When he nibbled on my bottom lip, it sent me spiraling over the edge into an orgasm that stole the words from my throat and all I heard was the buzzing in my head. Ryker roared out his own climax, branding me with his heat and stroking his hands over my skin as he leaned just a little of his weight off me.
He made no motion to move, didn't seem to have any interest in separating our bodies as he rolled to his back and pulled me onto his chest without ever dislodging himself. "Mine," he murmured, and I barely heard it as I drifted off to sleep.
He woke me up an hour later.
Fifty-Five
Calla
Awareness came slowly, like the sun rising over the horizon. The tightness in my body, the pain in every inch of muscle seeped in through my consciousness as I tried to stretch.
“Easy,” Ryker whispered. “You’ll hurt for at least a few days.”
I nodded my head, and even that motion felt like too much motion for my neck. Lifting my arm to touch the ridges of his abs, my arm protested the motion. My stomach muscles tightened and spasmed with the movement, but I traced his abs with a delicate finger.
Cataloguing all the little scars that littered his body. They were faint, too old to be noticeable unless I really looked for them.
But after his confession the night before, I saw them all.
I saw them for what they were. The countless abuses he’d suffered instead of hurting other children. There was no one in the world my kids would be safer with.
“He showed me pictures of other bodies too,” I admitted. “Did you kill them too?”
“No,” he said with a sigh.
“How can you be so sure?” I whispered back. “You know nothing about the victims. How could you possibly—”
“I know, because I don’t leave bodies behind, Sunshine,” he said, gently rolling me to my back so he could lean over me. He kept his weight off me, his skin barely brushing against mine as he cupped my face in his massive hands. “They couldn’t have been mine.”
I swallowed, picturing all the ways to dispose of a body so thoroughly. All the crime shows I’d watched, all the horrific scenarios involving acid and pigs, didn’t help the vision forming in my head. “Women and kids?”
“Never, Tesoro. I have never killed a woman or a child aside from my mother.”
My breath whooshed out in a rush as I contemplated my next words. I didn’t know what good they would do, but it felt too significant not to mention. In my adrenaline rush and fear from the accident, I’d neglected to tell him. “Ness was there,” I whispered.
“Who?” he asked.
“Remember that new student I told you about? The one who came with a man and you went into a jealous rage. That’s what she told me her name was, but I don’t think anything she told me was real. She was at the accident and one of the men you killed was the one who came with her. But they were with the blond from your photos,” I said the words softly, guilt filling me. Maybe, if I hadn’t been so jealou
s, the accident never would have happened. Ryker might have had eyes on her. He might have been able to expect whatever it was they were planning.
His body went still as he froze above me, staring down at me intently. “What photos?”
“The ones I saw in the garage. The woman you followed for a job for Matteo. I don’t know why they were there. I didn’t exactly have time to chat, but it was them.”
“And you’re sure? There’s no doubt? This is important, Calla.”
I paused, contemplating the words to make him understand. “I thought you were having an affair when I saw them. I’ll never forget her face, and there was no mistaking her.” Ryker kissed me gently, vaulting from the bed to stand. “Wait there’s something else.”
He spun, staring at me as he tugged his pants on. “What is it?” I smiled at the gruff note to his voice. The impatience as he wanted to get to work with whatever information I’d given him. If it really was that important, I imagined he needed to call Matteo.
“There was something…” I paused, biting my lip as I struggled to sit up. My body protested with every movement, and Ryker stopped to help me. I ignored the concern in his eyes to push forward. “Off with Jason. Once my shock wore off, I knew he was too impatient. It was just too sudden, too rushed. When I called you, he told me he wouldn’t let me ruin it for him.”
“Any idea what he meant?” he asked, his body going alert as he watched me climb from the bed. I watched the gears turn in his head, watched him try to puzzle the pieces together in a way that I was incapable of doing because I didn’t have all the information.
“None, but it felt important,” I told him. He leaned in, kissing me firmly before he grabbed his phone off the nightstand and turned for the door.
“Ryker,” I called. “I want to know what he was up to, and why Ness played me like that. I deserve that much.”