The Beginning—A Duet: Ryder & Two Worlds Colliding (29 page)

I was in love, not blind . . . and the way the bouncer guy was grinning at Jade made my blood boil. I recognized the fucker; he was one of our picks for the job. Right now, I wanted to slam him in the nuts for eyeing my girl. I swallowed hard as Jade smiled sweetly back at him and he guided her by the elbow into the club. Fucker. There was no need to
touch
her. My fists opened and closed of their own accord.

“Hey, Ryder. Chill, man.” Razor’s voice cut through the noise. “Ratbag said you needed some help with some Sheilas. Well, here we are, brother. What a great assignment.”

Fuck. Just what I needed. Razor was going to go ape-shit when he saw that Lexi was here, flashing her ass at strangers. I rolled my eyes at Ratbag—didn't he understand I wanted him to come alone?

Ratbag shrugged as if he comprehended my annoyance. “Razor overheard our conversation. He insisted on coming. Said he was going crazy at the compound.” Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea after all . . . these three women were going to be a fucking handful.

“Where’s the action, brother? I'm ready to meet these bitches.” Razor flexed his muscles, and a few single ladies in the line called out to him. Usually I played along, but I wasn’t in the mood for Razor’s antics. I needed to find the women. I needed to keep Razor on track.

“Hey brother, Lexi’s in there, with Jade and Rebecca, my brother’s woman. We don’t have time for this shit now.”

Razor’s head jerked up. His eyes narrowed. “Lexi?”

I laughed. All I needed was one word to get his full attention. I quickly explained the whole situation to the guys, and that we should keep a low profile and watch from a distance. He groaned as I made myself clear that we were observing only. Now I knew why I didn't want Razor here—he was hot-headed, and didn't follow instructions easily.

“Clive,” I greeted the burly man at the door. He recognized me immediately, and moved over so that we could enter. I liked when a man knew his place.

Once inside, it took a minute to adjust my eyes to the relative darkness. Clive clearly understood why we were here and indicated to the mezzanine level. I looked up, and saw that the women had settled at a table and had ordered drinks. Already, a few men were leering at them. Razor growled again. Fuck, it was going to be hard to keep him calm and in check.

I watched Jade stand by the railing, cocktail in hand, her body moving rhythmically in time to the music. My cock jerked as I imagined being inside her, moving in sync with her. Fuck, she was beautiful, even from this distance. I could see the smile on her face. Rebecca and Lexi joined her, and the three of them started bumping hips, and swaying their asses. Jade emptied her glass and placed it on the table. She meant business. She lifted her arms above her head, closed her eyes and really got into it. Fuck. I'd never seen her dance like that before, and my cock strained against my jeans. I saw the grin on both Razor and Ratbag’s faces too. Razor adjusted his cock, groaning as he did.

But we weren’t the only men here enjoying the spectacular show. Waiters started appearing with drinks, and gesturing toward surrounding tables. The girls waved in the general direction of their sponsors as they accepted the beverages.
From strangers.
Fuck. Jade was getting the spanking of her life for that once I got back with her. Didn't her parents teach her about fucking stranger-danger? And her cop brother? Jesus. Harrison would have a heart attack if he knew what was going on. Suddenly, I had empathy for the guy. Never having a sister, I didn’t have to worry about shit like this.

But then I remembered–
I did have a sister
. OK, a half-sister. All of a sudden, I really wanted to meet her. It came from nowhere, and hit me like a ton of bricks. Yeah, I wanted to meet my sibling—it would be nice to not be the eldest child for a change.

A few more songs in, and the girls had a full audience. Guys were standing around, clapping in time to the music, spurring on the girls to dance even more seductively. I had to hold on to Razor as Lexi grinded her ass against one dude’s pelvis. I was sure the fucker was hard, and she seemed to enjoy the show.

What I saw next nearly drove me insane. A tall fucker wearing a cowboy hat strode over as if he owned the fucking joint, and placed his hands on Jade’s waist. She smiled up at him seductively, and placed her hands over his as she gyrated her hips in time to the music. I couldn’t tear my fucking eyes away. It was sensuous as hell, but it should’ve been
my
hands on her hips, not some random fucker’s.

