Sheltered Read online

  The reality of it all is, before Ryker no one would have cared. It’s clear Fritz didn’t. I still don’t understand what we had. The way Ryker acts with me makes me question it even more. Now my relationship with Fritz feels more like friends who kissed on occasion.

  I thought I was in love with Fritz, but the things Ryker made me feel are on a whole new level, and I haven’t even been around him long.

  Fritz never kissed me like Ryker did in the orchard. Hell, I’d never kissed him like that either. I was practically crawling up Ryker without even realizing I was doing it.

  When we get to the house, Ryker takes my hand and we walk inside. He pulls me towards his office, and I follow along.

  “I just need to go in my office for a few minutes. I’ll have some food brought in.”

  I only nod as I walk around the room and look at the space. The walls are all lined with bookshelves that hold rows and rows of books. I run my fingers across them absentmindedly, then I start reading the titles.

  I glance over my shoulder at Ryker, who’s standing behind his desk watching me. He slides his cell phone into his back pocket and smiles.

  “They’re all for you,” he tells me.

  I look back at all the romance books. I recognize many of the author names. I haven’t read for pleasure in a long time. When I was younger I devoured books because they were my only escape. I lost that over the years, focusing on other things like school.

  I’d stopped checking them out at the library completely when Fritz made an off-hand comment about my choice of books. It reminds me again how much Ryker knows about me.

  “What did you do? Hack the school’s library database or something to see what I checked out?” I say absently.

  The look he gives me, though, makes me think I hit the nail on the head. I chastise myself for speaking to him. What happened to the silent treatment? For some reason I thought it might drive him crazy, but now I’m wondering if I should go with sweet so he lets his guard down. Then maybe I could sneak away or steal his cell phone and call someone.

  A knock at the door sounds as I pull a book off the shelf. The same woman from the night before comes strolling in with a tray in her hands. She sets it down on the coffee table next to me and gives me a bright smile as she stands up.

  “You know I’ve been kidnapped, right?” I say, waiting to see how she’ll react.

  “That’s lovely. Would you like milk with your tea, sweetheart?” I let out a frustrated noise at her response, before I nod. She adds some milk to my tea and then smiles brightly. “Anything else I can get you?” She looks between Ryker and me.

  “A cell phone?” I raise my eyebrows at her, and it only makes her smile even more. Like I just told a little joke.

  “That’s all, Lily, thank you,” Ryker says before she turns and leaves.

  I roll my eyes and go back to the bookshelves. I pull out a book and read the back, then decide I’ll sink myself into this one. Maybe get lost in the story long enough that I can forget the craziness happening around me.

  “You won’t find someone here who isn’t completely loyal to me,” Ryker says, coming around from behind his desk. He leans up against it, watching me. I don’t respond. I carry on with my juvenile game of ignoring him. “They’ll do anything you ask except help you leave me.”

  “Money really can buy you anything.” I walk over to the tray and sit down next to it. I pick up one of the little brunch sandwiches and take a bite. I clearly can’t be quiet, I don’t know why I even try.

  “Money can buy a lot, but I promise you, loyalty isn’t one of them. At least not true loyalty. That is earned.”

  I can’t stop myself from looking over at Ryker, wondering who he really is. How he has such blind loyalty from people. From the few things that he’s told me, I know he’s clearly a driven man who gets what he wants. I thought I was driven, too, but I could never grab what I always wanted. Or when I do get what I thought I wanted, it’s never like I thought it would be.

  I polish off one sandwich before taking another and settling in on the sofa with my book. I don’t know how long I stare at the same page, well aware that Ryker is watching me. But that same feeling I got when I was in my apartment comes back, and now I know it was him all those times I thought someone was watching me. Someone was.

  I still wonder why he’s so fixated on me. There has to be more to it than something as simple as seeing me and needing to have me. Love at first sight isn’t real. It can’t be. He might have nurtured an attraction to me over time, so I wonder how long he’s been after me.

