Faith’s Temptation (Dueling Dragons MC Book 1) (23 page)

“Stop your fuckin’ yelling! I need a ring, and I need it before we leave tomorrow.”

I hear him drop something in the background. “You want—What?” He coughs again.

“A ring,” I seethe into the phone.

“You want a ring? For who?” He laughs.

“Who the fuck you think?” I say into the phone, turning around and looking at the bedroom door. “She’s different, man.” He has to believe me.

“All right, where am I going?” Ziggy asks.

“Thanks, man.” I take the next couple of minutes to explain to him what I want and agree to meet him to get the ring before we leave. I want to ask Faith to be mine before I leave on this run.

Hanging up the phone, I turn back around and walk into the bedroom. Standing there, I listen to her lightly snoring from the bed.
God, that’s a beautiful sound.
Walking over to the bed, I set my phone on the nightstand and crawl in next to my lady.

Pulling her to me, I wrap my arm and leg around her. “I love you, Faith.” I kiss the back of her head and nuzzle my face in her hair.

***

Faith

I am jolted awake by the alarm on Ryder’s cell phone. I look over on the other side of the king-size bed and he’s lightly snoring. I know he wanted to leave early, but I’m going to make him breakfast before he leaves.

I walk into the kitchen and look in the fridge. Eggs, bacon, and toast. I pull out my pan and start to cook up the bacon and put some coffee on to brew.

I’m standing at the counter making the toast when I smell the familiar scent of Ryder’s body wash. I turn around and wrap my arms around his waist and squeeze him. “I’m going to miss you so much. I can’t believe that you’re going to be gone for a whole week.” I sigh.

“You're making me breakfast. It smells great, and it’s only a week. It’ll pass like no time, I promise, and we will talk every day that I have cell service and everything. We can even Skype if you want to.” He winks at me when he says Skype.

“You’re a nasty man, Ryder,” I say to him jokingly, and I stand on my tippy toes and kiss him.

***

We eat breakfast and I make sure that he has all of his clothes and that they’re clean. He decides that he wants to move all of his clothes and important things out of his truck and into my apartment. I told him that he could put them in the spare room and that I’d look after them.

Layla’s been with us for a few and is physically shaken to watch her brother leave. I mean, I’m nervous because he is doing a run for the club, but I also trust my man and know that he’ll come home to me.

“Love you, brother. Be safe and come home to us!” she says as gives him a big hug before he turns his attention to me.

“Thanks, sis. I’ll be home in a week. We’ll be barbequing the night I get back, so start planning that shit,” he says to her. He looks over her shoulder and I see him look at…Ziggy and Flem. Ziggy is packing the little bags on the side of his bike, and Flem is doing the same.
They really are bikers
, I think to myself.

“Come here, babe. I gotta get ready to grab gears. I’ll call you this evening and talk you to sleep. And maybe we can Skype.” He wiggle his eyebrows and flashes a dimple as he pulls me close to him.

“Ryder, please be careful. I’m going to worry about you every damn day until you come back to me. I love you, and it takes a lot for me to say that. So, please, don’t hurt me. Please.” A lone tear runs down my cheek and he gently wipes it away, our eyes locking.

“I’ve told you before, several times now. I love you, and I’d never hurt you. Just trust me, please. Our lives are entwined now, and I want to be a different person because of you. I love the person I am when I’m with you. I felt lost before I met you, and since then, I’m no longer lost. I’ve found my true self because of you. And I thank you for that. I’ll love you for the rest of your life because of that.”

He reaches into his jeans pocket and he pulls out a simple white-gold band with a little chunk of diamond on it. “Will you do that? Will you love me the rest of your life? Will you spend the rest of your life with me?”

I look into his eyes and I see that he is 100% serious in asking me. “Are you sure that’s what you want to do?”

He nods his head.

“Ryder, just like you, I was lost. I had lost myself after my world was shattered by my past and my choices. You accepted me for me, regardless of how fucked up I am, and I have fallen head over heels in love with you. Ryder, you are my favorite temptation.”

I stop for a second and cock my eyebrow as I realize something. “Wait a second.” A light bulb has just gone off in my head.

