Faith’s Temptation (Dueling Dragons MC Book 1) (17 page)

“Not long.” He lightly shakes his head. “You okay?”

He reaches out for my hand, but I don’t take it. I’ve never been the one to deal with emotions very well. I always either take everything too serious, or not serious enough. But this time…this time I’m all over the place.

“I’m fine,” I say as I pull my hand to my side and walk past him.

Headed down the stairs, I reach the landing when I feel Ryder behind me, hot on my ass. He grabs my hips and swings me around so that I face him and we are chest to chest.

“Know what you do to me when you look at me like that?” He moves his face closer to mine. He reaches up, grabs my chin, and turns my face to his, running his soft lips over mine.

“God, you’re beautiful.” Bringing his hand down to the nape of my neck, he grabs ahold and locks eyes with me.

Oh Lord, give me strength.
My breath catches in my throat at such a primal gesture, and I know that I am falling and falling fast.

“So fucking beautiful.” He leans down and kisses me.

Resting his forehead against mine, he says, “I told you Faith, I know what I want, and I am not shy about getting it.”

Smashing our lips together, my knees buckle and my brain turns to snow. I let out a little moan, and that just makes the moment even more intense.
You should stop this, stop this now.

“Ryder, we shouldn’t….” is all I am able to say before I hear a throat being cleared. I instantly turn red, knowing that it has to be one of my brothers. I stop, completely mortified.

I push Ryder away from me so I can see which brother it is. Someone is on my side today because it’s only Will. He’s a hell of a lot calmer than Nate. I would’ve never outlived the humiliation that he’d put me through for catching me.

“Hey, Will! When did you get here?” I say, trying to straighten myself out. I’m a little more than rattled. Brushing my hands over my shirt I continue down the stairs toward him.

Will picks me up the second I hit the bottom, and I immediately feel home.

Tears flow in a steady and hard stream with the overwhelming feeling of comfort and safety. I finally break down—I don’t think there is any way to stop.

Feeling embarrassed by my crying, I shove my face into Will’s shirt and stand there while I silently sob.

I hear Ryder walk up closer. “Hey, I’m Ryder. Faith’s boyfriend,” he says to Will.

Will moves his arm around me, and without letting go of me, he shakes Ryder’s hand.

“I’m Will, Faith Anne’s oldest brother. She never mentioned having a boyfriend when she talked to Nate about coming down. Just said she was bringing a friend. I take it that the big rig out there is yours?” Will starts with the questions.

“Well, it wasn’t decided ‘til just recently that we were going to be exclusive, and yes, that’s my rig. Is she in the way? I can move her somewhere else if need be,” Ryder says back without skipping a beat.

“No, you’re fine. It’s just a surprise seeing something that big that isn’t a tractor,” Will counters, turning his attention back on me. “Shhh, Faith. It’ll be okay, sweetie. Calm down, you’re okay. I got you. Nothing is going to happen to you. What’s going on?”

“Daddy…is gonna die. He’s really sick. Why didn’t you guys tell me it was worse than you thought? Why?” I ask him with tears running down my face.

“Faith, you blocked all our numbers. We had no way of getting ahold of you ‘til Nate found a way around it. Said that he talked to you once, but dad made us promise not to tell you how bad things were.” He rubs my shoulders, looking me in the eye. “Said he told you that dad was sick, but that everything was okay to keep that promise,” Will admits. I look in his eyes and instantly see my father, but at a much younger age.

Shrugging his hands from my shoulders, I step back a few steps and run into Ryder. “Promise or not, you should have told me how bad it was. I would have come back sooner.”

“Would you have? How were you gonna get back here with no money? Nate said that’s all you seemed to talk about when he talked to you,” Will says with a little more of an attitude than I expected.

Glaring at my brother, wishing that for one day he wouldn’t throw me leaving in my face. “Yes, I would have. Ryder, wanna see how we enjoy a night out in Mobile?” I ask as I throw on my coat. I grab my purse as I storm for the door. I’m not going to stand here and let my brothers make me feel bad for leaving.

THROWING OPEN THE FRONT
door, I stomp down the stairs and out toward Ryder’s rig. I hear him coming up behind me. “Faith, hey, wait. Please.”

