Ryker (The Ride #4) (14 page)

“Me too, but I get it,” I replied quietly. “I want him to be happy and I understand why he can’t do that here. He’s going to live down south with my aunt Caroline for a while.” I paused to take a deep breath. “He wants me to have the house.”

I felt his body stiffen in surprise. “Whoa.”

“Yeah,” I agreed.

“How do you feel about that?”

I wanted to say that I’d be okay with it as long as he lived with me, as long as it could be
ours
. But we’d only been back together for a short time, and I was a weepy mess. I didn’t want him to feel like he couldn’t say no.

“Honestly? I’m not sure,” I said instead, which was also true. “I’m still getting used to the idea. I’m not sure I could make it feel like mine and it’s a big freaking house.”

“For one person, yeah,” he muttered, surprising me by sounding frustrated.

Then realization dawned.

I sat up, looking down at him inquiringly, wondering if my instincts were right as to why his mood had soured.

“But not for two?” I ventured carefully.

He looked up at me, his eyes blazing with intensity. “Not for two,” he agreed.

I felt my heart hammer in my chest as I went out on a very fragile-feeling limb. “I want it to be ours, not mine,” I whispered, my heart blazing with hope. “But I know it’s quick,” I rushed to add. “If it’s too soon or you don’t want to…”

He grinned up at me, his eyes shining. “Babe.” He chuckled.

“What?” I exclaimed, throwing my hands up.

He pulled me back down into his arms, rolling us so we lay on our sides facing each other. “I want to.”

I grinned. “You do?”

“I do,” he confirmed on a laugh, and I squealed, throwing myself at him.

“I’m so glad,” I breathed, my voice muffled as I buried my face in his neck.

“I can tell,” he teased, squeezing me more tightly.

I lifted my head to stare down at him. “And you are….?” I prompted with a raised brow.

He shrugged casually, as if he didn’t have a care in the world, all while biting back a smile.

I jabbed him in the side.

“Babe.” He grinned, and his shining eyes told me everything I needed to know. He was happy, really happy.

I lay back down against him, my nose buried in his neck. “Do you really think we can do it?” I ventured, laying out the fear that I hadn’t let go of since my dad had delivered his news.

“Do what?” he asked quietly, his hands stroking up and down my back.

“Make this place ours.” I sighed worriedly. “I grew up here, there are memories everywhere.”

“Yeah, really fucking good ones,” he responded without delay. “Memories aren’t a bad thing, baby. You had a beautiful childhood here. I can only hope our kids will have the same.”

“Our kids,” I breathed, shocked that he’d make such a proclamation.

“Yeah, when we have them.” He shrugged.

“When we have them?” I exclaimed, sitting up suddenly. “Ry, we’ve never even talked about it,” I protested.

He looked up at me, clasping his hands behind his head, the picture of ease. “Okay, one thing at a time,” he allowed, when he saw my expression.

“Uh yeah, that’d be good,” I sputtered.

He reached out, running his fingers down my arm before grasping my hand and squeezing. “Pipe, I love that this house has so many memories. They’re some of the only happy ones I have from being a kid. That first night you snuck me in and we stayed up for hours jabbering about whatever the hell eight-year-olds talk about.” He smiled fondly before continuing. “All the nights your parents took me in and fed me. Your mother would sit with me for hours helping me with my homework.”

“I remember,” I murmured hoarsely.

“Most of all I remember falling for you. You became my world under this roof.”

Tears clouded my vision as I nodded, unable to speak.

“So you see, babe, the memories, they’re not just yours but mine too. I want to keep them.”

“Okay,” I agreed readily.

“That’s not to say we won’t make changes—I’m fucking itchin’ to knock some walls down,” he shared with a wink. “Paint, get some new furniture, but I’m not worried about it being ours. In a way, it always has been.”

He was so right.

“I love you.” I sighed, lying back down with him and wrapping my arms around him.

He kissed my head. “I love you too, baby. Plus now we can christen this place properly.” He grinned.

“What do you mean?” I asked, confused.

He vaulted up off the bed with a playful growl and scooped me up, throwing me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “What I mean is I’m going to take you on every surface in this house,” he rasped, making my entire body shiver. “We’ll start with the kitchen.”

