Challenging Ryker (Kringle Security #2)

Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

Dropping Amelia off at work and leaving was one of the hardest things he had ever done. He wanted to wrap her in a bubble and beg that she never left his house again until he killed the fucker who hurt her.

Unfortunately, based on the way she reacted when he even suggested she stay home today, that wasn't in the cards.

Talk about taking ten steps back after gaining his footing last night.

By the time he pulled up to his own office, Ryker was on edge and grateful Luke had the forethought to ask Dom to take his place today. Someone needed to watch over Monica and Amelia. If it couldn't be him, then at least it was one of his good friends.

Inside the office he found Caden working in his usual spot with his laptop in front of him. Luke was on the phone and Austin was busy going over a report. None of them gave him a lick of attention until he flopped his ass in a chair with a huff.

Austin was the first to look up with a raised eyebrow. "I take it things didn't go any better after I left?"

"You would be correct," he snarked. The entire morning had gone to shit and it wasn't even ten a.m. yet. That didn't give him much hope that things would improve.

"I know it's probably none of my business, but why was Amelia at your house so early in the morning? I didn't mean to interrupt or cause friction. I was just checking on you after yesterday."

Ryker released a heavy sigh. It was the same thing every year. One of his friends would come to check on him the day after the anniversary. Most often, he wasn't a pleasant person to be around, but he still appreciated they took the time to care. He should've known one of them would be stopping in but he forgot everything when Amelia was around.

"It was nothing you did. I was capable of screwing things up all on my own."

"So what happened?" Luke was off the phone and Caden was giving him his full attention. He would've preferred to tell his team all at once but that wasn't an option. Nash and Jayce were busy packing up Amelia's apartment. If a person could even call it that. Based on what he’d seen yesterday, she didn't have much but he didn't want to waste time waiting for them to show up. Luke would fill everyone else in anyway.

He spent the next ten minutes telling his friends about yesterday. The call he received from Monica. The promise that he would check on Amelia, even though he thought Monica was overreacting. He had never been so grateful to be wrong in his life. Then he described the place Amelia lived in and how he found her. He didn't spare a single detail except what transpired between the two of them in his bed.

That memory was all for him.

"Why the hell did Monica call you and not me?" Luke grumbled.

"Probably because Monica sees the way Ryker looks at Amelia." Austin gave him a tight smile. "It's no secret he likes flirting with her and Monica was probably trying to play matchmaker. She's the only one who doesn't know what yesterday is."

And he wanted to keep it that way. It was bad enough his friends had to be privy to that knowledge. He didn't need anyone else to find out about his past.

"Ryker flirts with everyone," Caden snorted. "Monica's barking up the wrong tree on this one."

He tried not to bristle at his friend's remark because deep down, it was true. He liked to flirt. Serious wasn't a word in his vocabulary especially when it came to women. Superficial and fun was the best he could give someone. But that didn't mean he didn't hate how well Caden knew him.

"She most likely called because I told her after the kidnapping I would be there no matter what she needed. That extended to Amelia as well."

Luke looked like he wanted to argue but Caden cut him off.

"Has she told you who the individual was?”

He did his best to keep the sneer out of his voice as he answered his teammate. "No, she hasn't, but I'll get a name for us to work with."

She wouldn't be able to keep it from him for long. He hated to be an asshole but there was no way he could let what happened slide. The vision of her chained to the bed would haunt him for years. No amount of eye bleach would be able to fix that. It was just another nightmare to torture his dreams.

"A bit of advice?" Austin waited for him to lift his chin in acknowledgment. "Don't push it. I know a name would help us but you need to remember that if you push too hard, it could backfire on you."

Ryker clenched his jaw. "If you were the one to have found her, you wouldn't be saying that."

He never wanted to punch someone as much as he did his friend right now. Finding Amelia on the anniversary of the worst day of his life was fucking with his mind. Maybe had it been any other day he could understand Austin's point of view, but right now he was beyond rational thought.

"What I think Austin is trying to say,” Caden cut in, “is that he doesn't disagree that it was bad and maybe you aren't ready to admit it yet, but obviously you have some kind of feelings for Amelia. If you didn't, then you wouldn't be this upset with him. But you know better than anyone that pushing someone to talk before they are ready is a bad idea."

Fuck Caden for being right. He knew that demanding answers from Amelia could do more damage than good, but he wasn't using his brain in this situation. He was following his heart and that part of him was demanding justice for her. Whether she wanted it or not.

"The look on your face says you know I'm right."

"About not pushing her, yeah, but that's it. You all know that a relationship isn't in my future."

Luke shook his head. Just because he found an amazing woman didn't mean it was in the cards for all of them. Where the hell was Jayce when he needed someone to back him up?

"You can't let the past dictate your future. It's been twenty years, man. Sarah would hate that you were using her as an excuse."

"Don't!" He jumped up so fast the chair slammed onto the floor as he growled at Luke. "You don't get to say her name."

Luke pushed up and mirrored his position. "Like hell I don't. It's been twenty years, and for seventeen of them, we've been by your side. Me, Caden, Austin, Nash, Jayce, and Dom have had your back every year. We held you up those first few years when you got so damn drunk that there was no way you should've been able to function the next day. We flew out and checked on you even after we went our separate ways because that's what friends do. We were convinced that we were doing the right thing because it never affected the relationships you had with us or any of your other friends. Now I see we made a mistake. You're going to let this shit be the reason you push Amelia away, even though Caden is right. I've seen the way you look at her. Monica has as well. There's something between the two of you."

"Fuck you!" Ryker bellowed at his friend and teammate. "You don't get to tell me how I handle the tragedies in my life."

"And I'm not," Luke replied quietly. "I would never do that, but come on, man. It's been twenty years . It wasn't your fault. No one in your family blames you, but for some reason, you've shouldered all the blame."

"Because if it weren't for me, Sarah would still be alive. She should've been married with kids at this point. If she can't have her happily-ever-after, then I don't deserve to have one either."

Ryker stomped across the office and pushed the glass door open with more force than necessary. Thank goodness for springs that kept it from smashing against the brick building; shattering the glass door would've further pissed off Luke and that wasn't in his best interest. Especially since it was new. Something about Monica thinking it gave the place more character. Hell if he knew what that meant.

He shoved his hand in his pocket and dug out his set of keys. His Wrangler was within his line of sight as he clicked the unlock button on the remote.

The ground beneath him shook and everything after that was a blur as Ryker was thrown fifteen feet back straight through the glass door he hadn't wanted to break when he pushed it open.