Backstage Demands (12 page)

I straddled him and lowered my body onto his cock and he groaned again. There wasn’t much room on the narrow bed but there was room for this. I rode him with long slow movements and his hands wandered over my body.

The lantern cast deep shadows over us but his skin glowed softy where the light hit and his eyes stared into mine. Adrenaline from the scare was still pumping through both of us and very quickly our hearts were racing. I could feel mine in my chest and his under my palm. They were like racehorses, thundering like hooves on the track, pushing us to a frenzy of desire.

I rode him harder and faster and still our eyes remained locked. My eyes opened wide and I started to scream out wordless sounds of pleasure as I neared my climax.

“Ryker! Ryker! Oh god yes!” and then the words were gone again and all I could do was scream to the night and the wild and the river as Ryker thrust his hips up hard to meet me and send me crashing into orgasm.

The waves of pleasure hadn’t even faded before he too climaxed, coming inside me with a hard grunt that was a whisper compared to my screams.

I collapsed on his chest. “The light,” I said.

“Shit. My legs don’t work. Leave it.”

“Sure,” I said. “I can leave it.” I turned my face away from the light and dozed off.

CHAPTER FIVE

“Get out of bed lazy-bones.”

His voice was gruff but playful. I grunted and took a swing at him but it was a feeble swing and with my face buried in the covers I missed completely.

“The meat’s done, it’s time to hike out of here. If we leave now and push hard we can be back at your car just after nightfall and we can be in town by morning.”

“It’s barely light out, isn’t it?”

“That’s right. Now up you go.” He grabbed my arms and pulled. “Come on, get up. I made coffee.”

“Fine, for coffee I will get up at this ungodly hour.”

He laughed. “But not for me?”

“Love only goes so far, for anything else, there’s coffee.”

He laughed again and went out. I flopped back onto the bed and pulled the covers over my head.

“Are you getting dressed?” he shouted.

“You sound like my mother on a school day!” I called back but I threw the covers aside and got out of bed.

Going back. That wasn’t something I’d planned on. I should have because he was right. I couldn’t just leave my car there, and I couldn’t leave my parents wondering where I was, and I really should officially break up with Joel. But they’d all try to talk me into staying in the city in my dead end life and I didn’t want that. I didn’t want to waitress; I didn’t want to live with Joel. I didn’t want to live with my parents for the rest of my life.

Maybe with Ryker beside me I’ll be able to stand up to all of them,
I thought, tugging on my clothes.
It will be nice to have more than two sets of clothes though.

I came out of the cabin stretching and smelled coffee, and bacon. “Isn’t bacon expensive?” I said.

“The tanner has pigs,” he replied. “You need to eat lots because we’ll be burning a lot of calories today. I ate already.”

“How early were you up?”

“Early.”

“Didn’t I tire you out last night?”

He chuckled. “Yes.”

“Oh good, I thought I was going to have to try harder. How are we going to work this?”

“What do you mean?”

“We’re going to drive home, to my home, and tell everyone what’s going on, and then pick up some extra clothes and things, and then what? It’s several hours by car from the city to where I parked my car. Are we walking back?”

“No. We’re driving to one of the ranches so I can borrow a truck. I’ll follow you to your home, we’ll load everything into the truck and then drive back. Then we only have a day, maybe two with the added luggage, to walk back to the cabin.”

“Oh. Well, I’m glad you’re thinking this through.”

“Drink some more coffee, you need to jump start that brain.”

“Gee thanks. What about King?”

“I’ll give him some extra feed. He can reach the long grass through the fence. He’ll just stay here and wait for us. There will be spoiled eggs when we get back but that’s the only thing we’ll really have to worry about.”

“This place is fairly self-sufficient, even without you.”

“I like it that way.”

“So do I.”

“Are you done that breakfast?”

“I’m stuffed.”

“Your appetite will grow the longer you’re out here.” He offered me a hand and pulled me to my feet. “Grab a pack then and we’ll be off.”

“Don’t move! Don’t you take another fucking step!”

We both spun around at the sound of this new and very angry voice. Standing at the corner of the cabin, half hidden by the wood pile, was Joel and in his hands was a gun.

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Ryker's Mountain:

DISCOVERY

Love Triangle Romance

By: A.J. Winter

CHAPTER ONE

JOEL

Joel got up and showered and dressed like he did every day. On his way to the kitchen for breakfast he grabbed his phone and texted a sweet ‘good morning’ message to Emily. She’d been acting strange lately, distant, and he was worried their relationship wouldn’t last long enough for him to get her to move into the apartment with him. I just have to step up the romance, he thought. Maybe I’ll take her out for dinner and a movie tonight, or candlelit dinner here at the apartment. I hate cooking but she’ll love the effort.

He sent a second message asking her what time she was working and if she wanted to get together before or after her shift. He finished his egg whites and protein shake and still there was no answer from Emily.

The restaurant doesn’t even open until eleven, where is she? Maybe I’ll swing by her place and surprise her.

He drove up to her house, a nice split level in a good, upper-middle-class neighbourhood, and parked at the curb. He jogged up the driveway and rang the doorbell. There was no answer. He tried the door, it was locked, as was the side door. He peered into the garage but saw no cars. Her car wasn’t on the driveway either.

He shrugged and went back to the car. Maybe she’s at the hairdresser or running errands, he tried to remember if she had big plans for that crazy hair of hers.  He texted her a quick ‘I love you and I miss you’ and drove to the gym.

