Page 95 of Ryder
His face brightened, a big smile his response.
“Anything you want, darlin’. You just go nuts. What’s mine is yours.”
I felt a rush of warmth for this man,myman. This tough guy, who left all of that side of him at the door, to be as gentle, and kind, and unthreatening as I needed him to be.Despite how we’d met, and what I’d done to him.
“Come on, woman. Get a wriggle on.” He grabbed my hand, and dragged me from the bed. Suddenly I was holding him tight against me, my arms wrapped around his back, as I pressed my face against his warm chest. I could feel his body heat through the thin t-shirt, and it didn’t scare me. It comforted me.
His arms had wrapped around me after just a moment of hesitation, and he let out a slow sigh, as if this moment might just feel as relaxing and soothing for him as it was for me. His chin rested against my head, and then he moved, and I felt his lips press against my forehead.
“Trust you to pick this one moment to want to hold me. I mean, now I don’t want to fucking let go, but if Reacher has to come back for us, it won’t be pretty.”
I reluctantly pulled away to look at him.
“It’s not going to be the only time I want that. I feel safer with you now, and I don’t really get why, but I like it.”
“That makes two of us, Tori. Now, do you want the bathroom before me? No time for a shower, but I know you like to freshen up, and I badly need to do the same.”
I let him hurry me into motion, and we both got freshened up and dressed quickly. I wore a pair of his thick grey sweats, and a t-shirt that had a rock band logo on it. I didn’t recognise it, nor could I make out the strange, jagged words across it. It didn’t matter though. It was his, and I felt safe in it. I had on a bra underneath, and he handed me a zip up hoodie of his too. This one had the club logo on it.
“Should I be wearing this?”
He gently touched my shoulder, and his eyebrows raised when I didn’t flinch.
“You’re my old lady, Tori, so you get to wear the club logo. You can even have a cut of your own too, but we can discuss that later, when we make it official with the others.”
I didn’t argue, although I had a feeling there was a little more to it than he was letting on, but the idea of being his made me feel safe. Protected. Not only by him, but by his family of grizzled biker brothers too.
Whatever we were about to face, we’d face together.How bad could it be, right?
Once we were both ready, Ryder reached for my hand, and I willingly took it. He walked us to the door, and we stepped into the hallway. There was no prospect waiting outside, which was a surprise. I thought they had someone there watching over us, but then maybe it was better not to have one there, in case they’d overhear what we were doing. Ryder had said that it was dangerous for anyone else to know about that.
I still couldn’t believe how much safer I felt with him, since he’d given up his body that way. If he could debase himself enough to go through that, to make me feel better, what right did I have to not trust him?
“Just through here, baby.” He led me into the large clubhouse bar room, which was like a hotel lounge, only a little rough around the edges. There were chairs and sofas with pub tables dotted around, with a scarred wooden floor, and a weathered looking bar, with one man behind it, wearing a cut that declared him to be a prospect.
There were a lot of men in the room, and I tried keeping my eyes away from them, watching the floor, as Ryder led me through the crowd. I had no idea what has happening, but there were too many men, too close, and they were all around me now.
“Victoria?” I blinked, and lifted my head in a rush at the voice I hadn’t expected to hear. Not here.
“Daddy?” I heard Ryder curse quietly, and his hand slipped from mine. When I turned to look at him, he was firmly focused on my father. I hadn’t seen my father in about nine years. He’d aged, but then, hadn’t we all? He wasn’t looking anywhere but at me.
He was dressed in a grey suit, with a white shirt, and a dark tie, and he looked as intimidating as he always had. The two men flanking him were just as unnerving, and they were completely unfamiliar to me.
“No hug for daddy?” He asked, and in that moment, all of the tension and fear dropped away, and I threw myself at him, his arms holding me tight. It felt like home, safety. It was myfather.
His cologne smelled the same as it always had, and with that added safe familiarity, I found myself crying huge, heaving sobs against his chest, and he soothed me through it, whispering to me, as he tried to calm me.
When we broke apart, Reacher gestured to the area where they had a few sofas crammed around a low table, and I let my father lead me there, while his goons stayed where they were, their hands at the ready, in case there was a threat.
Ryder followed us, joining Reacher, and the guy with the longer blonde hair, who I couldn’t remember the name of, but I knew he was their VP. There were two guys following Ryder, like they were backing him. I remembered one was called Has-Been, because I remembered thinking what a strange name it was. The other I wasn’t sure about, but caught sight of his name on his cut, as I sat down.Torch.
“Firstly, I want to thank you for advising me of my daughter’s safety. I’ve been trying to find her for quite some time now.” Daddy looked at me with a smile, keeping me close to him. Iwanted Ryder beside me too, my eyes finding him every few moments, to make sure he hadn’t disappeared on me.
Reacher cleared his throat. “Yeah… well, we made a bit of a mess when we went in, so we needed your support too, and appreciate what you did for us.”
Daddy smiled in that reserved way he did for anyone but his little girl.
“I’m always happy to make alliances. It’s never a bad thing in my line of work, you understand.”
