Sweet Destruction

  Believe it or not, besides Eva, Ryder was my best friend. We’ve known each other since we were little kids playing house in my daddy’s barn. When I was six, my dad bought the small farm next to his parent’s ranch, making us neighbors and eventually friends.

  “Let’s go talk to him,” Eva said, dancing in place.

  “No, he looks busy,” I mumbled with a smidgen of jealousy. His hand still rested on the blonde’s waist. The tattoos that started at his right wrist and circled around his arm captured my attention. I remembered when he got those tattoos. I had been there.

  “Pleeeease! The guy can stop kissing on that slut long enough to talk to us,” Eva said, looking the blonde up and down.

  Without waiting for me, she headed their way.

  Oh, crap! I rushed to catch up with her. Eva and Ryder didn’t mix well together and that was putting it lightly.

  “Hey, stranger!” Eva shouted over the music when we were within a few feet of him.

  Ryder stopped sweet–talking the blonde to look our way. Under the brim of his hat, I saw his eyes widen in surprise.

  Oh, wow. The color of his eyes would never cease to amaze me. They were a clear blue that put the color of the ocean to shame. Combined with his dark tan and sun–kissed brown hair, the blueness of his eyes was striking. Breathtaking. Gorgeous.

  Seeing him again, I realized how much I had missed him since leaving for college. Was I supposed to feel this way about a friend?

  My stomach did a weird flip. He was so much taller than me. The top of my head hit the middle of his chest. On a good day, I was five feet two inches; short by most people’s standards but next to Ryder, I was tiny.

  “What are you two doing here?” he asked, detangling himself from the blonde’s arms. She pouted, which made me want to smile and do a fist pump.

  “Clubbing!” Eva answered as she looked over at Blondie. “I would ask you the same but it’s pretty obvious.”

  He ignored her sarcastic comment.

  “When did you get into town, Maddie?” he asked, leaning toward me to be heard over the music.

  “A few days ago,” I answered. “I texted you but I never heard back.”

  Okay, I’ll admit he was the first person I texted when I arrived in town. When he didn’t immediately answer or show up on my doorstep like he usually did, I was slightly upset. How sad was I?

  “Sorry. Damn phone is a piece of crap,” he said, sticking his hands in his pockets.

  “I’ve heard that before,” Eva muttered, rolling her eyes.

  Ryder shot her a look of annoyance. The blonde chose that moment to lean closer, pressing her ample breasts against him. Yeah, we know you’re still here, Blondie.

  He detangled himself from her grasp with ease. “I’ll catch you later, Mandy,” he said, dismissing her without a second thought.

  The girl gave me a dirty look before sulking off, wobbling slightly on her high heels. A tiny bit of jealousy flared up again. She was tall and beautiful, just the way he preferred them.

  “You shouldn’t be in here dressed like that,” Ryder said, pointing to my sundress. “You trying to get killed?”

  “What’s wrong with my dress?”

  “Nothing except you look like a little girl trying to play with the big kids,” he said, smirking.

  “Well, it was Eva’s idea to come here!” I blurted, feeling as if I had just got caught doing something wrong.

  Ryder’s blue eyes slung to Eva, turning cold and calculating. In return, she gave him her best ‘I–dare–you–to–say–something’ stare.

  I saw an argument brewing between the two of them as usual. Before I could put a stop to it, Ryder grabbed my arm and pulled me toward him, out of the way of three large men walking by. The air was knocked out of my lungs as I lost my footing and landed hard against his chest. I had to admit, it wasn’t such a bad place to be.

  “Have you been drinking?” he asked, dropping his hand away from me.

  “Two shots,” I answered.

  He didn’t look too pleased.

  “Eva made me do it,” I explained, laying all the blame on her.

  He looked over at Eva again, not happy in the least. She smirked at him boldly and danced around us, not afraid of him at all. I watched Ryder grind his teeth in frustration, something I did quite often around Eva.

  He turned his attention back to me, trying to ignore her. “I’m going to the bar for a drink. Want anything? Maybe a water?” he asked.

