Page 3 of Riding Rough
My mouth goes dry as I watch the giant man climb off. His boot hits the cement and his huge muscles bulge beneath his leather jacket. His shoulders are wide, his face is gruff and bearded, his hands are inked, and he runs his hand through his hair to make room for his baseball cap he sets on backward.
My thighs shake and my heart squeezes as the man looks up and his blue eyes come into focus.
It’s Kane.
For a second, I wonder if I’ve dozed off and I’m imagining the whole thing. But as the man moves closer, I stop caring if I’m dreaming or not. Worst-case scenario, Kane holds me in my dreams.
I race toward the front door, hoping to get there before Jed, but he angles around the corner with a grin on his face. “Your boyfriend’s here. Did you call him to pick you up?”
“No!Why would you think he’s my boyfriend? I don’t know why he’s here.”
Jed’s mouth twists, shifting his soft cheeks into a downward bow. “Did you tell this asshole what happened between us the other day?”
The other day.He focuses on single events as though his mayhem hasn’t been my life for the past year.
“I didn’t tell him anything.”
“You talked to him, though. I saw it on your phone.”
My stomach clenches. “You went through my phone? When?”
“That’s not really what we’re talking about here, Amber. You’ve been calling another man.”
“He’s not‘another man.’He’s my dad’s best friend. I’ve known him forever. I can call and ask him for help.”
Jed scoffs and folds his arms over one another. “So, you did call him and ask for help?”
“Not exactly. He didn’t answer.”
“Well, the big man at the fucking door says that’s a lie.”
My jaw drops and anger sinks through my chest. Maybe knowing Kane is outside gives me strength, or maybe I’ve finally been pushed over the edge. Either way, I lose my mind.
“You know what, Jed? I did call him. I called him because he’s the only man I can trust. You’ve literally taken every piece of me and torn it to shreds. I have nothing left!” I throw my hands up in the air and tear off the ring he’d slid back on my finger after the train station. I was asleep for that, too. “I’m done.”
He watches the diamond fly and land on the tile near the picture windows overlooking the meadow. “You won’t fuck me, but I’m sure you fucked him, right? That’s why his number was in your phone?”
I roll my eyes and head toward the back room. “Oh please! You’ve fucked me plenty of times. I wanted to love you. I fought for you, for us, but youfucked me overevery single time.”
Jed follows, laughing. He’s wearing khakis and a long sleeve button down that makes a soft shuffling sound when he walks.
God, I hate him. I hate everything about him. How can that happen? How can you look at someone one day and feel like they’re your soulmate, and the next, want to rip their head off and feed it to the chickens?
A heavy knock lands on the front door and I jump.
“I shouldn’t have given your phone back to you,” Jed scoffs. “You can’t use it responsibly.”
I toss a few things into a backpack and pitch it over my shoulders, then stare toward Jed, who’s blocking the door. “Move.”
He grins. “No.”
Dragging in a deep breath, I let it out slowly. “Move.”
The pounding on the front door gets louder.
Jed laughs. “If you think I’m going to step out of the way and let you run off with some crazy fucking biker, you’re wrong.”
“You know, maybe I’d have fucked you if you weren’t hurting me. Did you ever think of that?”