Ryder (Slater Brothers 4)

“I can’t go back asleep now, you bastard.”

He smiled. “So talk to me since we’ve got nothing else to do.”

“What about your run?” I questioned.

Ryder shrugged. “It takes me two seconds to get dressed, which gives you twenty minutes to do what you keep yapping on about.”

I grunted. “What do I keep yappin’ on about?”

“You always say we don’t talk enough, so let’s talk.”

I glared at him. “You’re puttin’ me on the spot.”

“So?”

“So I don’t have a topic in mind.”

“I do.”

“Shoot.”

“When can we get married?”

I felt my mouth drop open, and it made Ryder laugh.

“What?” he asked. “You look like you didn’t know that we’d eventually move on from being engaged to actually getting hitched.”

My mouth went very dry, so I licked my lips.

“No, I know that, obviously, I just didn’t think you would be thinkin’ of that.”

Ryder’s lips quirked. “I knew what I was doing when I asked you to marry me outside of the hospital that night two years ago, Branna. I imagined my life without you and I couldn’t, but more than that, I didn’t want to. I love you, baby.”

Without thinking, I got to my hands and knees then straddled his body with mine. I leaned my face down to his and said, “I love you too, and we can get married whenever you want to. I’m so ready.”

Ryder smiled. “We’ll figure it out.”

“We always do… and since we’re figurin’ that out, I’m gonna figure your problem out.”

“What do you—oh!”

I suppressed a giggled.

“Yeah,” Ryder breathed when I shimmied down his body, and took him by surprise by taking his hardened length in my mouth. “I’m definitely going to grow old with you.”

Present day…

“Where are you goin’, Ry?” I mumbled aloud to myself when a couple hundred metres ahead of me Ryder took a right turn that would lead into a secluded part of the mountain side where there were no street lights, no houses, no people.

Hell, there was barely a road to drive on.

I had been following him for only ten minutes, but I sensed we were near his destination. For the tenth time, I ignored the vibration of my phone from my pocket because I knew it was the twins who were calling me.

I switched my headlights off and took the same turn behind him but made sure to drive extra slow so I didn’t wreck Dominic’s car and also so he wouldn’t see me. I didn’t worry about losing Ryder because his car was the only car on the trail, and his taillights still shone brightly like a beacon.

I jumped when I drove over a pothole that caused the car to lurch. I gripped the steering wheel tightly and blew out a nervous breath. I was wired and couldn’t control much of my body because I had a sudden case of the shakes. My entire body trembled with fear and anticipation of what was going to be the outcome of my mission.

I didn’t have to wait long to find out as Ryder stopped his car up ahead and parked it in front of a white Range Rover. I could see the colour and make of the car because when Ryder got out of his car, he left his keys in the ignition and his headlights switched on. I stopped driving, put Dominic’s car in park and switched off the ignition. I exited the car, closed the door quietly and thanked God for the dark of the night as cover.

I said a little prayer, and on unsteady legs, I made my move.

I ducked down and crept forward until I was not too far away from where Ryder stood. I hunkered down behind a hedge only a mere twenty meters or so from him and the white Ranger Rover. I was close but not close enough because I couldn’t hear what was being said. I could only hear the tone of Ryder’s voice and that of another voice.

A female voice.

My blood ran cold knowing it was a woman Ryder drove out here to meet. All kinds of things were running through my mind, but I couldn’t settle on one thought. I felt like my eyes were deceiving me, and what I was witnessing wasn’t really happening.

“You liar.” I whispered as I watched Ryder lean into the window of the white Range Rover.

My chest squeezed when I heard laughter from the female in the driver’s seat. I didn’t know what she was laughing at, or what Ryder was doing to make her laugh, but what I did know is that he kept his head, shoulders and arms inside the driver’s window of her car and was making her laugh.

I felt sick. I felt weak. I felt numb.

I didn’t want to stick around and find out what he was doing to make her laugh because I feared I’d do something that would hurt me more in the long run. I lowered myself back down to my hunkered position, reached out and gripped onto the bush that I was hiding behind and inhaled and exhaled deeps breaths.

I’m going to pass out.

I squeezed my eyes shut and forced myself to continue taking deep breaths. When the urge to faint passed, I focused on not vomiting. My stomach was churning and rolling, and there was a pain in my chest that I had never felt before in my life. It was a similar pain I felt when my parents died, but for some reason, it was much worse.

Ryder… he was cheating on me.

He was betraying me, and I had the proof, but I still couldn’t believe what was unfolding before my eyes. I didn’t understand it, and I didn’t want to. I just wanted to erase the image and sound of Ryder and the woman’s laughter. I didn’t want to think of him smiling because it reminded me so much of the smile he used to show me whenever he saw me.

Home, I told myself. I need to go home.

A strong woman would have confronted Ryder, and possibly run him over with his beloved car while the bitch he cheated with watched, but I wasn’t a strong woman. I was a shell of the woman I used to be, and what I just witnessed would stay with me forever.