CHAPTER ONE
(Maya)
Doing a double-take, I almost dropped the pile of dishware on Ava’s kitchen floor. “Say that again.”
Setting placemats on the long dining table, she replied, “I invited Ryder.”
Yeah that was what I’d thought she said. Hell. “You … Why would you do that?”
“I was talking to him earlier while bringing up groceries, I casually mentioned the get-together, and then it seemed rude not to invite him.” Taking the plates from me, she began putting them on the placemats. “I didn’t actually expect him to say yes, but he did. Which is good. He hasn’t mingled much since coming home from his trip last week. Everyone should have friends.”
Oh, they should. Indeed they should. And despite that Ryder didn’t seem interested in befriending me—well, to be fair, not many cared to socialise with people they’d once had a fling with—I’d still be fine with Ava inviting him … if it wasn’t possible that she was up to something.
I folded my arms. “Please tell me you’re not playing cupid.”
Her head snapped up. “What? No. No, I’d never try to set you up with someone who isn’t ready for a relationship. Just the same, I wouldn’t mess with Ryder that way. Especially when it’s possible he’s still grieving. Sam doesn’t seem to think he is. But we don’t always know what’s going on inside a person.”
Very true. And when it came to someone as self-contained as Ryder, we really had no clue. But considering that he and his pregnant girlfriend had been attacked by a vampire and that he’d been the only survivor—a survival courtesy of vampirism—it was no wonder he had no wish to talk about it. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how he must feel. My heart went out to him.
“There’s no bad blood between you two,” Ava went on, gathering cutlery from a drawer, “so I figured it would be no big deal if he was here. It’s not, is it?”
I wouldn’t exactly find it easy to spend an evening with a guy who had way too much power over my body, but I’d have to get used to it, considering we’d both spend eternity on such a small island together. There’d be no real way to avoid him. “No. No, it’s fine. I was just surprised. And worried that you were going to try some matchmaking.”
“That’s not my intention, I swear. It’s just that he hasn’t mixed a lot with the people on the island.”
“He did plenty of mixing during the first week he was released from isolation,” I muttered.
“He hadn’t had sex in months, so of course he went out and got himself laid a few times. But that’s not socialising, it’s just exchanging bodily fluids.”
I wasn’t sure it was simply a case that he’d missed sex. One of my brothers, Will, had lost his girlfriend in a house fire. For a while, he’d pulled away from everyone. Then he’d began bedding women like a dog with two dicks. To him, they’d all been faceless fucks—a way to quiet his mind for a while.
“Anyway, Ryder calmed down some after the first week,” Ava added, nodding in satisfaction as she finished setting cutlery near each plate. “The little fling he had with you might have been casual, but he didn’t sleep with others during that period. He insisted on exclusivity.”
He had, but the sex had still been emotionless. Though … there had been some angry sex on occasion, as if his demons sometimes got the better of him. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn he’d fucked his way across the globe while on his trip.
“I didn’t mention it before now because I wasn’t sure you’d still come tonight,” said Ava.
I frowned. “Why would you think that?”
“Since he got back, there’s been this weird energy between you two. Not negative, just weird. I can’t read it.”
It was possibly the sort of energy that came from striving to pretend that neither of you knew each other in a biblical sense. We’d barely spoken, really. Not out of awkwardness. There simply wasn’t anything to say.
Ava tilted her head. “Are you disappointed that he didn’t ask to pick things up where they left off?”
“No. I didn’t for a second think he would.” I hadn’t let myself hope, so there’d been no room for disappointment. “He was clear from minute one that our fling would end when he left, and he was just as clear that the ending would be permanent. He’s not looking for emotional attachments, and I don’t blame him. He’s got some healing to do.”
“Too true. I know it might be strange at first, but maybe you two could eventually become friends.”
I wasn’t sure he wanted friends. Not that he was antisocial or awkward. He could mingle just fine, and small talk seemed to come easy for him. Ryder was one of those solitary alphas, though—incredibly self-sufficient, preferred his own company, sought no validation from others, had zero interest in pleasing the masses, and didn’t feel the need to have power over anyone other than himself.