I never really thought about it to be honest. When you’re running for your life, your college classes don’t really matter anymore. “So, what? I just can’t not go back. Ryat, I need a degree.” And my parents will kill me. Maybe that’s another reason my father was so mad at me for leaving town.
“Don’t worry, I covered it.” He dismisses it.
Arching a brow, I slowly repeat his words. “You covered it?” He nods. “What the hell does that mean?” I’m going to need him to clarify exactly what he’s done.
“Told everyone that we took a week off for our honeymoon.” He shrugs. “We were newlyweds. It made sense.”
“What?” I gape at him. “What about the other two weeks?”
“I paid someone to step in for you. They will be covering for you the rest of the year,” he explains casually. As if it’s no big deal for someone else to go to school for me.
“Ryat …” I growl his name but pause, circling around to what he said earlier. Did he say we? “You skipped that first week too?”
“I’ve skipped every day.”
I gasp. “Ryat! Why the fuck would you do that?”
“You expected me to go on with my life? Sit in fucking classes while you were on the run and in danger?” he asks with a rough laugh.
I snort. “I was fine.”
His eyes go large at the lie, any sense of playfulness now gone. “Are you fucking serious right now?”
Instead of telling another one, I cross my arms over my exposed chest.
“That man was going to kill you,” he growls.
“Because of you,” I spit out.
He stiffens, his eyes darkening. “Excuse me?”
How dare he make such an important decision for me? But I’m really not sure why I’m surprised. I mean, look how we got here. “He told me you owed him. That he was going to ship me back in pieces—to you. So, I was only in danger because of you.” This isn’t news to him. Ryat just made Ashley confess that a man named Derek—I’m guessing that’s the guy—was sent to watch me. But I hadn’t told him what the guy said to me.
“He said that shit to you, and you’re just now telling me?” he shouts, his face turning red.
I shrug carelessly. “You never asked. You were too busy drugging me and dragging me back. Oh, and then I had to be tested. Because you know, the Lords said it was time to put even more strain on our marriage—”
He reaches over and picks up a lamp, throwing it across the room. It shatters, hitting a wall, cutting me off. Silence falls between us; the only sound is the faint bass of the music from the club below us, and my shoulders fall while I sit in the bed naked.
Turning around, he places his hands on the dresser and leans over it. I watch the way his back muscles ripple—covered in scratch marks—while trying to calm his breathing.
“I know it wasn’t your fault,” I say softly. It was Matt’s. Everything started because of him. “You saved me—”
“It was, though,” he interrupts me and turns around. “How do you think I found you?”
I frown. “I … don’t know.”
Running a hand down his face, he leans back against the dresser. “Remember that night Gunner and I found you and Sarah here at Blackout?”
I nod, scrunching my brow. “Yeah, but what’s that have to do with anything?”
“A couple of guys hit on you two at the bar,” he adds.
I sit up straighter. “How did you know about that?” I never told him that. Maybe Sarah filled Gunner in about our night.
“We were here upstairs, watching you girls and saw them approach you,” he admits.
“How did you …?” I nod my head to myself. “My phone. You tracked us here. I was wondering how you found us.” Fuck, I should have fucking known. If I had just opened my eyes, I probably could have pieced it together.
“Long story short, Gunner and I killed them,” he confesses as if no big deal.
“What?” I gasp. “Ryat …”
“They had drugs on them, Blake. Shit that proved they were going to do more to the two of you than buy you drinks,” he snaps, then releases a heavy sigh.
“Did you find that out before or after you killed them?” I demand.
“After.”
“Jesus, Ryat.” I run a hand through my still wet hair. I understand they might have hurt us, but he killed them before that. “You can’t keep killing random people.”
“I will kill whoever touches what’s mine, Blake,” he states matter-of-factly. Lowering his voice, he goes on. “They were here with a friend—a third guy. He saw what happened and knew we took care of them. I didn’t know at the time, obviously, that Ashley had followed you when you ran, but Ty overheard talk in Blackout that the guy knew where you were. We followed him. It made me think that Matt had told him, and he led us straight to you.”
“No …” I trail off, trying to get my brain to put all the pieces together. It had to have been the guy with the tattoo on the back of his neck. I never saw his face that night here at the bar with Sarah, but it makes sense.
He nods, arguing with me. “Matt sent him when Ashley was tired of watching you. He knew where you were. Maybe he didn’t care to go get you at the time. He wanted to sit back and watch what I did when you left. It was more about me at that point rather than you.”
