After arriving at Ryder’s apartment, he headed straight to his bedroom to change, ready for dinner out with some friends tonight. He told me to make myself at home and take a look around while he was gone, but not wanting to intrude I just took a quick glance around the kitchen and adjoining living room before plopping myself down on the couch.
“Sure, mate, no problem.” I looked behind me at the sound of Ryder’s voice to see him nestling his cell to his ear. “See you soon.”
I turned away immediately, not wanting to pry, but not before scanning him up and down a couple of times. He’d changed into some baggy black pants with white skulls sewn onto the pockets. He’d paired it with a black tank and some black and white bangles around his wrists, and I also spotted that he’d swapped his black ear tapers for turquoise plugs. He looked fucking hot.
“My friends will be here soon. Will you be okay on your own for a couple of hours?”
“How do you know you won’t come back to all your stuff missing and me nowhere to be seen?”
“I don’t. But from the look in your eye when you fucked me earlier I’d say you want to stick around and do that again sometime.”
“Nothing wrong with your ego I see?”
“Tiger, you can’t be in this business and not have an ego.” He winked at me and disappeared again, into a room which I assumed was the bathroom. He was still in there a few minutes later when a knock sounded at the door. Not being my place, I stayed where I was, until he called out to me. “Hey, will you get that for me?
“Sure!” Standing up, I walked over to the door, feeling a little awkward. When I opened it, I suddenly forgot how to breathe. “Holy shit…”
No way.
No fucking way.
“Hey, I’m Sawyer,” he introduced himself before gesturing to the two men on either side of him. “This is Jake, and this is my security guard, Neil.”
“Yeah, I um, I know who… fuck.”
“Oh yeah,” Ryder said with a wicked grin on his face when he waltzed back into the room. “I might’ve forgotten to mention that the friend I was going out with tonight is a rock fucking superstar.”
“Um, yeah. You kinda did.”
I stepped back, consciously closing my gaping mouth and feeling like a giant imbecile for reacting like a teenage girl.
“Put your tongue away, Mase,” Ryder teased. Sawyer – Sawyer freaking Knight – laughed, whereas I took the option of shooting Ryder the dirtiest look I could summon.
“Saw, Jake, this is Mason. He’s just joined the studio and will be staying with me for a few days,” he introduced.
“Nice to meet you, dude.”
“And Neil?” Ryder continued. “What the hell you doing here, buddy? Thought you wouldn’t have been able to get away fast enough after the band split!”
“Splitting from the band doesn’t make him any less famous,” Neil explained. He looked familiar to me, no doubt I’d seen him pictured with Sawyer in magazines. As for Jake, I knew exactly who he was. The whole world knew about the man that managed to snag the infamous Sawyer Knight’s unattainable heart. “And as much as he’s a pain in my ass I can’t seem to find the will to walk away from the fucker.”
“Hey, you should come with us,” Ryder suggested.
Forcing a smile, I shook my head.
“That’s okay with you guys, right?” he asked, turning to Sawyer and Jake. Neil had walked past us all a few seconds ago, plopping himself down on Ryder’s couch.
“Sure it is,” Jake replied.
“Ah, no thanks. To be honest I just need a decent sleep,” I said. I hated how coy and starstruck my voice sounded.
“Wear you out did I, tiger?” he teased, winking at me.
“Don’t flatter yourself. I’m just real tired, that’s all.”
“Well you’re gonna need to learn how to stop being such an old man if you wanna succeed in this game,” he added, smiling impishly. “But I’m dragging your arse out tomorrow whether you like it or not.”
I found myself smiling at his accent. It was kinda cute, especially the way he said ‘arse’.
“You can crash wherever you like. Spare room, couch, I don’t care.”
“Thanks, man,” I uttered, my voice serious and flooded with gratitude.
Once I was alone I didn’t feel as impolite about taking a look around. There wasn’t much to the place really. The living space was open plan, and there were two bedrooms and a shared bathroom coming off it against the back wall. It was small but modern, decked out in whites, blacks, and steel. I took my backpack into the bedroom I knew didn’t belong to Ryder and set it down on the double bed that was housed between a set of mirrored closets. I caught my reflection and, running my hands down my face, realized I looked like shit.