“We already hit the garage.” I giggled, remembering that amazing afternoon when we’d put his bike stand to a serious test.

“Consider it marked for a revisit,” he replied dryly as we hit the stairs, headed for hours of new discovery on granite surfaces.

*****

“I was surprised how… lifeless your apartment is,” I admitted as we sat scantily clad on the kitchen floor, sharing a bowl of grapes after a round of what could only be called adventurous sex on the kitchen counter.

There’d have been a pint of ice cream between us if we had any.

He shrugged, popping a grape in his mouth, the movement insanely sensual as I watched his mouth move. “Didn’t care enough to make it more.”

I watched him intently, spellbound by everything that was pure Ryker before I felt coherent enough to form my next thought.

“Even at your mom’s place I remember you always had it decorated with posters and pictures—it always had some of you. That apartment didn’t at all,” I pressed as we sat shoulder to shoulder against the cabinets.

He turned his head to face me, his intelligent gaze zeroing in on mine. “Why does it matter?”

I reached a hand out, stroking my finger across his full bottom lip. “Everything about you matters to me,” I murmured, forcing myself to meet his scorching gaze. If we hadn’t just had sex all over the kitchen, I’d swear it’d been years for both of us, the atmosphere was that thick with sexual tension.

He sighed, turning his head to face forward as he scrubbed a hand over the scruff marking his chin. “I was so young, Tink. The only identity I had was as a scrawny kid whose dad had beat the shit out of him and his mother. I didn’t do shit to stop him. I couldn’t.”

I winced, glad he couldn’t tell as he continued to stare off into space.

“The four walls of my bedroom were the only control I had in the world and I barely had that.” He snorted. “But I made them mine—I made them matter.” His voice was determined, his fists clenched, and I knew he was reliving the hell of living underneath that roof.

I reached out and placed a hand on his forearm, needing to touch him. “I get that,” I murmured.

His head turned to face me again and I couldn’t believe I was lucky enough to have his beautiful gaze sweep my face in such a worship-filled glance. “After that, well, I didn’t need to make a random place mine, baby. But I do now,” he rumbled, his voice full of promise. “Any house with you in it would be a place I want to mark as mine, but this place especially—baby, we’ll create dreams here, I feel it in my bones.”

I swallowed hard, nodding, unable to speak. “When do you want to move in?” I managed after a time.

He looked over at me with a lopsided grin, his eyes twinkling with playful joy. “That depends on when you want those dreams to begin, babe.”

There it was, he was leaving it to me. It wasn’t a hard decision.

Not at all.

He moved in the next day.

It only took him and Axel two trips to move everything in. Blue was taking over his lease.

The girls had gotten wind that it was moving day and had come over, bearing beer and pizza.

“Well that was anticlimactic,” I teased, once the last box had been moved in.

Ry’s brows lifted and I saw a look of mischief cross his face. “Bored, baby?” he challenged.

I backed up warily, sensing I should retreat and quickly.

He lunged for me, threw me up over his shoulder, and stalked through the living room and out the front door.

“What are you doing?” I shrieked.

He drew me back over his shoulder, so that I was cradled in his arms, bridal style. He looked down at me with a wink. “Making it official,” he announced, carrying me over the threshold as our friends whooped and whistled.

“You’re supposed to do this if we get married.” I laughed.

“So I’ll do it then too.” He shrugged, setting me down and kissing me soundly.

I blushed. One thing was for sure, life with Ryker would never be boring.

Chapter 13

“U
nkie Ry, Unkie Ry,” I heard being chanted when I made my way downstairs the next day. I’d put Maddox down for a nap and Gracie was busy toddling around downstairs with her “unkie.”

The preggos, as the rest of the club affectionately called Scarlet and Sophie, had seemed desperate for a night off. Ry and I had volunteered to babysit, so they could have an evening with their men. It wasn’t the first time. Ry still frequently picked up Mason from day care and we kept him for a few hours until Jill could get off work. We hadn’t watched Wren yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised when that day came. We had a pack ’n’ play ready to rock upstairs, and the dogs had quickly become accustomed to the chaos any human under two brought into the household.

Ryker was fantastic with kids. He was playful and silly, but also completely hands-on. Watching him made my clock start ticking—a little bit, anyway.

