Rebel (Bad Blooded Rebel Series) (10 page)

“Hey Everleigh,” he said, sounding frustrated.

“Uh oh, what’s wrong?”

“I have to go back to Cincinnati
tonight.”

Disappointment shot through me. “You do?
What happened?”

He sighed. “Our manager called this
morning freaking out. Apparently the label is pissed that I just up and left in
the middle of recording our new album-”

“You what?” I asked.

“It’s fine, Everleigh. We already have
seven tracks finished and we have the other songs written, arranged, and ready
to record. Anyway, he’s in a panic so the label is demanding that we come back
and finish the album so they can start promoting it. It’s not even fucking
finished yet and they already want to promote the damn thing. Hell, we still
have two months before the deadline!”

“This is because of me, isn’t it? You
guys are getting all this publicity now because you came here for me and now
they want to monopolize on it, don’t they?”

“I wish I could disagree with you but I
think you are right. They will do or say anything to make fucking money. It
doesn’t matter to them if the album is complete shit just as long as they get
their take from it,” he said angrily.

“It will be okay, Ryder. You need to do
what you have to for your band. Don’t let me get in the way of that, please,” I
said.

“I just don’t want to leave yet. I have
a feeling you will change your mind about this thing with us before I can come
back,” he said.

“Ryder, I won’t. I told you I would give
this a real chance and I will. No one has made me feel the way you have in the
past two days. I know it’s like, crazy fast, but…”

“It’s not been crazy fast for me,
Everleigh. I have dreamed of you for three months.”

“I know,” I said, breaking off into a
whisper. “Hey, it’s not like it’s forever, right? I mean, we can text and talk
on the phone and-”

“Send naked pictures back and forth?” he
laughed.

I giggled. “Come on now, you really
think that’s smart considering you are famous and all?”

“Well, we can Skype then,” he said, and
I could hear the smile in his voice.

“So you seriously think I’m going to
have Skype sex with you?” I asked, grinning.

“I think if I put my mind to it I could.
I got you to give me a chance in the past two days, now didn’t I?”

“Yes you did, Ryder.” I heard male
voices in the background and then he said, “Listen, we’re packing shit up, so
I’ve got to jump off here. Can I call u once I’m on the road?”

“Sure you can,” I said. “I wish I could
see you before you go.”

“Funny you should wish that…” he said,
and at that moment I heard a knock on the door.

I felt myself smiling as I half ran to
the door and threw it open. Ryder was there standing on my doorstep wearing
faded jeans, a Social Distortion tee shirt, his leather jacket, and his black
motorcycle boots. He was beautiful. “Hey,” I said, putting my phone back in my
pocket.

He took a step toward me and wrapped his
arm around my waist. “Hey yourself, gorgeous.” His lips were on mine in a flash
and I opened my mouth for him. Our tongues touched and it caused my blood to
start racing through my veins.

Once we broke apart, I leaned against
his tall frame. “I’m glad you stopped by,” I said. I reached into my pocket and
pulled out the tip he gave me, minus the money I spent buying breakfast the day
before. “For you.”

He grinned at me. “What the hell is
this?”

“Oh, you didn’t think I forgot about
this, did you? Sneaky slipping it into my pocket while grabbing my ass, by the
way,” I said.

Ryder laughed. “Oh, I knew you wouldn’t.
Keep it, seriously.”

“I can’t keep this Ryder, you know
that.”

He sighed. “Well, how about you give it
to me when I see you again?

I smiled. “Deal. I am really glad you
came by before you left.”

“I wasn’t going to leave without seeing
you, Everleigh,” he said, and kissed my lips quickly again. “This sucks so
bad.”

“It does, but I’ll be fine here. You
need to go do your thing. Don’t worry, I’ll be here if you decide to come
back,” I said, the lump in my throat getting bigger. God, why was I on the
verge of tears over someone that’s not technically my boyfriend?

“Come with me,” he whispered.

“W-what?” I asked.

“Come away with me, Everleigh.”

I swallowed hard. “I…I can’t, Ryder. My
dad…I can’t.”

