Ryder's Last Run (Dueling Dragons MC Series) (18 page)

Faith

Four Days Later

“The next time I think it is a bright idea to drive across three states with a newborn baby, just shoot me in my head,” I say to Tank as I get out of my car in front of the Dueling Dragons clubhouse… I mean, home…

“The next time anything happens
, if that bitch is involved, don’t ask me to do shit. Cause, Faith, I love you and everything, but I could give two shits about that blond bitch,” Tank snarls as he gets off his bike. I shake my head at him just as Pegs gets out of the backseat of my car.

I decided that
, since we’re going back to Kentucky at some point after we pick up Ryder, I wanted to bring my car. I have no reason to go back to Alabama. If Will and Nate want to see me, they can come to me.

“Where the hell are we?” Peggy
asks.

“You are at the Dueling Dragons Motorcycle Club
’s home. Welcome to our clubhouse, Lil Mama,” Ziggy says.

I see her face scrunch up, and she shakes her head a little bit. “Are you serious? Faith, you can’t be serious!” She turns and gawks at me. I shrug my shoulders and lean back into my car for my cell phone and purse.

“Am I okay parked here?” I ask the guys.

“Yeah, you should be fine. If anything
, hang your keys in chapel and if it is an issue, the prospects will take care of it.”

I nod and walk around the back of my car to the trunk.

“Oh, don’t worry about that shit. One of the prospects will come out and get your bags.” He waves his arm at me to stop me from opening my trunk. “Oh, look. Ryder’s bike is here. Must mean that they have him home.”

I
’m instantly hit with butterflies. I haven’t seen Ryder face to face in what feels like forever. What are we going to say to each other? Will we hug? Will we kiss?

“Ryder? Is here? Are you sure? Why didn’t we get any phone calls saying that he was back or anything like that?” I fire the questions at him.

“Goddamn, Faith.” he spits at me. “I don’t know shit. I’ve been with you, remember?” He turns angrily away from me and motions for Tank to follow him.

“Well, I guess we are supposed to follow them?” Pegs asks.

“I guess so. Do you have everything?”

“Can you grab the diaper bag and my purse? Please?”

I reach in the car and grab the
m. “Let’s go meet our future,” I say to Pegs and start to walk toward the clubhouse.

“Girl, this is
your
future. Not mine!” She laughs at me and I can see it all over her face.

“Pegs, I have known you since before you grew tits. You are diggin’ on Ziggy, aren’t you?” I bump my shoulder into her and she gets a coy smile on her face.

“Oh, shut up! Don’t you say a word. He is just so amazing looking, but he is so bad and wrong.” She shakes her head and looks down at her feet.

“Don’t count out the things that you think are bad and wrong. Some of the ugliest things in the world are actually the most beautiful.” I smile at her as we start to walk up the stairs to the door to the club.

Well, here is your chance to prove to yourself that you can hang in this world, Faith! Now, let’s do this shit!
Psyching myself up, I step up the last step and reach for the door. I open it and I’m slapped right in the face with the most drama I have ever been through in my life.

****

I walk into the club, followed by Peggy and Ziggy along with Tank. He and Ziggy are talking some shit between the two of them. When I open the door, I know something’s off.

“Wonder what the hell happened here?” Peggy whispers in my ear.

“I don’t know, but whatever happened looks pretty fucking serious.”

“Is that any way we get fuckin’ greeted when we walk in the door?”
Ziggy throws his arms up in the air; he looks like a cross from the back. I shake my head a little bit. “Who fucking died? You guys are a bunch of lame asses!” He does a complete 180 in the room.

There
are quite a few people in the rather large room. It’s dark and dingy, and smells like smoke and stale beer. There’s a bar that spans the back.

“Dude, you have no fuckin’ clue what has been going on.”

A dark haired guy with tattoos walks toward us. He reaches in and gives Ziggy one of those funky guy slap back hugs. I roll my eyes and look over to see Peggy taking an extreme interest in what Ziggy is doing.

