Hunter (King’s Men MC #1)

9. Ryleigh

9

RYLEIGH

I exhaled slowly as I took in the empty apartment.

Going furniture shopping was just another thing on my long list of to-dos, and I realized I should probably move it up, considering how strange I felt standing here.

I needed to make it a home.

I needed to prove to myself that I could do all of this without my parents’ help.

I closed my eyes as a small sting started around my heart.

They didn’t even go to my graduation.

They didn’t approve of my choices to try to live my life as I saw fit. As punishment—since there was nothing they could hold against me anymore—they hadn’t shown up to my graduation.

I should be to be used to this.

Freezing me out until I gave in and did what they wanted had been their favorite punishment growing up.

And they were waiting for me to come back and apologize.

Not this time.

Plus, I was sure my worrisome mother would contact me sometime later when she realized I wouldn’t be making the first move. Yet, the fact that they didn’t come to celebrate my achievement with me had left its mark, and now, even after two weeks, I was still feeling the brunt of it.

I closed my eyes and tried to shake away the hurt.

Upon the agreement of the inheritance my grandparents left me, the money was deposited to my bank account as soon as I graduated from college, which I received last Monday.

It wasn’t enough for me to live off of for the rest of my life, but it had been a substantial amount of money that meant I didn’t have to depend on my dad’s allowances each month. I had been able to rent an apartment in downtown Sacramento.

I had also just gotten my first job out of school, illustrating a children’s book for an up-and-coming children’s author. Ironically, the story was about a small bunny trying to make friends.

I had wanted to do this since high school when I realized my art wasn’t going to cut it in the real world. I needed to find a career that would be stable enough for me to live without my parents’ interference and yet still be creative in some way.

It was a perfect medium.

My parents wanted me to move back home and work for my dad for a year before applying for law school.

They wanted me to follow in his footsteps.

They also wanted me close so that they could keep an eye on me.

I was tired of living my life in fear, which I had done for the past two years. Afraid the King’s Men MC might have found out I was the key witness that sent their VP, Roman Stone, to prison. I had been deathly afraid when Dad had called me a few months before and told me new evidence had come to light to prove Roman’s innocence.

I had been plagued with the guilt that I might have sent an innocent man to prison, even though I wasn’t the one to point him out.

I had told the prosecuting attorney on the case repeatedly that I would not be able to pinpoint the man who had committed the murder, considering how dark it had been that night. I found my memory of it to be spottier and spottier with each day that passed.

But it hadn’t been me who identified Roman Stone as the killer. The video recording I took had his voice on there.

Now that the new evidence had come out, the recording was being torn to shreds by his defense attorney, and I still wasn’t sure if he was innocent.

I didn’t know, and the fact that he might have been and had spent the last two years in prison…

My stomach seemed to be weighed down by lead.

I had half a mind to track down the man. It was only Dad’s warning that the man was dangerous and the fact that he was sure the new evidence was fabricated that had stopped me from acting on that impulse.

If I wasn’t wrong in recording it—that I really helped catch the right man who murdered a police officer—that meant a convicted criminal had been set loose on the streets.

My only saving grace was that I knew my identity had been kept a secret, and only my parents and the prosecuting attorney knew. There wasn’t a way for them to figure it out.

My stomach rumbled at that moment to remind me that I hadn’t eaten since early this morning.

Deciding to leave my troubles behind me, I grabbed my keys and purse, and walked out the door, ensuring it was locked.

The apartment I rented was much more expensive than the others, but I thought it was worth it, considering how safe it was.

I took the elevator down to the lobby and stepped out when the doors opened. The late afternoon sun shone through the windows in the lobby.

People moved about in and out of the building, and something peaceful about this had me smiling.

Everything was going to be okay.

It had to be.

After all the shit I was dealt with in life, from being abducted at fourteen to witnessing a murder, things had to be calm and nice for me…

Right?

Someone laughed to my left, jolting me out of my thoughts, and I turned to find an attractive, nicely built man standing by the mailbox.

He was probably older than me by a few years, and he was talking to a blonde woman I recognized as my neighbor from three doors down.

They made a cute couple, I thought wistfully.

Both were tall, athletic, and beautiful.

Love should be the farthest thing away from my mind right now, but I found myself wondering if there would be something for me in the future.

I had a few prospects in college, but they all seemed to become uninterested in me by the third date.

I didn’t think there was anything wrong with me, but it was hard not to let that affect my self-esteem when it happened not once, not twice, or hell, even three times, but several times before I finally gave up on dating in college altogether.

