Challenging Ryker (Kringle Security #2)

Chapter 21

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

"Amelia, wake up!"

He pulled his sweatpants up his legs and shook her again. He hated to pull her out of what was likely the first good night's sleep she had in a while, but he had no choice.

"What's going on?" Her sleepy voice wrapped around him. If the situation weren't dire, he would crawl right back into the bed and pull her close. "What's that noise?"

Now she sounded more alert.

"The smoke detector. The house is on fire."

That did the trick. She scrambled out of the bed as he threw clothes at her. There wasn't time for him to be diplomatic. He’d wasted too much time trying to wake her up rather than throwing her naked ass over his shoulder.

Thankfully, the fire started in the garage and had yet to spread into the house.

They were making their way down the stairs when the first round of sirens caught his attention. It wouldn't take long for his small street to be filled with them.

The first fire truck pulled up just as they stepped out onto the porch.

"Is anyone else inside?" a firefighter asked as soon as they were close enough.

"No, it's just us."

The man nodded and radioed the information to everyone else as he dragged an orange hose toward the garage.

Ryker did his best to stay out of the firefighters’ way while also keeping Amelia close to his side. There was no telling if Gavin was still in the area. Amelia mentioned he liked to watch the fallout from his actions, and this was certainly going to be a lot.

He wouldn't lose the house, at least he didn't think so. Not if the firefighters managed to contain the bulk of the fire to the garage area, but he wouldn't be stepping foot back in the place. Certainly not to live. Gavin had ruined the house for him, but it meant the next one he purchased would be done so with Amelia giving her input.

Luke was standing a few houses down waiting for them when they showed up a few minutes later. The frown on his friend's face said it all. He was sick of this shit too.

"You really pissed someone off this time."

"I pissed off one person." He lifted one finger. "Everything else has been him up to this point and I doubt I've pissed anyone else off in the past eight hours."

"Stranger things have happened," was Luke's only reply.

Ryker flipped his friend off and looked back at his former house. It was a good thing he didn't get attached to material objects. Otherwise, Gavin would've really made him mad.

"Do you have a plan or a place to stay?"

"Are you offering?" Ryker didn't want to stay with Luke and Monica. As much as he liked his friend's woman, living with them even for a few days would be too much.

"You know damn well Monica wouldn't mind."

"I appreciate the offer, but I want to talk to Caden first."

Speak of the devil; their friend joined them where they stood on the sidewalk.

"Twice in one day? I'm getting sick of you calling me with your drama."

To anyone else that would sound like Caden was annoyed to be pulled out of bed, but Ryker knew better. The odds that Caden was actually sleeping were pretty slim. The man functioned on barely any sleep and even less when he had a problem to solve. Finding Gavin right now was a big problem.

"It's not my problem this guy has a hard-on for me." He smirked.

"More like a hard-on for your girl. You're just the idiot in his way. Or at least that's what he thinks." Luke shrugged like what he said wasn't a big deal.

It was though. This wasn't just about some con artist who wanted to finish a job. This was personal, but he couldn't understand why.

"We need to figure out who Gavin really is."

"I was getting closer until the alarm went off at your place."

Everyone on the team was now connected to one system. If something happened at one of their places, they were all alerted. That's how he knew to expect Luke. They didn't have a team leader or a boss, but if they had, it would've been Luke. As demonstrated by his next statement.

"Let's take this back to the office. Everyone can meet us there."

Twenty minutes later they were seated around the large conference table, all seven of them plus Amelia and Monica. As soon as Monica heard what happened, she demanded that Luke bring her along so that she could see for herself that Amelia was unharmed.

"This is getting a little out of hand, don't you think?" Monica cradled Amelia's hand in her own. The two hadn't separated since they walked in. "First he blew up Ryker's vehicle, then he sent the note, then the dead rose, and now this. I'm no expert but isn't that a whole lot of escalation?" Monica looked at Luke. "I think that's what it's called."

"Yes, that's what it's called, but it's hard to determine if that's what's happening here. This guy is all over the map. The only thing I can safely say is that he's targeting Ryker because he took Amelia away from him."

Damn right he did, and he would do it again in a heartbeat. If he had any say in it, Gavin would never get his hands on her again.

"You're coming to stay with us." Monica declared, turning her attention to Amelia, but he was right there to set the record straight.

"Uh, no. Where Amelia goes, I go and there's no way I'm staying with you and Luke. I love you both like family, but there's no way that's going to work."

Monica's place was small and they hadn't gotten around to buying a house yet. They had a second bedroom but it was used as an office. As much as a blow-up mattress didn't bother him, he wouldn't be able to do the things he enjoyed with Amelia on one of them.

If looks could kill, he would be dead in his chair from the daggers Monica was shooting at him. "She's my friend ."

"And she's my girl. Pretty sure that trumps friendship in this case. We'll stay at a hotel. Right, Caden?"

He hadn't gotten around to asking his friend but he figured Caden was on top of it. The man always was.

"Yup, I already have you booked in one of the most secure hotels in the city. I'll speak to the manager about giving us access to their security footage just in case though."

Ryker gave Monica a cocky smile as if to say I told you so . She snarled at him in return, but he didn't care.

"I'm sitting right here, you know." Amelia's annoyed tone wiped the smirk off his face.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. I figured a hotel would be easier, but if you would prefer to stay with Monica, then we can do that."

Please God don’t say yes. Nothing about that situation would be ideal but he would suck it up and do it for her.

"A hotel is fine. I just prefer we talk about things rather than be told what I'm doing."

Oh yeah, he fucked up. Ryker needed to remember that Amelia was still coping and the last thing he wanted to do was make decisions for her. That was a surefire way to push her away. He was going to be making up for that tonight. It was a damn good thing he was great at making her feel special.