Just at that second, I hear a door open and
see a tall, skinny blond with tattoos walk out of a room.

“What
the fuck is she doing here? Does Ry know about this?” Ziggy asks.

The blonde continues to sashay across the room
. All talk has stopped and all eyes are on her and me. I don’t know why, but it feels like I am a test rat in a cage. She stops about five feet from us.

“I
s this her?” She gives me the meanest fucking look I have ever seen. If looks could kill, I would be dead.

“Mind your own fuckin’ business, bitch!” the guy standing in front of Ziggy says to her. She throws her nasty fake ass bleach blond over her shoulder and walks off.

“
What the fuck was that?” Peggy asks.

My jaw drops to the floor and I start to laugh as I turn and look at my best friend. Laughing not because of that nasty girl but
because, in the fifteen years of friendship, I’ve never heard Peggy Sue use such language!

“Whhh…Whhh…a…ttt?” I stutter out because I am laughing so hard. "I wanna know who that blonde is, and what the heck my potty mouth was about." She says and I see Ziggy still standing stiff in front of us.

"Ziggy? Do you know who she is?" I ask.

"Yeah, I do. And I think you need to ask your man about that
," he says. I look over and see a small child on the couch playing a video game with Marko.

I sit on the end of the couch and try to get Marko's attention
, but he is too fixated on the video game. I see the little boy look over at me; I give him a small smile. Who in their right mind would have a child at a biker clubhouse?

I hear the heels coming back across the room and that's when I hear her voice again. "Marko, don't you leave Ransom alone. You know Ryder will have something to say about it if you do." She grins and looks me right in the eyes.

"She's not worth it," I hear Marko whisper to me.

What the fuck does she mean Ryder will have something to say about it
? What is this child to Ryder?

Just as my brain is going about hundred miles an hour, Peggy sits next to me and reaches for my hand. "You know, he looks a little like Ryder
."

"Which one?" I snap back her.

"Both of them. To be honest, they both look like Ryder." I don’t know how she comes up with that since she has only seen pictures of Ryder.

"What the hell does that mean?" I say a little too loud and both the little boy and Marko look at me. "Sorry!" I apologize. "What do you mean?" I look at Pegs.

"Either both these boys are Ryder's or there is something else going on."

I turn and see the blond walk over and fluff the little boy
’s hair, hair that is jet black just like Ryder's. I see his eyes as he looks away from the TV; his eyes match Ryder's. Even Marko, who looks like a younger version of Ryder, doesn't have his eyes; he has Layla's eyes. Speaking of Layla, I wonder where the hell she is?

Sitting there looking at this little guy who is probably around seven years old at the most, I hear her heels walk heavily across the floor towards the door that says PRIVATE over the top. I watch her as she opens the door and that is when I get my first glimpse of him. R
yder.

He
’s sitting in the room that looks like an office; she walks into the room and obstructs my view of him. He lifts his face because she says something to him and he looks from her to me on the couch. Our eyes meet and my heart sinks. What the fuck? He’s here, and I am just now seeing him.

I look at the blonde holding the door and she just looks back at me and lets go of the door
; it swings closed. I catch Ryder's eye again before the door closes, but he isn't making any effort to come towards me.

It feel
s like my heart has been ripped out of my chest. What the hell is going on?

I sit there on the couch, in total shock for what seems like the next hour. I stew on everything that has happened in my life lately.

I hear Ryder starting to raise his voice. I see the little boy look towards the door. "When is my mommy going to come out?" the little boy asks Marko.

"I'm not sure
, lil man. I think she is talking to ummm... Ryder," Marko says like he is stumbling over what he is going to say.

"Marko, is there something that you need to tell me?"
This draws Ziggy’s attention.

"What the fuck
, Marko? Just remember, you ain't patched yet and I can talk prez outta patching you. You little bastard." Ziggy says as he grabs the back of Marko's neck.

