She stuck out her chin. “You should be as upset as me. Your reputation was poor to begin with, but now you have no idea what you’re in for.”
The crease in between my brows was so deep, it hurt. With the exception of ramming into a tree on campus with my car, my reputation was great. I won games, and I got any chick I wanted. “What are you talking about?”
She glided out the front door and tossed a satisfied look over her shoulder. “Shape up, Ryker James, or the only championship you’ll be bringing home will be a token from your AA meetings.”
I stood in the doorway, dumbfounded, wanting to fire off a condescending remark, but the soft hands that came around my waist jolted me out of my stupor.
“Ryker, can we finish what we started?” Beverly asked.
I peeled her hands off me. “That ship has sailed.” I guided her out of the house. “See you around.” Then I closed the door, locked it, and went back into the kitchen.
Lucas was sipping coffee with a grin the size of Texas stretched across his face.
“What?” I poured coffee into a mug then sat down across from him.
“I can see Haven has you all riled up, as in you want her,” Lucas said. “But dude, I would stay away from her.”
I chugged the strong black coffee. “My memory is returning from last night. You said you would tell me who she was when I was sober. Well, I’m listening.”
A phone rang. I searched the kitchen, as did Lucas.
“It’s your phone,” he said. “Mine is upstairs in my room.”
I found my phone on the desk beside the fridge and answered it. “Yeah.”
“You sober today?” Franklin, my lawyer, asked.
I sighed. “Well, you shouldn’t show up at midnight on Friday during a party.”
The fucker had wanted to talk business at midnight while I was drunk.
“If you made it to your appointments, I wouldn’t have to track you down,” he barked. “Get your ass in my office this afternoon.”
I was tempted to be a jerk and ask, “Or else what?” But the funeral was coming up, and emotions were delicate, even for Franklin. He and my old man had been best buds in college. So I knew he was hurting too even though he didn’t show it. Regardless, he wanted to discuss the ramifications of the tree accident, which was one of the reasons he’d shown up last night.
“I’ll be there in an hour,” I said then hung up.
Lucas put his cup in the sink. “Go. We’ll talk later.”
Darn straight we would.
4
Haven
Ifinally let out a huge breath as I got into my car. The house stunk like a landfill on steroids, but it wasn’t the stench or Ryker’s bad breath that had left me gasping for air.
I flicked the air conditioner on high and adjusted the vents toward my face and neck. Yep, I was sweating and not from the hot Texas sun beating in through my windshield. Ryker was a class-A jerk, and a large part of me got off on his vulgar mouth, even more so when my eyes had landed on his growing erection.
Oh my word.I fanned myself with my hand.
Maybe my father was right, and I should stay away from Ryker. Yet every fiber in me was drawn to his hot body, and it didn’t help that I was horny. It had been more than a year since I’d had sex.
I started the car and got on the road. I would’ve run back to campus like I had the night before and taken care of my libido, but Father Dearest had requested my presence at home that day. I’d asked him what he wanted, but he’d just replied, “We’ll discuss it when you get here.” Regardless, he didn’t like anyone to be late for his meetings. He’d been trained in the military to always arrive fifteen minutes early.
I checked the time on my dashboard, calculating how long it would take me to get home. My father had an expansive ranch forty-five minutes north of Lakemont University. Considering that it was Saturday and traffic would be minimal on the freeway, I had about five minutes to spare.
My phone rang, shutting down the radio and automatically connecting.
