Page 65 of A Lot Like Love
“I told him everything. And I also told him that I wasn’t telling you two.”
Ryder could see why other people found them intimidating when they were out in a crowd. Seeing Nate and Chase ganged up on him in a parking lot wasn’t exactly something he was enjoying.
“How are you going to get it back?” Chase asked, glancing at Nate as he spoke. “There’s no way Parker’s just gonna let you buy it back. He hates us as much as we hate him.”
Ryder wished Chloe was with him right now, because he wasn’t convinced his brothers were going to like the idea of him using her to get it back. They were rightfully pissed off at him, and the whole gambling-it-back concept probably wasn’t what they’d been expecting.
“You know how I went to Vegas with Chloe?”
They both just grunted and stared at him like a pair of heavies.
“It just so happens that Chloe’s a damn fine poker player.”
“Don’t tell me you’re using that sweet girl just to win the ranch back?” Nate asked.
“Thatsweetgirlis going to win the deed to my third of the ranch back in exchange for some money for her tuition fees,” Ryder confessed, not seeing any point in lying now. “The game’s going down soon, maybe tonight, and it’ll be like this never happened.”
“And you’re sure she can do this?” Nate asked. “’Cause we can do this plenty of other ways.”
“Like what?” Ryder asked. “Beating the shit out of him? Paying a fortune to try to buy it back? Believe me, I’ve thought of everything and this is the only way.”
“So let me get this straight,” Chase said, eyebrows pulled together like he was seriously confused. “You lost the ranch being a dickhead in a poker game, and you’ve managed to meet a woman who’s capable of winning it back? You might have been shit out of luck when you lost it, but damn, talk about lucky finding her. You trust her?”
“I’ve got no reason not to. I can’t sink any lower and she’s got nothing to lose and a whole lot to gain.”
Nate still looked like he wanted to kill him, but Ryder could see that Chase had softened. Maybe his brother liked that he was going to have his ass saved by a girl.
“You want us there when it goes down?” Nate asked.
“No.” Ryder shook his head. “We’ve got the whole thing planned. Chloe wants it to be real low-key, take him by surprise and lose a bit of money before turning the tables on him.”
Nate took a few steps closer again. “So this could happen tonight?”
“Yeah. Now that he’s here, he’ll be wanting a table to play out back.”
“Then we better not mess up that pretty face of yours too bad, huh?”
Ryder froze, knew from the dark expression on Nate’s face that he hadn’t calmed down even a little. His brother flexed his fists and gave him an evil grin. Chase just laughed.
The punch came swift and fast, a sucker punch to the stomach that left Ryder doubled over and groaning, every bit of air knocked from his body.
“Don’t you dare lose tonight, Ryder, you hear me? There’s one thing that’s not happening in Granddad’s lifetime, and that’s even an inch of King land not being owned by our family.”
Ryder stayed doubled over, still trying to catch his breath. It was Chase’s hand on his shoulder as Nate walked away that made him rise, sucking back air that just never seemed to fill his lungs.
“You’ll get it back. You always get what you want because you’re one stubborn motherfucker,” Chase said in a low voice. “Don’t let this be the exception.”
Ryder watched him go, saw both his brothers drive off in Nate’s SUV. That was when he stumbled back a few steps and dropped, catching his breath properly and running his fingers gently across what he was sure would be a massive bruise on the side of his face. Given what he’d done, he’d gotten off pretty lightly. He’d been able to hit them with his exit strategy, which had probably helped them to digest the whole thing.
“Ryder?”
He looked up and back toward the bar, locking eyes with Chloe. She stopped, took one look at him, and ran toward him.
“I’m fine,” he said, hauling himself up as she stopped in front of him, tears in her eyes as she raised her hand, hovering like she was torn between touching him and not wanting to hurt him.
“What did they do to you?”
Ryder laughed. “A couple of punches aren’t going to kill me, sweetheart.” But her concern was nice. The more time they spent together, the harder it was to remember they were faking it—he was starting to get used to Chloe’s touch, to looking into those beautiful brown eyes when she was concerned, or even better, when they were all wild when she was het up over something.
