Challenging Ryker (Kringle Security #2)

Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE

The sound of beeping told him, before he even attempted to open his eyes, where he was.

A hospital.

Damn, he hated hospitals, and his friends knew it. The only reason they would've taken him to one was if things were serious.

Images of his trusty Wrangler turning into a ball of fire flashed through his brain. He thought maybe he had been thrown through the air around the same time but things were a bit fuzzy. But if that were the case, being in a hospital made sense. Ryker couldn't say he had ever been close enough to a blast to know what the results would be, but a trip to the hospital made logical sense.

Even if it pissed him off to be there.

Voices. Two very distinct ones, in fact, penetrated the hazy bubble he was floating around in. Neither of them sounded happy.

"You need to shower." That sounded an awful lot like Monica.

"I already told you, I'm not leaving his side." That one was definitely Amelia. The bite in her tone surprised him. She never took that attitude with her boss, and after the way they left things, he didn't expect Amelia to be sitting by his side, or fighting to stay for that matter. He thought for sure that she would be sick of his shit and long gone by now.

"Ten minutes, tops. You can even use the shower here in the room and I won't move a muscle until you get done."

"I said no, not until he's awake." There was a stubbornness he never thought he would hear. Not from Amelia anyway. Monica, sure; that woman had a stubborn streak a mile wide. But his Amelia. Hell, no. She was too kind.

Wait? Since when did he consider Amelia his ? Nothing had changed. Relationships still weren't in the cards for him, regardless of how much he liked the woman whose hand was resting on his arm.

How did he know it was Amelia's fingers wrapped around his forearm? Because hers was the only touch that gave him a tingle he felt for hours afterward. It had happened the first time they met, but he had brushed it off. The same thing the second and third time. It wasn't until he was holding her in his arms as he carried her out of her apartment that he realized the feeling would probably never go away. It would be there any time they made contact. And that scared the shit out of him.

"I'm awake," he managed.

His throat felt like sandpaper. Ryker tried to swallow to help lubricate it but his mouth was drier than the desert. This was just one of the many reasons he hated hospitals. They left a person feeling disoriented and dehydrated.

Okay, maybe that wasn't the truth but he hated hospitals that much and would find fault in everything.

Both women started to speak at once.

"Oh, thank God!" That was Monica.

"Here, drink this." That was Amelia, followed by a straw being forcefully pushed past his lips.

It took more effort than it should have to take his first sip, but the second the cool liquid hit his tongue, he couldn't get enough. He was doing his best to gulp as much down as possible when the straw was ripped away from him just as fast as it had been shoved in.

"More," he croaked. Forcing his eyes to open, he found Amelia hovering over him.

"The nurse said small sips. That wasn't small sips," Amelia snapped back.

So much for the sweet woman he had first met. The one who had been shy and took some time to come out of her shell. Not that she ever fully did, but they had been making progress. That woman was light years away from this one.

"There's sandpaper in my throat."

Amelia had the nerve to roll her eyes. "That's a bit of an exaggeration, isn't it?"

"Aren't people supposed to be nice to the sick patient?" he pouted. Yes, the question came out more of a whine, and no, he didn't give a damn what that said about him. He was in the hospital and not happy about it. The least she could do was give him the water he wanted.

"If I thought you would be a good patient, I would be nicer, but I can tell already I'm going to have my hands full."

She wasn't wrong. He was a horrible patient. It went back to the whole hating-hospitals thing. Sure, he was being cooperative right now but give it time. His true nature would come out just as soon as whatever drugs the doctors loaded him up with left his system.

He realized his temperament so far didn't suggest he was being cooperative at all, but his attitude was nothing compared to what it would soon become.

"Speaking of, when can I leave?"

Amelia dropped his hand with a thud and shoved the chair back to stand to her full height, clearly aggravated by his question. "I'm going to go take that shower everyone has been hounding me about. Glad you're awake, but it has yet to be determined if I prefer you unable to talk or awake, giving me shit and being moody."

She didn't give him a chance to respond before she was stomping over the connecting bathroom mumbling something about stubborn men.

Pot, meet kettle.

They were both stubborn, so it was a matter of who would win during any of their many arguments.

"Don't let her fool you," Monica said, bringing his attention back to her. "She's been worried sick about you."

"Seems more like she's mad at me than anything." He looked over at the water cup on the tray. "What are the chances you’ll give me more water?"

Monica was quick to bring the straw back to his lips. Unlike Amelia, she didn't stop him when he took several large gulps. By the time he was sucking on just air, his throat and mouth felt a little better. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." Monica gave him a stern look. "Really, don't mention it. I don't need Amelia yelling at me as well. She seems to have forgotten I'm her boss."

Ryker bristled at Monica's tone. Amelia was going through enough, she didn't need Monica adding to it.

"Oh, stop looking at me like that. We've never had that true boss/employee relationship and I'm not about to start now."

He eased a little at her words. He had known that was never their dynamic but the thought of Monica yelling at Amelia put him on edge. She had been through so much the past few days. She didn't need her one safe place to become a problem for her as well.

"How long was I out?"

"Your surgery took four hours but you slept for a solid fifteen hours after that."

Well, shit, he had been out longer than he expected. No wonder Amelia was cranky.

"Has she left my side at all?"

