The Vargas Cartel Trilogy (Vargas Cartel #1-3)(145)
Chapter Fifteen
Hattie
“What the hell are you doing in here?” Ryker roared the minute he walked into the room. The door thudded against the doorstop.
I slowly lifted my gaze from the creamy sheets covering my legs. I’d been drawing circles on the individual threads for the last twenty minutes as I explained bits and pieces of my situation to Noah. I didn’t understand why I decided to unload on him. He’d helped me last night without comment or judgment, and something about his compelling caramel colored eyes convinced me to confide in him.
Noah leaned back against the headboard and propped his hands behind his head. His leg brushed against my thigh. Ryker’s gaze laser focused on the brief contact, and his jaw clenched.
“You’re full of sunshine today,” Noah said.
“I asked you a question.”
Noah patted me on my leg, and I turned to look at him. Really look at him. He was cute. No, cute was an understatement. He was downright sexy. He had dark hair, exotic hooded eyes framed by heavy lashes, and lips perpetually curved up at the corners. If my heart hadn’t chained itself irrevocably to Ryker months ago, my stomach might have flipped every time his gaze landed on me. As luck would have it, I felt nothing except a detached appreciation like I was admiring a designer handbag or a beautiful sculpture.
“I’m checking in on our girl. I wanted to make sure she was feeling better. She was pretty out of it when I helped her to bed last night,” Noah answered, a huge smile spreading across his face.
Ryker’s vein ticked in his neck like a time bomb waiting to go off. “Well, you can leave now. I’m sure you have somewhere to be.”
Noah shot me a sideways glance and winked. “I don’t actually. Hattie was just telling me how she wanted to fly backing to the States tomorrow. She needs to find a place to live and get caught up on some requirements to finish her degree. I have some business to take care of in D.C., so I agreed to accompany her and help her get settled. That is, if you’re too busy?”
Ryker’s hands flexed. “You’re leaving?” he barked, his words hanging in the air with the weight of a storm gathering on the horizon.
“That’s the plan,” I replied. I kept my voice empty of emotion, painstakingly ignoring the leaden weight ballooning in the pit of my stomach.
His forehead scrunched. “You weren’t going to discuss this with me first.”
I blinked away the urge to cry. Since the doctor left two hours ago, I’d been on an emotional rollercoaster. “Noah, can you give us some space? Ryker and I need to talk.”
“Sure,” he said, clearing his throat. “I’ll be around here all day if you want to finish our conversation.” He kissed me on the top of my head and jumped out of the bed. I could still smell a whiff of sandalwood as I watched him disappear down the hallway.
Ryker settled into a chair in the corner of the room, his long legs bent at a ninety-degree angle. He propped his elbows on this knees and knitted his fingers together. His shirt pulled against his wide shoulders. Lines bracketed his mouth. Even vibrating with anger, his graceful movements drew me to him like a magnet. I couldn’t look away. Somehow, he magically soothed and unnerved me at the same time.
“Do you want to tell me what’s going on?” His voice dropped a fraction. “Why you’re trying to run away without talking to me?”
If I weren’t so frustrated with him, I would feel guilty about considering Noah’s offer to accompany me back to D.C., but given Ignacio’s revelations I refused to second-guess my actions. Ryker’s feelings were the least of my problems. I had to pull my life together and figure out how I was going to raise a kid alone. Ignacio didn’t come out and say Ryker planned to kick me out of his life, but I knew it was only a matter of days. The writing was on the wall last night, but I’d been too blinded by my need for him to see the truth.
I didn’t doubt Ryker’s love for me. He would’ve let me rot in that shitty house with the Alvarez Cartel if didn’t love me. Instead, he sacrificed his future for me. But even knowing all that, I was paralyzed at the thought of moving forward without him. Once again, my future had been ripped out from underneath me, and I was damn sick of it.
I shrugged. “Why don’t you go first? You’re the one that’s been keeping secrets.”
Shadows flickered across his face, and his sooty hued eyes looked right through me. “Do you feel well enough to go for a walk around the grounds?” he countered.
My brows pinched together. “Apparently, I’m a prisoner here. Ignacio told me I wasn’t allowed to go anywhere.”
The corners of his lips twitched, and my heart stuttered. Damn his flirty lips. Damn his sinful eyes. Damn my heart for wanting him so much.
“Alone,” he clarified. “I didn’t want you going anywhere alone.” He paused and his smiled widened. Hot, tangled sensations danced down my spine. “Besides, I’d like some privacy. I don’t want to add to Ignacio’s video collection or have him overhear us.”
Heat rushed to my face as last night flashed through my mind. “Oh my God,” I said, bile swirling in my gut in spite of the anti-nausea medicine the doctor gave me. I didn’t want to add to the stockpile of blackmail material Ignacio had of me. One video was enough. I trusted Ryker, but I would never trust Ignacio. “Not again.”