Page 83 of Breaking the Rules (Roaming Devils MC 1)

“You don’t remember anything, do you?” Vampire asked.

“Not one damn thing.” He stood and walked slowly toward the back. Hell, he felt like he’d taken an elephant tranquilizer. He went to the bathroom and stared at himself in the mirror. Her old man had gotten in a few good hooks. His eye was swollen and his lip busted. He didn’t want to know what he’d done to Pat.

He grabbed his cell phone and found her number. After pressing the button, he put it to his ear. It didn’t take her long to answer. “Are you okay?”

“I feel groggy.”

“That’s normal.” She paused a moment. “What were you thinking?”

“I don’t fucking remember.” He groaned. The stiffness from the fight mixed with sleeping on the couch wreaked havoc on his muscles. “What happened?”

“My dad came after you for the whole incident with my face.”

He winced, vaguely remembering the cop forcing his way into the club. His memory came to him in bits and pieces, but Ryker knew he hadn’t even defended himself when Pat landed a right hook on his jaw. God, he’d wanted that fight. Relished in it.

“Yeah. I remember that.”

She didn’t say anything for a minute, the background noise of the poison control center filling the silence. “We’ll talk about this later. I need to get back to work.”

She disconnected with him before he could protest. He wanted his fucking bed. The van was still out of town delivering his father to the nomads and he didn’t have anything to get him back home.

“Fuck.” He left the bathroom and went back to the front of the clubhouse. He glanced over at Ella’s car parked outside and grabbed Vampire. “Drive me home.”

She’d given him the spare a few nights ago when he’d driven her to her parents’ house. He still had it on his key chain. He handed it to Vampire and went to the other side of the car. It fucking sucked to feel so damn helpless.

It didn’t take them long to get home and once he did, he locked the door behind him. He walked to the bedroom and fell face-first onto the bed.

He slept most of the day away. He’d been so pissed about what happened with Ella that he’d tried to hide in the club. Her father barging in had been a needed release. He’d wanted that fight. Pat was older but he was fit. He remembered him coming at him, throwing the first punch. He’d said something to Ryker, though Ryker hadn’t really heard what it was. Ella was his daughter, and Ryker knew all fucking well that he would have done the same damn thing if he found Ella hurt. The guys that had broken into their apartment had learned that all too well. Ryker sat up on the bed and decided to get something to eat. The effects of the drug had worn off mostly and he felt more like himself.

While he was heating leftover fast food in the microwave, Ella came home. So much of his life was violence and destruction. Now, just by living with him, she got a taste of that. He watched as she put her medical bag aside. “Why did you drug me?”

She glanced up. “Because you wouldn’t stop fighting. I asked Vampire to do something and he refused, saying you told him not to. I thought about calling the police but you’d only end up in jail. I wasn’t about to let either one of you kill the other. It was the only other option I had.”

“Don’t fucking do that again.” He frowned. “I’ve had enough of other people pumping shit in my veins.”

“It wasn’t a narcotic. I use it for combative patients in the ER.”

“I don’t fucking care. Don’t do it again.”

She stared at him. “Don’t go looking for a fight, then.”

“I didn’t. He came after me.”

“I know he did. But you could have stopped it.”

He shook his head. “He’s lucky he’s not in a body bag.”

He opened the microwave door and grabbed his hamburger. He bit into it, trying to focus on his anger. He was helpless in so many ways and it pissed him off. He wanted to build a life with Ella, but he couldn’t figure out how to protect her, especially if he was the one that hurt her. He didn’t know what to do about the situation with her father. They’d never be able to stand in the same room together. Especially now. Anger was all he had to get her to realize that he was no good for her. She deserved so much better than him. Someone that wasn’t fucked up.

“I don’t want to argue with you about this. He was trying to protect me.”

“Yeah.” He sneered, grabbing something to drink from the fridge. “Why the fuck are you still around, anyway?”

“Excuse me?”

He slammed the fridge door. “Go to DC. Get out of this fucking city. Out of my fucking life.”

He twisted the cap off. Anger was all he had. He was pissed at her for sedating him against his will. It was the only thing that enabled him to push her away. He needed to focus on the club. It was a big deal to him to be voted in as president and he had to put that as his top priority.

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