Ryker (The Powers That Be Book 4) (3 page)

“Glad! He was making out with another woman! He fucked her last night! The night after he fucked me!” I couldn’t help but scream now.

“Calm down, Frankie.”

“Calm down? Seriously?”

“Yes.”

Wow. Had everyone gone nuts in the last twenty minutes? I brought my phone down to Bluetooth it as I focused on evening out my breathing. Okay. She was right. I definitely needed to calm down. Jesus.

“Are you calm now?”

I rolled my eyes. “I guess,” I bit out.

“You like this guy.”

“
Liked
,” I answered, making sure to put emphasis on the “D.”

“Okay, liked. And up until about twenty minutes ago he was your dream guy, right?”

More eye rolling, more biting out. “Yes.”

“So what’s changed?”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really.”

“Gladys, he fucked another woman!”

“So he’s a guy with lots of testosterone. Are you guys dating? Nope. So it’s not like he was cheating on you! You think he’s been celibate all this time just waiting for you to come to him?”

She had a point. I guessed. “But he was supposed to be my future husband,” I said quietly, trying to come to terms with what had just happened.

“And you wanted your future husband to be a virgin?”

I blew out a breath. “I don’t know why you’re on his side.”

“You know I’m always on your side. I just want you to see how silly you’re being.”

“Whatever. If you went to see Nathan Bogle to start your life together and caught him making out with some hot stripper chick, you’d be pissed too!”

I heard her gasp. Ah, I knew that’d open her eyes. “You’re right. Shit! I get it now! I’m so sorry!”

I chuckled before answering resignedly, “It’s okay. So my dream was bashed two days in a row. Time to get a new one, don’t you think?” The backs of my eyes burned and I had to blink several times to keep the tears from coming just thinking how stupid I’d been. “God, I’m such an idiot.”

“No, you’re not. And from what that guy said I’m not so sure your dream’s over just yet.”

“What?” I asked on a disbelieving huff.

“He said you were the best he’s had, Frankie.”

Now I huffed out a humorless laugh. “I’ll bet he’s had so many how would he know? You eat enough cream puffs, they’re bound to start tasting the same, Glad.”

“Well, apparently he likes the cream in your puff.”

“You didn’t.”

She laughed. “I did. But mark my words, Frankie. He’s not finished with you yet.”

“He has no choice because I’m finished with him,” I retorted.

And I really hoped I meant it.

3—Escape

I had only two classes this semester including my student teaching seminar which would meet periodically throughout the semester as well as two days this week (that was where I was headed now) then I’d begin fourteen weeks of student teaching. I was excited because I’d be teaching seven weeks of English and seven of PE in two separate schools and I couldn’t wait to get started. I’d also enrolled in Care and Prevention of Athletic Injuries which met on Monday and Wednesday nights in the training room of the fieldhouse. I’d taken it on a whim thinking that if I ever decided to coach a high school sport I’d need it, so what the heck.

Today’s seminar lasted just under an hour and now I was in line to sign in and pick up my packet.

“Frankie!”

I turned and saw my friend Shelby walking up.

“Hey, Shelby. You ready for this?” I grinned at her. She was an elementary education major and wanted to teach first grade. We’d met in our College Algebra class freshman year and from the beginning I’d known she had to be majoring in something that dealt with children because she was a ball of energy who’d be perfect working with little kids.

“I am! I can’t wait to get to teach those little babies! They’re all so cute and sweet at that age!”

I snorted. “By the time they get to me, they’ll be all jaded and tired of school.”

She chuckled. “I just love the innocence of the little ones. I don’t know why you want to deal with older kids.”

“I don’t know why you like the little ones. I swear, if I taught that age and a kid peed his pants or wanted me to wipe his snotty nose, I think I’d puke.”

She cracked up. “Oh, now, it’s not that bad! You must not have any younger brothers or sisters.”

“Nope. Only child and spoiled rotten.” I winked at her.