I was in two minds about what to do, when Cowboy’s hands slid up over her ribs, and his thumbs brushed over her tits. Jade’s arms slipped around his neck and she leaned in, pressing her tits against his fucking chest. Alarm bells went off in my head, clanging so loudly that it gave me a headache. Jade
liked
the fucking cowboy; she was openly flirting with him. There was no fucking way I was going to be able to stand here and watch it for much longer. Jealously raged through my body, my heart twisting in agony. Fuck.

What would Jade’s reaction be if she knew I was here? How would she react? I was more afraid of finding out than of watching, so I just stood there, my insides churning. This was what I had wanted, right? I wanted Jade to find someone who was more worthy of her than me. Wasn’t that what I’d told her?

Fuck NO. I couldn’t bear it.

From the corner of my eye I saw Razor push to his feet and scramble across the dance floor, shoving people out of his way. I was too late to stop him. Ratbag tried to go after him, but the crowd was too thick, and Razor disappeared amongst a sea of people bobbing up and down. Fuck.

My gaze went back to the mezzanine level . . . back to the women. My eyes widened when I saw what had gotten Razor so agitated. A large sturdy guy with even more tattoos than Razor, had his hands on Lexi’s ass, pressing her into what I assumed would be a raging fucking hard-on, his fucking tongue down her throat.

And Jade? She had her fucking head resting on Cowboy’s chest, her eyes closed, swaying to the rhythm of the slow song.

Next thing Razor was taking the steps, two at a time, till he got to their table. Rebecca screeched as she saw Razor storm down on Lexi, her hand over her mouth as terror filled her face. Razor must have looked like one mean motherfucker at this moment. I'd seen his angry face often over the years, and I knew it wasn’t pretty. It would scare the living shit out of anyone.

H
allelujah
. The plan we’d hatched in the taxi was working. And it was about damn time, because I was about to punch Cowboy if he licked my ear one more time.

After we’d settled in on the back seat, Rebecca had gone all quiet and deep into thought for a moment, and Lexi, just being herself, started questioning our cousin about it. Rebecca told us about the man she’d seen in the lobby who looked completely out of place, yet she could tell he was there for a reason. What really bothered her most was that he reminded her of her boss, Maxwell Grant. Apparently the similarities in looks were uncanny, and freaked her out a bit.

So when Lexi started interrogating poor Rebecca for more details, we both looked at one another, not believing our ears. LA was a big place, but how many biker-type guys that looked just like Ryder Knox could there be?

We decided to be on the lookout to see if he was following us. My heart nearly jumped out of my damn chest. I wanted it to be Ryder so badly that I wasn’t sure I’d be able to contain myself if it really was him.

The taxi driver was on our side. He’d been a rookie cop for six months before his partner was shot, and he consequently decided that kind of life wasn’t for him. But he loved the whole premise of us being followed, and the excitement of using his skills to evade our stalker.

He confirmed that a motorcycle was indeed following us. He went roundabout ways, weaving through traffic to shake our pursuer, but the motorcycle stuck to us like shit to a blanket, as Rebecca had put it, bringing us all to tears with laughter. Whoever he was, he was never more than two cars behind us.

When we got to the club, Lexi told me to not look around once we got out of the taxi—under any circumstances. It was also her crazy idea that I should be an exhibitionist tonight and dance seductively to attract men in the club, forcing Ryder—if it was indeed him—to show himself.

Lexi pulled a hip flask of bourbon from her purse and ordered me to drink some of it. It burned all the way down my throat, but it also helped ease the jitters that had come over me.

If it was Ryder, why the hell was he following us? Surely he knew that he we could talk at any time, so why would he feel the need to stalk me? Presuming, of course, that it was
me
he was stalking, and not Lexi or Rebecca. An uneasy feeling churned in my stomach. Maybe Ryder had his sights on my cousin? After all, she was more his type, with her tattoos, and piercings, and foul mouth.

But it would be cruel to chase after Lexi in front of me. Maybe he just didn't care. I sighed heavily, anxious to see Ryder again, whatever the reason for him being here.

“Oh my God, don’t look now,
but it is fucking Ryder Knox!
And guess who the fuck just joined him?” Lexi groaned as we got to the entrance. To give her an opportunity to turn around and face where she thought Ryder was hiding out, she proceeded to flash her ass to the crowd.

I had to laugh out loud. It would only be Lexi that was willing to expose herself to strangers for our cause. She laughed and said it was worth it, because none other than Razor, the man she was sweet on, had joined Ryder on the curb.