  I shook my head no and couldn’t help but watch as he walked away. More than one woman stopped to admire him and a few tried to strike up a conversation but he simply smiled and moved on.

  “He’s so good–looking. Too bad I can’t stand him,” Eva said as she watched him with a dreamy expression.

  Before I could tell her to behave, two men were standing in our line of vision. Both were covered in leather, piercings, and tattoos. Just Eva’s type.

  “We were watching you dance earlier. You were really good,” one of them said to Eva.

  She smiled at him with a sexy smile that made me want to gag.

  “Thank you,” she said, holding out a well–manicured hand. “I’m Eva, by the way.”

  Within seconds, she was out on the dance floor with the guy, leaving me alone with guy number two.

  He smiled down at me, stretching his pierced lips wide. I tried not to stare at the numerous rings in his lips and ears. He had a shaved head and skeleton tattoos crawling up and around his neck. To say the guy was scary was an understatement. And apparently he was also drunk, swaying on his feet as he took another swig of beer. Great.

  “My name’s Jacob,” he said, holding out a hand tattooed with numbers and letters.

  I forced a smile on my face and placed my hand in his. “Maddie,” I said. I didn’t want to give him my name but what else could I do? My daddy raised me to be polite.

  “You from around here?” he asked. I tried not to cringe at the bad pickup line or the way his eyes moved up and down my body with interest.

  “Yes,” I answered, looking around the club. Maybe if I looked uninterested, he would take the hint and leave.

  “Nice dress,” he said, staring down at my chest.

  Okay, this was getting ridiculous. I attempted to walk around him but his hand slipped around my waist.

  “Let’s dance,” he slurred.

  I moved out from under his arm and started to walk away when he stepped in front of me.

  “Just one dance,” he pleaded, drunkenly.

  “No, thanks.” Polite me again.

  He was about to say something else when there was a commotion at the bar. I heard yelling and glass breaking. Looking around ‘Jacob the Drunk,’ I was stunned. What the hell? I think my mouth even dropped open.

  Ryder and a very large man were fighting, looking ready to kill each other. All I could see were fists and fury.

  People started rushing over, scrambling to get a good view of the fight. I left Jacob behind to push through the crowd, just in time to see Ryder’s head snap back and blood go flying. I shoved my way to the edge of bystanders, watching as Ryder recovered and swung an uppercut to the big man’s jaw. When the guy’s eyes rolled back in his head, I thought it was over. Instead, he shook his head to clear it and threw a hard jab. His fist connected with Ryder’s stomach, shoving him backward.

  Someone grabbed my arm and yanked. I swung around, prepared to do battle myself, but found only Eva.

  “What the hell is going on?” she shouted. The crowd surged around us, everybody wanting to get closer to the action.

  “Ryder’s getting his ass kicked! We have to help him!"

  “Are you crazy? We can’t do anything!” Eva shouted as she struggled to stay on her feet against the jostling crowd.

  The sound of beer bottles shattering had me turning back around. I watched as Ryder’s fist connected with the man’s face followed by his elbow whacking the man’s jaw, all in one fluid movement. This time the stranger went dow
n cold.

  I rushed to Ryder’s side as he flopped down onto a nearby barstool. His lip was cut and a nasty bruise was already forming on his cheekbone. He was wiping the blood from his nose when his eyes met mine.

  “What the hell was that all about?” I shouted over the music.

  “I told you that you shouldn’t be in here!” Ryder said, loudly.

  “What has that got to do with you fighting?” I asked, trying to ignore how close I was to him.

  “The bastard was talking shit about you in that dress.”

  “What did he say?” I asked, watching as the man’s friends tried to peel him off of the floor.

  “Believe me, you don’t want to know,” Ryder growled. He stood up gingerly, wincing at the movement. When the pain passed, he grabbed hold of my arm.

  “Time to leave, little girls.”

  With his fingers wrapped around my upper arm, he led me out of the bar. Eva followed, protesting the entire time. I wasn’t going to say anything. I didn’t want to be here anyway. He was saving me from a potentially bad night.

