Playing Dirty (Risky Business, #2)(9)

She was tall and lean—Victoria’s Secret model–type lean—with long, dark hair, and sporting oversize designer sunglasses. Wearing a black bikini that made mine look like a modest vintage piece, she strutted up to Parker, blocking my view of him. She slid her hands around his waist and tipped her head up. The three-inch heels she wore put her only slightly shorter than he was. I saw his lips tilt in a half-smile, then he kissed her.

Well.

Good for him. Really.

There was an ache in my gut that hadn’t been there before, but I ignored it. I still had half a beer left and I chugged it, daintily covering my mouth when the very non-dainty burp erupted.

“Oops. Sorry.”

But Ryker just laughed and scooped me up in his arms. I squealed as the deck tilted underneath me, clutching at his shoulders.

“You shouldn’t do that to someone who’s drank as much as I have today,” I said. “You’re liable to get puked on.”

“I’ll take my chances,” he said with a grin. “I’m ready to get home and get you out of that bikini that’s been driving me insane all day.”

I glanced over his shoulder to where Parker still stood with the woman. He was playing with her hair now and talking, and didn’t look our way. My smile faded.

“Yeah, me too.”

Later that night, we sat in my living room eating pizza, and I decided to bring up what had happened today.

“I don’t think your friends like me all that much,” I said, taking a drink of water. I needed to hydrate.

Ryker frowned at me as he reached for another slice. “Why do you say that?”

“Because I work for Parker and don’t think he’s the devil.”

He rolled his eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous. Of course they like you.”

“How did you and Parker meet?” I asked, deciding to drop that particular topic. “No one seems to know.”

“Why do you want to know?” he asked.

“Why don’t you want to tell me?” I countered.

Ryker took a bite of pizza and chewed slowly. I remained quiet, hoping he’d open up to me. He swallowed and took a drink of his Coke.

“I’ve told you before that I had a single mom growing up,” he said at last. I nodded. “We lived in a shitty trailer park in a bad part of town. Most days I was lucky if I didn’t get into some kind of scrape on my way home from school. Gangs ran that part of town and they were always recruiting.

“My mom was dead set on me getting a decent education, so she paid tuition for a nicer school than the one in my district. Took nearly every spare dime she had, but she refused to let it go. I thought it would be a shitty way to repay her, by joining a gang. So I always said no, which sounds easy, but wasn’t. They had all kinds of ways of pressuring you, from stalking you for a chance to rough you up, to threatening your family.”

He took a deep breath and I remained quiet, listening. This was more than Ryker had ever told me before about his past.

“Anyway, there was this kid at school,” he said. “A quiet kid, kind of a loner. Rich as f*ck, of course. Most of them were. He used to watch me. Tried talking to me a couple of times, but I pretty much told him to f*ck off. Figured he was just weird.

“One day I was waiting at the bus stop for my ride home. I had to take two different buses so I usually didn’t get home until about six at night or later. It was early in the winter so it got dark early. I was waiting, and that was the night I got jumped. Three guys in high school, older than me. I wouldn’t join their gang so they’d been told to f*ck me over. And they would’ve, too, if Parker hadn’t been there.”

“Parker was there?” I asked in surprise.

“Yeah. He was the guy who wouldn’t leave me alone. No clue why. Maybe he felt sorry for the charity case, maybe he just thought I could use a friend. The other kids treated me like a pariah in their midst. Not him. He was determined we were going to be friends. He’d followed me that day. He was curious, I think. His parents were way into sheltering him from society’s degenerates. Like me, I suppose. Anyway, he flew right at those guys. Didn’t even hesitate. Next thing I knew, two of them were on the ground and one was running away.”

“What about you? Were you hurt?”

“They’d gotten me with a knife. Might’ve bled to death if Parker hadn’t been there and gotten help. He saved my life that night.”

“Why didn’t you ever tell anyone?” I asked.

“Because Parker didn’t want me to,” he said with a shrug. “He knew it would only bring trouble for both of us. The gang would try again for me and might even target him, too, for revenge. As it was, no one really knew what went down that night. Safer for both of us at that age.”

“How old were you?”

“Fourteen.”

“Wow,” I breathed. “That’s … really young to be dealing with that kind of stuff.”

“Tell me about it. Anyway, that pretty much sealed our friendship. I knew his parents could never stand me or understand why Parker would befriend someone from the South Side, but Parker was never like that. He would’ve died for me and me for him. Had each other’s backs all through our deployment. I saved his life a couple times, and he returned the favor. I didn’t think anything would ever—could ever—come between us.”