Page 110 of Ryder
He closed his eyes for a second, his breathing halting as I squeezed too tightly.
“Ryder, cut that out!” I was dragged away from him, watching him cough, doubled over, while I realised I didn’t give a single fuck if I’d hurt him.
“She told us to check, if we doubted her. Said you were in a meeting, and if we wanted to interrupt you, that we should go ahead,” the other prospect muttered from behind us.
“Fuck’s sake.She played them,” Reacher muttered, just as Stitch ran up beside us.
“What’s going on?”
“Tori got out.”
“Got out?”
“Yeah, she ran. Packed some shit, and got out. Jesus, why the fuck would she go now?”
My mind was racing, and one factor kept coming back to me; a conversation that two of our brothers had had with me right in front of her. Their concerns for the danger of our situation. Fuck.She’d run to protect me from her, and her depravity.
“Fuck!”
“What is it?” Reacher looked way too fucking interested, but I wasn’t going to tell him a fucking thing about our private business.
“Which way did she go?” I was glaring at the prospects again.
“High Street. She went left.” They were both pointing as one of them spoke.
“To the fucking bus station.” I forced the gates open, and ran down the street to look for her.
Thirty-Four
Iwas lucky, andpretty heartbroken, to get a seat on the bus. It was heading out of town, down south towards the coast, but at least we were moving within minutes. I knew that it would be the maximum amount of time I’d have, before Ryder realised I’d gone, and tried to track me down.
I wished that he would, that he’d find me, and drag me back, and keep me. But I also knew that it would be better for him if he just let me go. Safer. Healthier.Our relationship was toxic, and it couldn’t continue.So why did I want to scream and cry, and run straight back to him?
We were on one of the dual carriageways heading out of town towards the motorway, when I realised that the engine was louder, and growing louder all the time. Oh god. No. It wasn’t the bus’s engine.It was motorbikes. It was them.Ryder. His brothers.
I risked peeping out of the window, which I’d been sitting back from, and saw multiple bikes riding alongside the bus, with a few moving up ahead. They seemed to be on the other side too.It was clear what they were doing; a pincer effect. They were forcing the bus to slow down and stop, by surrounding it, and slowing down on their bikes, and it was dangerous as hell. Just another example of how I brought nothing but danger to Ryder.
The bus finally slowed, and stopped, with the driver apologising to the passengers, and explaining that we’d be moving again soon, but obviously he had no idea what was going on.
People were looking worried, unnerved, even afraid. I supposed that a group of big bikers would scare most people,but not me. I’d actually started to accept them as my people, and now I almost wanted to see them.
The bus doors whooshed open, and I heard a voice up front, talking to the driver. As they spoke, several bikers entered the bus, and started walking up the aisle in my direction. Nobody had spotted me yet, so they were checking faces in every seat on their way.
I’d picked a seat at the back, because they were more comfortable, but also because they gave me more to hide behind. The fact that I could hide, while my heart was breaking, was just the icing on the cake.
It wasn’t long before heavy boots were approaching me, and I knew he’d found me.
“Tori, baby… what’s going on?” Ryder dropped to his knees in front of my seat, and I saw Reacher behind him, nodding at the others to back off with him.
“I’m sorry, Ryder.”
He grabbed my hands, squeezing them gently.
“Don’t be sorry. Just tell me you’re not running from me. From us. Tell me you’re not throwing us away. Please, baby.”
My god. I felt new tears burning my eyes, because that was all I wanted, but I had to leave to save him from me.
“I’m bad for you, Ryder. I’m… I’m toxic, and you need someone better. You deserve better.”
