Page 38 of Keeping What He Wants

Ryker walked away from her. “We’ll take it,” he told the salesman.

Ella hurried after him. “Are you serious?”

“Yes.” Ryker followed the salesman into the dealership and to his desk. Ella sat amazed as they went through the process. Ryker pulled out a check from his wallet and wrote the lump sum of the vehicle on it before handing it to the finance guy. They put the title in her name. She watched as the dealership treated him like royalty.

When they finally got the keys, he walked out with her. “I need my wallet, keys, and cell phone.”

She unzipped her bag and handed the items to him. “I can’t believe you bought me a car.”

“Believe it.” He kissed her. “I’m going to the club to handle some business. You okay on your own?”

She stared at the key. “How do you have money for it? That’s a lot of money, Ryker. Where did it come from?”

“We’ll talk about that later. Are you okay on your own?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I’m okay.”

“All right.” He studied her for a moment. “I love you. I’ll see you tomorrow when you get off work. Call me if you need anything.”

She leaned in to kiss him. “I love you too.”

Ella watched him leave before getting in her new car and starting it up. She couldn’t explain the ridiculous joy that filled her. Her previous car was her first car ever. She’d gotten it when she was eighteen and had moved away to college. It’d survived nearly ten years with her and the sixteen-hour trip from Boston to Atlanta when she’d moved back home. It was tough to let it go, though she really liked the new car.

But the nagging thought of how Ryker had so much money lying around wasn’t something she could ignore. They didn’t talk much about his criminal activity, though he promised her that things were different than when Razor had been president. She thought that meant less criminal activity, and from what she’d gathered, it did. There were still drugs though, and the idea of drug money paying for her new car made her uncomfortable.

She parked and picked up her phone to call him.

“I just left you.”

“I can’t accept this car.” She rubbed her forehead. “If you bought it with drug money or whatever it is that you do to get money, I can’t accept it.”

“Drug money?”

“I don’t know how your finances work.”

He sighed. “I told you we’d talk about that later.”

“Ryker, I’m serious. I’m not okay with it.”

“Where are you?”

“Home.”

“I’ll be there in a minute. Sit tight.”

He hung up, and Ella got out. Who was this person she was turning into? Gucci bag. Fancy car. Her boyfriend paying for stuff she couldn’t afford. It looked awful. Pretentious. She locked the car up and went inside. How could she date a guy for a few months and not know how he made his money? Or that he even had that kind of money in his bank account?

The sound of a motorcycle pulling up outside made her walk over to the window. He had the leather on. The jeans and the boots. Completely different than when he’d left her.

When he came in, he frowned. She moved to the couch. “It’s a lot of money. I can’t just take something like this from you. It doesn’t feel right.”

He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Hold on.”

He went over to the desk they kept in the corner of the room. Mostly his stuff was on it, and she hardly ever touched the thing. He grabbed several papers and came back to her.

“Here is the source of my finances. Well, the majority of it.” He handed her papers on his investment account. He also handed her his bank statement.

“You invest your money?” She sat back and took in the numbers. “So the Roaming Devils don’t sell drugs anymore?”

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