Ryder

 

A sharp, stabbing pain brought Ryder back to consciousness.

 

“Oh, shit! Sorry!”

 

The voice was clear and bright over the soft howl of the wind.

 

“Fuck,” moaned Ryder, his hand shooting to his lower abdomen, where the pain radiated.

 

“I’m just trying to disinfect you,” spoke the voice. “I know it hurts, but I don’t want you getting gangrene or something on me.”

 

“If it was gangrene you’d know it by the smell,” moaned Ryder, shifting his body up slightly. “And that would take a while.”

 

“I know. That’s why I’m doing this now.”

 

Ryder reached up and rubbed his eyes, trying to get a sense of where he was. Aside from the pain, he felt a warmth from somewhere behind him, and the sound of crackling wood made it clear that there was a roaring fire somewhere nearby. He turned around towards the fireplace and watched the flames dance for a time. His head was heavy and he felt completely out of sorts, a similar feeling to taking a nap in the afternoon and waking up in the evening feeling sluggish and disoriented.

 

“Just don’t move too much.”

 

“I’m not gonna stay on this couch all damn night,” said Ryder, his vision still bleary. “Gotta get my bike and find those assholes who did this to me.”

 

A light, lilting laugh sounded. And as his eyesight cleared up, Ryder finally got a good look at the girl who’d saved his life, and he realized instantly that she was about as beautiful as they come. Her sparkling blue eyes, those eyes that were so clear and piercing in the snow, were just stunning now. Kara’s skin was fair and clear, her mouth was sensual, full, and red, and her nose was just a little button thing, cute and pert. Her face was heart-shaped. And now that she wasn’t wearing a bulky, heavy coat, Ryder couldn’t help but notice how slim and curvy her body was. Tight jeans showed off the swoops of her hips, and full breasts strained against the fabric of her dark blue sweater.

 

Ryder did his best to put Kara’s beauty out of his mind as he turned his attention back to his surroundings.

 

“I’m guessing we’re alone here?” he asked, sitting up.

 

“Looks that way,” said Kara. “And I doubt whoever owns this place is going to come back tonight. So we should be fine for now.”

 

“Assuming there’s no one hunkered down in the bedroom working up the nerve to bust out with a shotgun blasting.”

 

Kara rolled her eyes playfully.

 

“Someone’s paranoid,” she said.

 

“Getting knocked off your bike’ll do that do you.”

 

Kara scrunched up her face in confusion.

 

“You mean someone attacked you? You didn’t just fall off your bike in the snow?”

 

“Best I can remember it,” he said.

 

Ryder glanced down at his body. Kara had cleaned up his wounds while he was out and he could now assess the damage. Relief washed over him when he saw that he didn’t have any major cuts or gashes; those boots had hurt like a motherfucker, but they didn’t appear to have done much in the way of permanent damage. His chest hurt with every full breath he took in, however, and he realized that he likely had a few cracks in a couple ribs here and there. But that sort of injury was something he was used to, and he knew ribs were quick to heal.

 

“Um, are you … what are you?” Kara asked, stepping back and looking Ryder up and down.

 

He let out a dry laugh that sent a few tremors of pain through his body.

 

“I’m a biker,” he said, reaching over to the chair next to him and taking his leather jacket that Kara had draped across it. “That’s my crew—the Midnight Hunters. We’re based out of Chicago.”

 

“Oh,” said Kara, trying to understand this. “So you’re like a group of friends that like to ride bikes together?”

 

Another laugh, more pain. Ryder opened his mouth to let her know that there was much more to his crew than riding bikes and having fun. They were weapons runners, mostly, and didn’t exactly operate in the above-the-board world that this girl had likely never strayed out of. Thinking better of it, however, Ryder decided to keep those details to himself for now.

 

“Yeah,” he said. “Though more like a brotherhood than just any old group of friends. My boys and I would die for one another, and some have.”

 

“Sounds … intense,” said Kara.

