervention she provided. She had a way of talking shit about other girls that made me laugh, and pretty much put into words what I’d been thinking. Just having her around us made me feel protected too.

Brooke had immediately picked up on Nadia’s overenthusiastic cheering of Cole.

Kenzie had to tell her to be quiet a few times, but Brooke just ignored her. Curtis said very little, but I noticed about every ten minutes or so he’d walk over to the shade of a tree and smoke a cigarette. He had been thrilled when we decided to hit the water.

I glance over at the dock where Kenzie is hanging out with Brooke and Curtis, along with at least a dozen other people. The three pre-pubescent boys that are doing cannonballs off the side of the dock are driving me bat-shit, and I wonder where the hell their parents are when, yet again, water from their jump sprays me.

I wade further away and watch a water-skier on the opposite side of the log pilings that keep boats and jet skis away from those of us in the bay. The wake sends me and the air mattress floating even further away from the dock.

Brooke and Kenzie laugh and I wonder if it’s at my expense.

I need to get over my jealousy there. I know I’m a bit territorial when I’m around Brooke and Kenzie, and it makes me feel a bit manic.

For so many years I was used to it being just me and Kenzie and not having to share her with anyone else. We had other friends, granted, but no one took the place of Kenzie, and I had a feeling she felt the same way toward me. No one ever wanted to feel like the odd man out.

The water lulls me into a relaxing mode. I need to focus on all that is going right in my life and not what’s going wrong. I’m in Washington and I have freedom from my parents and my sisters, which is amazing. And most of all, I’m with my best friend.

Plus, the guy of my dreams is home on summer break and living under the same roof. He’d kissed me, and I liked it, but my reaction to his touch made me seriously consider if I was ready to give up my virginity just yet. I just need to know if he wants more or if he is turned off because of me pulling away the other night.

I can’t help but wonder about Nadia. Had he just met her, or had he met her during his previous visits to Vancouver?

Guys like Cole expect a girl to put out, period. I’m sure in college he had a different girl in his bed every night. Hell, in high school I’d heard the stories about his many conquests and had seen him in action at the after game bonfires on the beach. The guy had skills and I had watched from a distance, wishing and hoping I had been the girl he was with.

Now I had the chance.

I glance toward the beach. The restrooms are blocking the view of Cole and his friends, which is probably a good thing. By now Nadia has no doubt joined the game and has all the men in the vicinity panting after her five foot nine inches of skinny bitch.

My gaze shifts to two dark-haired guys walking down the beach. They’re impossible to miss, and there’s not one girl, except for the chick glued to her tablet, who does not look their way.

Apparently I’m not immune either, because my pulse skitters.

Deklan and Ryder.

Ryder’s board shorts are black and white and hanging low on his waist. The new tattoo is on his upper right bicep, and it looks good. It fits him. I imagine in a few years he’ll be covered in ink just like his best friend.

Deklan is wearing blue board shorts and he’s peeling off the wife-beater and staring at the direction of the dock.

My mouth goes a little dry.

I have to give it to my girl. Her man is shredded. I don’t think I’ve ever met another guy with Deklan’s musculature.

Lucky bastard.

He waves and Kenzie, Brooke, and Curtis wave back.

Ryder and Deklan leave their shirts, sandals, and belongings on the beach. Ryder talks to an older woman with three kids, who is nodding at something he says. I’m guessing that he’s asking her to look after their things.

Deklan is already wading into the water and then dives under. Ryder is right behind him.

I’m torn between wading over to the dock and joining them, or pretending to be sunbathing on my little air mattress.

Not wanting to seem desperate in any way, I opt to stay on the air mattress.

I watch as the two men swim toward the dock. Deklan gets there first and pulls himself up and onto the dock in one fluid motion. The girls on the dock are all atwitter as they take in his ripped, tattooed body dripping with water. Kenzie doesn’t notice the other girls. Why should she when her dripping wet boyfriend leans down and gives her a thorough kissing? It’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen, and I admit that I feel jealous of my friend and her relationship. How awesome would it be to have a man that is bat-shit crazy over you? I could only hope that one day I would find out for myself.

