Page 22 of The Fault Next Door

"Who is Cindy getting married to?" He knew his mother meant him, but he sure as heck wasn't going to let her think he accepted her meddling in his life.

Sherrie frowned and narrowed her eyes. “You know she’s marrying you.”

He didn't even shake his head. Instead, he hit her with a hard stare. "I'm not getting married to anyone."

Sherrie’s lips thinned. “You had better ask her before the end of the month. She and her mother need to prepare.”

"Well, they had better find someone else because it's not going to be me." He said the words as nonchalantly as he could, hoping she didn't see how pissed off he was. Thick anger boiled beneath the surface, and he hoped she didn't keep pushing because if she did, he might just boil over.

"Now you listen here. We accepted that you married Amy. She wasn't my first pick, so now look what that got you."

The cork popped, and the bubbling anger overflowed. "Are you fucking kidding me?" It was the first time he'd ever cursed at his mother. "Leave. Now!" He'd also never yelled at his mother, but he guessed there was a first time for everything. He wasn't going to put up with his mom badmouthing Amy. She may have had her flaws, but she'd been the best woman for him. Now she was gone, but that didn't mean he wasn't still in love with her.

“How dare you?—”

“No, how dare you? You can’t come onto my property and badmouth my dead wife. She doesn’t deserve that. I will never get married to another woman as long as I live.”

“Don’t you?—”

"Shut up and leave. I'm done with you trying to force me into a relationship I don't want. Get the fuck off my property, and don't come back this year. And when you do, never say anything bad about Amy again."

Maybe he’d pushed too far, but he couldn’t take her saying anything negative about Amy. She was dead and couldn’t defend herself. Every couple had issues, but his and Amy’s had been kept between them, so his mom didn’t know about some of the fights they’d had. He was glad they’d never talked about their relationship with their parents. He would die if his mother held any of the issues they had in their marriage over his head.

Sherrie huffed and got in her car, slamming the door. She backed up fast, pulling into traffic without looking. He wanted to tell her to stop, but he couldn’t bring himself to forgive her yet.She’d said something about Amy, and that was unforgivable. She pulled away, but the anger hadn’t diminished. He stalked into his house, angry about everything. When someone knocked on his door, he marched over and wrenched it open, snarling in the process.

Nolan stood on the porch, his eyes wide as he held up a plate with cookies.

“Um, hey,” Nolan said.

“What do you want?”

“I heard you yelling and brought over cookies. I know it doesn’t help, but maybe having someone to talk to would help.”

Ryder's breath was coming heavy, and seeing Nolan standing on his porch, his eyes wide and maybe a little innocent, he couldn't help the rush of lust that shot straight to his dick. He reached out and grabbed onto Nolan's shirt, hauling him into the entryway. He grabbed the plate of cookies and placed them on the table at the entry before pressing the man up against the wall.

He liked the flash of heat in saw in Nolan’s eyes. But then he liked the feel of Nolan’s body against his more as he walked him backward toward the wall.

"You like men who are a little dangerous, don't you?" He should have stopped, but Nolan had turned him on too much.

“W-what are you doing?”

"You heard that fight with my mom, and you came over to see what you could do."

“Ryder, you don’t want this.”

He leaned in and sniffed Nolan's neck. "You smell like cookies. Besides, you don't know what the fuck I want." He stuck out his tongue and ran it up the side of Nolan's neck, then bit down on his earlobe.

“Oh God.” Nolan shivered against him.

“You feel this?” Ryder took Nolan’s hand and placed it on his hard cock.

Nolan gasped, and Ryder pressed against him, feeling the hard ridge of Nolan's cock in his pants. Ryder chuckled and ground against Nolan's hand that was still grasping his dick.

“That’s it. Squeeze my cock again.”

Nolan’s hand tightened just for a second. “Fuck, Ryder. What are you doing?”

“You know exactly what I’m doing. You’ve done this before. I haven’t, but you have.”

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