We chatted a bit more waiting our turn.

“Francesca Mangenelli,” I told the woman sitting behind the table when I made it to the front.

“That’s a mouthful,” a guy said from behind me.

I laughed as I turned around to remark to him, “It is. Try learning how to spell it when you’re in kindergar—” And I froze.

Holy shit. Ryker Powers was standing right behind me. And he was giving me his sexy half grin. Gah!

“So, Francesca Mangenelli. I’m Ryker Powers. It’s nice to meet you.” Keeping his eyes on mine, he took my hand that hung limply at my side in his huge one and squeezed it gently, and all I could do was stand staring into his golden eyes that were dancing with amusement.

“Wow,” I heard Shelby whisper from beside me which suddenly snapped me out of my daze.

Raising an eyebrow at him and with a coy smile, I slipped my hand from his.

“Ms. Mangenelli?” the woman behind the desk said.

I looked back to her. “Yes?”

“Your packet.” I took it from her and turned to go only to hear her sharply say, “You need to sign off that you received it, young lady.”

“Oh, yes, sorry,” I mumbled as I took the pen and signed my name. When I finished, I looked at Shelby. “I’ve got to go. I’ll see you around.” I gave Ryker my best sarcastic smirk and took off.

~*~*~*~

That night in Care and Prevention of Athletic Injuries had been fun. Coach Nolan, the football team’s athletic trainer, was the teacher and he’d shown us videos on taping with kinesiology and zinc oxide tape. Afterward, he’d told us to look up ankle injuries in our textbooks then had us partner up and tape each other’s ankles. As an athlete, I’d been taped before, but now I was cursing myself for not paying much attention at the time. Taylor, the girl I’d teamed up with, said she’d also been an athlete and had been taped before, but now she and I looked at each other nervously since we were in the same boat. Sadly, our attempts had our ankles looking somewhat like a mummy’s. Coach Nolan had walked by our table, raised an eyebrow at our shoddy attempts, looked at me then Taylor then back at each ankle and had given a “Humph” before moving on. We’d cracked up.

Before class was over, Coach had informed us he’d be bringing in athletes Wednesday night for us to practice on. I’d talked to Ciara and Madison from the basketball team and they said they’d be there, so I hoped I got one of them which would make taping less stressful. I’d really enjoyed the class, though, and actually learned a lot in just the one night.

~*~*~*~

“He wants you,” Sharee said over the top of her beer mug. She’d made good on her promise to take me to O’Leary’s if I’d gotten embarrassed when I’d gone by Ryker’s which was a mammoth understatement since I’d been completely mortified.

“Apparently he wants every woman,” I replied sardonically.

I’d run into Chance Reynolds, star quarterback for the football team and who Sharee had recently broken things off with, after class and asked him about Ryker. Of course, I didn’t tell her I’d talked to him. I wasn’t stupid. Plus, I didn’t want to get cussed out by her. Anyway, Chance had informed me that Ryker was considered a god amongst the athletes on campus because of all his sexual exploits which had made me all kinds of grossed out.

“He’s a hot guy. I’m sure women throw themselves at him all the time. What’s he gonna say? No?” she challenged.

I took a sip of my Lazy Eye, a drink with Jim Beam, having made sure to take advantage of Sharee’s offer to take me out for drinks by ordering something I liked that was more expensive than beer. Hey, she could afford it since both her parents were attorneys and she’d be one soon and probably working in the same firm they did bringing in a gazillion dollars a year. I set my tumbler down and eyed her. “He could take a night or two off every now and then.”

She snorted. “I’m sure he does, Frank. I’ll bet if you went by his place in the morning, no one would be there.”

“Oh, no, you don’t. I’m not falling for that shit again. My luck, I’d see him making out with triplets on his front porch.” I narrowed my eyes at her which made her chuckle. “At least Gladys understands.”

