Taming Ryder (Souls of the Knight 2)

“I want to say fuck ‘em, that anyone who doesn’t support you isn’t worth shit. But I had the most amazing mom so I can’t even begin to understand what you must feel like, or indeed how easy it would be to put them in your past and leave them there.”

“What about if your dad came back? What would you do?”

“Hell, I’ve no fucking idea,” I admitted, winded by the unexpected question. “He abandoned us when we needed him the most. He’s a selfish prick who’s seemingly vanished from the face of the earth. But…just like you, I have great memories too, and as much as I want to hate him, I kinda don’t. Sometimes I even feel like I understand why he left. I mean, watching my mum fade away, caring for her, man it was so fucking hard. But then I feel like the selfish prick for thinking such a thing. There is no excuse. No matter how tough things got I wouldn’t, couldn’t, have left her. And neither should he.”

“So, if I told you to tell him to get fucked, and move on, could you?”

In that very nanosecond, I understood his predicament entirely. “Probably not, and if I did it would hurt like hell. So yeah, I get it, Ry. Though I still think you need to try. Knowing one way or the other has got to be better than living in limbo. And you said Ivan wants ‘us’ to go?”

“Yeah. He was gonna call you but when I said you were here he just asked me to pass it on.”

“Then you won’t be alone. I’ll be with you. There for you, however it turns out.”

“Holy shit I can’t believe I’m actually going to do this.” He sighed, shaking his head. “I’d honestly convinced myself, or at least tried to, that my parents’ ship had sailed and I’d be better off without them.”

“You still might,” I countered. “But right now it doesn’t sound like you’ve had any kind of closure, not just with your parents but with everything. I’m here for you, Ryder, but I’m just a man. I can’t take all your pain away. I can’t tell you how to deal with things. The only one who can do that is you, and I think the only way you’re going to fully move on with your life is to start tying up all those loose ends in your head. And honestly, I think this will be a good start. You might not get the response you want or deserve, but at least you’ll know where you stand.”

“You’re right. You’re right I know you are, which is why I’m going to man the fuck up and call Ivan back right now.”

“When would we leave? Did he say? I, um, don’t have a passport.”

“Don’t worry you’ve got time to sort one out. He said we were hitting a few states first before Europe. Knowing Ivan he’ll call some kind of meeting this week and explain everything.”

Ryder picked up his cell from the table and sucked in a deep nervous breath. I heard him swallow the lump of fear lodged in his throat as he brought the phone up to his ear and my heart swelled with pride. Scooching closer, I touched his nose with mine and mouthed ‘I’m here for you’, before standing up and leaving him alone to chat with Ivan.

Chapter Ten

~Ryder~

One month later…

“MORNING, TIGER,” I said through a warm smile as Mason came up behind me, burying his face in my neck.

“You smell so good in the morning,” he whispered against my ear before kissing along my jaw. “Almost as good as that coffee in fact,” he added teasingly, looking down at the pot brewing in front of me.

“Go sit down,” I suggested. “I’ll bring it over.”

After turning my head to face him and giving me a gentle kiss on the lips, Mason smiled and went to sit on the couch. I inhaled a deep, satisfied breath as I poured the coffee. We’d been officially together for a month now and every day I began to feel a little more comfortable with the idea, a little less petrified. We were still taking it slowly, and as much as that frustrated my dick, my heart and my mind needed it that way.

“Have you finished packing?” I asked, setting his coffee down on the table. Today we were travelling to San Francisco for the first stop on the DVD tour. My Twitter feed had been going beyond crazy since the tour dates were announced a few weeks ago. Most of the time I loved meeting fans, but there were more than a few obsessed weirdos out there who you couldn’t help hoping you didn’t run into in case they served you a decapitated rabbit or something.

“Yeah, thought I’d get it out of the way so I don’t need to rush back from Mark’s.”