Bad Intentions (23 page)

The excitement from our arrival dies down, and most of the children who had greeted us go their separate ways. I turn to speak to Ryle and notice a little boy in a blue, tattered, Nike shirt grasping the belt loop of Ryle’s jeans.

“What’s your name?” I lean down so that we’re eye to eye.

“This little fella is Richie Harris. Say hi to my friend, Richie.”

He responds by shyly looking in the opposite direction.

I straighten back up and laugh. “A man of many words. I don’t know where he learned that from.”

“Watch it,” Ryle warns before he coyly slides his chin along my ear.

“So do you do these activities with them?”

“Normally. Sometimes, I do one-on-one time. Little Richie here is my buddy. We go to the movies and to get ice cream sometimes. Don’t we?”

Richie doesn’t respond.

“He’s just shy. Give him some time. He’ll warm up to you.”

“Like you did?”

Ryle’s mouth widens in approval as he nods.

After Ryle introduces me to a handful volunteers, I get lost in the magic of this place. I’m totally smitten by the kids whose laughter and innocence is infectious. Some run around aimlessly, giggling and acting carefree, and then there are some like Richie, who seem more timid.
Afraid.
My heart breaks for those kids. Lord only knows the things they’ve witnessed at such a young age.

Eventually, Ryle and I head off in different directions. He’s teaching a group of boys how to toss a football correctly, and I’m caught up dancing with a handful of girls. We spin, twirl and toss our hands above our heads.

“Now are you ready to combine all of those moves into a routine?”

“Yes, Miss. A,” they shout in unison.

“Okay on my count. Ready? One, two, three.”

We finish our first choreographed dance and are greeted with a steady round of applause. The girls are beaming. It makes my heart feel full. So much so, that I’m on the verge of tears.

A pair of hands snakes around my waist. I momentarily freeze.

“It’s just me.”

“Who else would it be?” I turn around to face him.

He leans in and brushes his lips against my forehead. It’s innocent, but by the reaction of the kids around us, you’d think that I let him grope my fanny.

“Ew!”

“See, I told you she was his girlfriend,” one kid says to another in a taunting tone.

I feel my dress being tugged. Looking over my shoulder, I spot Richie with a handful of my dress in his little fist.

“Are you Ryle’s girlfriend?” he questions. Honest to God, I don’t know how to respond.

“I’m a girl, and I’m his friend…”

Ryle senses my hesitation and jumps in. “I’m not sure what we are right now Richie, but you’re my brother. The moment I know, you’ll know.”

I watch as he sticks out his fist in front of him. Richie leans close and pounds it. My heart bursts with adoration for him. It’s true that I instantly felt attracted to Ryle, but I didn’t know that I would eventually have more feelings for him than just lust.

I like Ryle Benson.

I may
more than like
him…

M
y stomach rumbles as we climb back into Ryle’s car. His car is nice enough that I wonder how he affords it. As I buckle my seatbelt, I recall Kaiser saying that Ryle was loaded. As always, my filter is jammed. “I heard that you donated a lot of money to Braxton.”

“Oh, yeah? I can only guess who supplied that information. A certain someone you work with, I assume?” He presses the gas pedal.

I feel a bit of relief knowing that we’re going back to the safe side of town, but a tinge of sadness reminds me that those kids—those amazing, wonderful kids—can’t willingly leave. Not quite yet.

I force my eyes away from the side mirror and try to pry my thoughts away from them. “Don’t be mad at Kaiser. He’s been entertaining my curiosity about a lot of things.”

“Care to elaborate?” he asks with a significant lifting of his right eyebrow.

“Nope. Not really,” I tease playfully. Ryle’s face falls flat. “Brat. Mostly about the campus, and you…”

“What does loose lips have to say about me?”

“That you’re a good guy, even though you try not to be for some obscure reason. I can’t put my finger on it. I don’t know,” I ramble. “Maybe one day we can play Uno again, and I can figure out more about you.”

“Like I said yesterday, this is me. I’d love to play Uno with you again though. There’s more of you that I want to get to know as well.”

I instantly blush at his remark.

He stretches an arm across the back of my seat. I feel his fingers gently move across my scalp as he plays with my hair. The gesture is not lost on me. He has been all sorts of touchy feely today, and I like it.

“You want to go back to my place, and order some Chinese? If, of course, you even like it. Shit.” He shakes his hand.

“Stow your cuss words. I love Chinese.”

He nods his head in acceptance this time.

“What?” my voice betrays me with the screech in my tone.

“It’s just funny that you were mad because I lifted you off of a table where you were provocatively dancing in front of horny ass college guys, but here you are telling me not to cuss.”

Time for honesty. “That’s not me, you know.”

“Who
are
you then, Adaley Knight?”

I tilt my body to the side to face him. Only the center console separates us. He makes eye contact with me and then glances back to the road ahead. “I love The Jonas Brothers; I almost made it to the Olympics; and I happen to love crab Rangoon. How about some honesty from you? Who is the little boy in the photograph at the gym that you got all uptight about?”

From a few inches away, I can see all of the color drain from his face.

This is the point where he normally withdraws from me, so I’m surprised when he opens his mouth to speak. “It’s Aaron Harris. He was Richie’s older brother.”

