Rebel (Bad Blooded Rebel Series) (4 page)

I decided to try and get to know her a
little better…like who this man is that she had referred to earlier. “Why won’t
you keep it? Did your boyfriend find out about it?”

“What? I don’t have a boyfriend,” she
said, and I could tell she instantly regretted admitting it. I was definitely
happy by that admission.

“Really? Nice,” I said, cocking an
eyebrow. “Then who is this ‘he’ you keep talking about?” I asked.

After looking at me for a moment, she
threw her hands up and sighed. “Well, I’d say it’s none of your business but
since I’m apparently being talked about on the news you’ll find out soon
anyway. It’s my dad.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “Your dad? You’re a
grown woman, Everleigh. Is he still that over protective of you?”

“No, if anything he’s been pushing me to
have a life of my own instead of taking care of him,” she said sadly.

“What do you mean, ‘taking care of him’?”
I asked.

She looked down at the carpet for a
second before she looked back up at me. “He has stage four pancreatic cancer
and we have a full time hospice nurse living with us now. His doctor said he
had very little time left, and that was four months ago. This is the last thing
in the world our family needs right now, being hounded by camera-toting leeches
while he’s in his last days,” she said, her eyes filling with tears.

“Oh, fuck, Everleigh. I’m so sorry,” I
said, and I instinctively pulled her into a hug. I felt her tense up at first,
but when she couldn’t stop the tears from flowing she wrapped her arms around
my waist and began to sob. I held onto her and stroked her back, massaging it.

“I don’t want people messing with him
and coming to the house all the time. He’s going to die soon and I want him to
die in peace, not having people trying to peek in our windows and taking
pictures of me every time I come and go from the house. He doesn’t deserve
this.”

“I know he doesn’t. I’m going to hire
security to make sure your dad gets all the privacy and rest he needs,” I said.

She broke away from me and took a few
steps back. “Ryder, you don’t have to do that. I can find my own way to keep my
father safe. I don’t need your help,” she said. She held her hand out that was
still filled with money. “Here. Take this.”

“I’m not taking it back, Everleigh. Use
it to make your dad’s last days nice,” I said. I could definitely relate to
what she was going through. I lost my dad to lung cancer when I was twenty and
my mom was so devastated by his death that she overdosed on pills two years
later. If anyone could feel her pain it was me.

“I’m not keeping this money, Ryder. Take
it.”

“Well I’m not taking it back, Everleigh.
Keep it.”

“Why do you want to help me so much? Why
did you come here?” she demanded, tears still pouring down her cheeks.

“Why do you think? You have been driving
me crazy since the night of that concert, Everleigh! I knew from the first time
I saw you that you were different than any girl I’ve ever met.”

“Meaning I’m the first able bodied
female that didn’t immediately drop their panties for you just because you’re
famous,” she spat.

“No, that’s not it. You didn’t give a
shit about me at all. You saw me for me and no one ever has besides you, my
parents, and the guys in the band. You are the first girl I’ve met that doesn’t
want something from me. Everyone always has, but you don’t. That means
something to me.”

“What does it mean, Ryder? That the only
reason you came here was because I wasn’t impressed by you when we first met?”

I looked at her and was completely
dumbfounded. “Are you being serious? It means that I think you are the most
beautiful woman on the god damned earth and that I have dreamed of you every
night and thought of you at every moment of every day for the past three
months. It means that I can’t get you out of my head, Everleigh, no matter how
hard I have tried. It also means that if I stand here for one more second
without kissing you that I’m going to lose my fucking mind,” I said, and I took
a step closer to her. I waited for her to stop me, to back away, to slap me…do
anything to put the brakes on what was happening, but she didn’t. She just
stared at me with her big brown eyes as I tilted my head to the side and
brushed my lips with hers. I slightly opened my mouth as I placed a hand on her
cheek, tracing her jaw line with my finger tips. I wanted to deepen the kiss so
badly, but I wanted her to be the one to make the move. It didn’t seem like she
was going to get into it so I started to pull away. Before I could break the
kiss, I felt her head tilt opposite mine and she opened her mouth. That was all
the invitation I needed and I glided my tongue past her lips. When our tongues
met, I heard her moan into my mouth and I felt myself getting hard again. My
hand moved from her face down her neck and came to rest with my other hand,
which was anchored at the small of her back.