My gaze shifts to Ryder, who is holding onto the dock ladder with one hand. He’s talking to the group. I smirk to myself. He apparently doesn’t have the same upper body strength as his friend.

That, or he just wants to stay in the water.

Brooke points right at me. He turns and immediately starts swimming in my direction.

My throat grows so tight I can barely swallow.

With every strong stroke that brings him closer, I want to leap off the air mattress and swim as hard and as far as I can in the opposite direction.

Why does he have the ability to get under my skin like no one else?

Seconds later, he comes out of the water and whips his hair back.

With his hair slicked back you get a good look at that killer face, and I hate to say, I’m completely affected by it.

He’s freaking perfect.

Damn him.

Even his teeth are straight and bright white.

“You look hot, Ange.”

“Tha—” I stop short of telling him thanks, because I realize he’s not meaning I look hot, as in incredible, but as in hot…like I’m melting, and he’d be right. I’m a California girl, but I’m used to a little bit of wind with my sun, and there’s not a breeze in sight.

And I could use one right now.

It’s definitely not helping that Ryder has a way of looking at me as though he can see right through the layers of my clothes.

He’s wading in the water, and when he reaches up and holds onto the raft, he splashes me and I gasp as the cold air hits my too warm skin. Seriously, I want to duck his too gorgeous head under the water and watch with satisfaction as he sputters for air.

Yet I’m taken off guard when his gaze slides down my body. I see the heat in those blue eyes and I am strangely curious. What does he see when he looks at me? Am I a challenge because, unlike most women, I made it a point to not like him from the moment I met him?

Despite my desire to not like him, I realize I
do
like him. He’s not all that horrible. Yes, he had bad habits, but who the hell doesn’t? Ryder was a bad boy, and I was intrigued by the unapologetic way that he led his life, like he didn’t care what anyone thought of him.
What would that be like?
I wonder. Me, who had lived an overly protected life with parents who had expected me to carry myself in a certain way, to excel at everything I set my mind to, to pull straight A’s and attend a college of my mother’s choosing. Don’t get me wrong—I wasn’t complaining about my life. I was fortunate, and there were a lot of people who wished they could trade places with me, but there were times I envied other people, like Ryder, who were free to be who they wanted to be and didn’t care what anyone else thought.

His lashes are spiked, and I’m almost pissed that he has better features than I do. Why are some people blessed with so much beauty while others…well, they have to work so much harder with what little they do have?

I remind myself that Ryder has gotten his reputation because he’s used to getting his way with women, and no doubt, people in general.

As though I’m a woman possessed, I splash him in the face.

His deep laughter gives me goose bumps. It’s a combination of surprise and a husky chuckle that lets me know I’m in trouble. He swims under the water, and then the entire air mattress is being rocked and a second later I’m hitting the cold water.

When I come up for air, Ryder is on my mattress with the biggest shit-eating smile I’ve ever seen.

“Come and get it,” he says as he starts paddling toward the dock.

I wade for a few minutes, staring in disbelief as his strong arms work the mattress and he moves further and further away.

Does he seriously think I’ll swim after him?

He stops about ten feet from the dock. He’s now lying on his back, arms crossed under his head, looking at me with that cocky smile, daring me to follow him.

I’m so tempted to try and flip him over.

I swim toward him, glide under the water, and bypass the raft.

With my heartbeat pounding in my ears, I grab hold of the dock ladder and pull myself up.

Kenzie and Deklan are holding hands, and they both look over at me as I lay down beside Deklan.

Ryder is saying my name, and I ignore him.

“You can have your raft back,” he says, his voice full of humor.

“I don’t want it,” I snap. Oh my God, I sound like such a bitch.

Why is it that he always manages to bring out the worst in me?