Tate
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I’m not driving your truck.”
I pushed the keys into Hadley’s hand. “Yes, you are. You need to get to work, and I can stay with Ryker until you get home.”
Hadley shook her head and tossed the keys at me. They bounced off my chest and landed at my feet. “No way. I can’t drive your car. I’ll break it.”
I scoffed and shook my head. “It’s a Range Rover, Hadley. It’s meant to be taken off-road and roughed up. I think it can handle you driving back and forth from the club.”
She stomped her foot and crossed her arms over her chest. “I’ll call Vanessa to pick me up.”
“Hadley, you have to be to work in ten minutes. You know that Vanessa is already there.”
“Why are you doing this?” she hissed at me.
I glanced down the hallway to Ryker’s room and moved into Hadley’s space. “Because you need help, and you’re too damn stubborn to ask for it.”
“I don’t need help!”
I crossed my arms over my chest and stared down at her. “Yes, you do. I heard you telling Molly that you can’t afford to miss work, but you didn’t know what you were going to do about Ryker. That’s why I’m here.”
“That’s fine, but it doesn’t mean that I need to drive your truck which is more expensive than this house.”
“Now, that is an over exaggeration.” The Rover wasn’t cheap, but it damn sure didn’t cost more than her house. I picked the keys up from off of the floor and grabbed her hand. “It’s my truck, and I can do whatever I want with it. And I want you to drive it.”
“Why can’t you just agree with me one time?” she asked, exasperated.
“I do agree with you when you’re right, sweetheart. Right now just so happens to be one of those times that I don’t agree.”
She grabbed the keys out of my hand and stomped to the door. “I hope you have insurance,” she grumbled. She grabbed her purse and heels off the floor and glared at me over her shoulder.
“Full coverage, Hadley. Don’t worry about the truck. It’s just a truck.” I loved my Land Rover, but I wasn’t one of those guys who were so attached to their car that they didn’t let anyone else drive it. I grabbed her hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it. “Don’t worry about Ryker and me. I have everything under control.”
She sighed and tugged her hand away. “Not like you’re giving me much choice.”
I snagged her around the waist and pulled her flush against my chest. “Sometimes you just need to let people in and let them help you, Hadley.”
“And that someone is you and your friends?”
I brushed her hair back from her face and pressed a kissed to her lips. “They’re your friends too.”
She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “I don’t have time to argue about this. I’m taking your truck under protest and only because you aren’t giving me a choice.” She pulled out of my arms and stormed out the front door.
Well, that wasn’t exactly how I had planned on that going, but she at least took my truck and was only going to be a few minutes late to work.
Kellan and Roman were on the way over with pizza, and Dante was going to swing by when he was done doing whatever secretive something he had going on tonight.
Ryker had taken another pain pill when they got home and he was passed out in his bed. That had been over two hours ago, and all I had to do now was wait for him to wake up.
After Hadley had disappeared to the exam room with Ryker, I had to deal with Roman’s dumbass and explain to him why the hell he needed to keep his mouth shut. As much as I agreed with his argument that Ryker really wouldn’t care if I was dating Hadley, I told him he needed to shut the hell up, and that I would let him know when he could say something.
Kellan and Molly had come back to the waiting room with sub-par lunch from the hospital cafeteria, and we had hung out waiting for Ryker to get all wrapped up.
Molly had tried to talk Hadley into taking her car until she was able to get hers fixed, but Hadley had firmly declined and had insisted they were going to be fine without it. I didn’t know how she thought that, especially after she told us she was going to have to take Ryker to Rockton to get his full cast. Hadley needed help, and she was too stubborn to ask for it.
She had it in her head that she was going to be able to do everything on her own, when in reality, she didn’t need to. Not only did she have me to help, she also had my friends, who I knew would do anything for her.
“Did she finally agree to take your truck, or is she walking?” Ryker shuffled into the kitchen and opened the fridge.
“She took my truck.”
He nodded and pulled out a half-gallon of milk. “Good.”
I sat down at the table and paged through a karate supply magazine. “You need anything?”
He shook his head, then drank from the carton of milk. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and put it back in the fridge. “Just hungry.”
“Roman and Kellan are coming over with pizza and to hang out.”
He pulled out a chair next to me and gingerly sat down. “It’s crazy how just walking can jar your arm,” he mumbled.
“Yeah, you don’t appreciate having two arms until you don’t have one.”
Ryker leaned his head back and stared up at the ceiling. “Think I can get out of going to school?”
I chuckled and shook my head. “What, you got about a month left before summer break? I think you can manage to make it through.”
“Damn, it was worth a shot. Maybe I’ll tell Hadley I’m sore and need to take a couple days off.”
Damn if I wouldn’t have tried the same thing. “Never hurts to ask,” I agreed.
“You didn’t have to come over and babysit me. I’m always home alone while Hadley works.”
I shrugged and tossed the magazine on the table. “I don’t mind. I didn’t have any other plans tonight.”
Ryker scoffed. “Please. I’m sure you have better things to do than spending the night with my busted-up ass.”
The only plan I had was to watch Hadley work all night and sneak off with her during her breaks. Not that Ryker was going to know that. “You trying to get rid of me?”
Ryker laughed and shook his head. “Nah, I just don’t want you to be here if you don’t want to be.”
Hadley had told me the same thing when I had insisted on staying with Ryker. These two were one in the same. I stood up and grabbed a beer from the fridge. “Nobody makes me do anything I don’t want to, Ry. I’m here to help out your aunt.”
“Well, help is definitely what she needs.”
I cracked open my beer and wandered into the living room. “You wanna watch TV or something?”
“Open up, it’s the police!”