Just as the kiss was getting deeper, I
felt her pull away from me. She placed a shaking hand on my chest to steady
herself. “Ryder,” she whispered, “I can’t do this. I’m sorry.”

I moved my hands from her back to her
shoulders and rubbed them as comfortingly as I could. “It’s okay, Everleigh.
I’m sorry too.” She nodded and started pulling away more, but I gripped her
tighter and pulled her back to me. “You know what? I’m not. I want you and I’m
not going to apologize for it.”

“Why do you want me? You heard what that
girl said earlier. I am nothing but a low class waitress. I have more ass than
the average girl I’m swimming in an ocean of debt because of my father’s
mounting medical bills. Why the hell would you want to chase someone like me?
I’m nothing!” she shouted.

“You are
not
nothing, Everleigh,
because trust me if you were I wouldn’t be here. Why do you talk about yourself
like that?”

“Because it’s true! I have had enough
people in my life tell me what a waste of time I really am, including someone who
claimed to love me more than anything! I can’t believe I fell for it, but I’m
not falling for it again. I need to leave. Now,” she said. “Let me go, Ryder.”

I reluctantly released her. “I’m not
giving up that easily, Everleigh.”

“Well you are wasting your time because
I will never believe anything you say to me. I won’t fall for the lies again,”
she said. Who the fuck could have told her that she was so unattractive that it
was literally crippling her with doubt? I wanted to find out…and beat the fuck
out of him. “Take your money back, please.”

“I’m not taking it, Everleigh. Please
just enjoy your time with your dad. Trust me, you will regret not making those
last days the best they can be. I know from experience.”

“How do you know how this feels?” she
cried, tears pouring out of her eyes again. “Have you ever had to watch your
father waste away and die before your eyes?”

The pain of remembrance stabbed at my
heart and my jaw squared. “Yes, actually, I have.” Her eyes widened and her
mouth fell open. Before she could say anything more, my cell phone rang again.
This conversation was opening old wounds for me, so I took the opportunity to
back away from her and answer my phone. Without looking at who it was, I
answered it. “Hello?” I asked, my eyes still on Everleigh’s.

“Hey man, it’s Kris. Just heard the news
about your new girl,” he said.

“She’s not my girl. Yet,” I said, my
eyes boring into hers. She gasped and swallowed hard. “What’s up man?”

“I was just checking up on you. I don’t
know how much you’ve heard on the TV, but the press is all over this shit.”

“They are? Jesus, I haven’t really
watched any TV until just now.”

“Well, I bet if you look out your window
you’ll probably see a few reporters,” he said. I walked over to the window and
slightly pulled back the blinds. I saw about forty reporters and photographers with
their cameras ready, waiting to snap a picture of the two of us if we tried to
leave.
Fuck!
“Tell Everleigh to lay low if she can. Everyone’s wanting
the story on her.” Kris was a truly nice guy and for him to call with a warning
the news reports already must be bad. “You want us to come there?”

“For what? There isn’t anything you guys
can do to squash this shit. I’ll just call John and have him bring the security
team here. Everleigh will need a team of her own at her house too.”

“I can take care of it, man. I still
think Beau, Jude, and I should come to Muncie, though. United unit and all that
shit.”

“Why do we need to be all together for
this? As far as the press knows I came to a city in Indiana to see a new
mystery girl,” I said. “What’s the press been saying?”

“So far just stuff wondering who she is
and how could a rocker fall for a plain Jane girl like her. Mostly it’s about
you ‘dumping your band brothers’ to run off and chase some girl in another
city. One reporter even compared her to Yoko Ono,” he said.

I rolled my eyes. “Fuck!” I yelled, and
Everleigh jumped.

“Yeah, the label called Beau this
afternoon freaking out.”

“All right, fine. Go ahead and call John
and I’ll keep Everleigh here with me until you all get here. I’ll call the cops
and have someone go to her house and keep an eye on it.”