The couple quietened when a large shadow drew near. The man’s eyes practically bulged from his head as he took three steps away from the mailbox, and the woman moved away from the man to get closer to the figure that had come up to grab his mail.

I didn’t know what it was about this new man that held my attention, but I found myself stopping to watch as the man inserted his key into the slot and opened his box to grab the mail.

From the location of the mailbox, it looked like he lived on my floor, and I watched as the woman walked up to him and said something.

He didn’t answer her, instead turned away, leaving a red-faced woman to stare off after him in anger.

That was quite rude of the man.

I turned my attention to the man and froze.

Everything inside of me didn’t seem to be working right from the very first glance.

Fuck.

Who was this?

My breath caught, and I found myself unable to look away.

A flush came down my body, and my reaction to him was instantaneous. It was undeniable. It was hard to ignore.

It was arousal… yet, so much more than that.

I tried to take in a huge gulp of air but found it lodged in my throat.

My mouth opened, but nothing came out.

Dark eyes with dark hair shaved off on the sides. It left the hair on top in a messy style, as if he had spent the last ten minutes running his fingers through it.

I had the urge to find out if the strands were as soft as they looked. That yearning was so strong, I had to clench my hands to keep from acting on the impulse. My fingernails dug into my palm to keep myself going to him.

The man was the very definition of tall, dark, and dangerous .

He had a strong nose, a square jawline that was covered by rough-looking stubble, broad shoulders, and a tall frame. Tall enough that I thought he would tower over me easily had I been standing next to him.

Had I been brave enough to get close to such a man, that was.

He looked directly at me with purpose, as if he knew I had been standing there watching him all along, and I suddenly had the urge to either run and hide or run to him.

I didn’t know which yet.

He made me want to get as close to him as possible, even knowing a man like that wasn’t good for me.

Fuck.

He didn’t look like he was good for anyone.

But how fucking fun would his brand of bad be?

I shivered.

His eyes heated their way over my body, and there was something dangerous about the look in them.

Something dangerous and addictive.

He looked at me as if he knew me.

As if he knew me better than anyone else in this world, myself included.

As if he knew of all my yearning, my darkest desires, all of my secrets that I never let anyone know.

And I suddenly felt naked.

Exposed.

I shifted on my feet, unsure why my heart was racing so fast inside my chest, as if it wanted to get out and fly straight to him.

There was something achingly familiar about the man, yet I couldn’t put my finger on it. I knew I had never seen him before—I would have remembered.

Wouldn’t I?

He wasn’t the kind of man anyone could ever forget .

He was the kind to entrench himself so deep inside your memory that he would haunt you.

I blinked, my eyes burning for some strange reason.

Then, the briefest smirk tugged on the man’s full lips. So brief, I wasn’t even sure if I imagined it or not before he stepped toward me, breaking the spell, and I found myself gasping for air.

He walked past me on his way to the elevator, his shoulder brushing past me, our eyes never breaking contact.

He had the most beautiful brown eyes I had ever seen on anyone, the dark irises glinting against his golden tan skin that I knew wasn’t achieved from going out in the sun.

No, this was all genetics.

He winked at me, and I felt light-headed.

I could do nothing more than watch as he stepped into the elevator. We held eye contact until the doors closed, and I was left staring at my reflection in the mirrored doors.

I looked flushed and out of it.

I blinked, and suddenly the once quiet lobby was penetrated with noises.

Fuck.

What was that?

Dazedly, I walked to the revolving doors.

The beautiful, dangerous man lived in my building, and something told me I would run into him again.

I shook my head, trying to get back into rhythm when I suddenly found myself staring at familiar hazel eyes.

Mine widened in surprise.

“Angelica?”

I had seen my ex-roommate around campus a handful of times since I decided to move out of that apartment two years ago, but to see her here, of all places, was… unexpected.

She blinked at me before turning to the man she was with, ignoring me .

I frowned and took in the man, who looked a good thirty years older than the both of us, with salt and pepper hair, brown eyes that gave me the creeps when he looked at me, and a greasy smile.

There was something unnerving about him, and I watched as Angelica led the man toward the elevator bay, wrapped her arms around his neck, and gave him a kiss that made me blush.

Alrighty then.

I shook my head and walked out of the building, going to one of the hundred restaurants around to order some food to take home.

I was utterly drained, and I didn’t have the desire to spend any more time outside with other people.

I just wanted to hurry up to eat and crawl into bed.

And it wasn’t until much later that I found beautiful brown eyes haunting me in my dreams.

I woke up sweaty and horny and wet.