“What?” I stop, swinging my arms up in the air, frustrated with the whole situation. “Can we just please get out of here. Please?”

“Yeah, that’s fine. I just wanna make sure you’re okay.” He walks up to me.

“I’m fine. Now, are we taking your rig or my car?” I stare at him. Leaving my car behind was a choice I didn’t like making. But the day I left all I could think about was jumping on the first bus outta that place, no matter the destination.

“I guess yours.”

I continue to stomp to the garage, pull the door open, and hit the alarm button on my keys.

I walk in and rub my hand on the roof of the car. “How you been, baby? Momma missed you.” This car has been with me through everything. I know it is strange to say something like that, but when you don’t have many friends and you have no one to talk to, you find comfort in the little things. And rebuilding this car was my way of getting through hard times in my life. Beau helped me with it a lot when we were together.

“Get in, sit down, and shut up. No bitching about the way I drive.” My cockiness doesn’t go away with emotions. If anything, it gets worse.

Ryder gets in the car and puts his seatbelt on. I start up my baby and she purrs like I never stopped driving her. I slip her into reverse and pull out of the garage. Once I’m clear of the garage, I slip her into drive. I slowly cruise down the long, bumpy driveway, then once we hit the pavement, I press my foot on the gas pedal and quickly gain speed.

“Whoa! Sure you know how to drive at high speeds like this, babe?” he asks as he grabs ahold of the “oh shit” handle.

“Relax. I’ve been driving for years. I’ve never been in an accident that was my fault.” Speed gives me the rush of adrenaline my body needs to forget everything wrong in my life right now. Even if only temporarily the negative thoughts.

Your dad is dying. How could you forget that?

Ryder reaches over and puts his hand on my thigh and slips his finger along the seam of my jeans. It makes me instantly wet. “So what are we doing?” He squeezes my thigh and I reach down and rest my hand on top of his.

“Well, have you ever been to a truck pull?” Trying to think of something with lots of people and things to keep my mind off things with my daddy. “I know it sounds a little country. Okay, it sounds
a lot
country.” I laugh. “But I think you’ll have a lot of fun. Trucks, girls, loud trucks, and hot girls. Umm, what else can I say?”

A truck pull is a huge game of tug-a-war but with trucks. Big trucks with beefy engines try to pull the other one along, a game of who's got the bigger balls. They are honestly a favorite pastime of mine. Beau and I used to go to truck pulls and mud bogs all the time. That was before our life blew apart. When we were in love I guess. But I loved Beau up until the day I left. He was the one that ruined us.

“Sure, sounds like a lot of fun. Let’s go. Besides, I get to see you in your element.” He squeezes my leg again and I move my hand to start downshifting to get off the highway.

***

We hang out at the truck pull for a little while longer and run into a few people from school, and I get nervous.
If they’re here, what are the chances of running into Beau or Peggy Sue?
It is a small town after all.

Ryder and I decide to head to the bar so we can get another drink before we take off for the night. “So this is what you used to do when you lived here?” he asks as we walk through the crowd of people.

I’m getting ready to answer him when I hear a laugh that stops me from speaking or breathing. My heart and brain seem to stop in their tracks. I turn and standing about ten feet away from me is Beau. I can tell from his back that he is still in really good shape. He’s taller than he was the last time I saw him, and I notice Peggy Sue is hanging off his arm. They’re both laughing, and then I see Peggy Sue’s pregnant.
Holy shit!

She’s the first one to notice me standing there, and I’m still in too much shock to realize that they’re now heading over to me.

“Faith Anne, is it really you?” Peggy Sue walks over to me and tries to give me a hug, but I step back and look down at her stomach.

Are you fucking kidding me? Is she really pregnant? And so far along? Who—how—why—What the hell?!?

“Babe, you okay?” I feel a comforting arm go around me and I look up to see Ryder standing there. I don’t get a chance to answer him before Beau is standing in front of me.

“Faith! How you doing? You’re looking…well. How has.... how has life been?” Beau asks, but you can tell that he feels awkward talking to me.

