Promise Me Light (8 page)

Sticking my chin up, I lifted my fist and knocked.

“Don’t,” Nathan said, grabbing my arm.

I shrugged his hand off as cussing came from the other side of the
door.

“I’m busy. Get your own damn room!” Ryder yelled.

I heard a girl giggle and Ryder mumble something to her.

I knocked again, louder this time.

“Go the hell away!” Ryder shouted.

Nathan grabbed my arm again. “Come on, let’s go.”

Before I could argue with him, a guy that looked like he belonged on
Monday Night Wrestling instead of at a college booze party walked up to
us, weaving back and forth on his feet.

“Where the fuck is he?” he slurred, trying to keep his eyes
focused on Nathan.

“Who are you talking about, Jeremy?” Nathan asked, standing
between the big guy and me.

The WWE man looked over Nathan’s shoulder, first at me then at the
door.

“The asshole. Ryder. Someone saw him come up here with my
sister.”

Oh, hell.

“How should I know?” Nathan said, shrugging.

I thought the guy was going to leave but then loud moaning came from
the other side of the door. Before I could move out of the way, Jeremy
(or Mr. Wrestler Man, as I thought of him) growled and pushed past
Nathan. His meaty hand reached around me, turning the doorknob and
throwing the door open.

The room was dark but I could see two figures in bed, one on top of
the other. Toned muscles flexed in the man’s back and shoulders as he
moved over the writhing woman beneath him.

I froze, unable to move another inch. All I could see was Ryder’s
naked body. His perfect naked body. Having sex.

“Holy shit!” Ryder swore when he saw me standing in the doorway.
Within seconds, he was crawling off of the girl and scrambling to find
his jeans.

“You motherfucker! What are you doing with my sister?” Jeremy
bellowed, pushing me out of the way.

I watched in horror as Jeremy bulldozed into the room, out for blood.
Tucking his head to his massive chest, he roared and rushed Ryder,
reminding me of a bull charging a matador.

Dropping his jeans, Ryder ducked, barely missing the guy’s fist by
inches.

Jeremy’s drunkenness made his reaction slow. He never saw what was
coming. Ryder landed a solid punch to the guy’s face, fist connecting
with bone. With a grunt, Jeremy went down, landing hard on the floor.
Out cold. Towel thrown in. Fight over.

I stood rooted in place, staring. My eyes ran up Ryder’s naked
body. Breathing hard, his chest rose and fell as he stared at the
unconscious man. Slowly, his eyes moved to mine, startled when he
realized I was still standing there.

“Jesus Christ, Maddie!” he said, picking up his discarded jeans
from the floor. Hopping from one foot to the other, he struggled to pull
them on as he kept his eyes on me. “Shit! Fuck! What are you doing
here?”

Nathan grabbed my upper arm and tried to pull me out of the room. I
refused to move. I was in a weird trance that had me frozen. I wanted to
look away from Ryder but couldn’t. In the shadows of the room, I
watched as he zipped up his jeans, covering what I had seen for only a
few seconds. Holy moly! I blinked, wondering if I was seeing things
correctly. His body was…wow. Just wow.

Unable to take my eyes off of Ryder, I tried to jerk my arm away from
Nathan but he had a firm grip on me. As Ryder sauntered closer, I
suddenly didn’t care about Nathan’s hand on me. All I cared about
was staring at Ryder’s naked chest, ripped with perfect muscles.

I watched in a state of shock as Ryder picked up his shirt and
quickly pulled it on over his head, never taking his focus off of me. He
looked worried. Scared.

He looked like he wanted to throw up.

The redhead in the bed started giggling, making it impossible to
ignore her any longer. She sat up in bed naked, not bothering to cover
herself. Not caring that her brother was out cold, spread eagle on the
floor. Her mascara was running down her face, her hair was messy, and
she was swaying back and forth on the bed. To say she was drunk was an
understatement.

“Come on,” Nathan said, tugging on my arm to leave.

“Stop touching me!” I said, taking my embarrassment and jealousy
out on him.

Ryder’s deep voice erupted from behind me. “Don’t fucking touch
her, Nathan.”

I saw Nathan’s face turn white a second before I turned around.
Ryder was standing inches away, swaying on his feet. Despite being
drunk, his eyes were steady, drilling into Nathan’s with malice.