Razor hadn’t spotted her yet, but she was sure it would only be a matter of time before she drove him crazy with her antics and he came to claim her.

I channeled my inner stripper and gyrated my hips, needing to down the drink to numb my mind, because I was feeling like a huge fool—and a tramp. I searched the darkness for Ryder, scanning the booths, trying to see his face as I rocked my body.

But he was nowhere to be seen.

“Bring it, girl.” Lexi laughed as she gyrated her ass against a huge raging hard-on belonging to a rather handsome guy. She was enjoying herself way too much . . .

Shit was going to go down tonight. Ryder had told me about Razor’s attraction to Lexi, and also about what a hothead he was. Chances were good that the biker boys were going to play beautifully into our hands.

Then Cowboy stepped up and claimed me. Shit. Not the man I wanted right now.

“Work it, Cuz,” Lexi spurred me on. “Pretend it’s Ryder.”

That helped. I closed my eyes and let the stranger fondle and embrace me, all the time smiling as I imagined that it was Ryder. But when Cowboy licked my ears, I couldn’t pretend any longer. What the fuck was taking Ryder so damn long?
Or did he really not care?
Damn, maybe I should just leave with Cowboy, let him take me somewhere, ply me with more alcohol and fuck me. The booze was already working its way through my system, helping me lose my inhibitions.

I hadn’t had a man since Ryder had left. It was six weeks, and counting. I was tired of using B.O.B. and I wanted
Ryder
inside me. But if he didn't want me, I'd have to settle for someone else. Peeping through my lashes at Lexi, I squirmed when I saw she’d let the tattooed guy palm her ass, and virtually suck her up with his mouth. She’d worked him into a frenzy, and although it was all part of the plan, my throat tightened. What if our tactics bombed? What if neither Razor nor Ryder came to save us?

My eyes flew open when I heard Rebecca shriek. Razor was storming down on Lexi with a murderous look on his face.

“Shit!” Cowboy mumbled in my ear. “Let’s get out of here.”

Cowboy must’ve seen Razor’s face, because he’d gone paler that his baby-blue shirt. I looked behind him to see if Ryder was in his wake, but no.
No Ryder.
My heart sank into my pointy-toe stilettos.

“Come, babe, let’s go somewhere quiet,” Cowboy said and pulled me in the opposite direction to where Razor had come from. Disappointment washed over me as my heart squeezed. If Ryder was here and had seen all of this, he obviously couldn’t care less. What if he was in fact chatting up another girl, planning to fuck someone else?
Of course.
I could’ve slapped myself.
Ryder isn’t following me. What an idiot I am.

Following Cowboy, I nearly tripping over my own feet as we left the scene. Cowboy seemed to know exactly where he was going, so I just followed him past the crowd of bodies until we got to a secluded passage at the back end of the club. I was humiliated, sad, and angry, all rolled into one. I needed someone to take my mind off how bad I was feeling.

Cowboy was very handsome. His sandy-brown hair peeked from under his hat, his square jaw was cleanly shaven, and he had bright and intelligent eyes. He was the kind of man I would’ve gone for—
before
I met Ryder. Clean, wholesome, smart—those were the things that always attracted me to men. So why wasn’t I turned on by Cowboy? Had I gone all cold again? What the hell was wrong with me?

We reached a narrow flight of steps that led to a door. Where was he taking me? Slightly out of breath, my heart beat wildly as a mixture of fear and excitement swept through me. We stood on the landing, Cowboy’s arm possessively around my waist, as he punched numbers into a keypad. I heard a click and he pushed the door open, pulling me inside.

How did he know what the code was?

Who the hell
was
Cowboy?

“W
ait. Who are you? Where are you taking me?” I gasped. He’d already closed the door behind us.
Fuck.

“Don’t worry your sexy ass about that, babe. My brother and his partners own the place. I help him out. We were watching you and your friends from up here—the security room—when I decided I needed to tap your pretty ass. If you were offering, I was taking.” He winked at me, a lascivious grin on his face. “Wasn’t letting the other pricks beat me to the prettiest girl here tonight. My brother fancies the redhead, but I want you. You and I will have the room to ourselves, soon. I’ll send the boys on a floor-round. That should give us enough time alone.”