"Zeke, you let that man go. There is a child in the room
," Peggy says from the other side of me and Ziggy instantly releases Marko. He leans down and whispers something in Marko's ear.

"Al
l right, I will fucking tell you guys. Even though it should be Prez that tells you his dirty fucking laundry."

"I don't care about the Prez Marko. What is going on with Ryder?" I spit out at him and stand up from my seat on the couch. There is no more nice Faith. I want to know what the hell is going on here.

"Ryder is the new president of the MC. Prez was killed a few days ago; with Ryder being VP, he stepped up." He tosses the controller on the floor and stands. "I shouldn't have fucking told you guys that. We have chapel tonight to go over shit." He runs his hand through his hair and turns to walk out the door. Ziggy says his name a few times to try to stop him, but Marko doesn't stop.

I look over at this dark haired little boy. I can’t stop myself from staring at him. I hear Pegs clear her throat from the couch.

"You gonna sit back down, sweetie?"

That's when I hear it. I hear Ryder's voice and know that he is on the other side of that door. There is no way in hell I am going to be played for a fucking fool again. Not this time. Ignoring Pegs
, I walk over to the door that the tramp walked into. I take a few deep breaths and turn the knob and throw the door open to see Ryder standing in the middle of the office, with the blond demon wrapped around his neck, kissing him.

Faith

I thought my life ended the day that I walked in on Peggy Sue and Beau together
. Well, let me tell you. Walking in on that bitch and Ryder was the worst thing that has ever happened to me.

I see Ryder try to push the blonde back away from him. "What the fuck is that about
, Bambi?"

"Bambi, such a cute name for a fucking whore
," I say, not really controlling my volume.

S
he turns to face me. "Oh, and I guess your name is better than mine. I know that pussy of yours is better if he is pushing me off him. Ryder usually fucks anything that walks."

Ryder sigh
s rather loudly and starts to walk toward me, but I throw my arms up in the air. "Don’t touch me." He stops in his tracks and looks at me as if I’ve sprouted a second head.

"How could you?" We make eye contact, "You asked me to wait for you. I did. How could you?" I will not give either one of them the satisfaction of seeing me cry.

"Faith, it's not what you think."

I catch Bambi out of the corner of my eye, she is grabbing her purse and getting ready to walk out of the office. Oh, hell no!

She sashays her ass past me a little bit and I reach back, grab a hold of her swinging ponytail, and give it a good pull. She loses her balance a little bit and stumbles backwards.

"W
hat the fuck?" she screams. I pull a little bit harder and bring her back to where I’m standing. I may be small, but my brothers used to fight with me all the time.

I look over at Ryder
. "Is this what you have been doing lately? Why didn't you call me?"

Bambi manages to kick me hard in my ass.

"Faith, it isn't like that," I hear Ryder say as I pull Bambi closer to me and smack her in the face.

Bambi turn
s about three shades of red. "You little bitch!" She comes at me and I throw my hands up just in time to deflect her slap. 

I hear the jukebox start up and the most fitting song comes on
.
Miranda Lambert’s “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”
starts to flood the room and we all look over our shoulders and see Tank walking away from the jukebox. "What? I thought it was fitting."

Since I didn't have my eye on crazy bitch
, she was able to slap me once across the face. I turn about five sides of crazy in two seconds. "You fucking bitch!"

I lunge for her and feel an arm wrap around my waist
. Tank grabs Bambi and carries her crazy ass out of the room.

"You bitch! I will fucking get you. You can't step between a father and son. I won't let you do this to our son
, Ryder!" I hear her scream as Peggy Sue closes the door, and it is just Ryder and I left alone for the first time in two months.

"
Let go of me!" I scream at him and he does. I pop out of his arms and turn so fast to slap him that I’m a little dizzy. I lose my balance. Ryder steadies me and I lock eyes with the man that still holds my heart.

"Please, don't touch me right now."

