Secrets Behind Those Eyes (6 page)

:D
Until tomorrow then. Text me and let me know you’ve made it
home safely.

I take a few more minutes
to catch my breath before heading back into what I’m starting to
call the seventh circle of Hell
. I’ve
still got a couple of more circles before I can go home. I’ve
already been groped and grabbed so many times tonight it’s
absolutely insane. Then I had a couple of drunks try to fight each
other. Try being the appropriate word. I ended up having to mop up
from where one of them hurled on the floor after being hit in the
stomach.
All with the creepy guy eyeballing me.

The last couple hours pass quickly.
The band starts back up and the drunks who think they have dancing
skills and a lady old enough to be my mother get up on stage. She
flashes us.

Words to know and live by.
At a certain age, no matter how skinny you think you are, Lycra is
only appropriate inside your clothes, not as clothes.

I get in my car, dreaming
of my date tomorrow night. At least I have that to look forward to.
I smile and begin my drive home.

Chapter 8

Ryder

After a long day of sitting with a few
cows waiting without luck for calves to be born, I’m finally
driving home and it’s damn near 1am. I smile thinking about my
conversation with Scarlet earlier. I can’t believe I’m this excited
over a date. I haven’t been on a real date since…I don’t think I’ve
ever been on a real date. Fuck I’ll have to get up with Judd, he’ll
tell me some cool shit to do. I guess I really never cared enough
to impress a girl.

Looking up ahead I see a
car up against a tree slamming on brakes I stop and run over to the
all too familiar looking car. I quickly call 911 and run over to
the car.
“911 What’s your
emergency?”

“
Yes I just drove up on an
accident on Hwy 17 it’s only one car.”
“Is
there anyone in the car?”
“Scarlet her
name is Scarlet Johnson.”
“Sir. Can you
give me a cross roads you are near or something near your
location?”
“Um. Yeah I’m about three miles
north of Richmond Hill. Close to Andrew Jackson Trail.” I’ve leaned
down in the car to check on Scarlet placing my fingers on her
neck.
“Sir. Is the person moving or
awake?”
“No ma’am she’s not awake but I
can feel her pulse.”
“Ok is she bleeding
anywhere that you see?”
“She has a few
cuts, nothing major.”
“OK can you stay
with her until EMS arrives?”
“Yes ma’am I
won’t leave her side.” I hear the sirens before I actually see
them. “I hear them now, so they must be close.” I step back as EMS
pulls up trying to give them room to get her out of the
car.

A few minutes later one of them steps
over to me. “Sir. Do you know her?”

I give a gentle nod. “Yeah. She’s a-
she’s a friend. Is she going to be okay?”

“Yes sir I think so, I can’t confirm
anything just yet. We are going to take her to the hospital now.
You can follow if you like. She doesn’t have an emergency contact
listed with her driver’s license so if you know her immediate
family you may want to call them.”

“Thank you. I’ll be right behind the
ambulance, I’m just going to find her phone and see if there is
anything else in the car she may need.”

The EMT nods. “Okay look you seem to
be pretty worried about this girl.” I nod. “Okay I’m not supposed
to do this but give me your name and I’ll give it to the girl in
the ER. I’ll tell them you’re her family so they’ll let you back.
Okay?”

I shake his hand. “Thanks man. My name
is Ryder. Ryder Abbott. I’m going to try and get in touch with her
mom now.” He nods walking to the ambulance.

A state trooper steps over. “You
didn’t happen to actually see what happened did you?” I shake my
head no. “Do you know if she has a company she’d prefer to come get
her car? I’m pretty sure they are going to total it, but we like to
send it somewhere that the owner likes.”

I shake my head. “No. But I have a guy
I trust.” I scribble his number on paper and hand it to the cop.
“Here’s his number tell him Ryder asked you to call. That I’ll be
in touch tomorrow.”

I dig through her car and
grab her phone and purse. Also, a little cash she had in the
center. Opening her contacts on her phone as I’m walking to my
jeep, I find her mom’s. Her phone rings with no answer, no voice
mail set up either. I scroll through until I find Gable’s number,
his phone goes straight to voice mail.
“Hey you’ve reached the love master leave me a
message.”
“Hey um Gable this is Ryder a
friend of Scarlet’s, she’s been in an accident. I was trying to get
in touch with your mom. If you could give me a call back my number
is 987-425-6549. Thanks man.”

Walking into the emergency room I find
a young girl at the desk. “Can I help you?” She purrs. She looks at
me like she wants to tear my clothes off. I know that look, I’ve
been getting it since I was fifteen. After that when they figure
out I have money, they’re even faster to try and tear my clothes
off. Maybe that’s one of the things that attracts me to Scarlet so
much. She was completely turned off by my money.

I snap back to here and now. “Yes,
Scarlet Johnson was just brought in by ambulance, I’m here for
her.”

She looks back at me almost
disappointed. What in the hell does she think people come the
emergency room for in the damn middle of the night. She looks down
at some paperwork and then back up at me. “Yes right this
way.”

I follow her into a treatment room and
Scarlet is actually awake. She looks up, “Hey what are you doing
here?”

“I drove up on the wreck. I called
911. You kinda scared the shit out of me, by the way.”

She chuckles. “Sorry about that.
Certainly didn’t mean for that to happen.”

“So what the hell did
happen?”

She shakes her head. “I’m not really
sure, some asshole came flying up behind me and then bumped me.
They had their headlights off so I have no clue who it could’ve
been. Next thing I knew I was waking up here.”

They spend the next hour or so looking
over Scarlet. She speaks to the police about the wreck. There isn’t
really much she can tell.

The doctor finally comes
through the doorway. “Ms. Johnson everything seems fine, you’re
bacsically just a little bumped and bruised. I would like for you
to stay with someone tonight just incase you have a
concussion.
You
need to be woke up every couple of hours.”