My body trembles with anger. Ryder squeezes me tighter, making me feel safe. “Well, to be honest. Now that all the
trash
” –I empathize the word trash— “is out of my life, I actually feel better. I have a life, a job, my own place, and I have a man that wants to be with me and
only
me.” I look up and smile at Ryder.

“Ryder Porter. And you are?” He sticks his hand out to shake Beau’s hand. I pull it back before Beau is able to grab it.

“This is Beau and Peggy Sue. My
ex-
boyfriend and my
ex
-best friend,” I say through my teeth, and you can hear the hurt and anger coming off my voice.

“Aw, come on Faithie. Do you really need to be like that?” Beau says as he shifts from heel to heel. He always did that when he was in a situation he didn’t know how to get out of.

“Fuck off, Beau, you have no right. None at all calling me ‘Faithie’ or even thinking that we can begin to be friends. Not after what you two did!” I spit at him. “And you! You were my best friend, my best fucking friend. We were gonna grow old together and travel the world after our husbands passed away.” I look at Peggy Sue with tears streaming down my face.

Something told me that I’d run into them, but I wanted to show Ryder how we did things down here in the south.

“Faith, I’m so sorry. I honestly thought that you knew. I was made to believe that you knew and you were fine with it,” Peggy Sue says to me.

“How could you ever think that?” I walk up to her and I want to slap her across the face, but I think better of it.
She is expecting, after all.

“Oh, Peggy Sue, what comes around goes around. I wish y’all the best of luck,” and then I look at Beau. “You’re both trash and you deserve each other.”

I turn and run toward my car. Tears flow the instant I reach it. I’m trying to unlock the doors so that I can lock myself inside in safety. That’s when Ryder comes up behind me and grabs the keys from me.

“Get in,” he orders as he hits the unlock button on the key fob.

The second my ass hits the seat, I sob into my hands.

***

When you have so much pent-up aggression and everything seems to happen at once, good and bad, something triggers you and the flow of tears in my secure environment with Ryder and
bam,
Cry Me a River
isn’t just a song anymore. Ryder hands me a tissue and I try to make myself look like a human being, but every time I begin cleaning myself up, I think about everything and I just break down all over again. “Can we go to the beach?” I ask.

“Wherever you wanna go, babe, I’ll take you,” he says as he puts his hand on my leg and squeezes to let me know that he is here for me.

As we pull up to the beach, I kick my sandals off and leave them in the car. Ryder also takes his shoes and socks off and gets out of the car. I walk toward the front of my car where Ryder has his hand extended out for me.

“Feel like talking about it, babe?” he asks with a concerned tone. God, this man is so gentle, charming, perfect. He knows what to say and when, and there is never any pressure.

What did I ever do to deserve him?
I ask myself as we walk down the beach farther and pick a spot in the tall grass by the sand to sit down. It’s pitch black outside, and the only thing giving off any light is the moon.

As I get ready to sit down, I notice that he grabbed the emergency blanket out of my car. “Wait a second, let me put this down for us to sit on.”

He flings the blanket open and I give him a small smile to show that I notice how sweet he is. Again, it is the small gestures that make me fall for him even more. I’m rewarded with his sexy grin and dimples that he gives only for me.

I sit down and take a couple of deep breaths. I try to steady myself and reassure myself that I’ll make it through this. I’ve got Ryder here who will support me no matter what, and my brothers.
Once you tell them everything, of course.

“I’d been friends with those two ever since we entered elementary school. Peggy Sue was the first girl that I talked to and became friends with, and Beau was the first boy that either one of us ever talked to. We were all extremely close friends. I had this idea that Beau was the one for me. I wanted to be with him and only him. So our freshman year of high school, Peggy Sue talked me into telling Beau about my feelings,” I say with a shy tone at the end.

“Well, I was ecstatic to find out that Beau felt the same way about me. So we began dating. Dreams of dating him all through high school were coming true. Next thing was to graduate and make it through college together. Both our parents were high school sweethearts. We wanted to follow in their footsteps.” I sigh thinking of the last part.

This might not be as hard as I thought, telling him everything. He looks like he isn’t judging me, but there is one part that he might judge me on, I’m not sure. I hope he doesn’t and he can look past it.