“It’s not that I don’t understand,” she scoffed making me squint my eyes now. “I get it. I do. I mean, Chance totally taught me not to trust any man ever. Fucker.” She downed the rest of her beer and signaled to the waitress that we needed another.

“So how’d your class go tonight?” I asked, veering away from that particularly touchy topic. Sharee thought Chance had cheated but I honestly didn’t. As the quarterback, he’d had to do a photo shoot with one of the cheerleaders for the program cover. The shoot had lasted longer than Sharee thought it should have and she’d immediately cried, “Personal foul!” at this, not even giving him the opportunity to explain. As her best friend, I’d listened to her complaint and tried presenting reasons for the shoot’s delay but she’d wanted nothing to do with it, so I’d given up deciding she must’ve wanted to break from him to begin with.

“Philosophy of Law? It was good. We have assigned readings we’ll discuss. This week’s is the death penalty. Good times.”

The waitress brought our drinks and I asked Sharee before taking a sip, “So what’s your take?”

“If they’re guilty,” she made a
squick
noise as she drew her finger across her throat.

“Well, all right,” I replied with a giggle.

I managed to steer our conversation away from Ryker the rest of the night, thank God, and since we both had class in the morning, we had only one more drink before calling a cab to take us back to our apartment. 

~*~*~*~

I managed to avoid Ryker the next morning in seminar. Oh, I’d seen him all right, how could I not notice the hottest guy there, but I was proud of how I’d played it off and looked right past him as if he wasn’t even there. Shelby had been full of questions but I just told her he was someone from my past who was going to stay there and left it at that.

After seminar, I’d been bored to tears at home since I’d quit my job at the downtown Nordstrom store, which I’d loved, by the way, because I’d worked in handbags and accessories and got to handle designer purses all day. But I knew student teaching would take up most of my time, so I’d quit. Now due to my boredom, I ended up cleaning out my closet and dresser, taking the clothes I knew I’d no longer wear and dropping them off at Goodwill. I’d felt so good about getting rid of things that I’d gone shopping for new clothes, totally negating my progress. Oh, well.

The next morning I was psyched, ready to get to the school I’d been assigned where I’d be teaching elementary PE the first seven weeks which was awesome. My mentor teacher was Coach Gilbert, a crotchety but hilarious guy who’d been the football coach at one of the area high schools for umpteen years before retiring. He now taught PE because he said his wife had told him he was driving her crazy being at home all day and if he didn’t get back to doing something, she’d kick him out and/or divorce him. I thought it was crazy how well the kids responded to him since he was rather harsh with them, but there was no denying the mutual love they had for each other. And although he may have acted as if he was annoyed when each class came in, the twinkle in his eyes told a different story.

I’d had a blast helping “coach” the kids that day but had been shocked right off the bat when Coach G had split his first hour, which was made up of first graders, mind you, into teams and had them play dodgeball. Four kids had had to sit out because they’d gotten beaned in the face and were crying, two had fallen down and scraped their knees and had to go to the nurse to get Band-Aids and one unfortunate boy had taken a ball to his crotch which made him howl in pain.

“Um, Coach? You don’t think this is a bit much for kids this little?” I’d asked after one kid ran over with a bloody nose only to have Coach G tell him to suck it up and go to the bathroom and get a paper towel.

“Girl, these kids need this more than anything right now. Kids are so babied nowadays it makes me sick. Just give them a few years and they’ll be on their cell phones twenty-four seven or sitting inside all summer long playing video games getting even softer. I’m teaching them to be tough and to appreciate sports. The ones who can hack it will be the future stars,” he informed me.

I didn’t understand his logic but when class was over, they all gathered around him (even the hurt ones) telling him how much fun they’d had and could they do it again tomorrow. Maybe he had a point.

The rest of the day had been the same only with older kids who loved Coach G as much as the little ones did. I guess he had a system and it worked, so who was I to question it? By the end of the day, I’d learned quite a bit and knew I was going to like it and couldn’t wait until the next week when he’d told me I’d be taking over a couple classes.