Chapter Ten

Ryder

I stared at the man in the bathroom mirror, trying to make sense of it all. How had something so great gone so wrong, so fast? She was amazing and our time together had been fantastic, but for whatever reason, she pushed me away after the best sex I’d ever had.

I racked my brain, trying to figure out what I had said or done to make her head for the hills. As much as I hated to admit it, I was disappointed.

Part of me wanted to message her and try to see her again, see if I could change her mind, but was it worth it? My body said yes, but my mind said no. Why chase her when I had a buffet of women to choose from?

She was right—I didn't need that kind of distraction. Hell, maybe she was doing me a favor. Especially since I was acting like a teenager who thought he was in love and that was not who I was. I was Ryder fucking Rollins, and I was a fighter. I wanted nothing more than to hold the title, and a woman would do nothing but screw that up. My dad had told me to keep my eyes on the prize, that life and a family would come later.

I’d just gotten caught up in a good fuck. I should let it go, but I wasn't so sure I could. There was only one way to push it out of my mind. I had to get pissed off. That meant I needed to hit shit.

I gathered my gear and headed to the gym.

The entire time at the gym, I struggled not to think about what I would be doing had Zoey not left. I pushed myself to the point of exhaustion, and when I left the gym, I wanted nothing more than to shower, crash, and never hear from or see Zoey Marous again.

* * * * *

I ordered dinner the moment I walked into my hotel room and then I jumped in the shower. I had barely dried off and pulled my gym shorts on when the food arrived. I dug in and was thoroughly enjoying my steak when my phone chimed with a text message. I reached for the phone to see if it might be Dad. It wasn’t. In fact, it was the last person I had expected.

Just wanted to apologize for the way I left earlier. For the record, I enjoyed spending time with you. Thank you for that.

I gave a hollow laugh. Dropping the phone back down on the bed, I tore back into my steak. I wasn't going to dignify her text with a response. It wasn't worth it. I had said what I needed and wanted to say, and she blew me off. I was moving on. I was mad, and I needed to be mad for a while. It dawned on me that maybe this was how women felt when I blew them off. It kinda sucked.

I made a mental note not play with women the way I had in the past. I didn't want anyone to feel like I did right now. Damn. When I had become such a pansy? One woman had brought me to my knees in less than twenty-four hours—shameful.

I tried to shake her from my thoughts. Didn’t really do any good to beat the hell out of anything and everything at the gym to get her out of my head if she was just going to wriggle her way back in. I needed something to get my mind off of her. Picking up my phone again, I called my dad to tell him about the meeting.

“Hey, son, how are you?” he asked immediately.

Normally I talk to him right after a fight, but last night he’d tried to call while I was still decompressing in the locker room. Because of the time difference, it was pretty late on the east coast, so he texted that we’d talk today. But I’d been a little distracted and hadn’t called him back until now.

“I’m good, Dad. Sorry I didn’t call this morning.”

“You probably slept ’til noon, didn’t ya?” he joked. He knew me too well. “I have to say I’m proud of ya, son. The fight was excellent. You went right for his weakness and took him down. I hate I wasn't there to see it.”

“Thanks. I hate you weren’t here too. It was unreal, and the crowd was electric. Absolute craziness. Curtis helped me get ready and took care of everything for me, as usual.”

“I'm glad he was there,” Dad replied.

“I have a question for you.”

“Okay?” His tone changed to the one he has when he’s a little worried.

“Tristan Thorne approached me about signing with his agency. He thinks that as quickly as I am coming up, I might want some representation. I wanted to include you in this because you take care of most of my stuff and I know you tend to have a better head for it than I do.”

“We can hear what the man has to say,” Dad replied.

“I have a contract here that he had drawn up. He wants us to have a lawyer look over it to make sure there isn't anything we should be concerned about.”

“I've heard about him. Doesn't he represent that football player? Drake Mathison?”

“Yeah, that's him. He wants to put an MMA division together in his company. He already has Chad Banks on board, so maybe it's worth at least sitting down with him.”

“Okay, fax me the contract. I'll take it over to Sam and have him look it over.”

“Yeah, give me about fifteen minutes or so.”

“You got it, son. Did I mention I'm proud of you?” he added.

I chuckled a little. “Yeah, I think you might have. I’ll text when I’ve sent it so you know to look for it.”

We said our farewells. I hung up the phone and grabbed the contract.

A few minutes later I was punching buttons on a fax machine in the business center of the hotel. I knew Dad would try to handle as much of the paperwork as possible for me, and it eased my mind.

Just as I stepped out of the business center and turned, I saw them walking toward me. I tried to turn the corner, but her friend called out to me. I was often an ass, but not so big of an ass that I was going to blatantly ignore someone.

Zoey cringed as they got closer.

“Ryder! Are you coming out with us tonight?” Annette asked. “You said earlier you would!”

I wanted to look at Zoey. I wanted to know that she was as uncomfortable with this as I was. Instead, I made myself focus on Annette while I responded. “I’m exhausted from my workout this afternoon, but thanks.”

I couldn’t help it—I glanced over at Zoey and saw her flush. The dig had done exactly what I had intended for it to do.

“But if you come along, then Zoey won't be alone,” Annette whined.

“I’m fine, Annette,” Zoey interrupted and reached for her friend to pull her away.

“I just thought we could double date.” Annette smiled up at me.

“I don't think Zoey is up for dating, so I'll pass,” I said, then quickly turned and walked away, my long stride eating up the lobby until I was around the corner and waiting for the elevator.

Well, at least I knew she wasn't talking to her friends about me. That chick had no clue what had happened today, and I was okay with that. I made my way back to my room to start packing, since I’d changed my flight to leave a day earlier.

In the twenty minutes I was gone from the room, I had received an email from Tristan letting me know they would be in town and available anytime on Tuesday. I called my dad again and let him know that I was going to set the meeting up for lunch. After packing my stuff, I wandered down to the bar, where I grabbed a stool to watch some sports highlights and have a beer. I people-watched for a while and tried to enjoy my last night in Vegas.

Mostly, though, all I did was fight the visions of Zoey Marous that kept flashing through my head.