“Are you his date, sweetheart?” A guy from the crowd yelled out.
I ignored him. “C’mon, Ryker.” I tried again when someone took a swing at me. I dodged the blow and warned the guy to back off. His friends goaded him on and he stepped closer and tried to hit me again. I took him down in a couple of punches, wanting nothing more than to just get the hell out of there.
I heard the soft snick of a knife opening and turned my head in time to see a guy lunging at Lewis who looked scared shitless. I stepped in, grabbed the guy’s arm and twisted his wrist backward, forcing him to drop it. One of the knife guy’s buddies clocked me on the side of the face which hurt like hell and really pissed me off. Then more of his buddies joined in. Five to one.
Ryker pushed his way beside me. Five to two.
Screaming like a girl, Lewis threw himself into the circle and gave me a thumbs up. Five to two and a half. Then it was on. I don’t know how long the fight lasted, but I managed to take down three of them while Ryker and Lewis worked on the other two. One second I was in the middle of swinging and the next I was slammed against a wall and gifted with a pair of handcuffs. Shit. My jaw throbbed but it was nothing like how my heart was racing. If they hauled me in, I wouldn’t make it to Tana on time.
I was led the back of a police car worrying a hundred miles a minute over Tana. I needed to call her. I had to let her know what happened. She’d think that I didn’t want to be with her if I didn’t show up. I couldn’t let her down.
It took a few hours to sort everything out. The officers talked to the bar owner who explained that I didn’t start the fight and had tried to avoid it. Then they talked to several witnesses who backed the owner’s story. Relieved and free, I headed toward Tana’s dorm.
Chapter Thirty
TANA
I’d talked Shelby into vacating the dorm so that Ryan and I could have privacy. Excitement coursed through me. I didn’t know how things would end, but maybe, if we got everything out into the open, we could build a future together.
Humming to myself, I took a long shower and shaved. I didn’t think we’d end up making love tonight, but just in case, I wanted to be prepared. I spread scented lotion all over my softened skin and went to my dresser to search for the new bra and panty set I’d purchased at the lingerie store. I eased the panties on and as the silky material slid across my skin, I imagined Ryan’s hands doing the same. I put the bra on and gained a confidence boost at the full cleavage it gave me.
Searching through my closet, I chose a short, figure hugging dress with a low neck. I’d been able to have some extra money this semester because in a surprise twist, my father had given my mom a nice chunk of money. She’d bought a new home in a better neighborhood, paid my next year’s tuition, and made sure I had some spending money. For the first time in years, I didn’t feel the pinch financially.
I’d asked her what had come over Dad, but she’d only said that maybe he’d seen the error of his ways. Whatever had caused him to change his mind, was fine with me. I opened up one of the boxes of new shoes I’d bought. The heels were pretty but not practical although they did scream do-me.
After I added the heels and a light touch of perfume, I was ready with half an hour to spare. Dashing around the sitting area, I straightened up the mess Shelby had left and tossed her stuff in the middle of her bed then shut her door. That was the only drawback to rooming with her. She was a total slob and it drove me crazy.
Taking a deep breath, I surveyed the room, then sniffed the air. “Candles,” I muttered and went in search of them. I had two mango and tangerine ones I’d picked up from Target. I lit those, then stretched out on the sofa. As soon as I did, I sat up straight again. No, I didn’t want Ryan to think we could skip talking and go straight to the sex.
He’d said he loved me. I smiled at the memory. We would order pizza. No, Chinese takeout. We’d eat. And we’d talk through the night if we had to. But tonight, everything would change. The minutes passed as I waited.
He should have been here by now. I looked at my cell phone. He was only ten minutes past the time we’d agreed to meet. I bit my lip. He’d said he’d be here. He would be. Of course he would. When twenty minutes passed, I began to pace the room. What if something had happened?
Get a grip. That side of his life was over. I stopped. Was it? I thought back to our conversation in the car. Had Ryan said it was over? No. He hadn’t. He’d only said that Chanos was dead. He’d never said that the past was over. Never said he wasn’t a part of it anymore.
I sank onto the sofa. The memory of seeing my mother so helpless after she’d been shot zipped through my mind’s eye and the awful days that had followed tumbled after the memory. I couldn’t go through something like that again and if Ryan was involved in stuff, then I’d always have to deal with these fears, always have to wonder if he was okay when he didn’t show up. After thirty minutes, with no phone call from Ryan and no answer when I tried to call him, I blew out the candles and paced some more.
By the time an hour had passed, I went to change. Stripping off the dress, I shoved it into a ball in the corner of the closet. I couldn’t stand to look at it, at the hope that it had represented. Removing the sexy lingerie, I dressed in the sweat pants and T-shirt I usually wore to bed. God, what a fool I still was for Ryan. One look from him, one conversation and I was ready to lay myself open to the devastation he’d wreaked on my heart like before. How stupid could I be? I decided that I wouldn’t stay in my dorm tonight. I didn’t want Ryan to show up with some lame excuse or to tell me that he’d thought it over and didn’t want to be with me after all. I didn’t want hear him say he was still part of a dark past that might someday claim his life.
*
RYAN
I raked a hand down my face. Tana wasn’t answering her phone. I raced to the college and as soon as I parked the Charger, I ran across the campus to her dorm and banged my fist on the door so hard I thought I’d punched a hole in it.
There was no answer. Shit. I couldn’t be this fucking close to having her in my life again only to have it snatched away. I eased myself to the floor and sat there all night long. It was a quarter past nine before Shelby walked into the hall wearing a rumpled dress and carrying a pair of high heels in her hand. She shoved a key into the lock and gave me a nasty glare. “I talked to Tana last night. You have a lot of nerve showing up here.”
“Where is she?”
“Why would I tell you?”
I gripped both sides of the doorframe after she walked in. “Because me not being here last night was something I couldn’t help.”
“Uh huh. Something or someone? I know she has stars in her eyes when it comes to you, but she’s my friend and I won’t let you hurt her.”
“I would have moved heaven and hell to get to her last night because I love her and I’m asking you to let me make this right with her.”
Shelby’s cold expression softened. “Oh. She has history again this period. She’s probably already there.”
“Thanks.” I left before Shelby could say anything else. I didn’t want to hear from Tana’s friend how that Tana was done with me. Not before I had a chance to explain.
Instead of using the doors at the back of the room, I used the side entrance that the professor took to enter the room. He was at the lecture podium and when I opened the door, his eyebrows shot up. He looked at me over the top of his glasses and recognition dawned. “Can I help you?”
“I need this.” I stepped in front of the microphone. “Tana Shaw!” Heads turned toward where she was sitting in the same spot where I’d seen her in the class the first time. “Last night, something prevented me from getting to you. But that doesn’t mean we’re not meant to be.”