The Scars of Us (22 page)

The door opened, causing me to jerk away from Ryker and tightly grip my towel around me. An older man walked in, giving Ryker and me a suspicious look as we darted around him and exited.

A laugh burst from Ryker as soon as the door closed. My heart beat fast as adrenaline rushed through me from almost being caught. I couldn’t fight my own laughter when Ryker’s was so contagious.

Draping his arm over my shoulder, he led me toward the locker rooms. We both were still laughing as he said, “That was a close one.”

“Yeah, and whose fault is that? You’re such a bad influence,” I joked.

“Me?” His eyebrows rose incredulously as a playful grin tipped up his lips. “You’re the one who makes me crazy. I can’t control myself when it comes to you. Especially when I haven’t seen you in weeks.”

My stomach and chest bunched tightly from his words. I felt so terrible for avoiding him, especially when I considered how I just stopped talking to him with no explanation or reason. Who knows what was going through his mind that whole time; he probably thought he’d done something wrong, and it was really me and my madness.

“I’m sorry,” I looked up at him as we walked. “I was only trying to protect you.”

“I don’t need you to protect me, Warrior. I just need you.”

Need?
Needing someone was way different than just wanting someone—did he really need me? I wasn’t ready to go into that, and I doubted he was either, but I couldn’t ignore the joy that fluttered within me at the thought.

We had reached the locker rooms, and Ryker stopped and faced me. “Are you going to stop fighting me now, Warrior? Or do I have to keep chasing you?”

I held his gaze with mine. “I don’t want to keep running, but it’s hard to let go of my ways. If we do this, it’s not going to be easy.”

“Easy is boring—you know I like a challenge.”

My lips curved up in a smile. “Well, good luck because I’m definitely a challenge. I’ll probably try to run again—will you keep chasing me?”

“Until you don’t let me catch you anymore,” he softly grinned, sending a tingle through my body.

I wasn’t really afraid of Ryker hurting me any longer—I didn’t think anything could hurt me as much as Kaleb had. I was more scared of myself, of what my emotions could do to him if I let him in. I might not have been ready to let him in completely, but I wanted to try to make things between us work.

“You’ll stop chasing me before that happens,” I teased, placing my hand on his chest as I dipped my face to hide the blush that touched my cheeks..

His finger tilted my chin up. “I don’t think I’d be able to stop chasing you—you’re like an addiction.”

“That’s really what I want to be compared to, thanks,” I replied sarcastically as I moved away from him.

He pulled me back to him, not letting me get away. “That was a compliment.” I raised an eyebrow and pursed my lips in doubt. He cocked his head to the side and tightened his arms around me. “Addictions give you a high unlike anything else, make you crave whatever it is you’re addicted to. And, Warrior, I crave you.”

His lips found mine, fueling the flames his words had started inside me. The kiss was greedy and hungry, filled with passion and longing. It spoke volumes without needing words. It was the kind that made your stomach knot while igniting your soul.

When we finally broke apart, I was breathless and flushed. The feelings that kiss evoked within me confirmed that it would be almost impossible for me to walk away from Ryker. I’d never be the same after him, and I wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing yet.

After finally fixing things with Kaiya, I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders, and I was the happiest I’d been in week
s. It kind of fucked with my head how much she got to me, but she made me feel things I hadn’t felt in a long time. The thought of being with her didn’t give me the urge to run like it had with every other chick since that stupid bitch.

After working on the bags at Sunday’s class, I decided to have the students work on techniques for what to do if they fell down during an attack.

“Today, we’re going to work on ground defense. You can easily fall during an attack, whether it’s because you were knocked down or because you tripped. What you don’t want is for your attacker to get on top of you if that happens. The moves we are going to show you will prevent the attack from escalating, and can also disable your attacker if executed correctly.”

Kaiya and I found a spot on the mat as everyone broke into their pairs. She smiled at me shyly when we locked eyes, and her face started to flush.

“Still nervous around me, baby?”

“No, things are just different now that we… that we’re you know,” she softly stammered.

“Having sex?” I blurted.

Her eyes looked around then glared at me. “Yes! We probably shouldn’t be hooking up since I’m your student.”

“It’s frowned upon, but it’s not forbidden. Don’t worry about it, okay?”

“What if the other students find out?”

“Who cares?” I shrugged. “It’s none of their business.”

Her lips twitched as she fought a smile, but it broke through after a few seconds. “So, what’s the first technique?” she asked, changing the subject.

I laid down on the mat. “If you ever get knocked down, the first thing that you need to do is turn on your side and pick your leg up to defend yourself. Most attackers will try to pin you from here.” I shifted my body demonstrating what I was doing. “Your only concern is to avoid him from climbing on top of you and getting knocked out.” I made sure to keep my eyes on hers. “Come toward me.”

I stopped her when she got about a foot away from my legs. A few strands from her ponytail fell across her face and she quickly tucked them behind her ear. “Once your attacker is this close, you can kick them in the stomach or the groin. Hook your bottom foot here.” I moved my foot to the back of her ankle. “Use all your force to kick them in the knee with your top leg.”

