Ryder Read online

  "Yeah." He released my hand and nodded to the passenger side. "Get in the car and then ask."

  I got in and buckled up before glancing over at him. "I told you how I knew Tanner King. Tell me how you do."

  Some part of me expected him to lie, to save face, but he didn't.

  "His sister was my high school girlfriend." He started the car and turned, backing up and burning rubber as we left the bar.

  "Be careful. This car is old."

  "And still in great shape." He nodded and turned back around, settling into the seat. "She was my first kiss, my first fuck, my first everything. I thought we'd be married and have kids, but it didn't work out like that."

  "And what about you being involved with Tanner?"

  "I don't talk about that shit. It's part of the past." He glanced over and his expression darkened. "Leave it there."

  Leave it there? Was that possible? Even considering that Johnny was a part of Tanner's treatment of women had my stomach hurting. There was no way to leave it there, but I found myself sitting in silence, not asking another question.

  We pulled up to the house a few minutes later, and Johnny turned the car off and looked over at me. "If he's here, you're going to try and help get him one more chance, right?"

  I nodded. "Yeah. I promise."

  "Alright. Come on, Kitten. Let's see if any part of what I've taught him as sunk in." He got out of the car, and I could tell he was nervous as hell.

  I would have been too. He moved up to the door and opened it quietly. I didn't have the heart to tell him that the kid was most likely gone. There's no way if Johnny tipped him off that Jason would stay there for the night. Who wanted to go to jail?

  "His light is on." Johnny walked to the back bedroom in a hurry.

  I stayed in the living room. He needed a minute with the kid, and I wasn't family or anything near it. I was some wayward ass cop who was falling for a thug and giving myself over every time he even looked my way.

  What would Seth and his band of lawyers say now?

  I dropped down on the couch and listened. Johnny and Jason's voice filled my ears.

  Glancing over, I noticed that Johnny was looking back down the hall at me. "He's here. He's not going anywhere. He knows that he fucked up."

  I smiled. "Good. I'll talk to the Captain tomorrow to see what I can do about another chance."

  Johnny closed the bedroom door and walked back toward me. "Stay with me."

  "I can't." I stood and extended my hand. "Can I have my key back."

  "Danielle. It's late and you know you want to stay here."

  "Yeah. That's why I should go." I took the key as he offered it. "I'll let you guys know what I find out tomorrow."

  He didn't say another word, but walked me to the door and stepped out on the porch as I walked down toward the car. "Dani. Please be careful. Tanner isn't someone to fuck with."

  "No?" I wrapped my arms around myself. "Want to explain how you know that?"

  "Sweet dreams tonight, Kitten." He turned and walked back into the house.

  "Right." I got into the car and pulled out, feeling rather shitty about my decisions to sleep with him. The carnality of it only left me wanting more, but I knew better.

  Johnny wanted to know my past and wanted to press against my hurts and disappointments, but he wasn't willing to share any of his. Why had I expected him to anyway?

  I should have felt lucky that he was even willing to let me come to the clubhouse. I snorted at the thought.

  He wasn't worried about me being a cop because somewhere along the way, I'd fucked up my morals. I wasn't a real cop anymore.

  Headlights filled up the backseat of my car and caused me to stiffen. The truck behind me was riding my ass way closer than it should have been.

  I slowed down and tapped my breaks. "Back the fuck up, asshole."

  The truck bumped into the back of me, and I screamed and hit the gas. The truck revved its engine and caught up to me pretty quickly. I pulled my gun from my outer thigh and got ready for the bastard to pull up beside me, but he never did.

  I screamed again as the car jerked across the road. The bastard had hit the back wheel of my car and sent me into a tailspin. The last thing I remember was hitting the curb and flipping over the edge of the small bridge in front of me into the creek.

  I blinked a few times as cold water filled the car around me.

  My last thoughts before blacking out were of my sister and the funny way she laughed when she was being silly. It was warm, loving, innocent.

  Everything about it was right.

