Life Over Love (13 page)

17

B
rianna had to force herself to keep from looking back when she’d heard the life sized ken doll’s laugh, it’d sounded so much like Ryker’s. Sick of thinking about Ryker, she decided to take advantage of her mom having the kids for the weekend and go out with some friends for once.

She went home and called Dominique to see if she wanted to tag along and also give her a ride. She dressed in the cutest
dress she owned. She thought she’d been crazy for buying it at the time because she wasn’t sure when or even if she would ever get the chance to wear it.

It was a dark rose colored dress
made of a thick soft stretchy fabric and the skirt flared out like the dress baby wore in dirty dancing, it was the perfect dance for dancing.  She didn’t wear hose, just some strappy silver wedges that showed her freshly pedicured toes.

She was so revved up
about the promise of grown up conversation and a night of dancing, she was ready an entire hour early. She’d walked to the store to buy some after party refreshments. Not sure which wine coolers tasted good she bought two different kinds.

Of course it was just her luck she thought, groaning aloud at the sound of Ryker’s voice.  Oh well she thought better get this over with, and walked to the front of the gas station to check out. She walked up to the counter where Ryker stood talking to the store clerk about some kids making trouble earlier that day.

Ryker forgot what he’d been saying as soon as he saw her.  He stepped back giving her more space, trying to move away so that he couldn’t smell her perfume, but doing that had only given him a better view. She tried to act like he was just some guy she’d never met in the store, feeling him look at her from head to toe.

She smiled politely at him
and then focused her attention on the clerk. The tension in the store was palpable, and the clerk was too busy watching the sparks fly between the two, to be much of a distraction for Brianna. “Thanks for dinner it was great, and my brother said the cake was delicious. Oh that explained why the blonde guy she’d passed on her way home had managed to sound exactly like him.

“Don’t mention it, thanks for the books, too by the way.”  He mimicked her polite tone when he said
“planning on getting sloshed tonight are we?”  She no longer wanted to avoid his stare, looking him straight in the eye she answered the last time I checked I didn’t need your permission, but since you’re asking, I’m planning on getting a
lot
of things tonight.

She flipped her hair
and walked out of the store. Oh huh ho, he thought fine with him if she wanted be that way, but he hurried out of the store after her to watch her leave, just the same.

He was in a foul mood by the time he got home, and it really didn’t help any that he’d picked this week to quit smoking. He jabbed a couple of pieces of gum into his mouth on his way inside the house. He stewed about that last remark, about how she was “
getting a lot of things”
tonight.  He reached into the fridge for a beer. Thinking it was fine with him if she didn’t have any more respect for herself than to walk around getting drunk all willy nilly, doing lord only knows what with every guy she met, she wasn’t his problem. He was so wrapped up in his mental ranting’s that he forgot that he still had a mouth full of sweet bubble gum. When he took a big gulp of his beer he spit it out just as quick. Exclaiming loudly, he accusingly said “yuck!” as if someone else were to blame for the disgusting aftertaste in his mouth.

Once he’d finished brushing his teeth, he took a look around at the mess in his house, he started to clean, but gave that up soon enough. His thoughts kept wondering back to the way the stretchy fabric had clung to Brianna’
s curves. The only word  he could think to describe how she’d looked standing there all dolled up, was the one she’d written on the note she’d tape to the dish she dropped off that morning, she looked 
yummy
. 

Actually s
he’d looked delicious and the more he thought about it the hungrier he got. Damn it all to hell he thought, who was he kidding? She was too his friggin’ problem! Not wanting to hang around the house anymore he went to his bedroom to get ready. He was going to pick up Aiden and get out of the house for the night.

Dominique picked Brianna up and the two women were a force to be reckoned with.  She was dressed in a jewel toned blue number, almost the same style as the one Brianna wore. They both laughed when Brianna recalled how she had narrowed it down to the exact same dresses when she’d
picked out the pink one, favoring it only because she wore the blue color all the time at work.

Dominique
had been just as excited as Brianna by the prospect of a girl’s night out. After squealing like school girls they headed out to meet up with her coworkers.

There were only two places in the small town to go for drinks
there was a beer joint called Billiards and a place called the Tavern ,but only one promised dancing, as well as live music, and that was the Tavern. They decided to stop at a small restaurant along the way first.

At dinner Brianna told Dominique all about what happened with Ryker. Dominique asked her
“what had happened to change your mind about just dating him for the fun of it without getting emotionally attached.”  Brianna started getting a little uncomfortable and answered nonchalantly “he’s looking for more than I can give. Anyways it creeped me out the way he’d known all that stuff about me, I’ve only known the guy a couple of weeks gosh!”

Dominique clicked her tongue, “He’s about to make detective, and he’s good at what he does.” Brianna was ready to change
the subject and she was glad when the waiter brought them their check.

When the pair walked into The Tavern Brianna felt like Norm from Cheers. Her friends from work all waved excitedly
while calling her over to where they sat. There were two girls and two guys from work, and one guy Brianna had never met. The overhead speakers were playing popular dance music while the band got ready for their set.

After two Long island iced teas, Brianna was good to go, and she just knew she was as good a dancer as baby herself.
She decided to get to know the extra guy in the group and took him out on the dance floor. Both girls were having so much fun with their fellows that neither one noticed when Ryker and Aiden entered the busy dance hall.

Ryker would’ve turned right back around and left had Aiden not been there, and for the touchy feely way
Brianna was dancing with some jerk, clearly feeling tipsy. He spotted Dominique at the bar and made a bee line towards her, leaving Aiden to fend for himself. “Hi, Dominique how are the girls?”

