Page 111 of Ryder
He shook his head, tugging gently at my hands.
“Baby, all I need is you. Please. I want you to be my old lady. I want you with me always, regardless of how we have to do things.”
He didn’t put it into words, but we both knew that it was the reason I’d run. The only reason I’d have chosen to be away from him. My love. My safe place. My only happy place.
“It’s not good for you. It’ll hurt you.” Tears were rolling down my cheeks again.
Someone further up the bus cursed, and complained about his journey being delayed.
“You got something to say, buddy?” I saw Has-Been leaning down to get in his face, and the man miraculously shut up in an instant.
“Tori, please. Come home with me. Let’s at least talk about this. If you still want out, I’ll give you a ride anywhere, baby.I love you.”
There was an older lady sitting across from me, and I heard a sigh from her direction. Meeting her eyes, I saw tears on her face too.
“Not every day you see that. Give him a chance, love. You never get your time back, so use it for what makes you happy.”
Ryder grinned at her. “Thanks, love.”
He looked at me again.
“Please? Come home with me. Just give me an hour.”
I nodded, and he sighed, his head dropping for a second.
“Thank fuck.”
Then he was pulling me up from the seat, nodding at the lady as he led me past her, my hand tightly clasped in his.
We made our way down the aisle of the bus, the rest of the bikers already leaving ahead of us, and when we were level with the driver, Ryder nodded at him.
“Thanks, man. Appreciate the chance to catch up with my old lady.”
The driver offered a half salute in response, and then we stepped down from the bus onto the road. I’d never been out of a vehicle and standing on a dual carriageway like this. It was terrifying, with cars whizzing past the parked up bikes at scary speeds, with the bus almost on the edge of the grass verge.
Ryder lifted his backpack from my shoulder, and tossed it at Torch, then he grabbed a spare helmet from his bike, and fastened it over my head.
“You’re gonna want to hold on to me really tightly, baby. Don’t let go.”
He straddled his bike, and Torch took my hand and helped me on behind him, before he made his way to his own bike. One by one the motorbikes started up, and started moving, merging back into traffic, so that the bus could get moving again.
I gripped Ryder tightly as his bike started to move, and as we picked up speed, he grabbed my hand from his chest, and dragged it to his stomach, pulling me tighter against him. I got the memo. I clasped my hands together, holding on for dear life, as the bike roared between our legs, and the road, and vehicles, whizzed by.
It was scary at first.Terrifying, in fact. I’d wanted to stop almost instantly, and then he’d pulled me closer, and made me feel safer, and suddenly it was a very different experience. Suddenly it was exciting. Exhilarating.
Ryder
Inearly fucking losther. I… if Ice hadn’t managed to pick her up on a fucking camera, around the side of the compound, and seen which bus she disappeared onto, she’d have been out of town, and I’d have lost her.
Thank fuck for Ice, and his, probably drug-induced, paranoia, which led to multiple cameras around the complex, facing out at the roads. His plan was that we’d never be caught unawares by visitors. Of course, that hadn’t helped when I was driven back, and dumped here that night by Tori, but I kinda think that was meant to happen. I had to go through that, to find her.
None of that early stuff mattered anymore anyway.What mattered was that the woman I loved was wrapped around me on my fucking bike where she belonged. If she thought she was ever running again, she was out of her damn mind. I just had to push things along, and make her mine sooner. No more tiptoeing around her and her feelings. I had to get the process under way fucking now.
When we reached the compound, the gates were already open, since the prospects usually heard us coming, even without the camera feeds.
Eight of us had flagged that bus down. Eight fucking bikers, and a few tons of bus. It could have taken most of us out, even accidentally. Reacher, Stitch, Torch, and Has-Been, had dropped everything, grabbed others on the way, and then we were riding out to find my woman, and bring her back.My old fucking lady.
I walked my bike back into my space, and waited for Reacher to help Tori climb down, before I rested it on its stand, andturned off the engine. I grabbed her arm the moment I was on my feet, and dragged her against my chest, holding her tightly.