“You know if you say that every time you knock on someone's door, it’s not really a surprise, right?” I asked Roman who had his hand raised to pound on the door when I opened it.
He shrugged and stepped around me into the house. “Come on, you know it’s funny.”
Ryker managed to move from the kitchen to the living room and collapsed on the couch.
“Sup, man,” Kellan called. He had three boxes of pizza in his arms, and a case of soda and a case of beer under each arm. “How’s it going, stunt man?”
Ryker huffed and stretched his legs out on the coffee table. “Sore and feeling pretty stupid.”
Roman plopped down on the couch next to him and put his arm around Ryker’s shoulders. “You ever hear the story of Kellan and how he thought he could back flip off of Tate’s mom’s garage?”
“Oh, Jesus Christ! You really need to tell that story? I would have landed the damn thing if it hadn’t of been for Tate’s dog running right where I was supposed to land.”
I closed the door and snagged the remote off the coffee table. “Lame excuse, man.”
Kellan flipped me off, set the pizza on the coffee table, and pulled a chair from the kitchen into the living room. “I’d like to see you land a backflip on a dog.”
I flipped through the channels, looking for something to watch. I landed on some lame dating show and tossed the remote to Ryker. “You’re in charge of the TV, kid. I can’t find shit to watch.”
Kellan pointed at the kitchen chair and laughed. “Saved ya a chair, asshole.”
I shook my head and opened the three boxes of pizza. “Yeah, I’ll sit there until one of you fuckers gets up, then it’s game on.”
Kellan managed to sit on the edge of the recliner and stretch out enough to snag three pieces of pizza from the nearest box without leaving his chair, and Roman just had to reach his arm to get one “I think I’ll be good,” Roman mumbled around a mouthful.
I grabbed two pieces, balanced them in my hand, and sat down on the hard chair. I didn't mind sitting on a kitchen chair when I was in the damn kitchen, but not when I was trying to relax in the living room. “You gonna eat?” I asked Ryker.
He was sitting on the couch, stiff as a board, and his eyes were darting between Kellan, Roman, and me. “You guys are in my house eating pizza.”
Roman smirked and shoved the last of his slice into his mouth. “Roberm Fecking Yeee.”
Kellan rolled his eyes. “Did he just say Roman Fucking Yeck?”
“Do you guys know who you are?” Ryker asked.
“Yeah, I’m Tate, that’s asshole Kellan, and apparently, that’s Roman Fucking Yeck over there,” I laughed.
“Dude, you see us all the time at the studio. You suddenly now realized how amazing I am? Took ya long enough,” Roman chided. He shook his head and grabbed two more pieces of pizza.
“You’re such a dick,” Kellan mumbled.
Ryker smiled and leaned forward to grab a slice. “It’s just different. You guys are sitting on my couch, and it’s a bit surreal.”
“Well, find something to watch, and then you can continue drooling over us.” Roman nodded towards the TV and moved a pizza box over so he could put his foot up.
“I think you need to be knocked down a few pegs, Ro.” Kellan managed to stretch out again to grab another piece of pizza and smirked. “You’re not getting this chair, Tate.”
Roman laughed. “I’m good, bro.” He bent over, opened the case of beer, and tossed one to Kellan and me. “Sorry little dude, you get the root beer,” he mumbled, handing a soda to Ryker.
“Little dude?” I laughed. “He’s as tall as you are, fuckwad.”
“This is so cool,” Ryker mumbled. He popped open the top to his soda and took a sip. “Does this make us friends?”
Kellan and I busted out laughing, and even Roman’s cockiness slipped for a minute.
“Yeah, bro. We’re friends,” Kellan reassured him.
And Hadley was worried Ryker wouldn’t like having me and the guys in his life. Although, this was a bit different from him knowing I was nailing his aunt.
“So, what kind of job does your aunt have?” Dante asked Ryker. He walked in from the kitchen, and laid out on the floor in front of the TV.
Ryker looked at the TV. “She’s a waitress,” he mumbled.
“Where at?”
I wanted to tell Kellan to shut up, but as far as Ryker knew, I didn’t know anything about Hadley.
“Um, a club.” Obviously, Ryker didn’t want to tell us Hadley worked at a strip club, even though it wasn’t anything to be ashamed of.
“Which one? Molly has been bugging me to take her out to the strip club again, and I’m trying to talk her out of it. She got so drunk that she tried to talk me into getting a pole for the bedroom, and even now, she keeps bugging me. She sent me a screenshot of one on Amazon the other day.” Kellan shook his head and sighed.
Roman spat out his beer and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “You did not just fucking say that. Now I have visions of things I shouldn’t have visions of.”
Kellan pointed at him. “Stop it, right fucking now,” he growled.
Ryker laughed and reached for another slice. “That’s where Hadley works. I’m sure you saw her when you were there.”
“Sultry Knights?” Kellan asked, still glaring at Roman. “I don’t think we saw her when we were there. We had a redhead waiting on us.”
“Yeah, we totally didn’t see here, did we, Tate?” Roman asked me. Jesus Christ, the fucker sounded too damn guilty, like he was hiding something. If he fucked this up, I was going to kill him.
“Nah, man. You had your eye on the redhead, though,” I replied. I took a swig of my beer and tried to get the attention off Hadley.
“That’s Vanessa. She’s mine, she just doesn't know it yet.” Ryker smirked and nodded his head at Roman. “I’d back off if I were you.”
Roman laughed. “Yeah, her big ass boyfriend said the same damn thing, but all he had to do was look at me, and I got the message.”
I sat back in my chair, my stomach full of pizza, a full beer in my hand, and listened to Ryker trying to convince the guys that Vanessa was just waiting for him to turn eighteen.
The kid was going to fit in just fine with us.
**********