When I walked into the living room, I had to stifle a laugh. Gracie was clad in her standard pink tutu and was sitting on Ry’s back, trying to ride him like a pony.

“Having fun?” I asked with a raised brow, as Ry and Gracie both turned to face me.

“Yep.” Ry grinned, turning back to blow a raspberry on Gracie’s leg, making her squeal in delight. “He down?” he asked after Maddox.

I nodded, lying on my belly next to Ry, becoming the next pony in line for a ride.

“You want to have one of these with me?” he asked, tilting his head back to Grace.

The subject of kids had been coming up a lot recently, but the more I thought about it, the less scary the prospect became. “Yeah, someday. Not today,” I added sternly.

He chuckled. “I have other plans today anyway.”

I quirked a brow. “Oh? And what would those plans be?”

“Well,” he mused, “since these kids aren’t ours, they’ll eventually go home and then I plan to get you naked—immediately.”

“That sounds like a good plan,” I agreed, wholeheartedly.

*****

After working at the store the next morning, Ry dropped me at Axel and Sophie’s place. He and Axel had a club errand to run, and I figured I could keep Sophie company and help out with Mad if she needed it.

“He’s asleep.” Sophie smiled, flopping down on the couch next to me with an exhausted sigh.

“How’re you feeling?” I asked, nodding toward her belly, which grew by the day.

“Great.” She smiled. “It’s so amazing to get to share the experience with Axel this time around. He’s read more about pregnancy than I have!” She laughed.

That didn’t surprise me.

“Mad is a bit of a handful, but I have a lot of help between Ax, my mom, you guys, and the club. I can’t wait for this little one.”

I smiled, knowing all too well what a handful Maddox could be.

“It’s so exciting,” I agreed genuinely.

When a knock sounded at the door, we both looked over in surprise. They lived pretty remotely and we weren’t expecting anyone.

“I’ll go,” I offered, rising off the couch to look through the peephole.

It took me a moment to even comprehend what I was seeing.

“Who is it?” Sophie asked.

“It’s Mrs. Black,” I whispered, with wide eyes.

I hadn’t seen Ryker’s mom in years. He and Axel still checked in on her from time to time, and I knew she was trying to get sober. Ry was skeptical about it sticking, and wanted to shield me from getting sucked into what had been years of instability for him. I’d argued the point, but up until now he’d been unrelenting. Axel didn’t let her near Maddox or Sophie either. Her presence here wouldn’t be well received by either of her sons.

“What!” Sophie exclaimed, clearly as shocked as I was.

I opened the door to Ryker’s mother, watching as her eyes opened wide in surprise.

“Mrs. Black,” I greeted hesitantly, noticing that her lip looked slightly swollen and there was faint bruising around her eye. “Do you remember me?”

She nodded.

I looked over at Sophie, not wanting to invite her in since it wasn’t my house.

“Come in.” Sophie gestured, rising off the couch and shooting me a wary glance.

“Is Axel home?” Mrs. Black asked, her gaze jumping from me to Sophie.

“Not right now, he’s with Ryker. I’ll give them a call,” Sophie answered, already holding her cell phone to her ear. She stepped out of the room for privacy.

“Is everything okay?” I asked, as Ryker’s mother stepped into the great room, her eyes scanning the space. I doubted she’d ever been here—not since Axel had bought it from his grandparents.

She shrugged, and I watched her swallow hard as she fought to keep her composure.

Despite everything, I fought the desire to comfort her. She looked so fragile.

“Would you like something to drink?” I offered, before wincing at how my offer could be taken. “I mean, some water or I think they have some soda,” I blathered.

She shook her head. “No, thank you.”

“They’re on their way,” Sophie announced, returning to the room.

Well thank God for that.

Sophie was tense, and I knew she was silently praying for Maddox to continue sleeping. Axel had very intentionally kept his mother from his son, for reasons we all understood. If he woke up, things were going to get awkward, fast.

“When is the baby due?” she asked, her gaze intent on Sophie’s pregnant belly.

“A few months,” Sophie answered quietly, her hands resting on her stomach. “Maddox is sleeping,” she added hesitantly.

The three of us stood in silence, regarding each other. I’d thought this couldn’t get more awkward. I was
wrong
. The minutes ticked by with agonizing slowness, as we all searched for something to say.