“I’m just trying to keep her out of your business and away from
the assholes that you manage to piss off,” Nathan said, letting go of
my arm and nodding his head toward the unconscious guy on the floor.

“She IS my business,” Ryder growled, no longer swaying on his
feet but steady as a rock. “Stay away from her. She’s just a
kid.”

I bristled at Ryder’s tone. How dare he call me a kid! And what the
hell did he mean ‘I was his business’? I was no one’s
‘business.’

“I’m 19, Ryder,” I said. “I’m not a kid or your
concern.”

The girl fell out of the bed, giggling as she landed in a pile of
sheets and pillows. I glanced over at her and averted my eyes. She was
as naked as a jaybird and as modest as a whore on payday.

Ryder ignored the girl, looking down at me coldly. I saw him weave on
his feet again. I could smell the alcohol on him, confirming that yes,
he was drunk, but no, not a happy drunk.

“You’re a kid, Maddie,” he declared.

“She doesn’t look like a kid, Ryder. Don’t treat her like
one,” Nathan said, apparently having a surge of fearlessness. Was he
crazy? Did he not just see Ryder knock a guy out with only one
punch?

“Why don’t you go back to your…party and I’ll take care of
Maddie until you’re done? I’ll even haul Jeremy out of here for
you,” Nathan added.

Ryder stepped closer to Nathan, his size putting Nathan’s to
shame.

“What do you take me for? You really think I’d willingly leave
Maddie alone with you?”

By now, we had gathered a small crowd out in the hallway. I glanced
over at all the anxious faces, each of them waiting for a fight to break
out, probably hoping to liven up the party. I think I even heard someone
prod Ryder to throw a punch.

“Listen, you two…cool it,” I said, needing to calm Ryder down
before he laid into Nathan. Drunk Ryder played nasty.

“Shut up, Maddie,” Ryder snapped, keeping his eyes on Nathan.

Okay. That was it. He had crossed the line.

“No, you listen to me…”

When he grabbed my upper arm, I squealed. Not bothering to be gentle,
he hauled me past Nathan and into the crowded hallway, pushing people
out of the way and not apologizing for it.

Not letting go of me, he lead me down the staircase. I tried to
wiggle out of his grip more times than I could count but he really just
didn’t care.

At the bottom of the stairs, a guy danced around, almost knocking me
over. (Probably blitzed out of his mind on whatever he was on.) I
started to tumble forward when Ryder yanked me closer, throwing me
against his side and keeping me safe.

“Watch it, buddy,” Ryder snapped, giving the kid a
back-off-or-pay-the-consequences look while still holding me against
him.

The kid seemed scared to death as he hurried away. He had just stared
the devil in the eye and lived to tell the tale. It was a look I had
seen many times when men confronted Ryder.

Once the kid was gone, Ryder started across the foyer again, keeping
me close by his side.

“You said you were drunk but it sure doesn’t seem like it,” I
said, dragging my feet and slowing him down as we got closer to the
door.

“I was but seeing Nathan touch you sobered me up quick.”

“He wasn’t hurting me. Unlike some people,” I muttered, giving
his profile a dirty look.

He stopped and turned to stare down at me. His eyes were heated and
so was his hand as it ran from my upper arm down to my wrist, making my
skin burn under my cardigan.

“Am I hurting you, Maddie?”

I bit the inside of my mouth. “Well, no.”

His eyes dropped down to my mouth. He knew that I was biting myself.
It drove him crazy. Good.

I let out a loud sigh and let go of the inside of my cheek.
Satisfied, Ryder led me through the front door, his fingers now wrapped
around my wrist. His touch was almost like a caress. A powerful,
stubborn one, but still a caress.

My flip-flops made a smacking noise against my feet as we left the
house behind. The warm Texas air hit us, turning my skin clammy from the
humidity.

“Did you drink anything in there?” he asked, letting go of my
wrist.

“No,” I answered, hurrying to keep up with him.

“Good. Rule number one at college - don’t drink and definitely
don’t drink something a guy handed you. It might be spiked with
something.”

“Ha!” I snorted. Who was calling the kettle black? “But isn’t
that what college is all about? Drinking and parties? Sleeping
around?” I added the last part to goad him.

His lips thinned. I could see his jaw flex beneath his five o-clock
shadow.

“Not for you, it better not be.”