****

We sat in the office for the last hour or two not really saying much of anything. Ryder has tried to talk to me but I have just shrugged off his words. He's been trying to convince me that he was fine, just a lot of shit has happened. He doesn't know yet that Marko has given up his little secret.

He reaches over to touch me and I feel the first tear break the barrier and slide down my cheek. "I waited for you. You made me promise; you gave me a ring. Then, the second you think I am gone, you move on." I start to sniffle while I try to keep myself from a full on breakdown. "How long have you known?"

It's a simple question but it is almost like he knows what is going to happen because his whole body goes stiff.

"Don't you fucking think if I knew about this bullshit that I would have told you? Huh? Do you know realize that I fucking love you just as much, if not more than you love me? You feel me?" I start to cry a little bit harder. "That stupid fucking bitch Bambi never got in contact with me and, to make it even fucking worse come to find out, Flem, someone that I thought was a brother, had been keeping this fucking secret for the last seven years."

Wow, he has changed. He may not see it, but I can see it and feel it. Honestly, it is a little scary. He is just so rigid. He
’s standing with his back to me and I can see all of the muscles constrict and flex in his back.

"Faith..."

"Yeah..."

H
e turns to face me; his face is stone cold. He slinks toward where I am sitting on the edge of the desk. He steps up to my legs and starts to push them apart. The better part of me knows that we shouldn't be thinking about this right now, but the other part of me misses him so much. I miss the feel of his body next to mine. I miss Ryder.

"Tell me you love me. Tell me that we will be okay, that you love me and that you won
’t ever fucking keep anything from me!"

He reaches up, grabs the back of my neck, and slams his lips to mine. I can feel the intensity in his kiss
. The second I start to taste blood, I open my mouth and let him have what he needs. If I keep denying him, it will only be worse.

He
pushes me back on the desk; I lie back with him because I miss this. I miss us. I wrap my arms around his shoulders and that’s when I realize this is going somewhere that I don't know if I am comfortable with.

"Ryder, wait. Slow down babe."

He growls and grabs my wrists from around his neck and slams them on the desk. What the hell is going on with him?

"Ryder, please." My voice shaking.

"Don't fight it. You know you want this. You know you want me to bend you over the end of this desk and fuck the shit out of you." He reaches down and starts to unzip my pants.

Faith, you need to stop him! This isn't your Ryder. This is someone else!
My brain is in freak out mood along with my body.

I try
, thrashing my arms back and forth to get him to loosen his grip on my wrists, but it doesn't seem like he is going to let up. He brings his lips back down to mine and kisses me. I taste the sting of the metallic from the blood. Why is he being like this?

I feel him let go of one of my hands but it's engulfed with the other before I c
an do anything. He harshly rubs his hand over my tits and it hurts so badly. I start to sob.

"Ryder why are you doing this? I thought you loved me."

He brings his hand down to my hip and just as fast as it started, he is slumped on top of me. I feel his breath on my neck and that's when I feel his body shake. Is he crying? I don't care if he is hyperventilating I want him off of me.

"Ryder, get off of me!"

I thrust my hips up and catch him off guard and end up knocking a little bit of wind out of him. He stands up.

"What the fuck
was that for?"

"What the fuck
was that for?"

This is the first time since the start of this situation that I g
et a good look at Ryder's face; I realize that the blood is from him. He has a busted lip and a huge black eye that looks like it could have been the equivalent of hamburger at one point.

I jump off the desk and step toward him.

I stop where I am and start to straighten out my shirt and pants. I grab some tissue from the top of the desk and start to wipe off my face, I am sure it looks wrecked from kissing Ryder.

"FUCK!" He kicks the little side table next to the couch in the office. I jump and put my hand over my mouth to try and stif
le the gasp that comes out when the table hits the wall and shatters into a bunch of little pieces. "Do you realize what the fuck I have been through? Do you have any fucking idea?" he growls with his back towards me.