  No matter how many times I go over and over it in my head, it all comes back to the stolen artwork. Maybe it has something to do with that? There are a lot of nice pieces of art here in his house. It’s also obvious Ryker has a lot of money, and people around him who are willing to commit felonies for him.

  Maybe Ryker is a thug in a suit? Is a thug as sweet as Ryker is with me? I want to roll my eyes at my own questions. How would I even know that? The only men I know are the drunks my mama dated, and Fritz. All of whom turned out to be total losers.

  Ryker lets out a deep sigh. “I’ll let you have your moment, but I’m not going anywhere.”

  I peek up him out of the corner of my eye as he goes around his desk and sits back down. Bear comes strolling into the office a moment later and I watch as he walks right past me and jumps onto Ryker’s desk. Ryker reaches out and pets him, and I feel like I was just betrayed. One would think they’re best friends with the way Bear purrs for him. The normal pissy attitude Bear gives new people is nowhere to be seen. Even Bear’s going to be loyal to him, too.

  I grab a blanket and a pillow off the sofa and take it over in front of the fireplace. I’d always wanted a fireplace growing up. I never thought the first time I’d be curling up in front of one with a book would be with my handsome kidnapper watching me.

  I lie down and reopen the book, trying not to feel salty about my cat loving someone that I think is pretty great, too.

  “Cricket, I’m sorry about Johnny. Don’t be mad at him. It would break that old man’s heart if you didn’t talk to him again.”

  I let his words sink in and attempt not to cry. Instead I push all thoughts of Johnny away. I block out thoughts of everything that hurts my heart and focus on my book. I turn the pages, pretending to read, while I try to come up with a plan to escape.

  Chapter 13

  Fritz

  I beat on the door of the apartment and wait. I hear music blaring from the other side, so I know Roxy is home. I bring my fist up to pound on it again, and just as I do, it swings open.

  “About time,” I say and shoulder past him. I go straight to her room and see it’s completely empty. There’s no trace that she was ever in here, and anger bubbles up inside me. “Where is she?”

  I turn around and glare at him as he shuts the door. He stands there with his arms crossed over his chest and looks at me like I’ve got two heads.

  “Who?” he asks, like we have any other mutual acquaintances.

  “Blair, you fucking idiot.”

  “Clearly you can see she moved out. What do you want?” He looks me up and down in disgust. I notice he has a fading black eye.

  “I want to know where the hell she went!” I shout, but all he does is stand there looking unsure of what to do.

  I’ve been looking for her for days, and nothing has come up. I wasn’t too worried about it at first until we figured out she’d taken with her all of our documents on the art. Then once we realized she had everything in hand to expose all of us, the search was on. I wasn’t going to jail, or worse, ending up dead because the people we’ve been working with find out about our little slip.

  I tried to track down her redneck family, but I couldn’t remember her mom’s name or that of her trailer park. She doesn’t have any social media, and no friends. I wasn’t about to make a trip to Louisiana and just knock on her door. Plus, I don’t really think Blair would have gone crawling back
to that sewer. I don’t remember much about her past, but I know she didn’t want to be anywhere near it.

  Lilith has been a royal fucking cunt since Blair split town, and we’ve got people breathing down our necks. It somehow leaked to the buyers that someone has their names, and shit fell apart. I have no idea how they could have learned this. It’s almost like someone is playing against us. The pressure has been building for days, and I don’t know how much more I can take before I snap.

  “Fuck!” I shout as I run my hands through my hair. I can’t remember the last time I slept, or even ate, for that matter. There are people pissed at us, and it’s the type of people you don’t want pissed off. Everyone has turned their sights on me, and I’m not the one taking the fall for this. No fucking way. Not after all the work I’ve done. I didn’t come this far to lose it all. I’m going to prove to everyone I’m something. That I don’t need my family to make it and that they can all fuck off for cutting me off.

  “Look, I don’t know where she went, okay? Can you just leave?” Roxy says, and I watch him take a step back from me. I don’t believe him. He has to know something.