“She’s there with you now? Damn dude,
you work fast,” he said, laughing.

“Shut up man. I’ll see you in a few
hours. Be careful, the roads are pretty slick.”

“You know it. Later,” he said. I hung up
the phone and started search my internet for the number to the police station.

Everleigh’s eyes were still wide. “How
bad is it, Ryder? Tell me the truth.”

I sighed. “It’s not terrible, but I
think you should stay here with me for a few hours until my security team gets
here. I really didn’t think anyone in this town would give a shit who I was.”

“People know who you are even in Muncie,
Indiana. We aren’t all a bunch of dumb hicks. Why did you say you were calling
the cops to watch my house?”

“I want to be cautious, and since you
can’t leave right now I don’t want anyone bothering your father.”

Everleigh’s eyes started to glass over
again. “I swear to God, Ryder, if any of those bastards bother my dad in any
way…”

“Hey, I won’t let them. Just call your
dad and check on him and I’ll make sure someone goes over there, okay?” I
asked. She nodded and walked over to the bed, sitting down and taking out her
cell phone. As much as I wanted Everleigh, I was quickly realizing that coming
here was a huge mistake.

Everleigh

I sat down on the bed in Ryder’s room
and dialed my home number. As I waited for someone to pick up, I watched Ryder
on the phone. He was livid…he angrily yelled at whoever was on the other end of
the line and I could tell that he really was upset by all of this. I know he
hadn’t planned on making my life harder by showing up here, but he did. At
least he was trying to make it right. On the third ring, Trish picked up the
phone. “Stone residence. Trisha speaking.”

“Hey, Trish. It’s Everleigh.”

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Listen, this is going to sound strange,
but has anyone come by the house or called or anything since I left a while
ago?”

“No, no one’s come here, but there have
been a few people that have called.”

Relief washed through me that no one had
showed up but I was still irritated that they got my number. “Who’s called and
what have they said?”

“Nothing really, just asked if you lived
here and if you were dating someone named Ryder Matthews. I have no idea who
that is so I told them no and to stop calling.”

I let out a deep breath. “Thanks,
Trish.”

“Who is Ryder Matthews?”

“He’s the lead singer of a famous rock
band.” I could have lied and said he was no one, but random people wouldn’t be
calling my house asking about someone that wasn’t famous.

“Are you joking with me?” she asked.

“I wish I was joking. I met him when
Danni and I went backstage at the concert a few months back and he showed up in
town today at the diner.”

I could hear her smile over the phone.
“So, you’re telling me the lead singer of a rock band showed up in town for you
after you met him a few months back?”

“Thanks for the playback, Trish.”

“You’re dating a rocker? Max is going to
be thrilled,” she said. She was probably right…my dad was a rock fan through
and through.

“I’m not dating him, and don’t tell my
dad, Trish. I want to, okay?”

“You got it. Besides, I won’t be telling
him anything anyway because he’s sleeping for the night.”

“Thank God. He doesn’t need this shit
right now.”

“Where are you anyway?”

“Uh, I’m kind of at his hotel room.”
There was no way to say that where it wouldn’t sound bad.

“Really?” she said excitedly.

“It’s not like that, Trish. He tipped me
way too much today and I was coming to give it back to him. Apparently the
press showed up after I got here and I’m barricaded until his security team
shows up.”

“Uh huh. Well, everything here is fine
right now. Just enjoy your time in lock up,” she said.

“I’ll try. Ryder is on the phone with
the police department right now and he’s trying to get some officers out there
to watch the house just in case anyone shows up asking questions.”

“That’s nice of him, Everleigh,” she
said, sounding sincere.

I sighed. “I know. Just keep an eye on
Daddy and call me if anything happens, okay?”

“I will. I’ll see you soon, Everleigh.”

