Redeemed: Bad Blooded Rebel Series #4 (8 page)

“We
both know that but no one there is going to care. Half the town will feel pity
and sorrow for me and the other half will look down their noses at me and call
me a murderer. I can’t go back there, not anymore.”

I
gave her shoulders a gentle squeeze. “So, where do you want to go then?”

She
turned her big brown eyes to me and said, “What about Cincinnati?”

I
blinked a few times. “You want to move to Cincy? Why?”

“You
came and stayed with me in my town and we’d probably still be there if your
label hadn’t forced you guys to come here. You risked everything to come to me,
so why shouldn’t I do the same? I have nothing keeping me in Indiana anymore
and I’d follow you anywhere.”

“I
think that’s the other way around, gorgeous,” I said smiling. “I quite
literally have followed you around. I’ll go wherever you want to, baby. If
Cincinnati is where you want to be-”

“It
is,” she said.

“Then
that’s where we will go. I’ll take care of everything and we can leave in the
morning if you want.”

Everleigh
nodded and sighed. “Thank you.”

“So,
are you at least ready to get out of this hospital?” I asked, taking my arm
from around her and standing up.

“Hell
yes,” she said, throwing off her blanket.

“Do
you want to go back to the penthouse for just one more night?” I asked.

She
thought about the idea for a moment before she shook her head and said, “No. I
have nothing but good memories there. Can we just leave it as a happy place for
us?”

I
leaned in and kissed her forehead. “Of course we can. Besides, I think after
everything that happened to us tonight, for us to come out of this as well as
we did, we have earned a night in a suite at The Plaza Hotel,” I said, pulling
out my phone. “Don’t even try to argue.”

“I
wouldn’t dream of it, rock star,” she said, grabbing a bag that was on a chair
next to the bed. One of the girls must have brought her some clothes. “Hey,”
she said softly as I was searching for the number to the hotel on my phone.

“What?”
I asked, turning to look at her.

Tears
glazed her eyes and she said, “I love you so much, Ryder Matthews. Thank you
for loving me enough to fight.”

I
moved back to her and pulled her into my arms. “No baby, thank
you
for
loving
me
. I don’t deserve someone as perfect as you but I am willing to
spend my life trying to feel worthy of you.”

She
snuggled into my embrace and hummed lightly. “Right here, in your arms…
this
is my home.”

Despite
the horrific night we’d lived through, my chest felt warm and tingles shot all
through me to my fingers and toes. I kissed her messy ruffled hair and held her
tight as the world around dissolved. It would forever be me and Everleigh
against the world and that was okay with me.

Six
weeks later it was the middle of March and today was Everleigh’s birthday. I
had been busy all day trying to make this a memorable day for her. We had left
New York the day after the attack and the rest of the band shortly followed.
Our relationship began in her hometown but I will admit I was glad that she
wanted to replant her roots in Cincinnati…the place where our story really and truly
began.

I
was desperate for this day to be perfect for two reasons. Reason number one: I
wanted to help Everleigh keep her thoughts from wandering back to that night
and Scott’s death and to keep her on the path toward healing. Reason number
two: I needed to keep
my
thoughts (and other things) from wandering and
reminding me how I now had the biggest case of blue balls known to man.

I
felt bad for feeling this way, especially since she’d been through something
awful, but my body was literally hurting every minute of every day without
holding Everleigh’s bare skin against mine. It had been a month and a half
since we’d made love and my body and mind were fighting a hormonal battle every
single day. I was not going to push her and I would wait until she was ready to
take that step again, but I couldn’t lie that is was harder and harder
(literally) to keep my hands and body to myself.

My
plan for the day was to keep her (and me) as busy as possible so my “gun” would
remain a concealed weapon, so we’d spent most of the day together shopping and
taking in some of the sights. After a few hours of spoiling my girl with
jewelry and clothes (she drew the line at a new car), we stopped back at the
house for Everleigh to get ready for our evening. I was taking her to dinner at
the most exclusive and expensive restaurant in Cincinnati and we definitely
couldn’t go there in our usual jeans and rocker tees.

I
didn’t take long to get ready and I was dressed in my suit and I sat down in
the nearest chair in the living room, resisting the urge to take her into our
room and strip her naked. It was killing me knowing that there was a perfectly
good king sized bed in the master bedroom of my house not being used.

“Evie,
baby, are you ready to go?” I called out. “We have reservations for six
o’clock!”

She
was still in the bathroom putting the finishing touches on her makeup. “Hold
on, Ryder! I’m putting on my mascara. Give me two seconds!”

While
I waited for her to finish my cell phone rang. I pulled it out and answered it
without looking to see who it was. “Hello?”

“Hey,
bro, how’s it going?” Jude asked, his voice irritatingly cheerful. “Did you
have fun with the birthday girl?”

“Yeah,
it’s been a good day. Why do you sound so flipping happy?” I asked. “Got you
some pussy already today?”

He
snorted out a laugh. “Actually no. Sadie just said something funny,” he said
and I heard the unmistakable snort Sadie sometimes made when she was laughing
really hard over something.

“You’re
hanging out with Sadie?” I asked, fighting the urge to punch him through the
phone.

“Yeah,
I am. Is that a problem?” he asked defensively.

“No
it’s just…you are hanging out with one of your best friend’s little sister, who
happens to be
smoking
ass hot, on a Friday night. That’s one of the
nights of the week that you are almost guaranteed to get laid, bro.”