  Outside the hot Texas air hit us like a blowtorch, wilting everything in its path. Gravel crunched under our feet as we maneuvered around motorcycles and muscle cars, finally finding Eva’s pickup.

  “Go straight home, Maddie,” Ryder demanded as he opened the passenger door for me.

  “You’re not going back in there are you?” I asked.

  He paused. I saw the indecision on his face. This wasn’t an easy decision for him. Not when he never walked away from a party. Or a woman.

  “No, I’ll follow you home.”

  Secretly, I was glad he was leaving. It meant no more girls, no more fighting, and no more drinking for him tonight.

  Eva waited for Ryder to pull behind us in his ’66 Ford Bronco before she drove out of the parking lot. A few minutes later, we hit the empty, two–lane highway that would take us home.

  The truck gave a violent shudder as Eva leaned over to turn the A/C on full blast. It was a beat up, hardly running, seen–better–days old Ford pickup from my daddy’s generation of gas guzzling vehicles. The paint was chipping, the seats were torn, and on a bad day it smelled like cow manure but it got us where we needed to go. Sometimes.

  “So…interesting night,” Eva said, keeping her eyes on the road.

  “Yeah, I told you the place was a hole but you never listen to me.”

  “If I listened to you, what fun would we have?” She floored the accelerator and the truck jerked forward. “I never thought we would see Ryder there.”

  “It’s his kind of place,” I said, peering in the side mirror.

  I could see his headlights a short distance behind us. This late at night, we were the only two vehicles on the road. It was an eerie feeling being out here in the middle of nowhere. There were no lights and no people; only the stars and moon above.

  “I have no idea why the two of you stay friends,” Eva said. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her gather her long blonde hair in one hand and hold it off her nape, letting the cool air reach her neck. “I mean, the two of you are so different. He’s such a pain in the ass and you’re so…I don’t know…sweet? I don’t get it.”

  I didn’t get it either. Maybe it was because Ryder and I had known each other forever. Or maybe it was because we knew everything about each other. Whatever it was, we remained friends. When I moved six hours away to go to college, I worried our friendship would fade. It didn’t but it changed. There was something there, lingering between us, leaving me nervous and confused.

  I would never admit it to anyone, even Eva, but I always had a thing for Ryder. Maybe it was love or maybe it was just lust. In high school, I watched as he dated girl after girl. I spent many nights wishing it was me that he wanted. Me that he loved. When I left for college, I thought the feelings would disappear. I thought it was only a silly teenage crush that would fade over time. I was wrong. My feelings only grew stronger.

  “On the topic of boys, what are you going to do about Ben? You gonna take things to the next level and sleep with him like he wants?”

  I grabbed the door handle as she gunned the truck and took a curve too fast. Eva was hell on wheels. She drove as if she was competing in the Indy 500 (and winning). I took my life in my own hands every time I got in the car with her.

  “No,” I answered, trying to talk myself into being brave and letting go of the door handle. “He keeps pressuring me but I’m not ready.”

  Ben and I had been together for a few months now. We met at a party and instantly hit it off. When he asked me out, I didn’t hesitate to say yes. Everything had been great between us until he started insisting we have sex. I told him no repeatedly but still he pushed and pushed. Figuratively not literally. I had made it to the ripe old age of twenty–one as a virgin and I planned to stay that way despite good looks and sweet words.

  “Don’t ruin your last year of college with him,” Eva said. “He’s a jerk.”

  "No one is going to ruin my last year, Eva. Especially a boy."

  "Good. We’re so close to getting our nursing degrees that nothing can mess it up now."

  I was majoring in nursing. Eva was majoring in boys and parties with some nursing thrown in as well. The past three years had been interesting sharing an apartment with her. There was never a dull moment.

  “Damn, A/C. You would think my dad would fix it since we live in frickin’ Texas where it’s frickin’ hotter than hell!” Eva muttered, messing with the A/C knobs again.