  Chapter 15

  Ryder

  "What are you doing here, man? You know your family expects you at church." Ellie glanced my way as I walked into the shop on Sunday morning. It had been a quiet Saturday, and where I'd wanted to reach out to Dani, I felt like maybe she needed a little bit of time to herself.

  "I'm going in for a little while. It's been a dicked up week. I wanted to try and get in a little more time on the clock to make up for some of it." I walked over to the work bench and grabbed a bandanna to put on my head. "Where's Axel?"

  "No clue." She shrugged her shoulders and glanced down toward the wheelbase of the car she was working on. "He's not been in yet. At least I don't think he is."

  "Like you don't notice." I chuckled and walked past her.

  "Wait. What?" She followed me. "What's that supposed to mean?"

  "You guys should just fuck and get it over with, El. It's getting old alright." I picked up a handful of supplies to work on the paint job on my current project.

  "Fuck and get it over with?" She put her hand in the middle of my chest as I turned to face her. "Jeremiah is my boss and my friend. That's it."

  "Is it?" I smirked. "When is the last time you went on a date?"

  "None of your goddamn business." She pushed at my chest, causing her tits to bounce. She had no idea how fine she was. Funny enough, my body didn't react in the slightest. All I wanted underneath me was a petite cop with a chip on her shoulder and something to prove in the bedroom. I still didn't have the full story on what her fucking ex-husband did to her. I wanted to know. It would be good ammo if I ever ran into the bastard while we were together.

  Not that we were together.

  "Right." I shrugged and moved around her. "Must get tired lying to yourself all the time, El."

  "He's not interested, Jon. I tried a few years back and he pushed me off."

  "Like literally." I put my stuff down and glanced over my shoulder, giving her a look. "Cause, I'll whoop his ass."

  "No." She reached up and pulled her long, black hair into a bun. "I came onto him in the office, and he shut me down. Said he wasn't interested in messing up our friendship. Not over a fuck."

  "Really? This is news to me." I wrapped an apron around my waist and knelt in front of the truck in front of me. "And what did you say?"

  "Nothing. What could I say? I was trying for a fuck." She sniffled and turned away from me. "Asshole. As if all I was worth was a fuck."

  "El," I called after her as she walked off. "That's not what he meant."

  "Still trying to help everyone's relationships but your own, hm? So noble of you, Ryder." Tanner King walked around the car to my far left.

  I stood as my muscles locked into place. "What the fuck you want, Tan? You know us being in the same room isn't good for your health."

  "No?" He smiled and reached up to run his fingers through his hair. The gleam of challenge in his eyes had me on edge. If I had a gun on me, I would put a bullet in his skull without asking questions, consequences be damned.

  "No." I turned to face him, not trusting the bastard for a minute. "What are doing here?"

  "I wanted to tell you the good news. Face to face." His smile faded as he took a few more steps toward me.

  I knelt and picked up a tire iron one of the guys had left lying around. Normally, I would bitch at them about it, but it seemed like their sloppiness was in my favor that day. "Tell
me what, mother fucker."

  "That you're going to be a daddy." He glanced to his right and motioned for someone to join him.

  Candace stumbled toward him, obviously pushed. "Johnny."

  "What the fuck is going on?" My blood ran cold at Tanner's words. "You pregnant."

  "Why would you care, Ryder?" Tanner's voice boomed through the room.

  "Ain't nobody talking to you, bitch," I barked loudly and turned back to Candace. Where I didn't want the woman in my life anymore, there was still a part of me that cared about her. Especially if she had my baby in her belly.

  "Tell him, Whore. Tell him what you told me." Tanner reached out and popped her in the face.

  "Hey!" I walked toward him as he pulled a gun from his belt and lifted it toward me.

  "Back the fuck off, Ryder."

  "Johnny. Stop calling me that, you cock." I stopped short and turned my attention back to Candace. "Is he telling the truth?"

  She nodded and pressed her hands to her face. "I'm sorry. We should have used protection."

  "You fucked with me again, Jon. You did it when you promised you wouldn't."

