Page 49 of Reckless Abandon
“More than I needed to. Dude, you’re single?”
“Fucker, I saw you come in on the security monitor. I knew you were listening the entire time. But, man, that girl is hurting and you need to fix it,” Damon told me. Damn, I’m getting lectured by everybody.
“I know. I’m working on it. I came here to talk to Rose, and instead found Ryann talking to you.”
“Why Rose? Why not Ryann?” he asked.
“Because I'm fucking scared of what she’s going to say to me. I don’t want to lose her, Damon.”
“Well, then you better get your ass out to the bar,” he warned as he rotated the security monitor to face me. At the bar G was sitting with Ryann, his hand on her knee. Instant anger rushed through my entire body. I practically threw the chair as I stood up to confront them both.
“Don’t do anything stupid, nuts,” Damon called after me as I stormed out of his office.
Feeling like I'd made it across the club in record time, I knew Damon was behind me. He alerted Ryann and G. Charging toward them, I saw the expressions on their faces change when I approached them. If Ryann was trying to hide something this was not the place to do it.
“Nathan, what are you doing here?” Ryann asked.
“I’d ask you that same question, but obviously I know the answer,” I snidely remarked gesturing to the hand still resting on her knee.
“Whatever. I came here to talk to Rose, and Rich happened to be on the other side of the bar asking how to get ahold of me since the Vaughn Haley page was the only contact he had for me,” Ryann yelled. Shit, was that true? Ryann hadn’t given him any contact information.
“Oh, it’s Rich now, huh?” I quipped. What the fuck was that? I was just too pissed off in that moment to say anything else.
Rose rolled her eyes. “Yes, this is Rich. You’re Nathan, and she’s Ryann. Will the three of you go figure this shit out and leave me the hell out of it!” she yelled at us.
Ryann jumped off the bar stool and grabbed my hand. “Come on. Let’s walk out back,” she said. She nodded at Rich to follow us.
Silently, the three of us walked through the backroom and into the parking lot. I lowered the tailgate on my truck giving Ryann and I a place to sit, which left Rich standing there staring at us both.
“Rich, please tell Nathan that nothing happened between us that night,” Ryann began.
“Ryann, I can’t do that. That’s what I was trying to tell you inside before we were interrupted,” Rich said looking directly at her. “Something did happen that night. For me anyways.” What the hell was this guy saying?
“What?” Ryann blurted out.
“I started to feel something for you that night. The fact that you wouldn’t have sex with me just because I play in the NFL was such a turn on. And I respected you so much more for that,” Rich told her. Did this porchdick forget I was here?
“Rich, it had nothing to do with you being a football player or not. I didn’t sleep with you because I am in love with Nathan. Split up that night or not, I wasn’t going to do that to him,” Ryann explained. Now I felt like the porchdick.
Ryann turned and looked at me. “Nathan, that night I needed comforting. Rich was there. We kissed. That’s it. Lonely, mad, drunk, confused…no excuse. But I told you the truth.” She turned to Rich and asked, “Why did you post the pictures of us in bed?”
“Because it was the only way to find you,” Rich answered. “Ryann, I will respect you and Nathan. I'm not the kind of guy to get in the middle of something. But remember, I'm always here for you, baby girl.” With that, Rich shook my hand, hugged Ryann, turned around and walked off.
Turning my body to face her, I could see the tears running down Ryann's cheeks. I gently cupped her face, and brushed the tears away. “Please don’t cry, beautiful. I'm so sorry I didn’t trust in you. In us.”
“I told you, Nathan that I wouldn’t lie to you,” Ryann continued to cry. “And then you fucking send your sister to bring my dog home!”
“I was scared, Ryann. Nothing about this situation is familiar to me. I love you so much. It would have devastated me to be right. And knowing now that I was wrong, I'm terrified that you'll never forgive me.” She crawled up into my lap and threw her arms around my neck. Please let her forgive me.
“I’m scared too,” she whispered.
“Why did you resign from teaching? You know I have enough money to make those pictures go away,” I told her. I hated flaunting my money, but I'd do anything to protect those I love.
“It’s not about the pictures anymore. If the pictures don’t out me, Lucas will.” She pulled out her cell phone and showed me all the text messages from Lucas over the weekend. “If I resigned before he could take any of this to the school board then I might save my teaching credential.”
My fists clenched tighter and tighter as I read through the messages Lucas had been sending her. How dare he say any of those things to her? I was going to make sure the asshole got what’s coming to him.
“Nathan, stop. This is on me, not him,” Ryann told me. I didn’t care what she said, I would protect what was mine. “Nathan, just take me home please,” she requested.