The word
was
hits me in the chest.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

“Don’t be sorry. He was a good kid. He had a lot of potential, but that only goes so far in the projects.” The look in Ryle’s eyes becomes as unreadable as stone.

“What happened? Never mind. I don’t mean to pry. You can take me home if you want.” I awkwardly clear my throat.

“Just because I made it a bad habit of shooting you down before, doesn’t mean I will now. Look,” his gaze meets mine. “I’m sorry for acting like an ass. I’m sorry for being so guarded. I want this.” His hand reaches across the center console and grabs mine. “Whatever this is. There doesn’t even need to be a label. I just want to continue to hang out and get to know you. I like you, Adaley. I may have been too stubborn to admit it before, but I’ve felt this way for a minute now.”

“A minute, huh? I’m glad to hear you say that, because you make my heart smile,” I confess. And I don’t even give a damn about how cheesy I sound.

“Now that’s settled, let’s go get some grub.”

We end up getting take-out from Number 1 Chinese and heading back to Ryle’s apartment. I’m a little leery as to what I’m going to find. After all, Zoe was just there the night before getting her freak on with Kaiser.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Nothing has ever stopped you before,” he laughs, as he puts the car into park.

“Why did you loan your apartment out to Kaiser yesterday? You know they hooked up in there, right?” Biting my lip, I look away.

“No. Look at me.” I turn my attention back to him. “Just between us, his dad is a dick that likes to get trashed and lay his hands on him. I have a soft spot for Kaiser. He’s sort of like the brother I never had, beatings and all.”

My heart hits the floorboard under my feet. “Please don’t tell me more. Not about you, but Kaiser. I don’t want to look at him differently at work. If he wants to tell me, that’s on him. The same goes for you. I know something horrible happened in your past. I see it in your eyes. They’re always so cloudy and distant looking.”

“I had a shit childhood. End of story.”

As usual, even when he said he wouldn’t withdraw from me again, in true Ryle fashion—in the end—he does what he is best at. Jerking the brown paper bag from my lap, he quickly gets out of the car and slams the door. My body tenses at the sound.

He’s hot one minute and so cold the next. I can’t ever read him. All I know is that no one should have to be fearful of their own flesh and blood. I have an inkling that’s his big secret. Poor Kaiser and poor Ryle. I can’t imagine my father laying a hand on me. Has he ever been madder than all get out? Absolutely. But he would never allow it to fester so badly that he would harm me.

I swing open my door and slide out of the passenger seat. Craning my neck, I look around the parking lot. Ryle’s not in sight.
Lovely,
I think as I lean back against the doorframe. It seems like time stretches on forever as I stand there. I don’t even know where I am, and I am alone in the lot.

Whatever. I’m over this.

I pull my phone out of my pocket and text Zoe.

Me: Stranded.

Zoe: Where?

The sound of footsteps tapping against the blacktop makes me jerk my head up. I see Ryle approaching, and he looks furious. I try to disguise my frustration and fail miserably. “Why do you look pissed? I’m the one you left out here. I don’t even know where the hell I am. It was a pretty lame move, Ryle. You can either take me home, or Zoe can be on her way,” I breathlessly demand, withholding that I never even told her where I was.

“Stay,” he mutters anxiously.

“Give me one reason to.”

He reaches forward and runs a hand through my hair. Our eyes meet and hold their gaze. “Because I’m absolutely in
like
with you. It’s maddening. I don’t know how to act or respond in this situation, because I’ve never been in it. Not one time in my entire life, have I ever had to worry about the feelings of someone else.”

To my annoyance, those damn butterflies stir to life in my stomach. I try my best to stand my ground. “This is getting old though, this back and forth nonsense. One minute I think that we’ve overcome that obstacle and the next, you pull a little stunt like this. I know we’re not
together
, together, but if we both admitted that we like one another, why does this keep happening?”

“I’m a royal fuck up, that’s why.”

I cup Ryle’s face in my hands. “Don’t ever say that about yourself. Did you just fuck up? Yes. But you shouldn’t continue to beat yourself up about it,” I scold, trying to get past this weird situation.

“That word sounds so sexy coming out of that innocent mouth.”

Before I have time to respond, his mouth claims mine. My phone starts to buzz in my hand, and my core tightens all at the same time. As his mouth moves over my lips, his tongue finds mine, and he removes my phone from my hand. Without looking, he presses the silence button on the side. “That was—.” He presses against my mouth tighter, making it impossible to talk. I pull back a little. “Probably Zoe. Told her I was stranded—.” I feel the palms of his hands cupping the sides of my head.

“Stop talking, please.”

I feel my body being lifted in the air. I wrap my legs tightly around his waist and pray that no one gets a free show, since I’m wearing a dress. With each stride forward, a delicious shudder warms my body from head to toe.

Ryle flings a door open and steps inside. I don’t even care to pull myself away from him to get a look at his place. All I care about is the synchronized dance our tongues are performing.

“I’m going to lay you back on the couch, but I’m not forcing you to do anything all right? We can just lie there and kiss. I promise.”

“What if I want to do more?”

“I only have so much willpower, Adaley,” he warns through panted breaths. “I know you haven’t done this before.”

I feel as if cold water is being poured over my head. My defenses go up. “Does it matter?” I quickly say, as I tilt my head up to kiss his neck. I pray that it will feel so good that he forgets his question.