Page 81 of Ryder
“Okay, this isn’t what I fucking meant. Ryder, you’re really sure about her?” Stitch asked me, and I nodded.
“I can’t be without her.”
“You love her?” Jesus… do I? I ran a hand through my hair.
“Yeah… I think I do.”
“Oh, well as long as youthinkyou love her,” Reacher muttered, and Stitch turned to curse at him.
“Look, I’m doing my best to keep the fucking peace here, but this is what happens when women get fucking involved in our lives. We’re turning on each other now? This is how we’re gonna behave? I get it, if you both have the ones you want, but for fuck’s sake, try to remember who we are.”
Reacher stopped wiping the blood away from his nose.
“He’s chosen his fucking rapist. Am I the only one who thinks that’s pure insanity?”
Stitch shrugged. “Who am I to judge? I’m sure we’re all gonna have a whole bunch of bullshit and angst when we choose our old ladies, and then you two smug bastards are gonna be all high and mighty about it. For now, though, can we just maybe calm the fuck down?”
He watched Reacher for his agreement, and he nodded, albeit grudgingly.
“Don’t think this is over, asshole. I owe you one, and I won’t forget that.”
I shrugged. “Whatever. Look, she’s the one for me. I can feel it, and whether it’s love yet, or not, it’s real. I can’t let her leave.”
“You can’t keep her a fucking prisoner,” Stitch muttered at me, but I shrugged.
“Watch me.”
I left them both behind, and let myself back into the infirmary. Yes, I’d fucking keep her a prisoner.Until she stopped wanting to leave me.
Twenty-Six
They finally let meout of the damn infirmary the next day, with strict instructions to rest, and to return for my bandages to be changed daily, but where did they release me to? Ryder’s damn quarters, because apparently, that’s where I live now.
I was frustrated by a few things when I was deposited in the room on the sofa. Firstly, there were boxes stacked up in the room, which Ryder firmly declared were my things from my flat. They’d emptied the place out, and moved me in. On his say-so. Without my agreement.
In addition to that,we no longer had a door on the damn bathroom. Yeah, he’d removed it, or he’d had someone do it for him. That one I could sort of understand, but it frustrated me that any option for privacy had been taken away from me. Suddenly he was in every aspect of my life, and I had no escape. Was this really any better than the way Dom had treated me?
Unfortunately yes. Because Ryder hadn’t touched me, except to help me in here. He hadn’t tried anything. He hadn’t eventalked about doing anything. He was insisting on sharing the bed, like we’d done before, but that was it.
“There’s a curtain,” he said, watching me glaring at the door-less bathroom.
“What?”
He walked across the room, and reached in, pulling a heavy curtain across the doorway. Oh great. That was my only barrier to hide behind.Bastard.
“That’s not very appropriate.”
He shrugged as he returned. “Not giving you the chance to be hurting yourself in there again, without me being able to get in.”
“So you’ve taken away every ounce of privacy instead?”
He pointed at the curtain. “That’s plenty. It’ll keep you hidden from eyes, but you can’t hurt yourself again.”
He dropped down on his knees in front of me.
“I can’t lose you, Tori. I was so fucking scared. Please don’t do that to me again.” He rested his head on my lap, his hands looping around my hips. Why didn’t I panic? I don’t know. Maybe because he wasn’t being predatory. He was being sweet. Honest. Open. Vulnerable. I did stiffen though, and he felt it. He sighed, lifting his head again.
“I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t touch you, it’s just being back in here with you. It all came back, and to be fair, we actually had to remove the door, or what was left of it.”
