Page 117 of What are the Risks
A weekend with Ryker and our families sounded a hell of a lot more appealing than a Saturday graveyard shift.
Though if I’d gone, we would have needed to keep all PDA to a minimum. While I was comfortable with our friends knowing about whatever this was, our parents were another story. They’d get way too carried away, and I doubt explaining it was just sex would go over well.
Ryker: What about Thursday and Friday? Are you working then?
Ruby: I finish at midday on Thursday and have Friday off, but it’s still not worth driving home for a day.
“Finally,” Jaz shouted, her attention locked on the TV. “That guy had to go. He was a total douche-canoe.”
“They’re all douchey,” Bri grumbled.
Douchey didn’t even begin to cover it. The guy’s entire back was covered with a tattoo of his mother’s face. Who in their right mind would date a guy with that type of judgement?
Ryker: What if I came to you instead? I could fly into Ohio and stay at your place Thursday and Friday. Then Stefan could swing by Saturday morning on his way home from college and drive me the rest of the way back.
Ryker had never spent time in Ohio. He’d picked me up and dropped me off after weekends spent at home, but he hadn’t ever stayed the night. Because of his football schedule, it had always been easier for me to visit him in Philadelphia instead.
Daisy nudged me. “You good, Ruby? You’re staring at your phone like someone died.” Her face fell. “Shit, did someone die?”
I slowly shook my head. “Ryker asked to stay here next week.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“No. Not at all. It’s just... new.”
“New is good, Ruby,” she pointed out. “And new with Ryker isgreat. Your mood has completely lifted since you started banging.”
“We haven’t had sex yet,” I told her.
Bri nodded knowingly. “Ah, so that’s why you’re freaking out. You know he’ll expect it if he stays, and in classic Ruby fashion, you’re already comparing yourself to the thousands of girls he’s been with before.”
I doubt it was thousands – at least I hoped not – but she’d hit the mark with the second part.
I wanted to sleep with Ryker – no matter how insane that sounded. But the idea of sleeping with someone – anyone who wasn’t Noah – was a lot. He was all I knew, and at the time, I’d thought I was all he’d known. I’d never had to worry about comparisons or exes with him.
But Ryker... he was a different ballgame altogether.
Between spending the afternoon with Gretchen, listening to her brag about hooking up with Ryker, and hearing my friends recap their rowdy one-night stands over coffee on a Sunday morning, I’d had my fill of spicy stories.
With those images in my mind, I spiralled, convinced I wouldn’t measure up to what Ryker was used to. Not experienced enough. Not fun enough. Not wild enough.
Would my usual moves satisfy him? Maybe he preferred girls who loved crazy positions. Or made lots of noise. Or asked him to do kinky things to her. I wouldn’t consider myself vanilla, but there were things to me – and certain partsof me– that were absolutely off limits.
Jaz paused her show. “My advice? Don’t overthink it, just go with it. This is Ryker you’re talking about. He’s bound to show you a good time.”
He already had. The real question was whether I could return the favour. Yeah, I’d given him a hand and blow job, but it was virtually impossible to stuff those up.
As I reread his last message, my attention caught on the selfie of Ryker and me linked to his contact name. We’d taken it on my sixteenth birthday–minutes before I backed into his parents’ letterbox. Before anyone noticed, we’d pushed Stefan’s basketball hoop over the damage and blamed it on the wind – a lie we’d carried with us to this day.
In that moment, I’d known he had my back. And even though things had shifted between us now, that hadn’t changed. This was Ryker –my Wheels.I could trust him.
Ruby: If you want to.
Ryker: Obviously I want to.
Ryker: Unless you don’t want me to...
Ruby: I want you to. :)
