Page 16 of Breaking the Rules (Roaming Devils MC 1)

Chapter Four

Ryker stalked into the clubhouse, looking for Razor. His old man was sitting in his normal seat, smoking a joint while some chick gave him a lap dance. Ryker grabbed the girl’s arm and shoved her away from him.

“You want to fuck with Ella to get to me?” Ryker grabbed his father by the shirt and jerked him up. “Then let’s go, asshole.”

Razor jerked out of Ryker’s hold. “You need to get your head out of her cunt and back on the club.”

“You need to stay the fuck away from her or we’re going to have bigger issues than we have now.” Ryker stood his ground, staring into his father’s dilated eyes.

“You think you’re man enough to tell me what to do?” Razor asked.

Ryker glanced around. “I think you’re obsessed with her. You want her and she doesn’t give you the time of day.”

“She did that first night.”

“No, she didn’t.” Ryker stepped away from him. “Ella is mine. Stay the fuck away from her and that includes going after her for your little fentanyl habit.”

Razor stared at him. “Or what?”

“You’ll get your wish.” Ryker went to the bar and poured himself a drink. “The hard way.”

For the first time in Ryker’s life, he saw a moment of fear in his father’s eyes. He’d always talked about Ryker taking over the club. It was his goal. His dream. There were only two ways for that to happen. Death or his father stepping down. His father had no plans to abdicate his throne, so Ryker was pretty sure he’d gotten his message across. Now he needed to figure out how to get Ella back.

Ryker left to do his work for the day. His mind was a fucked up mess and that was how his father liked to keep him. He wanted control over him. He wanted absolute submission. Ryker was the only one that butted heads with Razor in the club. Everyone knew it too. They were one and the same, yet Ryker was meaner. He wouldn’t hesitate one second to put a bullet in his brain if he hurt Ella. He was pretty sure his father knew that too.

He collected money from his drug runs and took it back to the club. He didn’t bother talking to his father as he went to one of the back rooms. Two club whores were getting it on in the room and he kicked them out. Moments later he pulled out his phone and called Ella.

“I’m really busy right now. What do you want?”

“I want to say I’m sorry and make it up to you.” She didn’t say anything for what felt like an eternity. “Ella, that bullshit with my dad has stopped. He’s not going to bother you again. I—” What did he say? His heart threatened to beat out of his chest as the nerves kicked in. He didn’t know what he could do to make it up to her. She was scared of the Roaming Devils and she should be. He was dabbling where he didn’t belong but like the junkie he was, he couldn’t let her go.

“I just need to see you.” He sounded desperate to his own ears. There was something pathetic about the way he was attached to this woman. He’d never wanted someone as badly as he wanted her, and the craving he had wouldn’t go away easily. He’d tried. First it was fucking other women, any woman he could get, and there were plenty to go around. Then when that had stopped working he’d turned to drugs. Everything he did only intensified how much he wanted her.

“Fine,” she finally said. “I’ll be home around nine. I have to check on my dad since I spent my lunch hour with you.”

She hung up and he blew out a breath. He knew in the back of his mind that he should let her go. She didn’t need to be mixed up with the club and all the shit that came with it. She was too damn good for him. He knew this and everyone around him knew it too. Ryker hung his head and thought about what he wanted to do. If he really cared about her, and he did, he would cease all ties and continue to focus on the club.

But there was a part of him, deep inside, that simply couldn’t. He couldn’t walk away from her. He couldn’t stop wanting to be near her. To hold her and breathe her in. He wanted to protect her and cherish her. God, he wanted to do everything for her, everything a man was supposed to do for his woman. It was such a stupid thought that he could be that for her. That she would want him to be that for her.

Ryker took a shower and changed his clothes. He wanted to do so much, yet he didn’t know how. She’d talked about books she liked and the characters she fell in love with. Ryker would never admit it to anyone, but he’d read those books. He wanted to be that man that she searched for.

He pulled on a clean pair of jeans and a black t-shirt. He stared at the devil’s face on the back of his cut. Men like him didn’t want to be some romanticized hero in a novel. Men like him took the woman he wanted and made her his. He pulled the cut on and attached his knife to his pants.

The club was all he knew. It was the only family he had. It had been drilled into his head from the time he could understand it that this was the life he’d lead. This was his legacy. One day he would take over and the thought of what a sad and lonely existence he’d lead scared him. Some men had women they went home to at night, but those women knew and accepted their role. Ella wouldn’t do that.

Ryker left the clubhouse and went to grab some dinner for him and Ella. He sat outside the free clinic, drinking his soda while he watched her. Her blonde hair was pulled back away from her face even though a smaller, shorter strand had fallen from the tie sometime during the day. She blew at it in annoyance while she scribbled on a clipboard, writing something for the nurse standing next to her. She wore blue scrubs, something he’d grown to like on her. He loved the tight pants and oversized sweatshirt she’d worn the first night he’d visited, but the scrubs were his Ella. She only had a thin coat of makeup, and a sheer gloss on her lips. She was beautiful without even trying.

When it was time for her to leave, she stepped out in the parking lot and spotted him leaning against his motorcycle. She stopped in mid-stride and stared.

“What are you doing here?”

He chewed on the straw in his drink. “I don’t know. Watching you.”

She glanced around. “You know that’s creepy, right?”

He shrugged. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

She clutched her bag tighter to her body. “Well, I’m fine. My mom called, so I’m not going to visit my dad tonight. I’m on-call tomorrow, so I’ll spend my free time with him then.”

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