“I think you are just now realizing why I was up the other night?” Ryder concludes. I shake my head at him slightly. This can’t be. “Yes. I woke up early and had a talk with your brothers and your father. I told them that you’re my soul mate. I would put my life on the line for you. All choices that I make I will keep you foremost in my mind when I make them. You have brought out a Ryder that I thought died a long time ago.” He is super genuine in his emotions right now, and it makes my heart melt.

“Yes! Ryder, I will. If that is what will make you even happier than you are right now, then yes, I will.” I put my hand forward and he slips the ring on my finger and then kisses it.

“Thank you, babe. I love you, and I promise to try to give you the life you deserve.” He takes my face in his hands and kisses me passionately.

“I love you, too.” I have tears running down my face. “I will see you when you get home in a week.”

“Home? That sounds amazing! I have a home again. Love you, babe!” He grins and shows me that damn sexy dimple.

“Love you, too. Now go before I change my mind and take you to bed,” I say jokingly to him. He stops in his tracks, turns and walks toward me, and picks me up, kissing me hard. I end up with my back up against the side of the shop. Holy hell! He needs to leave before he can’t!

I moan as he deepens the kiss and our mouths become one. In that split second, we are no longer two people with two separate souls. We are two people with joined souls. He is my soul mate.

“Love you so much. Thank you for blessing me and being in my life, and for promising to be my wife. I love you!” And with one last kiss, he puts me down, then turns to walk toward his truck.

I stand there and watch the man that I love with all my heart pull out of the dirt lot. He is driving into the lion’s den doing this one last run for the club. I hope after this, he will give up at least part of that life, if not all of it.

***

It’s my day off and Ryder is due to come home tomorrow, so I decide to borrow Layla’s car to drive into the grocery store. I want to make Ryder my world-famous garlic chicken alfredo and garlic bread with a salad on the side.

And then me for dessert, of course.
Wow. You’re really comfortable, aren’t ya! You go, girl!

I hear my cell phone start to ring in my purse and I grab it and answer it. “Hey, baby! How is it going?” I ask Ryder as I see his name on the screen.

“Oh, you know, it’s just going. So I got a question for you, babe, and I need you to think long and hard about this.” His voice a little shaky, and I instantly get nervous.

“Okay, is everything okay? I love you and I can’t wait to see you in eight hours!” I say to be reassuring in case he forgot.

“I know, and I love you, too, babe. But listen. Remember when I asked you if you would be with me no matter what and if you would stand behind me in any situation or if anything happened?” he asks me, still sounding a little stressed and anxious.

“Yeah, I remember it. It was one thing that told me that you truly cared about me. And I said yes, I would, to both of them, and I’d say the same thing now if not more. I love you, Ryder. I love everything about you, and I wouldn’t change anything about you or us. Just come home.” I try to sound confident and reassuring, but even to my own ears, I don’t think I’m very convincing.

“Faith, I need you to listen. I love you, and no matter what you’re going to hear, it’s shit. Things got really fucked up. And just remember I love you. I will marry you one day! I love you.”

Then the line goes dead.

“Ryder? Hello?
Ryder
!” I bring the phone down from my ear and see that the screen is on my home screen. I instantly try to call him back, but his phone goes to voicemail. I try to call him every few minutes for hours and nothing.

I text Layla and tell her what happened. She’s now sitting next to me calling Ryder every time I’m not calling him.

“What the fuck is going on? Where the fuck is he?” I’m crazy scared and crying right now. I don’t know what to do with myself. The only thing I can think of to bring me any semblance of comfort is wrap myself in him. I grab one of his sweatshirts and I slip it on. “Layla, where is your brother? Where did he go?”

“I don’t know, hon. There has to be an explanation,” she says as she rubs my arms to try and comfort me. “He loves you. He’ll come back to you.”

But something tells me that he might not be coming back from this run at all.

***

Ryder

What am I doing?
Looking in the review mirror, I see the lights. Red and blue flashing lights.

I saw them in the distance, so I told Zig and Flem to get the fuck out of here and go take care of my sister and my girl.