A few minutes later I’m pushing
Scarlet out of the hospital to my jeep. I put her in the passenger
side. After I get in the drivers side I turn to her. “Where is you
Momma? I tried to call her and Gable.”

“She’s at a spiritual retreat. She
can’t have her phone. Gable was probably still on stage.” She looks
around as we drive. “Where are you taking me?”

“To my house. You can’t be by
yourself.”

“Um, no. You can just take me
home.”

“No, the doctor said I have to wake
you up every few hours to make sure you don’t have a concussion,” I
tell her.

“No.”

“Look, it’s already almost morning.
Get a few hours of rest and then I’ll take you home.”

“What about my car?” she
asks.

“They said it was probably totaled. I
had them call my tow guy so we’d know where it was at. I’ll give
you his number and stuff.”

“SHIT!” She leans her head back
against the seat and closes her eyes. “Gable is going to kill
me.”

I reach across to her and grabbed her
hand. “Hey, it’ll be okay. Just relax. I’ll take of you.
”

I drive
slowly up the long gravel drive to my house. When I look
over, she’s asleep
.
My phone buzzes as I’m stopping I answer it. “Hello.”
“Hey this is Gable is this Ryder?”
“Yes. Hey Scarlet’s fine.”
“Man I was freaking out. I just got back to the bus and got
my phone. Are you sure she’s okay?”
“Yeah
man. Look she’s worried because your car is probably totaled. I
think she’s more worried about that than anything else.”
“Tell her I said don’t worry about the fucking
car. What happened anyway?”
“She was on
her way home and she said someone tried to run her off the road.
I’ll tell her to call you in the morning and give you more
info.”
“Okay thanks man.”
“Hey anytime. I’m just glad I drove up on it.” We
hang up and I look back over at the beauty of her face sleeping. I
walk around and gently lift her in my arms. I love the way she
sighs when she’s against my body.

I carry her in the house and straight
to my room, lying her gently on the bed. I slide her shoes and
shorts off and tuck her under the covers.

I hear her whisper. “Hmm, Ryder, you
can be so sweet.”

I strip off my clothes,
down
to
my boxers, and settle in on my side of the bed, setting the alarm
on my phone so I can check on her. She moves closer and wraps her
body around mine, settling her
head against my
chest. I softly stroke her hair and press a soft
kiss against her
head.

What is in the hell is
going on with me? This feels so natural; she feels natural. I can’t
be feeling like this. She confuses the hell out of me.

I wake up a few hours later when my
alarm goes off. Scarlet is still snuggled against my side. I brush
her hair back from her face. “Scarlet. Hey, wake up a little for
me, okay?”

“Shh, I’m trying to sleep,
dickface.”

I laugh. “Okay, that’s good
enough.”

I settle back in, quickly drifting to
sleep with Scarlet wrapped around me.

Chapter 9

Scarlet

I wake up to my head
pounding. I feel something heavy wrapped around me and what I’m
pretty sure is an erection poking me in the ass. Last night comes
flooding back to me and I shiver. Ryder pulls me closer. I smile
and giggle. Yes a giggle actually comes tumbling out of my
mouth.
Probably completely inappropriate since I was
just in a wreck, but I can’t help it this guy makes me
giggle.

I feel the hot air of his breath
against my ear. “Good morning. How are you feeling?” he
asks.

“Like I’ve been hit by a
truck.”

“Here,” he says, “let me get you some
ibuprofen. You’re probably going to be pretty sore
today.”

He gets up, heading into his bathroom.
I notice he’s in his boxers and I look down to realize that I’m
missing my shorts. “Ryder, how did my shorts get off?”

He hands me a glass of water and two
pills. He smiles and shrugs. “I thought you’d be more comfortable
without them on.”

“Oh really. How sweet of you. Such a
gentleman.”

He brushes his knuckles against his
chest. “You’re just now noticing this?”

“Ha ha, very funny.”

He sits down on the bed. “I’m serious,
hey you even told me I was sweet when I was putting you to bed last
night.”

“Yeah, well, I can’t be
held responsible for what I said under the influence. I’ll probably
wish I was still under the influence of something
when
my brother finds out I totaled his car.”

“I talked to Gable last night, he’s
cool.”

“You what?”

He’s about to say something when his
phone rings. “Hey.-I don’t know. - Okay. Okay. I’ll see you in a
few minutes. Umm. I have a guest with me… Ugh. Yes. See you in a
few.”

“Do I need to go?”

He laughs. “No, but you may want to
shower real quick and I’ll give you something to put on. That was
my Nana Pearl. She has breakfast ready and is expecting us in a few
minutes.”

“O- Kay. I really can go if you need
me to?”

“No, just get in the
shower.”

I stand up and walk over
to the bathroom. Looking around his bathroom is very neat for a
guy. You can tell everything has a place. I’m tempted to move stuff
around just to screw with his head.

Getting in the shower, I
have to be careful of my cuts. I laugh when I see that Ryder, who
is totally masculine, doesn’t have the typical manly body wash. He
just has regular scented Dial body wash. He totally struck me as an
Axe body wash kind of guy.

“Hey, Scarlet?” he calls.

“Yeah?”

“I put some clothes on the counter.
Sorry I don’t have a clean bra or panties for you to wear. I did
put a small pair of boxer trunks here for you.”

“Thanks. I’ll be out in just a minute.
I’m not sure I’d know how to take it if you had a bra and panties
for me.”

I step out of the shower a few minutes
later. A t-shirt, pair of wind pants, and what I’m guessing are
boxer trunks are sitting on the counter. They are just like boxer
briefs but shorter. They look like what girls call boy shorts. I
quickly dress and walk out into the bedroom.