Ryker (23 page)

Breakfast consisted of a granola bar and coffee for Faith and just coffee for me. She needed to get to work, and I needed to get ready for practice.

I opened her car door for her. “Can I see you later?”

“Probably.” She smiled and gave me a swift kiss before she slid into her car. “Bye.”

My hand rested on top of her door, and before I closed it, I leaned in. “Have a good day, Dude.” I closed the door and smiled before she could say anything.

When I got in my car, I looked at Jimmy’s picture. “Hey, buddy. You’d really like Faith. She’s good people.”

The events of the past week rolled over in my mind. Being able to accept Faith wanting to love me and me wanting to love her back just blew me away. It was so unexpected, but so welcomed. It was a shame Jimmy would never know a feeling like this.

I looked toward the heavens and said a little prayer to him.
May you feel the love I have for you. I’m so sorry, little man.
I teared up and realized I was turning into a sap.

After my emotional pit-stop, I went to the basement, which had previously been occupied by my bed, and set up the microphones, amps, and other equipment we would need. Practice didn’t start for over an hour, so I sat at my drums, put on my headphones, and turned on Led Zeppelin. I liked to play along to their songs and try to keep up with Bonham. I still couldn’t believe Faith didn’t know who he was. We were so different. I prayed that wouldn’t come between us for as long as she would have me.

Eventually, my peripheral vision alerted me that the guys were there, including Michael. He was coming to practices in case we needed him as a roadie. He was a good guy and helped us when needed.

“We called your name, but you didn’t answer.” Tim said as he sat at his keyboard.

Jake grabbed his guitar.

“Sorry, I was practicing.” I reached across my snare to turn off the music blasting in my headphones.

Max came downstairs. “Do you realize how good you are? I was upstairs unpacking when I heard you start playing. That riff was insane. We should come up with a song to give you a solo.”

“That would be cool. Do you guys want to warm up, or can we start?” My sticks were on fire, and I wanted to keep going.

Instruments were tuned, and we started our practice. Max’s voice was on-point; we were all on-point. I hoped we would sound like that for Blanco Diablo. To tour with them would be kickass. Two hours went by in a flash.

I was ready to relax. “Let’s go upstairs and have some beer.” Kicking back with the guys was one of my favorite things to do. It had been my favorite thing until I got to know Faith better.

“So if we can sound like we just did in North Carolina, we will rock the shit out of the place,” Tim said as he high-fived Jake.

He was right. I leaned back in the recliner and took a swig of my beer. Everything was happening so fast: first the gig in Carolina, then Mrs. Bowers giving me her home, and the thing I had going with Faith. I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen next. I just hoped it would be good.

“Heard you had company this morning,” Max stated as he put his boots on the coffee table.

“Yeah. I take it our women talked this morning?”

Max grinned. “You know how they are. Apparently, my best friends are falling for each other.”

Jake looked at me. “Are you really with Faith?”

“Yeah, I am. What part of that is confusing? Do you have a problem with that?”

“No. Not at all.” He looked at Tim. “More snatch for us now.”

“Whatever, have at it. Do who you want when you want.”

“Before you go screwing our leftovers, can we please talk about our schedule?” Max sounded slightly annoyed.

Tim put up his hands. “Hey, I didn’t say it; Jake did. If I wanted anyone, it would have been Faith.”

My head snapped up. “What the fuck did you just say?”

All eyes were on Tim.

He looked around at all of us while slowly taking the beer bottle from his lips. “What? I’m just saying that out of the women who come to see us, she’s the one I would have wanted. We had fun jet skiing. I saw a different side to her then. That’s all. I’d never do anything to take her from you, Ryker. You have to know that.”

I did know that. Tim was a good guy, and I liked him a lot. I knew that Faith did too. “Well, she’s off limits.” I acknowledged him with a nod.

All was good until Jake chimed in. “I don’t get it. I mean, Faith is nice and all, but seriously, she isn’t like Tori or the hot chicks you normally go for. And for you to be exclusive… Well, she must be a really good fuck.”

Max and I both stood up. I was ready to beat the shit out of him. Was he out of his mind? He’d better be drunk, because that shit didn’t fly with me.

I grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him close. His nose almost smacked mine. “If you ever say anything like that about the woman I…that I…”

“Love? Holy shit, you love her?” Jake sounded as surprised as I felt.

I threw my hands in my hair, “Just don’t talk about her like that or I swear I’ll beat the shit out of you.”

Jake flinched. “Yeah. Shit, Ryker. I didn’t know. I’m sorry.”

Max eased me off Jake and looked at me. He whispered, “You really are in love with her.”

I flopped back in the chair, but not before grabbing my beer. “I need her.” I pointed at the guys with my bottle. “If any one of you ever says anything about Faith again, I will pummel you.” I looked at Jake. “And for the record, she's amazing.” I glanced at Max. “Do you have a problem with this?”

He shook his head. “No, man, just treat each other right. That’s it.” His face said more, and the silence in the room become uncomfortable.

“I need a smoke.” I grabbed my pack and lighter off the side table. I couldn’t wait to get outside I’d never light up in the house. My luck, I’d burn it down and lose everything. I was still pissed off. “Max, I want to talk to you.”

Since I hadn’t given him much of a choice, he followed me outside. The wooden door slammed. I flicked my lighter and took a long drag, leaning against the porch rail.

I looked at Max. “Just say it, man. Tell me I’m not good enough for her.” My arms were crossed, and I’m sure he figured out that he should tell me the opposite.