  "I've loved your sister most of my life, Tanner. You know this. It's not easy to walk away from her." I lifted my hands. "Just leave her here. I'll take care of her and the kid. Get the fuck outta here and let them be my problem."

  He laughed. "And not have anything over you? No way you want this slut around when you're banging the local law enforcement."

  I growled and gripped the tire iron tighter. "Fuck you. You don't get to monitor my life."

  He reached over and patted Candace's stomach - hard. She yelped. "I do."

  "Mother fucker, you better shoot me, cause if you give me the chance, I'm going to kill you."

  "Get the information from the police station about my latest raid. It's on lock down. Get it and destroy it."

  "No. Get it your fucking self."

  He put the gun to Candace's head and she cried out. "I'll blow her fucking head off and kill the kid inside of her as well. Do what the fuck I told you to do. Now."

  I started to tell the bastard that he didn't scare me, which he didn't, but I held my tongue. Knowing his crazy ass, he'd kill his sister right in front of me.

  "Is the baby mine?" I turned my attention to Candace.

  "Who else's would it be?" Tanner yelled at me before he pushed his sister out of the way and flipped the safety off the gun. "Get the cop to help you."

  "I destroy the evidence and you're going to let Candace go? Yes?"

  "You have my word, Jon." He nodded and turned, walking out of the room as quickly as he'd walked right in.

  "What the fuck was that?" Ellie walked out, her eyes wide, her skin pale.

  "That was my past. It haunts me a little too often." I pulled my apron and the bandanna on my head off and tossed them into a pile as I walked into the office and dropped down into Axel's chair.

  Fuck me. I was going to have to get Danielle to help me destroy the info on Tanner. And she hated him more than anyone else in the world. Would she help me? Shit, could she?

  I had no clue, but I had to try. Even if Candace was lying about the baby. I had to try just in case.

  *

  "Hey. What's going on with you, man?" My brother, Paulo walked out of the house later that afternoon and stopped beside my bike.

  I was on my knees, working on the back tire, sweating my ass off though it was cold as shit outside. I glanced up. "What are you mumbling about?"

  "You. You're being a dick today. You hurt Maria's feelings and now you're ignoring everyone." He put his hands on his hips and gave me a look our mother would have been proud of.

  "You have no idea the shit I'm going through. Back the fuck up," I barked and went back to dealing with the bike.

  He walked away, talking trash, which I ignored. A few minutes later he was back, his shadow blocking the sun and making it hard to see.

  "Move goddamnit." I glanced up to see Jason standing beside me with his hands in his pockets.

  "Uncle J. They got your girl, man."

  "What?" I stood up, not quite sure who he was talking about. "Candace?"

  He shrugged. "Look man. I owe you one for taking care of me. I'm just saying that they got your girl."

  I reached out and wrapped my hand around his throat as fury burned through me. I lifted him off his feet as he screamed for help. "Be more clear. Now. Who the fuck do they have, and who the fuck is they?"

  "Johnny. Shit!" Maria ran toward us and got in between us, smacking me in the chest. "Put. Him. Down. Now!"

  I dropped him and growled at her. The minute her eyes widened and she backed up, I came to my senses. What the fuck was I doing? Tanner King was the only one that could force me back into being a monster, and I was headed there fast.

  "Jason!" Nieman ran past us down the street after the boy as he hauled ass out of there.

  "What's gotten into you?" Maria's eyes filled with tears. "You look just like daddy. We're going home. Get yourself together. Jason will be with us until you're safe to be around again."

  "Maria." I reached for her, but Paulo moved in the way.

  "Back off. Now." His fat face was full of fear.

  I lifted my hands. The last thing in the world I wanted was for my family to be afraid of me. I'd just gotten them to trust me again in the last few years.

  "Alright. I'm sorry. I snapped. I got a lot of shit going on." I moved back another step.

  "Everyone does. Asshole." Paulo flipped me off and turned, pulling Maria to him and walked back to the house. "Stay out until we're all in our cars safe. Momma wouldn't want you hurting one of us."

  "Paulo. Come on, man. I wouldn't hurt any of you. I love you guys."