“Who are you? My…”

Suddenly, he swung around to face me. The moonlight was bright,
lighting up the night like a huge lantern in the sky, making it easy to
see him.

He crossed his arms over his chest, annoyed. “Why the fuck did you
go in there, Maddie?”

“Uh, because you didn’t answer my texts. I sent like a
million,” I explained. I raised an eyebrow, daring him to argue. When
he didn’t, I walked away, leaving him standing alone. The soft,
perfectly manicured grass made no sound as I crossed the yard to my
truck.

“I saw the texts,” he said, catching up to me. “Not quite a
million but close.”

Stopping beside the truck, I let out a deep breath. I shouldn’t be
mad at him. He really didn’t do anything wrong except drag me out in
the middle of the night to pick up his drunk butt. Whatever else he did
was none of my business as long as he didn’t drink and drive.

I turned around, surprised to find him standing close behind me. Very
close. The middle of chest hit me about eye level. My gaze moved over
his shirt, noticing how it fit his body perfectly. A vivid picture of
what was under that shirt crossed my mind. Then I remembered the
redhead

Taking a deep breath, I raised my eyes to his. “Sorry I interrupted
your…night…but I was worried. I thought maybe you left without
waiting for me and--”

He started shaking his head before I had even finished talking.

“I would never do that to you,” he whispered, as if he was
telling me a secret.

I shrugged indifferently and yanked open the truck door. How should I
know what he would and wouldn’t do? If there was a girl involved,
Ryder might sell his soul for a roll in the hay. Stranger things had
happened.

The interior light of the truck cast a soft glow around the inside,
highlighting the cracks and tears in the leather seat. I started to
climb inside but paused, noticing that Ryder wasn’t moving. He still
stood in the same place, looking a little lost. A little worried.

“So what you saw tonight…” he began, hoarsely.

I shrugged. “It’s none of my business, Ryder.”

“She doesn’t mean anything to me, Maddie.”

“Looks like she meant something,” I responded. Why was he
explaining himself to me? He never gave excuses for what he did or said.
He was confident that way. It was one of the things I respected and
admired about him.

“You don’t have to answer to me,” I added.

“Yeah, I do.” His voice become lower, more seductive. “Not
because I have to but because I want to.”

We stared at each other for a few seconds. The heat pressed down on
us. The music from the house surrounded us, filling the air with techno
music. I became lost in Ryder’s eyes. There were so many emotions
behind them that I didn’t know where to start separating one from the
other. Regret. Embarrassment. Anger. Frustration. Too many emotions to
figure out.

Taking a step closer, his eyes ran over me, stopping on my shorts.
The emotions that had been there disappeared as if they had never
existed. Only hardness remained in his expression.

“Hell, Maddie, couldn’t you have put on some clothes before
coming to get me?”

Redness rushed into my face as I tugged my University of Texas tank
top lower. The running shorts I had on suddenly were not as comfortable
as they had been hours ago.

“It’s the middle of the night, Ryder. I wasn’t concerned about
what I was wearing when I hurried out of the house to rescue you.”

His eyes ran up and down my body again, quicker this time. Finally,
he tore his gaze away. “Shit,” he muttered, running a hand through
his hair.

Giving me a look of aggravation, he charged around the truck to the
passenger side. Yanking open the door, he climbed inside.

I had no idea what his problem was but I wasn’t going to take the
time to figure it out. He had been drinking and I had interrupted his
private sex party. Obviously, he wasn’t very happy with me right
now.

I climbed into the driver’s seat and stuffed the key into the
ignition. The truck roared to life, sounding more like a brand new
Mustang than an old Chevy pickup. I backed out of the driveway, careful
not to hit the Porsche parked beside me. Yeah, I definitely didn’t fit
in at this party.

“Do you need a ride in the morning to get your Bronco back?” I
asked, keeping my eyes on the dark road.

“Na, I’ll get Gavin to do it. He’s in town.”

For a couple of miles we didn’t talk. The silence was awkward and
unusual. We normally had tons of stuff to talk about but tonight just
felt…off.

I peeked over at him, catching a glimpse of his profile as we went
under a light pole. Strands of light brown hair fell into his eyes,
managing to look sexy and unmanageable at the same time. His firm,
strong jaw was set in a severe line with what I assumed was anger. With
one hand on the seat, he seemed tense, ready to jump out of the truck if
I made any sudden moves.