“’Night, Trish,” I said, and hung up the
phone. Ryder was still on the phone shouting so I decided to call Danni. I
needed my best friend in so many ways right now. I wish I could talk to her
about the kiss with Ryder…about how that was the most intense and wonderful
kiss I’d ever had in my entire life, but with Ryder right here, I couldn’t. He
already made it clear that he wanted me (and I still didn’t get it at
all
)
and I didn’t want to gush about what a good kisser he was to my best friend
with him right in the room. Before I could call her, I got a text message. It
was from a number I hadn’t see in three years. With a shaking hand, I opened it
and it read,

Wow, Ryder
Matthews, huh? Enjoy fucking him while you can, baby girl. Remember what I
said…

Tears immediately sprang to my eyes and
I dropped my phone to the floor with a loud thud. Ryder looked up and I thought
I heard him mutter a goodbye to the police. He came rushing over to me and
dropped to his knees in front of me. “Everleigh, what is it?” I couldn’t
speak…I can’t believe Scott had the nerve to text me after everything he said
to me all those years ago. That jerk was the reason I was afraid to let anyone
in. His words hurt me so deeply and scared me so badly then that I had built up
a wall around myself and refused to let any guy in. Scott told me he would make
my life hell and he had kept his word.

I was crying so hard that my vision was
blurred. I didn’t even see him pick up my phone. He read the message and
angrily asked, “Who the fuck is Scott?”

I shook my head. “N-not now, Ryder. I
can’t…”

“Is this asshole the reason you are so
afraid?” he asked.

“Please, I can’t talk about this now.
This has been one of the most fucked up days I’ve had in a long time and I
don’t want to think about it.”

Ryder put my cell phone on the bed next
to me and wiped my tears with his thumbs. “Everleigh, listen to me. I don’t
know what that dick head said or did to you, but you have to believe me when I
say it’s wrong. What can I do to get you to see how beautiful you are?”

I looked up at him and half smiled.
“There’s nothing you can do. I trusted him with everything I had and once he
got it, it was thrown back in my face like a used tissue. You are sweet to try
and help me, but nothing you say is going to change the way I see myself. Being
told that you are disappointing and terrible at sex are hard things to forget,”
I said, and the tears poured from my eyes again.

Anger was etched in every line of
Ryder’s perfect face. “First of all, you are not an ugly girl, Everleigh. Far
from it, actually. I don’t mean this to sound cocky, but I can pretty much have
any woman in the world that I want, but I don’t want them. I came here for you.
You are the only woman in the world I have ever chased and I want you so God
damned bad. Everleigh, you are fucking gorgeous and anyone that can’t see that
has some serious brain damage. I also can’t imagine you ever being bad at sex…it’s
just not possible. Not to be crude, but I’m having a hard time keeping my dick
soft when I’m around you,” he admitted, and surprisingly I laughed.

“Classy,” I said, sniffing. “What you
are saying is nice and all, but I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around
it. I still don’t get it.”

He smiled at me. “I wish there was
something I could do to make you see what I see when I look at you,” he said,
and I shrugged my shoulders. I know why I was guarded when it came to men, but
I also know that Ryder didn’t deserve to be cast aside because of it. I don’t
know if I was ever going to be able to really trust him but seeing how hard he
was trying already made me want to try. I know he took a huge gamble coming
here to see me after only meeting me once.

I looked into his blue eyes and they
were suddenly full of confliction. “Listen,” he said, “I don’t want to make
your life harder by dragging you into my fucked up world. I didn’t know about
how sick your dad was and the last thing you need is some cocky celebrity
coming into your town and stressing you out. I know how this feels, Everleigh,
because I’ve been where you are right now. If you want me to leave, say the
word and I will.”

I blinked and looked at him. “You want
to go already?”

“My life is crazy like this all the time
and I was stupid to think I could do something on my own for once. I was being
impulsive and now the burden is falling on you. This was stupid, I don’t know
why I came,” he said, standing up. He ran his hands through his hair in
frustration.

To my surprise, I rose off the bed and
followed him. “Okay, talk about your one-eighty’s,” I said.

He turned around and looked at me. “What
do you mean?” he asked.

“Come on, Ryder. You show up here
completely
out of the blue, telling me all of these things and saying you are into me and
I’m beautiful and all that crap, and now all of a sudden you are ready to bail
because you think it will be too hard on me? I don’t get it! What is it you
want from me?” I yelled.