  "Stay out." He turned and gave me a scathing glare.

  "Alright. Fine." I dropped down on a cooler next to the bike and went back to work on it. Fuck everyone if they were going to treat me like a disease. They had no fucking clue what I'd been through with Roberto and now his son, Jason. Everyone else lived their fat and happy lives while I put up with the demons from the past and the bastards from the present.

  "But you know what?" I mumbled to myself. "It's just me. Like it always has been. I have myself and my MC, and that's fucking it." I forced myself to focus on the bike though I felt like my chest was going to explode.

  They got your girl.

  Pulling out my phone, I fumbled with Dani's number but finally got it. I put the phone to my ear as it went to voicemail. I hung up without leaving a message. How needy would I sound if Jason meant Candace and I was panicking over nothing?

  There was no way Tanner had her. He would have mentioned it. Just to watch me squirm or even explode.

  He didn't have her. It wasn't a possibility.

  Chapter 16

  Dani

  The taste of blood coated my tongue, the dull metallic flavor making me gag as I came to. My mouth hurt around the edges from the gag wrapped around my face, and my shoulders throbbed painfully.

  I tugged at my hands, finding them tied behind my back. I laid on my side with a solid steel table below me.

  "No," I mumbled around the rope and jerked up. The room spun, and I dropped back down, hitting my face on the table below. "Help?" My voice was nothing more than a whisper. I couldn't get my eyes to focus, but someone was standing just a few feet from the table watching me. Or so I assumed.

  A sob rose up in my chest as realization dawned on me. I'd been run off the road and my car sunk down into the creek just outside of Johnny's neighborhood. Where was I now?

  "Nothing to get upset about." Tanner's voice rang out like a bell. "Now that you're up, we'll have a quick conversation and let you go on your way."

  Tears burned my eyes as I gagged on the cloth. My tongue was swollen and ached on the side. From the taste of blood, I reckoned that I bit it during impact.

  "Your hands are bound, and yes, you have a gag, but you're not tied down. If you want to try and sit up, I'll help you, Dan
ielle."

  "No," I groaned around the gag and tried to sit up again. My stomach lurched and I gagged again.

  "She's going to hurl, boss. She had a pretty nasty gash on her head." An unknown voice rose up.

  "Take the gag off." Tanner moved closer and reached for me as I started to fall back toward the table. "There. It's alright. You got in a pretty nasty accident. We were only trying to scare you a little, but you're not very talented behind the wheel of a car, are you?"

  "Don't," I screamed as loudly as I could, but the sound was nothing more than a mumble.

  "Take the gag off?" The guy behind me gripped my shoulders.

  I thrashed a little, but ran out of steam quickly.

  "Yeah. Take it off." Tanner reached out and cupped my face as someone worked on the gag from behind me. He glanced at whoever the guy was. "Get her some water. Room temperature."

  "Don't. Touch. Me." I ground my teeth as tears dripped down my face.

  "Hey. I'm not the enemy here." He bent down a little and got in my face. "I'm going to make things better, but I'll need your help with that."

  "I'm not doing anything for you."

  "Yeah. You are." He smiled and brushed his thumbs over my cheeks as his eyes got a little glossy. "I'm not the kind of guy that asks for anything, Danielle. I get what I want, when I want it."

  "Not from me. I'd rather die."

  "Die?" He laughed and kissed the tip of my nose before releasing me. "I remember that kiss we shared a few weeks back. There's not much you wouldn't have done to take me down, is there?"

  "I don't know what you're talking about." I licked at the side of my lips and coughed. My mouth was so fucking dry. "Can I have some water?"

  "Yeah." He motioned for the guy to bring it over. I'd never seen him before, but it didn't matter. If I survived the hell I was stuck in, I'd take them all to federal prison for life sentences. It would be my life's mission.

  I took a sip of the water with the guy’s help and thought about spitting it back in his face, but I was too thirsty to waste a drop of it. "Where are we?"

  "At one of my warehouses." Tanner walked over and smiled. "I have a few things for you. Gifts that might help inspire you to help me out a little."