“You are good enough for her. I’ve told you that.” He chortled. “I was impressed by the way you stood up to Jake. Reminded me of the way I once spoke to you about Faith.”

“Once?” Max had berated me about Faith more than once. “Yeah, well, shit is different now.”

“So I gathered.” He looked at a family that was driving by and then looked at me. “You in this for the long haul?”

“Long haul?”

“Yeah. You know, marriage, kids, the white picket fence shit. When we were younger, Faith would talk about how she wanted that someday. Are you going to be able to give that to her?”

Where the fuck had that come from? I flicked my cigarette into the yard and ran my hand through my hair. “I told her I’d give up my sticks for her. Does that answer your question?”

“You told her that?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you mean it?”

“Yeah.”

“Then, yeah, you answered my question.” Max gave me a bro-hug.

We walked back into the living room, and Jake stood. “I’m really sorry. Sometimes my mouth shoots off before my brain can control it.”

I knew that feeling. “It’s fine. Just don’t let it happen again, or I’ll rip your tongue out of your mouth and you won’t have to worry about that problem anymore.”

We all sat down and went over the logistics for North Carolina. The thought of going back there didn’t sit well with me, but I wouldn’t be the one to put a damper on the trip. Everyone grabbed their things and headed out.

Max went upstairs to finish setting up his room and said Tyf was coming over after she got off work. My mind went to Faith. No, that wasn’t true—my mind was always with Faith. I decided to call her.

“Hi, Ryker.”

Her voice was so sweet, and it just did something to me. “Hi, Dude, how’s work?”

“It’s good. I’ve been busy. I was going to call you. First, I talked to my boss, and I can make up the time when I get back, so I can come with you to North Carolina. He was in a really good mood, and that’s the other reason why I wanted to talk to you.”

“You wanted to tell me your boss was in a good mood?” I couldn’t help but laugh when she huffed into the phone.

“Ha-ha. No, that isn’t what I wanted to tell you. We landed a really big foreign account, and my boss is taking a few of us out for drinks after work.”

Shit. I really wanted to see her after work. “Oh, congratulations. Can I see you afterward?”

“Can I take a rain check? I’m really tired. If I didn’t have to go out, I’d be crawling into bed. I haven’t been getting much sleep lately.”

She snickered, making my pants tighten. I knew why she’d been lacking sleep, and the thought made me want to keep her awake longer. But if she was tired, I’d let her regain her energy.

“Okay, then I’ll see you tomorrow?” I didn’t know why I was asking—she didn’t have a choice. I
would
see her tomorrow.

“Yeah, that sounds good.” She yawned. “See, told you I was tired. I should get more coffee.”

“Have fun tonight. Call me when you get home so I know you’re okay.”

“I will.”

I heard a man’s voice in the background. Her hand must have covered the phone because her voice was muffled.

She got back on the phone. “I need to go. I’ll call you later.”

“Alright.”

“Bye.”

When the phone clicked off, I was surprised by how I felt. I wanted to keep talking to her. I needed to tell her I had fallen for her. Hard.

I stretched out on my couch. I should be helping Max, but I stared at the ceiling instead. My eyes closed, and I dozed off.

A hand on my shoulder shook me. “Yo!”

I opened my eyes and saw Max lurking over the back of the couch.

“I’m meeting Tyf at that new bar on Blossom,” he said. “You want to go?”

“Nah, I don’t want to be a third wheel.”

“Don’t be an ass. Come with us.”

“I need a shower. I’ll be a few.”

The new bar was nice. It was quieter than the ones we usually partied in. The people were very preppy, and I stuck out like a sore thumb in my jeans and T-shirt. The wood bar was shiny and didn’t have a mark on it, and it looked as if everything was top shelf. I was happy to see they had beer on tap.

Max spotted Tyf sitting in a booth. We walked over, and I felt eyes on me. I glanced around. People looked as if they were wondering why I was there. Tyf scooted over for Max, and I sat across from them.

“Kind of an uppity place, isn’t it?”

Tyf scrunched her nose at me. “Well hello to you too, Ryker.”

“Yeah, hi. What’s up with this place?”

Tyf fit right in. She had just come from work, and as always, she was impeccably dressed. Max looked better than I did. He had a golf shirt on with his shorts. I think he’d even gelled his hair. I’d never know he was the lead singer in a rock band.

The waitress came and took our orders. I couldn’t wait to wrap my hand around a cold glass of beer.

Max leaned over and kissed Tyf on the cheek for no reason. God, I missed Faith. Then I heard a familiar laugh. My heart stopped as I turned and saw her and Robby at the bar. The girl she had been with at lunch the other day was behind her, talking to some suit.

My girl looked beautiful, and I didn’t appreciate the way that tool was looking at her. Did they work together? What the hell was going on? She was surrounded by business types, and everyone’s eyes were on her.

I slammed my beer back. My body involuntarily slid out of the booth.

Max had noticed what I did. “Don’t do it, Ry. She’s with people from work.”

I leaned my hands on the wood table and looked at Tyf. “Did you know she was going to be here?”

Tyf was drinking something with a straw. As soon as the straw popped out of her mouth, she glared at me. “No, and what difference does it make?”

“I need a beer. I’ll be back.”

Tyf and Max both said something, but I moved too fast to hear them. I didn’t want to know what they were going to say anyway. I strolled up to the bar. I caught a few ladies eyeing me—that was more like it. I was starting to feel comfortable until I saw Robby whisper something in Faith’s ear, making her laugh. That was enough for me to need to find out what was going on.