Shit! What am I going to do?
I need to call Faith. I need to make sure that she knows I love her and that, no matter what she hears or no matter what she thinks happened, it isn’t true. I want her to know that I’ll be home soon. I won’t break her heart like I did Bambi’s. Even though I‘m not in front of Faith, I can imagine what her face would look like if I did break her heart.

I reach down in my lap and grab my cell phone. She answers it on the first ring.

“Hey, baby! How’s it going?”

Goddamn, her voice is like honey.

“I’m doing okay, babe. How was work?”

She tells me about how Layla was making fun of one of the old nasty truckers who’s always there. It sounds like she had a good day. God, I can remember the first time I saw her. She was so innocent and beautiful. How did I get so lucky?

I look in my mirror. There are about ten cruisers behind me. I wonder when they’re going to get the helicopter out.

I laugh to myself. Faith hears me and stops what she’s saying.

“And why are you laughing at me, Ryder? Do I entertain you that much? Asshole!” She laughs at the end.

“I got a question for you, babe. I need you to think long and hard about this.” I get ready to ask her the big question, and it is something I didn’t even give Bambi the option of answering.

“Is everything okay? I love you, baby. I can’t wait to see you in eight hours!”

I can tell I’m making her nervous. Damn it.

“I know, and I love you, too, babe. Listen to me. Remember when I asked you if you’d be with me no matter what, and if you’d stand behind me in any situation? Do you remember telling me that you would?”

“Yeah, I remember. It was the one thing that told me you truly cared about me. I said yes, and I would say the same thing now. I love you, Ryder. I love everything about you, and I wouldn’t change anything about you or us. Just come home.”

I hear her voice crack. She’s crying. Goddamn it. I fucking knew it. I knew she would cry!

“Faith, I need you to listen. I love you. No matter what you hear, it’s shit. Things are really fucked up. I love you. I will marry you one day. I love you, babe.”

I don’t have time to wait for her response. There’s a car on the side of the road up ahead, and they’ve laid down a spike strip. Fuck!

I slam on the brakes and get the truck to stop as quickly as I can. The brakes squeal, making a loud, obnoxious noise with black smoke billowing up from the tires as they skid across the pavement. The whole truck acts as if it’s having a seizure and hops to a stop about ten feet from the spike strip. Shit, if I would have hit it, it would have popped all my tires and I would’ve crashed. At least I’m alive, but fuck, I’m busted.

“Hands up where we can see them! Hands up!”

I shut off the truck and lift my hands in the air.

“Throw the keys out of the window, and then slowly get out of the truck.”

I grab the keys from the ignition and throw them out of the window. There are four cops pointing guns at me.

I carefully get out of the truck. The second I hit the ground, I’m slammed up against the truck and read my rights. They throw me into the back of a cop car and transport me to the nearest federal facility.

Two weeks later....

Faith

“WHERE DO YOU THINK
he could be?” I ask Layla. She always seems to know the answer to all my issues. She’s become an important part of my life. I don’t know where I’d be without her. She taught me what it means to be loved and cherished—by someone other than Ryder.

“I don’t know, but this has the MC written all over it. I’ll make some calls and see what I can come up with.”

She reaches for her phone and dials.

“Hey, Chaz. Have you talked to my brother by any chance?”

She nods. “Well, does Zig or Flem know anything? They just showed up and said Ryder told them to come back, but they don’t know what happened? All right. We’ll wait and see if you guys come up with anything.”

She hangs up, walks out the back door, and lights up a smoke. “Come here, sugar. I’ll fill you in.”

Smoke seeps out of her nose as she exhales. I figure I’ll also most likely need a smoke after what she tells me, so I grab mine from my coat and walk out back to join her.

“Don’t tell me Ryder’s dead and never coming back.”

“Whoa! Wait a damn minute. What are you talking about? I was just going to tell you that Ziggy and Flem have showed up at the clubhouse.” Taking a drag of her smoke, she starts talking again. “They don’t know what happened to Ryder or, if they do, the MC isn’t saying anything to me. They said that they’d get in touch if they hear something. You need to calm down and have a drink or something. You’re stressing too much for such a young girl.” She rubs my arms and pulls me into a huge hug.