She winced at his icy tone. “They are great Ryker, you really should stop by
sometime.”  It was his turn to wince, he always felt guilty not visiting that often, but he missed his partner and best friend too much. Instead of going into all that, he looked pointedly towards Brianna. “She’s pretty much drunk isn’t she? How about you, how much have you had to drink tonight?”

She thought the naked concern in eyes was cute and decided to be nice. “Ryker, please I’m looking out for her, don’t worry your pretty little head about it.” He smiled sarcastically saying “You didn’t answer the question.”

“Relax officer Danner, I’m drinking cherry coke.” She walked back out to the dance floor leaving him alone. Aiden had gotten bored with Ryker and left in favor of introducing himself to Dominique. Ryker sat at the end of the bar nursing a soda, watching Brianna seduce the poor kid she was dancing with. She had gotten too warm and he lost all sympathy for the guy as he watched him help her shrug out of the black and silver sweater. He’d almost bounded out of his seat when he saw the guy lean against her from behind, whispering something in her ear, as he cupped her breast with his free hand.

He only calmed down when he saw Brianna brush his hands away. She’d kept on dancing though
, and giving himself a break from the torture he went to the bathroom. When he returned Brianna was nowhere in sight and neither was the guy.

He quickly found Dominique who was dancing
closely with Aiden, “Where is she?” She looked back and forth between the brothers, then said “Ryker, calm down she is a big girl you know.”  “Don’t tell me to calm down, where is she?” Dominique could tell from the flexing of his jaw that it was time to fess up, but Aiden interjected before she had the chance. “She went with the guy she was dancing with, man, but the guy wasn’t drinking though, I saw him myself.” Dominique thought Ryker was going to hit Aiden then and stood between the two, saying to Ryker “I thought it’d be fine because she works with his sister, anyways, Ryker. There’s nothing you can do, she’s not yours.”

He didn’t care what she’d said or thought, and he ran out of the dance hall into the gravel parking lot. He was alarmed when he spotted the guys white shirt, and noticed that he was huddled over something, and he saw Brianna’s silver shoes on the ground by his feet.

In a blind rage he ran to the guy, grabbed him from behind, and threw him up against the car. “Just what is going on here buddy?” He growled between clenched teeth. “Humph? “He asked as he shook him a little, while nudging him with his fore arm on his neck.

The
poor guy wanted to answer, he grabbed Rykers arm with both his hands, trying to get the angry assailant to loosen his grip, so he could. “Dude, you’re chok-ing me!” Even by the dim light of the street lamp Ryker could see the guy’s face turning red. He heard Brianna moan by the bushes. He loosened his grip just enough for the guy to breath. “You better start talking kid.” He answered “She asked me to take her home, but she started puking. I wanted to make sure she was done before I put her into my car, that’s all I swear!”

He dropped the kid without a warning. “Alright guy, get outta here, I’ll take her home.” The guy rubbed his neck and jumped in the car. Ryker picked up Brianna’s shoes and lifted her up as well. He carried her to his truck. She mumbled something about just dropping her of at the stop sign, and called him
Jonathan. He rolled his eyes chuckling to himself, he thought so you chickened out after all, and he knew she probably wouldn’t remember any of this in the morning. She curled up next to him and slept the rest of the way home. He carried her into his house, taking care of her when she got sick on and off for the rest of the night.

In the morning she awoke on Ryker’s suede couch, she stretched, winced in pain, and proceeded to mentally freak out. She was thinking how she couldn’t even remember the name of the guy
whose t shirt she was wearing.

She stumbled to the hallway peeking into each door until she found the bathroom. When she was finished she washed her face
and promised her reflection that she would never ever drink again. She was appalled at herself, wearing a complete stranger’s underwear, and she was further confused because everything smelled like Ryker. She didn’t want the awkwardness of seeing the guy, so rather than waste any time even to look for her dress, she started to leave.

She noticed a note on the table though and it read
I’m taking your dress to the cleaners, hope that’s ok, drink the stuff in the fridge you’ll feel better, I promise. P.S. I’m bringing back breakfast.
Taking his advice she went to the fridge, she saw the disgusting looking green concoction, and thought no way, but thanks anyway!

She gasped when she saw her dish on the bottom shelf, and slammed the door shut. Standing face to smiley face she realized that somehow she had ended up at Ryker’s place.  She quickly grabbed her shoes and jogged out of the house.

“
Dadgummit
!” Ryker exclaimed while simultaneously hitting the steering wheel, when he saw Brianna jogging barefooted alongside the road. He whipped the truck around and followed her. When he drove up next to her he leaned out the window. “Come on Brianna get in the truck, I’ll take you home.”  She didn’t want to see him, thinking how she must have looked to him, she was way too embarrassed to talk to him just then.

She closed her eyes trying to remember last night, the only thing she remembered was getting so sick by the car. “Go away Ryker, I can take care of myself!
People over indulge all the time, I just don’t know my own limits yet, that’s all!”

            
He continued to drive next to her slowly, forcing the cars behind him to go around. “Humph, yeah right pretty lady, seems to me you were trying to forget something, or some
one!
” He wiggled his eyebrows comically saying “get in the truck baby, I’ll give you a ride, I promise we don’t even have to talk. Come on you’re not even wearing any shoes, and you’re bound to cause an accident running around like that without another very important article of clothing, if you know what I’m sayin’.” He wiggled his eyebrows some more. Brianna just crossed her arms and kept walking.

              
He switched tactics, “well you sure were all over me last night! What’s the change? Don’t you remember the deal we made? What happened to you wanting to be friends with benefits and all that, anyways?”

             
She stopped dead in her tracks, she knew he was lying, at least she thought he was lying. She put her hands on her hips, she wanted to gain the upper hand and she retorted “Only because I was determined to go to spend the night with someone, apparently after a couple of drinks I became much less discriminating.”