 

Ryder couldn’t help but smirk as he watched her eyes flick down to his body over and over again as they spoke. To be fair, however, Ryder was using just about all the restraint he had to not eye-fuck her non-stop.

 

“Storm let up any?” asked Ryder, glancing out the nearest window.

 

“Nope,” said Kara. “We’re gonna be stuck here for at least the night. Not even sure what we’re going to do after that—the roads might be totally screwed.”

 

“We can figure that one out in the morning,” said Ryder.

 

Really, he was relieved that the storm meant whoever had done this to him wouldn’t be able to track him down. Revenge was on his mind, but he was realistic enough to know that he was in no condition to go out and start cracking skulls.

 

“You, um, want some tea?” asked Kara, gesturing towards a black kettle on a burner nearby.

 

Ryder chuckled. As far as he was concerned, tea was for sissy boys who drank it out of cute little cups, their pinkies raised in the air while they took their little sips. But something hot did sound pretty nice.

 

“Sure,” he said.

 

Kara nodded and headed off. As soon as she turned, Ryder’s eyes locked right onto her round, delicious-looking ass. He found himself wondering what she’d look like with those jeans pulled down and her bent over that kitchen counter, wet and begging for it. He scolded himself for being such a horndog, but as soon as he did, he was right back to thinking about it.

 

“Here,” said Kara, handing him a big blue ceramic mug. “It’s just cheap stuff, but it should warm you up.”

 

“Too good for the cheap stuff?” asked Ryder, his eyes on the wispy trails of steam that rose up from the tea.

 

“I mean, I normally like a good rooibos or something, but the cheap stuff can do in a pinch.”

 

Ryder let out a quick bark of a laugh.

 

“What?” she asked.

 

“Nothin’,” he said. “Just imagining one of the boys talking like that.”

 

“One of your club boys?” Kara asked. “Well, I don’t know what you guys drink, but normal people like me drink tea and coffee.”

 

“We’re more of a whiskey-and-beer kinda crew,” said Ryder.

 

He took a sip of his tea and let the pleasantly bitter liquid play on his tongue for a moment before bringing it down with a swallow. He found it surprisingly good, and it warmed him up just like he was hoping.

 

“So, I had my reasons for being on the road in this shit,” said Ryder. “They weren’t good ones, but they were my reasons. But what the hell were you doing out there? You have a death wish or something?”

 

“No,” said Kara, setting down her mug and wringing her hands while looking away. “I was trying to get to my parents’ place in Milwaukee. I figured if I made good time I could beat the storm.”

 

“I guess you learned your lesson with that one,” he said. “Better hope you don’t have to learn it the really hard way if we get stuck here for a while.”

 

His eyes flicked to her phone, which was on the kitchen counter.

 

“You get any reception out here?” he asked.

 

“Not even a single bar,” she said.

 

Ryder reached into his pocket and pulled out his own phone. The screen was smashed and covered with spiderweb cracks from his spill, but it miraculously looked to be still working. He had a couple of bars.

 

“Best bet is to just wait and see what the situation is in the morning,” he said. “We both had a shitty night; not gonna do us any good worrying about how to get out of here when all that shit outside is going on.”

 

“Yeah,” said Kara.

 

She looked over Ryder one more time, this time assessing the damage to his body.

 

“How do you feel?” she asked. “You were slipping in and out back there.”

 

Ryder rolled his shoulders and closed his eyes for a moment. He was still aching like he’d been tossed down a flight of stairs, but he didn’t feel that same lightheadedness that he’d had before. He was already starting to get annoyed with Kara’s overly watchful eye, however.

 

“Better,” he said. “But quit with the mothering. I’ll be fine.”

 

Kara’s eyes widened a bit at that.

 

“Just want to make sure you don’t die, is all,” she said.

 

Ryder shook his head a bit.

 

Worse things than being cooped up in a cabin with a girl who looks like that, I suppose, he thought as he sipped his tea.