Page 115 of Ryder
Me:Hey brother, long time no talk. How’s it hanging? Any news? Need me to braid your fucking hair?
I imagined him laughing when he read it, and watched as the reply dots kept winking on and off for long painful seconds.
Ice:What do you need, asshole?
I grinned. That’s more like it. I replied, detailing exactly what I needed, and smirked when his reply said simply ‘fuck’.
Thirty-Five
Iwoke in Ryder’sarms in bed, although I had no recollection of leaving the bar last night. Was this how it felt when he was drugged? My mind was instantly burdened with thoughts of how I could avoid hurting him, and try to be normal. I tried to move away from him, but his arms tightened, and he pulled me closer.
“Not yet, baby… Five more minutes.” He promptly fell asleep on me again, while I let myself relax and enjoy it. A few days ago, I wouldn’t have let him sleep so close, let alone wrapped around me like this, but that night…the one we shouldn’t have had… it had changed things.
It had given me back some of my power and strength. It had showed me that a man who’s willing to be drugged, and unconscious, for sex wouldn’t hurt me. He wouldn’t try to force me or overpower me, and it made it easier to trust him. I just wished that I could give him the normal relationship he deserved. Normal sex. I wasn’t sure if I would ever get there.
I must have fallen asleep again in the end, because the next time I woke, it was because a freshly showered Ryder was placing a coffee beside me, and a kiss on my forehead.
“What time is it?”
He grinned. “Almost eleven, sleepyhead.”
“Shit. I never used to sleep in so late.”
He sat on the bed, his own coffee in hand.
“Well, it doesn’t matter. You needed sleep, and you got it. Now, I have to go and meet Reacher, so we can get our little ceremony underway. You gonna be okay here?” His eyes were firmly on mine, but I understood the real question. Would I be here when he returned?
I nodded. “I’m not going anywhere, Ryder. Well… probably for a shower, but that’s it.”
He sighed, looking relieved.
“I’ll bring some breakfast back with me, or… I guess it’ll be lunch. Anything you fancy?”
I grabbed the coffee, and let the aroma fill my senses, sighing with pleasure.
“Anything is fine. Um… where do I have to get the tattoo?”
“You don’t mean where as in here or a tattoo parlour, do you? You mean where on that luscious body of yours.”
I nodded, although the way he described me always caused a little shiver of pleasure, because he saw me in a way nobody ever had, myself included.
“Is there like a specific place it normally goes?”
Ryder shrugged. “I have no fucking idea. I’m the first one of the new generation of us to take an old lady. Jock was the last, before my time here, but she died a few years back. He’s one of only three original members left with us.”
“So I can choose?”
Ryder’s eyes travelled over me, even though I was covered with the blankets, and not naked beneath them.
“The bastard in me wants it right where every fucker can see it, but at the same time, I want it somewhere intimate. But then, of course, I’d have to kill Has-Been for even touching you somewhere intimate, so it’s quite the dilemma.”
I sipped my coffee. “Do I have to tell you where? Or can I wait until he’s about to do it?”
Ryder’s hand tightened on his mug, but he shrugged a shoulder.
“It’s up to you, baby. Just know if he so much as looks at your tits, or anywhere more private that that, I’m gonna remove his eyes.”
Wow. “Where will yours be?”