“But … we just found out …” I trail off at the look on his blank face. He already fucking knew all of this but wanted Ashley to confess in front of the Lords, giving him the reason he needed to kill her. “I can’t believe this.”
“Which part exactly?”
“All of it,” I snap, glaring up at him through my lashes. “God, Ryat, how many secrets are you keeping from me?”
“I don’t keep count,” he states, his green eyes on mine.
“Is this a joke to you?” I demand, throwing the covers off me and getting out of bed.
“No. I take anything regarding you pretty fucking seriously,” he answers, pushing away from the dresser.
I walk over to him, glaring up at him. “What else do you have to tell me at the moment?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re fucking lying to me.”
He lowers his face to mine, a smile tugging at his lips, and says, “Prove it.”
I go to slap him, but he catches my wrist with one hand and wraps the other around my throat, pushing my back into the nearest wall. “Want to give that another try, Blake?”
“Fuck you, Ryat,” I growl.
When he lets go of my wrist, my arm drops to my side as he steps into me, his nose touching the tip of mine. “Don’t mind if I do …” His hands slide up my bare hips to my ribs. “I can never get enough of you,” he growls, his voice rough.
My heart starts beating faster at his words, but I’m still pissed at him, so I say, “Good. Because you’re stuck with me until you die.”
Tilting his head up just a bit, he lightly kisses the tip of my nose. “That’s all I want.”
“Aren’t you the romantic?” I say, trying to keep my breath steady. Not wanting to show him that my thighs are tightening as we speak. All that’s separating us is his towel. I’m already naked.
“Blake, I’ll be anything you need.”
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
RYAT
ME AND GUNNER step down into the basement at Blackout. Ty gave us the green light to use it and Gunner pointed out the two men who were hitting on our girls. Now they lay on the concrete floor, bloody noses and all.
“Thanks, gentlemen.” I nod to the two security guards who wear Blackout shirts. “We’ve got it from here.”
They both nod and exit the room, walking up the stairs, leaving us alone.
“What the fuck, man?” One of the guys asks, getting to his knees. He reaches up, smearing the blood on his face.
“Fffuuccckk,” the other groans, rolling onto his back.
“Like touching things that don’t belong to you?” I ask, arching a brow.
“What are you talking about?” The one on his knees gets to his feet.
“The two women you were hitting on at the bar.” I jog their memory, since I know the bouncers fucked them up a bit before bringing them down here. “The ones who you wouldn’t take no for an answer from.”
The guy snorts. “Fuck those whores …”
My fist connects with his face, snapping his head back. He stumbles over the other guy lying down, making him fall back to the floor.
“Those whores belong to us,” Gunner states, leaning up against the wall casually. “And no, we’re not sharing them with you.”
I’m not in the mood to get bloody tonight. Especially since Blake will notice once I make my presence known. So, I walk over to the back wall and remove the chain from the hook. Making my way to the guy who I punched, I wrap it around his neck a few times and then drag him to the wall, yanking him to his feet.
“What the fuck?” The other guy on the floor growls, getting to his feet, watching his friend struggle while I wrap the chain around a hook on the wall. I yank on it, pulling his feet up off the floor. “What the fuck are you doing?” The guy goes to charge me, but Gunner pushes off the wall and knocks him back to the floor.
“Where is your friend?” Gunner questions.
“Who?” he snaps. “You’re fucking …”
Gunner kicks him in the face, blood goes flying from his mouth. “There were three of you at the bar.”
“Fuck … you …”
Gunner stomps on his hand, making him cry out.
Once I have my man secured where I want him, I wrap the chain around the hook on the floor. Watching the guy hang there, I dig into his pocket, removing his car keys, wallet and cell phone. “What’s this?” I ask, pulling out a pill bottle. The prescription has been scratched off. But it’s not hard to figure out what the white pills are—rohypnol. “You were going to drug them.” I state. That’s why they were so adamant about getting them drinks.
“Hand me one of those.” Gunner gestures to another chain. I toss it to him, and he does the same thing with his guy. Also removing his belongings.
We exit the basement and walk up the stairs to find the two security guards standing there, making sure that no one came down to bother us. “Give them an hour.” I say and they nod. “Let the bastards fucking hang there.”
“Yes, sir,” they say in unison and nod.
Blake and I have been staying in the apartment above Blackout for three days, and I hate it. I’m not one to hide out, but it’s been our only option. I’ve had new cameras placed at the cabin and all around the property. I want to watch them for another week to see if Matt is hanging out there. So far, nothing. But he hasn’t been at the house of Lords. Meaning the fucker is also in hiding. He won’t do that for long, so my question is, what is he waiting on?