“Hey,
Sadie, hold on,” he said and I heard shuffling on the other end of the phone as
he obviously was leaving whatever room he was in to talk to me. “You don’t have
to worry about that, Ryder. Sadie is like my sister too and I’d never touch her
like that. We decided to hang together today because we are both on our own
tonight and I actually didn’t feel like going out. She said she was bored too
and suggested we hang and catch a movie or something. Believe me it won’t go
any farther than that.”

“Are
you sure?” I asked. I couldn’t help that I still felt protective of Sadie after
all this time since she was now twenty-one and grown but I did. I’d known her
since she was born and the thought of any guy, even Jude (hell,
especially
Jude) having his hands on her made every protective cell in me come to life.

“Well,
if we get pizza that might be a different story. You know pepperoni makes me
really horny,” he joked.

“Jude,”
I warned.

“I’m
just kidding, Ryder. Relax! We are just going to chill tonight. Just go have
fun with our girl and tell her I said happy birthday, okay?” he said. Jude and
Everleigh had gotten along instantly from the moment they met, but after what
happened in New York they’d gotten much closer. I imagine that he felt as
protective of her as I did over Sadie.

“I
will. You two have fun too. Not too much though.”

He
sighed. “Shut up man. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Bye,”
I said and as soon as I hung up the phone I heard Everleigh’s heels clicking
their way down the hall.

“I’m
ready to go, rock star,” she said and when my eyes lifted, I saw her looking
mouth watering in a snug plum-colored dress and black stilettos. My heart
skipped a beat and I knew I was really going to have a hard time getting through
the evening with all our clothes still on.

Everleigh

As
soon as I saw Ryder’s expression as he took me in I knew that my plan to seduce
him tonight was off and running. It had been six weeks since the attack and
surprisingly as soon as we left New York I began to feel more like myself than
I had in a long time, despite the void I would always feel after losing Trish.
Everything that happened was still weighing on my mind and sometimes I had
nightmares, but they weren’t about killing Scott. They were about Ryder being either
dead or far away from me; I would wake up terrified that he wasn’t there. It
would always take a few seconds to remember that it was just a dream and that
Ryder was sleeping next to me, but those few seconds that I was forced to
relive my nightmare were pure torture.

Ryder
had also been treating me with kid gloves since we came to Cincinnati, refusing
to let our physical relationship go any farther than just light kisses on the
lips and an occasional kiss on the neck. Even though Scott had violated me
during the attack it didn’t make me any less attracted to Ryder. I know it
probably wasn’t the healthiest way to deal with a trauma, but for me I was
craving Ryder’s touch so much and his hot, hard, naked body on mine was the
therapy I needed.

After
Scott attacked me on New Year’s Day at 7-6-5 we’d made love that night in my
shower and all my fear and worry melted away. Ryder had to see that I needed
him to help me melt it all away again.

I
stopped in front of him and did a little curtsy. “Do I look okay?” I asked. I
wore a plum-colored strapless asymmetrical dress, black suede stilettos, and I
had my hair up with a few curls falling down around my face. I kept my makeup
simple since Ryder loved to see as much of my bare face as possible, telling me
often how beautiful he thought I was without makeup.

He
stood and walked over to me. As he pulled me into his arms I inhaled his
delicious musky scent. He looked gorgeous in his black suit and skinny tie and
it was like torture having him this close knowing he would just push me away
again. I know he was just being respectful for what I’d been through but I
needed things back to normal in a big bad way, including having his naked
perfection lying in our bed waiting to make love to me.

“You
look absolutely perfect,” he said, his voice husky.

“Thank
you,” I whispered against his neck and lightly pressing my lips to his pulse. I
heard a faint groan escape him and I was hopeful that we would never even make
it out the door.

Unfortunately,
he kissed my forehead gently and said, “We should go or we’ll lose our
reservation.” He backed away from me and got my coat from the closet.

I
bit back a pout and stowed my disappointment as I walked to him and let him
help me into my coat. As soon as his was on, we walked out of the house without
a word.

We
didn’t really make much conversation through dinner either. The atmosphere of
the restaurant was romantic, the place was beautiful, and the food was
delicious, but I ate my food as quickly as possible. At this point I wasn’t
above begging Ryder to do whatever he wanted to me.

After
we shared a piece of triple chocolate cake and he paid the check, he helped me
into my coat again and said, “Did you have a good time tonight, gorgeous?”

I
nodded and put on my best smile. “Yes I did. This has been the best birthday
I’ve had in a long time,” I said. Even thought I was sexually starved, I was
being honest. My last twenty four birthdays before this were spent mostly alone
and last year at this time Dad was quickly getting sicker and sicker. Ryder’s
presence alone made this my happiest birthday so far.

“Did
you like all of your presents? I didn’t get you too much, did I?” he asked,
smiling that damn crooked smile I loved so much.

I
laughed. Ryder had gotten me way too much and I usually felt uncomfortable when
he tried to buy me anything extravagant. Today, however, I wasn’t about to
protest because this was just as much a special day for him as it was for me.
He’d never really had a girlfriend before he met me and he wanted to spoil me
on my birthday, so I let him. As I ran my fingers across the diamond tennis
bracelet that matched the diamond pendant he bought me, I smiled and said, “Not
at all.”

As
beautiful as all of my gifts had been, I couldn’t help but feel a pang of
sadness because I didn’t get the gift I actually wished for…Ryder making love
to me.

After
he’d helped me into my coat, he leaned in and kissed my neck, sending shivers
down my spine. “I’m glad. Let’s go home, huh?”

I
nodded and smiled at him again. “Okay,” I said, and took his hand in mine.

We
walked out of the restaurant and as we waited for the valet to bring Ryder’s
Escalade around, he touched my cheek gently and said, “Is everything okay,
gorgeous? You’ve been really quiet all evening.”