“Bye, Jackson,” she sassed, waving her fingers at him. Hart looked about ready to spit nails and most of his anger was geared toward Ryder.
“Don’t you fucking touch her, man,” Hart ordered, pointing his finger at Ryder. They were garnering a good deal of unwanted attention and all Ryder could do was shrug as Tatum pulled away from the curb, leaving her brother standing there, mouth gaped wide open. Yeah—that was a complete cluster fuck and now, Ryder was smack dab in the middle of whatever family squabble Hart and Tatum had brewing—just where he didn’t want to be.
“Shit,” he said under his breath. Judging from the giggles of delight coming from Tatum, she knew exactly what she had just done, and pissing off Hart wasn’t a part of the plan. Well, his plan, anyway.
They rode in silence back to his house. The only time he spoke was when he had to bark out a direction to Tatum, since she had never been to his place. By the time they got to his house, all he wanted to do was take another pain pill and fall into bed. His leg was screaming at him and the last thing he wanted to do was go a few rounds with Tatum. He was pretty sure she’d win any bout they had and he was just plain tired.
She helped him out of her tiny sports car and he unlocked his front door, letting himself in. Usually, he played the gentleman but getting through the door on crutches was no easy feat, especially with the amount of pain he was in.
“Are you ever going to speak to me again?” Tatum asked. She sounded defensive and that was the last thing he needed.
“I did speak to you. I gave you directions,” he defended. Tatum barked out her laugh and he knew that this wasn’t going to end well for him. “Listen, I’m in a good deal of pain,” he said, trying to play the sympathy card. “All I want to do is take a pill and go to bed. Can we have this discussion later?” he asked.
Tatum seemed to lose a little of her fight and nodded, “Yeah—sorry. I guess I’m mad at Jackson and I just want someone to yell at. Let me help you up to your room,” she said. Tatum got him to his room and rummaged through his bag for his pills. She handed him one and went into his bathroom to get him some water to take it. “Here,” she offered. “While your sleeping, I have a few errands to run and I need to unpack. Then, I’ll figure out dinner,” she said.
“The spare room is just next door. Feel free to look around, make yourself at home,” he offered. She pulled his one boot off and helped him onto the bed, stowing his crutches on the side, in case he needed to get up.
“Thanks, Ryder,” she said. Tatum hovered over him and for a second, he thought she was going to kiss him. He smiled up at her, and he could tell that he was giving her a goofy, lopsided grin from the way she giggled at him.
“What’s so funny?” he asked.
“I think your pain pill is kicking in, Ryd,” she whispered, giving his cheek a quick peck.
He rubbed his cheek with his hand and grabbed her wrist just as she started to walk away from him. “I knew you were going to kiss me, Honey,” he mumbled. Tatum giggled again and stepped back toward him.
“That was just a peck on the cheek,” she said. “You know, like me telling you to feel better or something.”
“It’s the ‘or something’ that I’m interested in,” he slurred. “But your brother will kick my ass if I even think of doing the ‘or something’ with you.”
“Yeah, well, what my brother doesn’t know won’t hurt him, Ryder,” she breathed. This time, when she bent over him, she gently brushed her lips against his and Ryder didn’t stop himself from reaching up and running his hands through her long, dark hair. He pulled her down and sealed his mouth over hers, licking his way into her mouth. Her moan was all he needed to let him know that she not only liked it, but she’d also be on board for whatever else he wanted to do to her. Ryder released her and untangled his hands from her hair.
“The ‘or something’ is definitely going to make Jackson want to kick your ass, Ryder,” she breathed. Tatum ran her soft hand down his cheek and he leaned into her caress. He closed his eyes and the last thing he remembered was her soft, giggles lulling him to sleep. Ryder’s last thought was that it was going to be damn near impossible to keep his fucking hands off Hart’s sister—not that he was trying very hard.
Tatum
The showdown with Jackson was a bit over the top, even for her. Her brother knew just how to push her buttons, and all but calling her out in front of Ryder apparently was her boiling point. When he brought their parents into the argument, she lost her shit. She had agreed to be the one to take care of their mother. Sure, Jackson had been by every day to make sure that they had everything that they needed, but she was the one giving up her daily existence to care for her mom. She’d do it all again too. Once her mother passed, she had to play catch-up with life, finding a job and a new place to live. The apartment her mother lived in was too much monthly for her to afford, so she moved out and found someone who needed a roommate—Justine. She was awesome to live with and they were roommates for almost two and a half months, until Justine met Jason and they decided to live together. The old saying, “Threes a crowd,” rang true and they asked her to move out when Jason started moving his things slowly over to the apartment. It was fine with her. The last thing Tatum wanted was to stay where she wasn’t wanted and made to feel like a third wheel.
She found another sublease and moved in with Asher. He was an old friend from high school and she quickly fell for his charms. When Asher asked her to move into his room and his bed, she turned him down, and well, he asked her to give up her lease. What he was asking her for, she wasn’t ready to give. Her mother had just died months before and the last thing she thought about was losing her virginity to anyone and that included the very cute Asher from high school. So, she packed her meager belongings and that’s when she found the room for rent at Hugh’s place.
Hugh was an ass but, she loved his apartment and the price was right, so she dealt with his shitty attitude and his constantly propositioning her for sex. She had learned to say, no, a long time ago, and telling him no seemed to work. Well, until she didn’t have the money to pay her half of the rent, and then, he left her no choice. She could either pay her rent with money or blow jobs, so here she was, living with a virtual stranger, pissing her older brother off.
She couldn’t control everything that happened with her ex-roommates any more than she could control getting fired because, “Numbers just weren’t where management needed them to be.” Times were tough everywhere and she couldn’t fault shoppers for not spending their hard-earned money at the fancy boutiques she worked at. She loved her first job—it was one she landed right out of high school. They even let her pick up shifts when her mother had good days, but those were few and far between, especially at the end and they ended up having to let her go. She was on the managerial track and having to let that job go hurt, but she’d do just about anything for her mother and she’d never regret losing a job to spend her mother’s last days with her. She never told Jackson the real reason as to why she had been let go from that job. He assumed that she had been fired for being lazy or not showing up for work, but he was wrong. Telling him that their dying mother cost her the job she loved wasn’t something she was willing to do. She didn’t want him to feel bad for not helping out more, especially since he had just quit his job as a detective and opened a security agency. He already had enough on his plate.