We continued the technique until she got it. I’d go over it again and again just to make sure that nobody would ever hurt her again. Now that we were together or dating or whatever it was we were doing, I felt more protective over her. I didn’t even want to think about the possibility of her being attacked, and just the thought of it laced my veins with rage.
I wished she’d known how to defend herself when she was a little girl.
What kind of sick motherfucker would hurt her?
I shook away those thoughts and focused on her face.

Once class was finished, I closed up the gym and walked Kaiya to her car. “You wanna come back to my place?” I asked as I framed her against the driver’s side door.

“I wish I could,” she answered, her voice full of disappointment. “Mondays are hell for me. I have to wake up earlier.” She placed her hands on my chest and traced over the tattoos showing with her fingertips. “If I go home with you, I won’t get any sleep.”

“Are you sure?” I leaned closer before trailing soft kisses along her jaw line.

She lightly moaned but still resisted. “I can’t, baby. I’ve been slacking at work the past few weeks, and I really need to catch up.”

“Okay.” I nuzzled my face in her neck, getting as close to her as I could as I slid my hands in hers. Pulling back, I said, “Hey, don’t make any plans for Friday night. I have a surprise for you.”

“Oh, yeah? Will I like it?” she smiled coyly at me.

I pressed a kiss to her lips, then another to each side of her neck. “I don’t know. I hope so.”

When I pulled away, her eyes were closed as she wore a look of contentment. They slowly fluttered open as she smiled at me. “I can’t wait.”

Me neither.
If everything went according to plan, I’d be breaking one of Kaiya’s rules that night, getting closer to her in the process. “See you tomorrow?”

“Yes. Do you want to meet for dinner after I get off of work? I’ll tell Kam that he’s on his own.”

“Sure, baby. I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” I replied as I opened the door for her.

As she drove away, my mind was racing in preparation for Friday.
Everything needs to be perfect.

I picked up the earlier shift at work on Friday so I could get off with enough time to get everything ready for my date with Kaiya. As I was leaving, one of the receptionists stopped me. “Hey, Ryker, someone left a message for you.”

No one usually calls me at work.
“Who was it?”

“Um, I’m not sure.” She rifled through some papers at the desk. “Some guy—he said something about it being important and for you to call him as soon as possible.” She snatched a small paper from the mess and read the name aloud, “Ethan Campbell.”

All my muscles tensed as anger gripped every limb, just the sound of that name infuriating me. I clenched my fists as I gritted, “If he calls back, tell him to never contact me again.”

Storming out of the entrance, I didn’t wait to hear a response from her.
Why the fuck would Ethan be calling me? He knows that I want nothing to do with him.

Brushing the thoughts away, I focused on getting everything ready for my night with Kaiya. I sent her a text telling her to be at my place at seven. Just seeing her reply put a smile on face and wiped away most of the anger that lingered from hearing about Ethan.

I found out from Nori that Kaiya loved gnocchi from a little Italian bistro two towns over. She didn’t get to go very often because it was out of the way and never had time to make the trip. So I made arrangements to pick it up for our date.

My palms were sweaty as I set up everything, which was strange for me—women never made me nervous. But Kaiya had me feeling like I was some high school kid about to take the hottest girl to prom.

When the doorbell rang, my heart rate kicked up as my stomach tightened in anxiety.
Chill out, it’s just Kaiya.
Walking over to the door, I opened it and took Kaiya in. She was wearing a light blue strapless dress, almost the same shade as her eyes, and her hair was loosely curled.

“Hi,” she smiled, her cheeks flushing as her gaze settled on mine. I didn’t need words for her to know what was going through my mind at that moment, my eyes said it all.

“Hey,” was about all I could manage before I had to clear my throat.
Smooth.
How does she do this to me?
“You look beautiful.” I leaned down to kiss her cheek before I brought her inside and closed the door.

Her eyes widened and an astonished smile spread over her face as she looked around my apartment. Candles and rose petals were scattered along every surface, including the table, which I had set with my best dinnerware, but that wasn’t really saying much. Bachelors didn’t have fine china.

Kaiya looked up at me, her eyes lighting up her whole face. “Ryker, you didn’t have to do all this for me.”

Leading her to the table, I pulled out her chair. “I wanted to.”

I picked up her plate before taking it to the kitchen and serving the gnocchi on it. I returned and gently placed the plate before her. “It’s not homemade or anything, but Nori said that this was your favorite.”

She stared at it for several seconds, then darted her gaze to mine. “Is this from Luciano’s?”

Grinning, I answered, “Yeah. I picked it up before you came.”

Another wide smile spread over those beautiful lips. “Thank you.”

I bent down to kiss her. “You’re welcome.”

I’d also bought a bottle of her favorite wine, the house Moscato from the restaurant. I poured us both a glass and sat down to eat.

Throughout dinner we talked about everything, from favorite movies to hobbies. Kaiya loved to read, and I, of course, was a workout junkie. I found out that she hated scary movies, loved the water and animals, except snakes, which she was deathly afraid of, and her favorite color was pink.

After we finished dinner, I cleared the table while Kaiya finished her third glass of wine. I could tell she was already a little tipsy by the flush on her face and her glassy eyes, which she had locked on mine as I walked toward her on the couch.

Setting her glass on the coffee table, she pulled me down next to her before leaning in and kissing my lips. “Thank you for dinner. Everything was amazing.”