After his workout he texted her again and then went for lunch with Buddy. When she hadn’t texted him back by one o’clock he called her. The phone went right to voicemail. He popped open every social media account he could think of but she’d been strangely quiet on all fronts for days.

“Maybe she’s just taking a day to herself,” Buddy said as they walked back to their cars. “You know, hair, nails, shopping, the whole bit. Girls do that sometimes, you have to give her that time or she’ll say you’re trying to control her.”

Joel couldn’t say ‘I am trying to control her so he said, “I worry about her.”

“Don’t. She’ll text you tonight and ask if she can come show you her beautiful huge ass in her new sexy lingerie, or she’ll text an apology for being off grid all day. Either way you’re probably looking getting laid tonight.”

“I’ll swing by the restaurant and see how her shift is going,” Joel said. “I’ll catch you later.”

He didn’t see her car in the parking lot with the other staff cars but he went in anyways. “Hey Lucy,” he said to the girl at the counter. “Is Emily busy?”

“Don’t know,” Lucy said with a smile. “She’s off today, lucky girl. We’ve got a business lunch in the back room, thirteen people, they’re running Becky off her feet.”

“Oh, has Emily texted you or anything? I haven’t been able to get in touch with her.”

“Nope, sorry. Is everything okay? She’s been a little spacey lately.”

“Probably just left over from that close call. If you see her or hear from her tell her I’m worried sick.”

“I’ll do that. Good luck finding her.”

He considered going from store to store but he had no idea where to start and there were a lot of places she could be. I could end up chasing her in circles, or chasing my own tail. Instead he reached out to anyone she might be spending the day with, and then he waited.

A few minutes later he got a text from Julia. “Didn’t she tell you? She went for a drive. Said she needed to sort some things out.”

“No, she didn’t tell me. Where did she go?” he messaged back.

“The campsite. I think she wants to prove she’s not afraid of the river. She’ll be home tonight.”

“Thanks Julia.” He tossed the cell phone on the seat beside him and slammed his hands on the steering wheel. It was already after three, there was no sense in chasing her now, he’d probably pass her on the highway without realizing it and then he’d look the fool.

“Fuck,” he muttered.

He grabbed the phone and texted Emily again. You could have told me. There was still no reply from her to any of her texts so he tossed the phone down again and pulled out of the shopping mall parking lot where he’d been sitting for the last hour. He grabbed Buddy and texted a few other guys they often hung out with and they hit the pub for early drinks and an early dinner of steak and pub-seasoned wedge potatoes that were served in a huge basket set in the middle of the table.

He drove home even though the road was blurry and collapsed into bed, his phone still in his pocket.

He woke up feeling groggy, unsure of why his pocket was vibrating. He rolled over and reached into his pocket, his fingers connecting with his phone just as it stopped moving. He pulled it out. 1 missed call from Emily’s home number. He looked at the clock, six am, and groaned but called the number back anyways.

“Hello?” said a tight female voice.

“This is Joel,” he said.

“Joel, oh thank-god.  It’s Emily’s mom. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to reach you either.”

“Either? What do you mean?” He sat up and his head spun so he squeezed his eyes shut.

“She didn’t come home last night. I thought maybe she stayed over with you but then you didn’t answer.”

“Sorry about that you woke me.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s okay, this sounds serious. When was the last time you heard from her?”

“Yesterday morning, when we were getting ready for work. Did she call you at all yesterday?”

“No, I haven’t talked to since the night before. Did you know she drove back to the campsite?”

“You mean where she fell in the river before? Oh god, what if something happened to her?”

“Don’t panic, okay? I’ll take a drive down and see if maybe she camped out there. And I’ll keep trying her cell too. Give me your work number and I’ll call you as soon as I know something, okay?”

“Sure, okay. Thanks Joel. She’s so lucky to have you.”

Now if I could just convince her how damn lucky she is. I need at least one more video of her before she bails on me. “It’s not a problem, really. Go to work, I’ll take care of this.”

He hung up and flopped back on the bed. He texted Emily and then let his arm drop to the bed too. The next time he opened his eyes it was ten o’clock and he felt a hell of a lot better.

There had been no reply from Emily while he slept so he showered and dressed and climbed in the car. He drove out of the city and down towards the preserve that ran along the river. Once he reached the edge of the preserve he realized he didn’t know the roads so he texted Buddy for directions. The directions were vague at best and he got turned around twice before finding something that looked familiar. He drove into the clearing where they had been camping and there was her car, empty and locked.

He pulled out his phone and wandered the clearing until he got two bars. He called her but it went straight to voice mail. He hung up and shouted her name. No answer. He hiked up to where they had watched the sunset and called again. Nothing. There was no sign of a recent campfire, no sign of a tent, no sign of her.

Oh god, what if she committed suicide. She’s been distant ever since she came back. She’s a strong swimmer, what if being swept away wasn’t an accident? What if she came back to try again?

He leapt in his car and backed out of the clearing with a squeal of tires. He was thirty over the speed limit, at least, the whole way back, and roared into Emily’s driveway.

“She’s gone,” he said as her parents came out to see what was going on. “I found her car, at the campsite, but she’s gone.”

“Oh god,” her mother said, her knees giving out. Her husband caught her. “We’ll call the police. They’ll help. They’ll organize a search party. We can find her.”

Joel nodded. “We can find her.”