"No, I don't. But if you give me a chance
, I can understand why you..." I don't get a chance to finish what I am going to say because Ryder picks up the glass dish sitting on the coffee table and throws it across the room. It hits the wall and shatters just like the table.

"Ryder, please. Stop. You’re scaring me."

Within about five minutes, it looks like a bomb has gone off in whoever
’s office this is. "Do you feel better?" I ask Ryder as he stands leaned into a wall with his back to and me and his arms over his head.

"Fuck off
," he bites out.

"Fine. If you're going to be like this and shut me out and not talk to me, then I will fuck off." I walk over to him and start to take the ring off. I want nothing to do with his pity party or drama.

I get about five feet from him and he turns around. "What the fuck do you think you’re doing?" He looks down at my hands and sees that I am taking my ring off.

"Listen, I know that you're going through some shit right now and look, I understand.
But I am not going to stand here and let you treat me like a piece of shit. You either tell me what the hell is going on with you or I am done." Nope, I am not going to be the one to get hurt out of this. "Besides, I saw you all over that skank when I walked in. Go find her."

I take the ring off and try to hand it to him but he steps back. "Do you wanna know what the fuck happened to me? Or do you even care anymore?" I sigh and drop back on my heels and cross my arms under my breasts.

"I was locked away. I was forced to fight. I was told that if I didn't fight, they would hurt you. That bitch that you saw hanging off me, well, that is a part of my past that I wish would have stayed fucking buried. But she is a fucking two bit whore who hid my son from me for seven goddamn years."

Son? Ryder has a...son... Whoa... This is a slap in the face for sure.

"That little boy that was in the common room, that's a product of me. She got her dumb ass into some shit with the club and couldn't shake it." He scrubs his hand over his head, which I have noticed, is now shaved.

"I
’m also being patched in as the President of the Dueling Dragons MC. I am done trucking. I had federal charges but the fucking Russians," he growls out, "paid off my charges. But the one thing I did lose besides..." He lets out a defeated sigh, "you. Is my Commercial Driver’s License, I can't drive big rig anymore. I am going to take over as Prez and make my money that way. Live for the cut, die by the cut. Baby, that's how my life is gonna be now. You feel me?"

"What does that mean
, you’re going to be Prez?" I did not sign up for this bullshit. I love Ryder and all but I never told him I would take all this shit on. I am only twenty-one years old; I am not parent material right now. I know that they do illegal shit, how is that going to be a good environment for a little boy to grow up in.

"Well, you see.
.." He steps closer to me, grabs my hand, and lifts his other to my face. "What that means is that you’re going to be my old lady. In all walks of life. We will get married just like we planned before all this other bullshit happened and you will stand behind me from this day forward."

"What do you mean stand..." I cock my head to the side and look at him. "Behind you? Wouldn't I stand
next to
you?"

He scoffs a little bit and steps back in his stance a little bit.

He scoffs a little bit and steps back in his stance a little bit. "Yeah, I mean you will stand behind me on any choice I make in life; it's what an old lady does. You will keep me fucked, sucked, and happy. You feel me?" He looks at me with the coldest stare ever.

"Are you serious
, Ryder? You really mean that?"

"You're a fucking prick
, Ryder Porter. I wish you had never come back. I hate you!" I take the ring and throw it in his face. "Did you hear me? I. Hate. You." I spit at him, spinning on my toes and walking rather fast from the office, slamming the door behind me. I don't care what that prick has to say, he has changed. He isn't the Ryder that I fell madly in love with. He is a shell of who he was.

"What the hell happened in there?" Peggy comes walking up to me the second I get out the office door. "You look like hell! Is that blood?" She reaches for my face and I flinch. 

"Girl, you need to come with me to check on Tucker." She puts her hands on my hips and shakes me just like she used to when we were younger.

"Yeah, okay. Let's go. I need to be away from egotistical assholes right now
. Baby time sounds perfect." I try to give her my bravest smile, trying not to show that my heart is shattering into a million little pieces.