  I start laughing at him, he thinks I’m the scary one here. Has he ever looked in the mirror? I can’t control the hysterical laughter bubbling up and feel my face turning red.

  “Dude, seriously, I think it’s time for you to go,” he says, holding up his hands in defense.

  I sober up and stare him down with all the rage I have inside me. “Either you tell me where the fuck she went, or I’m going to get it out of you.” My chest is pounding so loud I can hear it thumping in my ears. Blood rushes to every part of my body as my adrenaline spikes.

  “Look, man, calm down, okay? I don’t know where she went. But there was this guy a few days back. Showed up here, practically kicked in the door.”

  I don’t move as my focus sharpens and I wait for him to give me some useful information.

  “He came in here pissed off like you are, but he wasn’t looking for her. He told me to watch myself and stay out of her room. I don’t even know how he knew I went in there. And it’s my place, I can go in any room I want.” I don’t think he believes that to be true. He’s scared of whoever this person was.

  He’s acting like a petulant child, and I’m losing patience. Who the hell would come to her rescue? I know there isn’t anyone else in her life. Especially someone who would defend her. “Who was he?”

  Roxy shrugs and then looks away from me. “He knocked me around a little, and I got the message.” He looks back and raises his chin. “Said to not trust you. But I figured you didn’t come around, so I didn’t have to worry about that.”

  The pounding in my ears grows louder and my fists clench. “Give me a name.”

  “Big fucker. I didn’t mess with her after that, I swear. He told me to keep an eye out for her. That nothing better happen to her. I told her she should go look for her own place because I didn’t want to be mixed up in all this shit. Next thing I know, her room is empty and my cat is gone. Didn’t really like that asshole anyways, but kind of a dick move on her part. Whatever, though, good riddance to the both of them. He left a roll of cash. I can’t remember the guy’s name, though. It was weird. Sounded like Rake…or Ryder—”

  “Ryker,” I say, and a cold chill runs down my back.

  “Yeah,” he says, nodding. “That was it. He gave me his number. I think it’s around here somewhere.”

  Everything is fucked. If Ryker knows who Blair is, then he might know why she was with me. And if Roxy knows who Ryker is and can connect us, then I’m done for.

  Hate builds and builds until I have nothing left to do with it but unleash it.

  I lunge forward, catching Roxy off guard, and tackle him to the ground. He’s a big guy, but I’m so full of rage that he’s no match for me. I pin him down to the ground and wrap my hands around his neck. The image of Ryker appears below me where Roxy is, and I can feel myself smiling as I squeeze tighter and tighter.

  “I’m going to make all of this go away,” I say through clenched teeth.

  Everyone telling me what to do, ordering me to fix this mess. One stupid little cunt running away with a bag full of evidence has caused all of this. And now, I’m going to find her and get my revenge. She’ll pay for fucking all of this up.

  Roxy’s hands jerk and weaken, the fight leaving his body. He’s becoming weaker and weaker as I overpower him. I’m dizzy with madness as I watch him gasp for air and then give up.

  When it’s over, I stand up and feel a calm wash over me that I haven’t felt in days. I know what happened to Blair and I know how I’m going to fix this. Once I get my hands on her, there won’t be any more loose ends.

  Chapter 14

  Ryker

  When I roll over and feel the cool sheets, I blink a few times, trying to clear the sleep out of my eyes. I reach out farther, thinking she’s just rolled away, but when the spot where she slept is cold, I jolt up.

  “Blair?” I say into the dark before turning on the bedside lamp. The room is illuminated, but she’s not in it.

  I jump up, and rush to the bathroom to make sure she didn’t get sick or something. She’s not in there, and I stop thinking about where she might be. A thought hits me, and I go to the closet. When I see the empty space where I put her boots earlier, my suspicion is confirmed.