He took a step and closed the gap
between us. “I want
you
so fucking bad, Everleigh, and I’m trying to be
a nice guy for once and give you an out. I’m telling you that being in any kind
of relationship with me is going to be hard with cameras following your every
single move and reporters and journalists twisting every word that comes out of
your mouth. You are a sweet girl from a small town and I’m a selfish prick to
drag you into this life.”

“Well, isn’t up to me to decide if I
want to be a part of this life?” I said, raising my voice and feeling a little
bit braver. “Don’t I get a say?”

“Fine then, what do you want,
Everleigh?” he barked.

I took a step toward him and stared into
his blue eyes. “I
want
to see what you see when you look at me! I
want
to understand how a man as beautiful as you could want someone as damaged as
me! I
want
you to want me because I’m so
tired
of being unwanted
and alone!” I shouted, and more tears fell from my eyes.

Ryder took my face into his large, warm
hands and leaned his face to mine. I thought he was going to kiss me again, but
he didn’t. He leaned in and pressed his lips to my eyes that were still wet
with tears, causing them to flutter. He pressed feather light kisses on both of
my eyelids before moving his lips down to my tear stained cheeks. I gasped
loudly when I felt the tip of his tongue on my cheek and it took me a split
second to realize that he was licking my tears away. He pulled back and stared
into my eyes, still holding my face. “Then give me a chance, Everleigh. Just
one chance, that’s all I ask. Let me show you what you do to me…let me in.”

Not able to fight how he made my body
feel, I nodded at him and his lips instantly found mine for the third time
today. My resolve completely disappeared and I melted into him. My body gave
itself over to him and I felt myself starting to fall into his chest. I felt
him smile against my lips and he pulled me closer, his tongue twisting with
mine. I felt tingles shooting all through me and my skin felt like it was
stretched as tight as it could be.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and he
let go of my face and wound his strong tattooed arms around my waist. He moved
us backwards until my legs hit the edge of the bed and I swayed, grabbing onto
him and trying to stay steady. I was unsuccessful and with a giggle, we both
toppled onto the bed. My legs fell open and his body nestled between mine. He
broke the kiss for a moment and laughed at me. “Clumsy girl,” he said, and his
lips claimed me again.

My fingers knotted in his thick dark
hair as his hands roamed up my waist. My hoodie had slipped up slightly when we
fell, baring my stomach. I shivered when his fingers grazed up my bare skin. He
moved his hand up higher until he reached the bottom of my sweater. He pulled
away and looked into my eyes for a moment, silently asking my permission. I
nodded and pulled his head back to mine as his hand slid under my hoodie and
roamed up my body. It had been three years since anyone had touched me like
this and while I was scared, my body was on fire.

I was starting to wonder if this was the
right thing to do since I’d only known Ryder for all but two seconds, but when
his hand found my breast, I was a goner. I whimpered into his mouth and arched
my back as his skillful fingers toyed with my hard peak. “God you feel good,
Everleigh,” he moaned.

“Ryder,” I breathed, unable to say much
more. He twirled my nipple in his fingers through the cotton of my bra and all
I felt was an intense burning and clenching in my core from the friction of our
bodies rubbing together. He kept up his torturous rhythm with his hands and his
hips. I was soaking wet and well past the breaking point. I was about to throw
caution to the wind and beg him to take all of me when his phone rang.

I started to sit up but he rested his
hard, heavy frame against me. “Ryder, your phone,” I whispered.

“Just ignore it,” he mumbled, running
kisses along my jaw line.

I shook my head. “It might be
important,” I said, and groaning, he nodded his head and reluctantly climbed
off me. I noticed as he stood and answered his phone that he was sporting a
very
impressive erection. I watched him trying to collect himself enough to carry on
a conversation and I felt like I might start drooling. His hair was messy from
me grabbing onto it, his lips were still glistening from kissing me, and his
tight black tee shirt that showed off his full sleeves of tattoos was wrinkled
from rolling around on top of me. Oh shit, was I in big trouble.

I must have been fantasizing about him
for too long because before I knew it, I felt the bed dip next to me as he sat
down at my side. “Sorry, that was Beau. Everyone should be here in about a half
hour.”

“Oh, good.”