Falling back on old habits, I didn’t back away. I learned early in life never to look scared, because that’s when you got punked. In fact, I chose to cross my legs, which I have to say looked absolutely fabulous in my daisy dukes, and I swung the top one nonchalantly to show that I was cool as a cucumber, though I wasn’t. Bravado. It’s my knee-jerk reaction to dealing with any stressful situation. I pretend my way through it.
“It’s in the smaller bedroom, recharging,” I replied evenly, refusing to show that I was feeling intimidated, though I was. I mean, shit, he was much bigger than I was and was likely twice my weight, not that I thought he was going to hurt me. I’m just not used to having big men invade my space.
“Why didn’t you let us know you were leaving?” He was beginning to emphasize his words individually, as though I were a simpleton who had trouble understanding spoken language, and that had my anger stirring. What an ass.
“You said to interrupt if there was an emergency. There was no emergency other than I was hungry.”
“You could have interrupted us any time.”
“I didn’t feel comfortable doing that.”
“Why didn’t you just grab something from the fridge?”
“It’s not my house.” My tone became snappier. Ryder was treating me like a child, thinking it was his place to question me about my activities, and Sy was watching us with growing amusement, which was completely embarrassing. It was making me feel like I was just the “silly little woman,” which I hate.
“I told you to make yourself at home.”
“Yeah, just before you ran out of the room like your ass was on fire. How strange that I didn’t feel comfortable after that!” My voice was beginning to drip sarcasm, and his eyes narrowed darkly.
“I didn’t run out of the room. I left to get started working. I’m trying to keep you from being killed, remember?”
“Whatever, Ryder. You say tomato... What’s the point of this? I was hungry and went down to get food. You have no right to sit here and question me.”
“Some guys almost grab you off the street, and I go through the trouble of saving your ass, and you think I don’t have the right to question you when you do something irresponsible?”
“I wasn’t irresponsible. I left a note. And just to remind you, I’m not a prisoner. I can walk out any time I choose.”
“Just try it,” he growled.
“Oh, yeah?” I stood with purpose. Adrenaline kicked in. It raced through my system on overload, making me feel powerful.
Ryder did the same. We glared at each other, him looking down and me looking up, both of us breathing heavily.
“Yeah.” There were mere inches separating us, and he was just waiting for me to make a move.
“You don’t own me, pal. I’ll step out into traffic if I want to,” I snarled.
“Cut it out,” Sy said sharply from the other side of the table. He stood.
“Stay out of this,” Ryder growled, not breaking eye contact with me.
“The hell I will. Back off unless you want her to knee you in the nuts. She wanted to grab us food. Excellent. And Taylor? He was worried about your safety. Is that wrong? Surrounded by goddamn children,” he muttered. He snatched up his empty food containers and stalked off to dispose of his trash in the receptacle under the sink.
We continued to glare at each other, but after a moment, I just felt like crying. My sense of helplessness and anxiety overwhelmed me. This really sucked. I couldn’t do helpless and reliant. I knew for certain that I refused to be Ryder’s problem, but already he’d been out looking for me, likely cursing me for the trouble. I was used to that from my family, which was why I worked so hard to insulate myself. I couldn’t bear the thought of him feeling like I was just a pain in the ass.
I knew it would really be better for me to go back to my apartment and let whatever happened happen. Some people were lucky and others were not when it came to the lottery of whom you were birthed to and the kind of support you had from loved ones. I’d always been a pragmatist when it came to viewing my lot in life, and it was no different now.
“You got me a sandwich?” he murmured after a moment of silence.
“I did.” I released pent-up air and felt my eyes burn. Quickly, I tried to blink the moisture away.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I’m sorry you were worried. I left a note on the sink.”
“Didn’t see it. Please keep your phone on you.”
“I usually do, but I couldn’t plug it in last night.”
I could practically see the memories parading through Ryder’s mind as his eyes turned sensual and his lips relaxed from their tight line. “I’m hungry.”
I wasn’t sure if he was talking about food, but I pretended he was. “Yours is on the table.”
And so he sat and ate, which allowed me to regain my equilibrium.
Sy decided to play video games, and I sat at the table with Ryder, who kept watching me with his intense green eyes. I thought about Sy’s comment that Ryder was drawn to me but wasn’t sure what to do with that, knowing that if he was drawn to me, it was grudgingly. Resentfully. I watched Sy’s video-game character hide behind a building and wait for the sniper to appear. He finally managed to take the sniper out and hooted in success.
“Now that’s how you do it!” He looked over his shoulder to the dining table and winked at me, his playful self once again evident. “You like video games, Taylor?”
“I do, but I don’t know how to play that one. I guess I’m kind of old-school. I need a joystick and a button. That looks confusing.”
“We’ve got others, but this one’s pretty cool. I’ll be glad to teach you.”
“Okay.”
“Great. It’s a date. Have a seat next to me.” He patted the couch.
“No, it’s not,” Ryder stated firmly. “She’s about to be busy.”
“She’s got a few minutes while you finish eating.”
Ryder scowled. “She doesn’t know you like I do.”
“Geesh,” I said with some exasperation. “She can answer for herself, and what she wants to do is play a video game.” I got up and sat by Sy, uncomplicated Sy, who pulled up a video game where we could race around San Francisco in sports cars. Ryder looked on like an agitated bear, which Sy took as a green light to further aggravate him.
“By the way, what Ryder forgot to tell you is that I’m an amazing technological wizard, long-distance swimmer, basket weaver and tango dancer,” he said loudly in a stage whisper as we began to play. I was controlling a virtual red Corvette, which was likely the closest I would ever get to actually driving one.
“And major player,” Ryder muttered brusquely.
“I think of myself as being a lover of women,” Sy corrected. “Anything is worth trying, if I can meet beautiful women while doing it.”
“Basket weaving?” I arched an eyebrow, then winced because I crashed my car under an overpass, taking a turn too quickly. It took a moment for the car to regenerate and begin racing again.
“There were a lot of women in the class.” He smiled with a blissful look on his face, as though reliving a lovely memory. I decided not to ask. His inattention allowed me to speed ahead of him, and he frowned in concentration again.
“That’s the reason our place is so well decorated,” Ryder stated darkly.
“Tango?”
“I thought it would be a great way to meet sexy women.”
“Did you meet sexy women?”
“A few, but they were spoken for. I’ve decided my next attempt will be coed beach volleyball.”
“Aren’t you like our favorite cartoon coyote.” I shook my head with mock admiration. “Try and try again.”
“I am like good old Wile E. One day I’ll meet Mrs. Right.”