He didn't need to say what he was talking about. Monica knew exactly who he was referring to.

"No. I'm not sure she slept or ate either. I know for a fact she fought with the nurses about staying the whole time. No one stood a chance of winning the argument against her. It would seem our Amelia has one hell of a backbone when she needs it. I'm thinking a promotion is in order."

"I don't want a pity promotion."

There she was. Damn, she looked good fresh out of the shower. Her wet dirty-blonde hair hung loosely around her shoulders. Her skin had a hint of pink most likely from the hot water. That, or she was fired up and ready to give them hell. He would take it. He much preferred that over the shattered woman he found shackled to her bed.

"Who the hell said anything about it being a pity promotion? I need people on my team who don't back down or cower. I always knew you had it in you. It just took you some time to prove me right."

Amelia let out a snort as she walked back to the chair she had occupied for too long. She had traded in her wrinkly work attire for a pair of leggings and an oversized hoodie. An emotion he never felt before settled in his gut.

Jealousy? Was that what he was feeling? Over a damn hoodie? He wasn't sure who it belonged to but was too big to be Amelia's.

"Whose is that?" The words were nothing like the growl he was feeling. Instead, they came out more like an embarrassing croak.

"What are you talking about?"

"The hoodie. Who does it belong to?"

Amelia looked down at the offensive piece of clothing. Her expression screamed that she couldn't understand what his problem was. Same, sweetheart. Same. All he knew was that the thought of her wearing someone else's clothing pissed him off.

"Me?" It sounded more like a question than an actual answer.

"It's way too big to be yours, sweetheart." The endearment slipped out without his permission but he would be damned if he took it back. Not when her eyes went soft for a fraction of a second when he said it. They didn't stay that way for long though.

"Actually, dear ." He doubted the way she said the word, like it was something sour on her lips, was meant to have the same effect as his did. Not when she crossed her arms over her chest and shot daggers his way. "It is mine. I happen to enjoy buying them big because they're more comfortable when I'm lounging around my place."

"Oh, shit. She told you." Austin walked into the room with a smirk on his face and Caden by his side. "It's good to see you're awake and already pissing people off."

"Fuck off." It was the best response he had for his friend and teammate. His brain wasn't firing on all circuits just yet. Sleep wanted to pull him back under despite how much he had already gotten. "What brings the two of you here?"

"I'm wounded that you think I wouldn't just stop and visit my friend."

He gave Austin the best don't bullshit me look that he could muster. Austin obviously thought it was funny, but it was Caden who spoke next.

"I actually came to speak to Amelia."

"Yeah, since rumor has it she refused to leave your stupid side," Austin tacked on.

"Me?"

Amelia looked as shocked as he was. Maybe he had been wrong after all and his friend was looking into what happened with her.

"Gavin Yates doesn't exist. Well, not before two years ago anyway."

Amelia had taken his hand back in hers, despite the small tiff they had when she got out of the shower. That was the only reason he knew Caden's words affected her. Her expression remained neutral. But the way her grip was cutting off his circulation, whoever this Gavin person was, had to be important.

"Who the hell is Gavin Yates?"

"My ex-boyfriend." Her answer was devoid of any emotion, as if she wasn't talking about someone in her life who had been important to her at one point. "And the man who hurt me."

So many thoughts raced through his mind at once.

He finally had a name. A name that was given to his team and not him. He didn't know how he felt about that. He wanted to be angry that she hadn't felt comfortable enough telling him. But on the same token, if he knew his team well––and he did––they had used the fact that he was hurt to get the information out of her.

That also pissed him off.

Then what Caden said clicked.

"Con artist?"

It was the only thing that would make sense in his muddled mind. People didn't reinvent themselves every few years, unless they had nefarious reasons.

"That's my first assumption." Caden nodded. "I still need to do some digging but I don't think Amelia's problem has anything to do with what happened to you."

"Why not?"

He didn't like how quiet she had gone. The question was barely more than a whisper, and if they all hadn't been watching her so closely, it would've been easy to miss that she had spoken at all.

"Con artists don't typically attempt to blow people up. Especially not someone who wasn't their mark. Usually, they disappear after they get what they set out for. Clearly, that's not the case with you. He wasn't the one to walk away. That was you, and considering he came back, it meant he didn't get everything he wanted. But trying to kill Ryker doesn't make sense. Unless I'm missing something which could very well be the case. I need more information on his true identity to get a feel for the man. If I can't get the information, then I know a guy who can."

That guy would be Tex, and Ryker wanted to demand that Caden bring him in now, but he needed to give his friend the chance to find the information first. Caden was good. It just so happened that Tex was better. Caden would know when it was time to call in the bigger guns. They just had to be patient in the meantime, something he was finding he didn't have much of when it came to Amelia. That was just another one of the things he would need to analyze at a different time.

"Oh, and before I forget. Your mother just landed and is headed here. Her flights kept getting delayed."

His entire body locked up at the mention of his mother. It had been years since he last saw her and months since they had spoken. Not for lack of effort on her part. She wanted to be in his life. He was the one who had a hard time with it.

"Let me know when she arrives so I can talk to her alone."

Caden and Austin knew exactly what he was asking for. His friends knew about the strained relationship between him and his parents. They knew he wouldn't want an audience. Not for what he was going to tell her.