His jaw squared. “I know, I understand.
I just don’t want to leave you alone in this. You’re going to need someone with
you.”

“I won’t be alone. You’ll be with me
even from far away,” I said, tears welling in my eyes.

“If anything, and I mean anything,
happens to Max at all while I’m gone, you call me and I’m here. Just like
that,” he said, running his thumb along my bottom lip. “Okay?”

I sniffed. “Okay.”

“I have to go if I’m going to make it to
Cincinnati by sundown,” he said. He pulled me closer and kissed me again. He
was a phenomenal kisser, but something about this kiss was almost…sad. It was
like he was saying goodbye and unsure of when we would have this again. “Don’t
forget me,” he said.

“Don’t
you
forget
me
, rock
star,” I said, and with a final quick kiss, he turned and walked to his
Escalade. I held my tears in as long as I could and as I watched him drive
away, I finally let the tears flow down my face. Just as I was about to head
back into the house, I saw Danni’s car pull into the driveway and she jumped
out, looking as miserable as I felt. She had the best timing in the world, because
right now it was clear to see we’d both fallen hard for rockers and needed each
other.

A few hours later, it had gotten dark
outside. I had spent some time with Daddy before he drifted off to sleep for
the night, and now Danni and I were sitting in our pajamas on my bed surrounded
by junk food. We’d been commiserating over our respective love lives, including
the details of Danni’s night with Beau and my night with Ryder. “God girl, he
was
amazing
,” she gushed. “I swear to God I’ve never had an orgasm that
intense before. Or should I say ‘orgasms’.”

I sighed and smiled at her. “Yeah, I
know what you mean.”

She took a bite of a cheese puff and
smiled. “Wait, I thought you two didn’t have sex last night.”

“We didn’t.”

“Ooh, did he go down on you?” she asked.

I blushed. “God, Danni, no.”

“Well, what did he do?”

I don’t know why this was embarrassing
to me to talk to Danni about this kind of stuff. She knew the ins and outs of
my relationship with Scott, but I was having trouble admitting to her that he’d
gotten me off with his hand alone. “He…used his hand,” I said, looking down at
my nails.

She squealed. “And? How was it?”

I smiled timidly. “Incredible,” I said,
and she bounced up and down excitedly. “I swear it was never like that with…” I
trailed off.

“With Scott,” she answered for me. “I
know, Ev. You don’t like to talk about it, but I really think you need to.”

“It just hurts too much. I feel like a
fool for believing anything he said to me.”

“Well, you were in love. How were you
supposed to know he’d flip like that?”

I sighed. “I can’t believe I fell for
him. He always seemed so patient and sweet and all of the foreplay…it was
good,” I said. “I thought the butterflies I felt were normal. In hindsight it
was my body trying to warn me not to take things that far.”

“I’m sorry, Ev.”

“Well, I have no one to blame but
myself.”

“Everleigh, you are not to blame for
what Scott did! You told him you didn’t feel comfortable sleeping with him
again after that first time and that you needed time to figure things out. You
did the right thing for you and it’s not your fault he went crazy over it!”

“He texted me Friday night after Ryder’s
visit hit the news,” I admitted.

Her eyes went wide. “What? Why didn’t
you tell me?”

“Well, we’ve both been a little busy,” I
said, smiling weakly. “Ryder saw the message and flipped out. He wants to know
what happened with Scott, but I haven’t been able to tell him yet. This is the
most I have talked about Scott in three years.”

“Well, you’re going to have to
eventually, especially since Scott is messaging you. If you are going to go
into a relationship with Ryder full force, you both need to be on alert. Scott
isn’t going to let you go that easily.”

“Well, I’m not his to hold on to
anymore. He broke up with me because I didn’t want to sleep together again
until I was sure I loved him, so he gets no say in who I choose to date now.”

Danni smiled at me. “Good for you, Ev.
Still though, be careful. Remember what happened that night outside the bar
last year when that guy asked for phone number?”

I cringed, remembering Scott pressing
the guy up against a wall and punching him repeatedly in the stomach. I didn’t
understand Scott…we slept together, but afterward I politely asked him if we
could wait before we did it again because of all my fears. He flipped out,
called me about every name you can think of, and dumped me right then and
there.

