Ryley's Revenge (Gloves Off #2)(28)



My stomach growled and my hand immediately went to my abdomen. “That would be awesome. I think I might take you up on the offer of a bagel though. I’m just going to take a shower and I’ll be right out.”

“You got it. My niece needs to eat and get strong.”

“I thought you said it was going to be a boy?” I countered.

“I did, but then I got to thinking. Ryley desperately needs a little girl to wrap him around her finger.”

The thought made me smile. “That would be something. In my mind though all I can see is a boy, one that looks exactly like him.”

“In that case, you’re going to have some trouble when he gets older. Imagine a miniature Ryley.”

Smiling, she shut the door and left me to my thoughts. I didn’t care if it was a girl or boy, as long as they were healthy. There was no way I could keep the pregnancy from Ryley much longer, not when a bump started to show. I just had to pray he’d understand why I didn’t want to tell him right away.

After showering quickly, I threw my hair up in a towel and put on a pair of black yoga pants and a pink T-shirt. When I walked into the kitchen, Gabriella had my bagel ready, with a glass of orange juice sitting beside it. She was nowhere to be seen, but the door was wide open. Grabbing my bagel, I took a bite and was about to shut the door when Gabriella sauntered in holding our mail. She flipped through the stack and held out a large brown envelope.

“It’s addressed to you, but there’s nothing on it other than your name. It was sticking out of our box like someone tried to jam it in there.”

Taking it from her, I ran my hands over it to get an idea of what was inside; it felt like a disc. Almost instantly my skin prickled and crawled, chill bumps fanning across my body. I had a feeling I would regret opening the package, the bad juju was just rolling off of it in waves. Ripping open the envelope, I took a deep breath before reaching inside. I was right, it was a disc with Watch me written on it in bold black letters.

“What the hell? Really?” Gabriella snorted disgustedly, snatching the disc out of my hand. She held it up, her eyes blazing. “This is the same type of shit Kyle pulled on my brother’s wife. What do you want to bet this is all Camden?”

“I don’t have to bet,” I replied, taking it from her. “He’s taken Kyle’s place, so it doesn’t surprise me that he’s resorted to similar antics. Obviously, he wants Ryley and me to stay apart.”

I slipped the disc into the DVD player and turned on the TV. Gabriella stormed over and turned it off, blocking my view. “Please tell me you’re not going to watch it. It’s all a ploy to mess with you. It’s going to be nothing but lies.”

“And you’re trying to tell me you wouldn’t sneak and watch it behind my back? You’re just as curious as me. Admit it.”

Huffing, she stared me down and then rolled her eyes, sliding away from the television. “Fine, I’m curious. Just turn it on before I change my mind.”

She sat down on the couch while I grabbed the remote off of coffee table and took a seat beside of her, my hands shaking as I hit the play button. The video came to life and at first it was fuzzy and dark, but then it cleared up. It was loud with strobe lights all around, like the person was in a club. Then that’s when I saw what I was supposed to see. It was Ryley, dancing with a horde of women, touching them.

“Can we stop watching this?” Gabriella snapped. “You and Ryley were broken up. Yes, he went out and messed around, but it’s not like he cheated on you.” I knew that, but it still made my heart hurt. I couldn’t blame him for the things he did, although it still didn’t make it easy to watch.

“I guess I just like the torture,” I grumbled, leaning my head on my hand. “Is Camden constantly going to try and come between us?” There was no need for Gabby to reply. The answer was a simple . . . yes.

The video suddenly switched scenes to another club atmosphere and this time Ryley was kissing the dark haired girl he was dancing with. There were different videos of different scenes all depicting the same shit, Ryley kissing multiple girls and feeling them up. I lost count after a while. Unfortunately, the videos steadily kept getting worse. The next one had escalated to something more. It was in the gym locker room, where another dark haired woman was on her knees in the shower, sucking him off.

Gabriella gasped and hung her head. “Fucking shit, Ash, this is insane. You don’t need to be watching this.”

Turning my head, I closed my eyes and felt the bile rise up in my throat. “Do you know any of these people?” I asked.

“I know the girl in the shower,” she admitted. “She’s a regular at the gym.”

When I glanced at the video again, Ryley and that same girl were in a different room, doing the same thing. He was with her more than once. “He told me he didn’t have sex with anyone, Gabby,” I choked. “It appears that was all a lie.”

Gabriella reached over and took my hand in hers, squeezing it tight. “Well, maybe he didn’t actually have sex with them. There’s nothing in the video showing him doing that.” She grabbed the remote control and turned off the television.

I watched the screen go black and wished I could erase the images out of my mind. “It just hurts knowing he was with all of those women. When I left him, I had a feeling he would go back to the way he was.”

L.P. Dover's Books