  Knowing the air conditioning worked for only a short amount of time, we both rolled down our windows to let in the night air. The wind immediately started wreaking havoc with our hair, probably tying it into knots.

  “I don’t know what you have against Ben,” I said, pushing strands of hair out of my eyes only to have the wind whip it around my face again.

  “He has too much ego, strutting around with his blonde hair and perfect tan. I mean, the guy is too perfect. Something’s up with him, I just feel it,” Eva said, whipping the truck around another corner.

  I wasn’t surprised by her words. She told me all the time that Ben was too possessive and controlling. I didn’t see it but she had always been overcritical of the guys I dated anyway.

  “You need to have sex for the first time with someone more…I don’t know…badass.” I saw the gears turning in her mind, hatching an idea. “And I know the perfect person! Ryder!”

  I felt redness creep up my neck. “I don’t think so, Eva. He’s only a friend.”

  “A friend who is super hot! Ever heard of friends with benefits?” she asked with a wide smile.

  “Never happening!”

  “Why? Ever think about it? All those hard abs and sexy tattoos? The man is definitely fuck–worthy. Come on, Maddie, you can’t tell me you haven’t thought about it.”

  “Nope.”

  “Liar.”

  Maybe I was a liar but he was my friend. I wouldn’t go there.

  Soon we were pulling into Eva’s driveway with Ryder behind us. Eva and her parents lived in town. Around here, they were considered city folks even though the town boasted only 4,000 residents. Silly, I know.

  I started to jump out of the truck when Eva’s voice stopped me. “Your dad’s not home. Feel free to take my advice and sleep with Ryder,” she said with a wink. "If you can’t walk tomorrow, I’ll know why."

  I rolled my eyes and slammed the car door shut. Sex was always on her mind. I swear that she was as bad as Ryder.

  His old Bronco rumbled loudly as I slid into the passenger seat. Since we lived right next door to each other, he was taking me the rest of the way home.

  “Eva drives like a lunatic! You shouldn’t get in the car with her,” he said after I shut the truck door.

  I glanced over at him. His cheekbone had one big nasty bruise and the cut on his lower lip looked painful. The ball cap shadowed his eyes but the intensity of his stare made me uneasy.

  “She’s never gotten a ticket
so she must be doing something right,” I said.

  “Pure luck,” he reasoned, backing out of the driveway. He pulled out onto the street and I felt him look over at me but I kept my eyes locked outside. Why was I so nervous? Two shots of whiskey must really be messing with my head.

  “My phone really was acting up, Maddie. I didn’t get your text,” he said in a low voice.

  “No big deal, Ryder. I was going to call but I’ve been busy.”

  “I noticed. Don’t go to a place like that again. Stick to your little college kid bars.”

  “Yes, sir,” I said, sarcastically under my breath. I snuck a peek at his tattooed arm, resting lazily on top of the steering wheel. Tribal tattoos in big, bold designs swirled around his wrist and traveled upward. Eva was right. They were sexy. Too bad we were just friends.

  The silence stretched between us, becoming uncomfortable and awkward as we left the town behind. I clasped my hands tightly in my lap, wondering why I was so nervous. It was only Ryder, for Pete’s sake!

  For miles only the countryside surrounded us, dark and empty. Finally, we turned down a deserted dirt road. On either side of us were acres and acres of farmland and not much else. This is where I lived — in the middle of nowhere, Texas. Population — a few people, but plenty of cows and horses.

  Within minutes, we were driving along my gravel driveway, leading to the only home in sight.

  “Your dad’s not home?” Ryder asked when he saw the dark house.

  “No. He’s in Dallas for business.”

  I opened up the car door and was surprised when Ryder turned off the ignition and climbed out of the truck.

  “I’ll walk you in.”

  I couldn’t say why the butterflies took flight in my stomach or why my hands started to shake when I attempted to unlock the front door, but they did. I had been alone with Ryder plenty of times but tonight felt different.

  In the kitchen, I flipped on the light and grimaced. His face looked awful, painful. To think those bruises were there because of me…hurt.