The next day he sent me a text message
threatening that he would make sure no one else would want me because he
couldn’t have me. I didn’t understand him at all and it’s taken me a long time
to try and get past it. “I remember. I just wish he’d leave me alone.”

“That’s why you should tell Ryder about
it. He has the means to keep you safe from him.”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ll think
about it. Right now I want to hear more about Beau and your multiple orgasms,”
I said, smiling. Thankfully, she took the bait and our conversation moved to
Beau and away from my crazy ex boyfriend. Danni was right…I would have to tell
Ryder about all of this eventually, but for now I just wanted to focus on my
dad and trying to get through all of the sadness to come. I just hope I didn’t
completely fall apart.

Just as Danni was getting really
personal and telling me about how big Beau’s junk was, my bedroom door burst
open. It was Trish, looking as white as a sheet. My heart immediately sank.
“Trish, what’s wrong?”

“It’s Max. You need to come quick.”

I flew up out of bed and took off down
the hallway to his room. “What happened?” I asked, frantic.

“I went to check on him and he had blood
coming out of his nose and mouth. I’m going to call his doctor but I think you
need to be with him right now,” she said, her tone suggesting this might be one
of the last times I would have with my dad.

I heard Danni say behind me, “I’m going
to call Beau and have him let Ryder know.”

I shook my head. “No, Danni, don’t. He
just left and he’s got his own shit to deal with right now. I’ll call him
later,” I said.

“Ev, he will want to be here.”

I shook my head. “I can’t let him watch
this again, Danni.” She stared at me with a confused look on her face as I took
a deep, terrified breath and I put my hand the door knob leading to his room,
petrified of what I’d see when I walked in. Selfishly, I thought to myself,
Ryder,
I need you…

Okay, I’m going to try really hard and
not get all mushy this time…I’ll keep this short and sweet. Thank you so much
to all of my readers!!! I can’t believe how many wonderful people I have met
since I first hit that “publish” button four months ago. Some of you have even
become friends I’ll have for life…I love you all!

Thank you over and over to my fierce little
band of Rebels…Dawn, Sam, Leanne, Tiffanie, and Fiona…thanks for having my back
and helping pimp me out to the masses! I love you goddesses!!!

To my Facebook family (most of them
talented authors themselves)…Sidda, Melissa, Cassandra, Danielle, Ryter, Chris,
Kimberly, Kat, T.H., Terri, Georgie, Julie, and everyone I am forgetting…please
forgive me, my brain is mushy! I love you all, you are insanely talented, and I
am so happy to know you!

Thank you again to my wonderful salon
family…I love you all so much and I am so proud to be on a team as awesome as
ours!

Thanks to my family that has supported
me. You know who you are.

Thank you to my husband and daughters
for your continued support. I love you all!

Last but not least…thank you again to
Casey. You will continue to inspire me daily and I will forever miss you. I
love you, girl!

I encourage all of you to please donate
to a special trust account set up for my late friend Casey Kreb’s children. She
was an amazing mother and would have done anything for her children and I want
to help them now that she can’t. The information is below…please donate if you
can. Do your part to put an end to domestic violence!

PrimeTrust
Financial Account #980224

3700 W. Bethel
Ave.

Muncie, IN 47304

Phone Number:
(765) 281-6003

www.primetrustcu.com

I love, love, LOVE to hear from and
interact with readers and other authors, so look me up! I am on Facebook (Mellie
George), I have an author page for you to “like” (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Mellie-George/329475417182667?bookmark_t=page),
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and stalk me, you know you want to, lol! See you all again soon!

Also
available from Mellie George:

Say
Yes (Glenbrook Girls Series) Book 1

Back
To Life

Coming
Soon from Mellie George (in NO particular order):

Rouge
(Bad Blooded Rebel Series #2)

Renegade
(Bad Blooded Rebel Series #3)

Redeemed
(Bad Blooded Rebel Series #4)

Come
Back Home (Glenbrook Girls Series) Book 2- coming in 2014

Fighting
For Us (Sequel to Back To Life)-coming in 2014