Page 77 of Ryder
“Me too. I’m not leaving her side. Not again.”
Rob looked at me. “You didn’t fail her, Ryder. You did everything you could, and she’s gonna be fine.”
Nick dragged a chair over for me, and I dropped heavily onto it, feeling exhausted.
“Thanks.”
They left the room, or I assumed they did, because once I turned my focus back to Tori, I didn’t see or hear another damn thing, eventually falling asleep at her side.
Twenty-Five
My head was throbbing,and I felt wrong all over. There was a heaviness about my entire body, and I felt weak and drained. I could hear a steady beeping sound, and when I opened my eyes, the light was blissfully dim in the room. I took a moment to blink a few times, until my vision became less blurry, and then I looked around me.
It was the infirmary at the Biker clubhouse. One glance to my left revealed a head full of dark hair, resting against my hand, a light snore coming from him.
A glance around the room revealed a sleeping figure on one of the furthest gurneys. I couldn’t see who it was though. There were tubes going into my arms, and the beeping came from the machine measuring my heart rate.
I couldn’t remember what had happened, or why I was here. I tried to sit up, but that just disturbed the sleeping man sitting beside me.
“Wha… oh… you’re awake,” Ryder said, relief flooding his face. He’d been worried about me?
“Uh… hi. Why am I here?” I whispered, my throat feeling too dry.
Ryder glanced at the sleeping figure across the room, running a hand through his hair. It was adorably scruffy, and suited him perfectly.
“You don’t remember?”
He squeezed my hand gently as I shook my head, and he cursed quietly.
“You’ve been in here since yesterday afternoon. We almost lost you, Tori.”
There was just a huge blank in my mind, similar to when I’d been drugged. It was unnerving, and immediately made me worry that Ryder had followed in Dom’s footsteps. I didn’t want to believe it about him, but I didn’t know him, did I?
I pulled my hand free of his grip, and he frowned.
“What?”
“What did you do to me?” I whispered, lifting my hands weakly to my face. There were bandages around my wrists.Oh.
“Starting to remember? I know you’re probably pissed at me, for making sure you didn’t die, but I just couldn’t lose you.”
He was sitting up straighter now, dragging the back of his hand over his eyes. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked the time.
“I… I’m sorry, I forgot what happened. I didn’t mean to accuse you.”
He smirked, but it vanished pretty fast.
“You don’t know me, darlin’. You can’t possibly know that I’d never fucking do a thing to hurt you or any woman. I’m just not wired that way. Do you want me to go?”
I really didn’t. I shook my head, and he sighed.
“Thank fuck for that. I don’t force anything on anyone, but I was gonna refuse to leave.”
I almost smiled.Almost.
“How did you know?” I asked finally, and his face suddenly looked even more exhausted.
“I didn’t, but I was on the phone to Ice, and he mentioned that you’d tried that before, and suddenly I realised what a fucking mistake I’d made, to leave you unattended for so long.”
