Page 16 of Outlaw Ridge: Ryker
She finally picked it up and answered. “Hey.”
Her mom’s voice carried enough for him to hear, and it was soft and tight with worry.“Are you all right? We heard about the explosion. Your father saw it on the news, and—”
“I’m okay,” Emma said, cutting in gently. She rubbed her forehead, fatigue settling into every movement. “Bruised, not broken.”
“They said someone opened fire on you, Emma. They said it might be Ethan? Is it really him?”
Ryker watched her eyes go distant, heard her voice go flat when she answered, “We don’t know. Not for sure. But… yeah. It could be.”
“We’re driving back tonight,” her mom immediately insisted. “I don’t care what your father says. We’re not sitting around while someone’s trying to kill you.”
“No,” Emma blurted, her tone sharper than before. “Don’t come back. Stay in Houston. If itisEthan, I don’t want himanywhere near you. I don’t want him thinking he can use you to get to me.”
Ryker heard the silence on the other end of the line. Heard the pain in it, too, even from a distance.
“All right,” her mom finally replied. “But you keep us updated, Em. Hourly if you have to.”
“I will,” she murmured. “I promise.”
Emma ended the call and let the phone slide from her hand to the table. Then she leaned back, exhaled slowly.
Ryker didn’t say anything right away. Just stood with her in the quiet.
Because there wasn’t a damn thing fair about the world turning into a war zone again, and dragging her parents into the blast radius.
“My folks are worried about me,” she muttered.
Emma rested her elbows on the table, rubbing her hands together like she could shake off the call. Her phone sat dark and quiet again, but the weight of it still seemed to hang in the air.
“My folks are worried sick,” she added after a minute, her voice quieter now.
Ryker gave a faint nod. “Yeah. I got that.”
She looked over at him, something softer in her expression. “What about your parents? Are they around?”
He leaned back in his chair, stretching one leg out and trying to ease the stiffness creeping into his side. “Yes. Still kicking. Both of ’em were career military, Army. Met during a joint training operation in Germany, fell in love yelling at recruits. Real storybook stuff.”
Emma arched a brow. “Sounds romantic.”
He smirked. “Only if your idea of romance involves live ammo and field rations.”
That earned the tiniest huff of a laugh from her, and Ryker took it as a win.
“They’re retired now,” he added. “Consultants at the Pentagon. Which basically means they sit in very secure rooms and predict how bad things are gonna get before they actually get bad.”
Emma tilted her head. “So… you think they already know what’s about to happen to us?”
“Oh, definitely,” Ryker said dryly. “Wouldn’t surprise me if my mom’s got a color-coded threat board with our names on it and some arrows pointing to‘Possible Shitstorm in Outlaw Ridge.’”
Emma snorted, and for a second, the weight lifted.
He watched the way she relaxed, just slightly. He hadn’t known he needed to hear her laugh, until he did.
Ryker let the last of the tension fade with Emma’s snort of laughter. It didn’t last long, but it was real, and right now, real felt like gold.
He pushed to his feet with a groan, rubbing his shoulder. “You should grab the shower first. I’ll take mine after. No offense, but you smell bad.”
Emma arched a brow. “Pretty sure you smell worse.”