  “Damn it, Cricket,” I mutter, pulling on my jeans and boots as fast as I can. I don’t bother with a shirt as I run out of the bedroom and down the stairs. When I get to the bottom, I hear the sound of thunder and I stop. “Shit, not now,” I growl, knowing how much she hates storms. How scared is she if she’s out there all alone in the dark?

  Grabbing a coat, I run outside just as the rain starts to come down. I look around for the Gator and see it’s gone. I left the keys in it, so she must have taken it to the barn. My smart girl. I’ll have to be more careful. I should have known better than to leave it there. I’m not worried—it doesn’t have much gas in it to get very far—but it gives her a nice head start.

  Another summer storm has rolled in quick, and it’s gone from a cool, quiet night to a torrential downpour in a matter of seconds. That’s one thing about the south you can always bet on. Summer showers pop up out of nowhere. They’re strong and can do a lot of damage in only a little bit of time.

  I race around to the garage and climb in my Jeep. I crank it up and hit the gas as I take off to the barn. I can barely see a foot in front of me as the storm pours water on me by the gallon. I don’t have a top on the Jeep, so it’s really no use in weather like this. My heart pounds as I keep looking around, trying to spot her. My fear for her safety grows by the second. My girl hates storms and I’d scared her right out into one.

  By the time I get to the barn, the worst of the storm is coming down. I put the Jeep in park and run past the Gator to the stall to see if Diamond is in her bed. When I see her gate open, I curse and run back out to the Jeep. I don’t know how I’m going to locate her in this mess, but I’ll do it. I have to find her.

  My heart starts to pound and the thought of something happening to Blair floods my mind. I can’t think like that right now. There’s only one thing I can focus on, and that’s finding my Cricket.

  I drive towards the orchard, thinking that’s the only way she would have known to go. It’s not in the direction of anything other than more land for about a hundred miles.

  “What were you thinking?” I say to myself and hit the steering wheel. I should have talked to her more. Should have explained why I was trying to keep her safe. I should have explained how I’ve fallen for her and that I don’t want to let her go because I need her.

  Just then I see movement up ahead. My chest tightens as I see Diamond crouching under a tree, but Blair isn’t with her. I throw the Jeep in park and then run over to Diamond to see if there’s any sign of Blair. I shout her name into the night, but the rain is so deafening, there’s no way she could hear me even if she was close.

 
“Where is she, girl?” I ask Diamond, hoping for some sort of sign. I curse myself that I didn’t bring my phone so I could track her necklace. I’d been in too much of a panic to think straight.

  She lowers her head and stomps her foot like she’s trying to tell me something. She shakes her mane and stomps again, and I look to see where she’s pointing her head.

  “The creek?” I say, and then I feel overwhelming terror when I realize what she’s trying to tell me. I take off running, hoping I’m not too late.

  This farm was built on small hills for natural irrigation. The runoff flows down to the creek and out to the bigger river on the outskirts of the county. That way, when big storms like this roll up, the crops don’t get washed out. But the creek can turn dangerous in seconds because of the force of the water. When a thousand acres flood and it all runs down at the same time to the same place, it might as well be a tidal wave for what it can do.

  My lungs are burning and my legs ache as I run as fast as I can down the muddy slope to where I took Blair earlier today. It’s still almost impossible to see, but there’s a break in the storm as lightning sparks in the sky and I can see all the way down to the creek bed.

  “Blair!” I shout as I spot her holding on to the fence post we tied the horses to this morning.

  The creek has already flooded to the point where just the top of the fence post sticks up, and it’s getting higher and higher.

  “Hold on, I’m coming for you!” I look around to find something to tie off to when I see Diamond behind me. “Good girl, good girl,” I say, as she stands still in the storm and lets me take her bridle off her head. My hands are shaking as I unbuckle it and tie it around my waist.

  “Hold on, Blair!” I shout as I wade through the mud and water rushing past me.

  It feels like it takes hours as each step brings me closer to her. But I won’t give up. I would lay down my life for her, but today is not that day.