Secrets Behind Those Eyes Read online

  “You are getting on that mechanical bull tonight, Scarlet,” she says.

  “Hell, no, I’m not.”

  She giggles. “We’ll see.”

  Chapter 2

  Ryder

  Just when I thought I was going to be having a boring Friday night…

  I figured I’d be sitting at home or hitting up some local bar, but my buddy Judd just got stationed down at Ft. Stewart and he got a pass for the night. We’re going to hit up some little bars down in Richmond Hill. It’ll be good to have a few beers with him. I think he’s going to be deployed soon and he’s like a brother to me. Good thing we both had some great fake IDs made two years ago.

  When we pull my Jeep Wrangler into the parking lot of the Swampy Tonk, I can tell tonight is going is going to be interesting. I look two spots over and see the bright red Camaro that picked up Scarlet today. Hmm, so this is where they started their night off.

  We walk into to the bar and I see her across the room, dancing with her friend. “Judd, I may need you to keep that little raven haired beauty on the dance floor busy tonight.”

  “Damn, bro, I don’t think that’ll be a problem for me.”

  A nice slow song pipes up just in time for Judd to make his way over to Scarlet’s friend and ask her to dance. Scarlet make her way to the bar and so do I.

  “Can I buy you a drink?”

  While turning her head, she smiles. “Sure.” Until she sees that it’s me offering. “Ugh, damn, just my luck. No, I’ll get my own drink, thanks.”

  “I just want to buy you a drink to say sorry.”

  “Fine.”

  I motion for the bartender to give her another and I get a beer for myself. “Didn’t think I would run into anyone I knew down here.”

  “We came here to get away from the locals and celebrate my birthday.” She has a cute little slur going on.

  “So it’s your birthday?” I ask.

  “No, it was a few weeks ago, but I’ve been kinda busy.”

  “Wow, well, I’ll buy you another drink for your birthday then.”

  “No thanks. We also came down here for the cute military guys. See? My friend’s already found one.”

  I laugh. “That’s my best friend, Judd. He’s who I came here with tonight.”

  “Great,” she says.

  “Just be careful who gets you drinks, okay? You can’t be too safe these days.”

  She throws her hand over her shoulder as she walks off. Damn, her ass is hot as fuck in those jeans. I sit at the bar for a little while and watch her get hit on by every guy in the place except for Judd; he’s so wrapped up with her friend. Shit, I may be sleeping in the car tonight. Hell, I get him to help me and he’s the one who’s probably going to get laid. A little while later, I notice that Scarlet is well on her way to being drunk. That’s when she climbs on the bull. Fuck that is a girl tell-all. If you’re drunk enough to want to make an ass out of yourself on a mechanical bull, it’s time for you to go home.

  My phone vibrates. It’s a text from Judd.

  Hey, man, I’m leaving with Annabelle for a little bit. Thanks for the hookup BTW.

  Fuck you, man. Did you play the whole “I’m being deployed and I may never see you again card?”

  Nope, she just thinks I’m sexy. Good luck yourself. Meet you back at the hotel; they are staying at the same place. So if you’ll just alert me when you’re on your way back, that would be great. Oh and Annabelle said can you make sure Scarlet makes it back. I told her I didn’t think you’d have a problem. But she did say if you put your hands on her or let anything happen to her, she’ll cut off your balls.

  Great. I now get to go convince a drunk girl that possibly hates me that I’m her ride back to the hotel and Oh yeah we need to hang out for a little while because our friends are hooking up.

  I watch her fall on the air mat under the bull. Now is a good a time as any. I walk over.

  “Hey Scarlet let me help you up and get you back to your room.”

  She shoves me. “No. I don’t like you.”

  “Too bad, I’m your ride since our friends ran out of here to go hook up.”

  “Shit, I told that bitch I’d have to be the DD.”

  “No, I’m the DD; she wanted me to make sure that you made it back. Judd and I are staying at the same place so it works.”

  “Okay, I guess.” She slumps her shoulders.

  We start making our way through the now thick cloud of people. As we get to the door, she tenses up. Then she shakes her head. “As if tonight couldn’t get more fucked up.”

  I look at her, confused. “What?”

  “My ex and his best friend.”

  I recognize these two assholes. I went to school with them. Maybe she had the right to fuck up either one of their cars.

  Dustin stops looking me up and down. Then he looks over to Scarlet. “Scar, baby, what are you doing here with him?”

  “I’m not here with him; he’s giving me a ride. Plus who I’m here with is just as much none of your fucking business as it is mine that you are with him.” She says, pointing to Brandon.

  Dustin touches her arm. “Come on, let’s go outside and talk.”

  “Hey, you need to take your hand off her,” I say.

  “Yes, take your hand off of me.”

  Brandon reaches for Dustin. “Man, don’t waste your damn time with her; she always was trash. We just know it for sure now.”

  That’s when the punch happened. Brandon stumbles, holding his jaw. “Scarlet, you are one fucking crazy bitch. You know, maybe I should talk to the judge about your obvious anger issues. With your probation I’m sure he’d like to get you some help.”

  I’m about to knock him on his ass when she steps up, jutting her perfect chest forward. “Yeah and maybe I should talk to everyone I know about your issues. Wonder how Mommy and Daddy would feel about that? Don’t fucking push me, Brandon. I’ll ruin you.”

  He grabs her arm. I step toward him. “Take your fucking hand off of her or I’ll break it.”

  “Come on, Brandon; let’s just go grab a drink. They were leaving anyway. I guess those two years of no sex with her is paying off for Mr. Cotton over here.”

  Scarlet steps at Dustin. “For your information, I never wanted to have sex with you; it didn’t feel right. I guess I know why now. As for Ryder and I... Not that it’s any of your business, but that’s not going to happen. You kinda turned me off guys for a while. Maybe you guys can help me out with those issues, huh?”

  Dustin spins around and grabs Brandon’s arm. “Come on.”

  I look down at Scarlet. “You ready to go now, Rocky?”

  “Yeah.”

  As we walk out of the bar, I look over at her. “Okay, so I won’t ever give you shit about bashing his car again. He’s always been a dick.”

  “I don’t know; he was always nice to me. Brandon always seemed off, like he hated me from afar but I don’t know why.”

  “Um, because he’s always been in love with Dustin.”

  She stops, almost making me slam into her. “Why do you say that?”

  “Well, let’s just say I’m not totally dense to the conversation you just had and I had my own suspicions when we were in school. Brandon was always possessive over Dustin like a jealous boyfriend.”

  She shakes her head. “How did I miss it?”

  She stumbles and I catch her waist. “Let’s get you to my jeep. I think those shots are finally catching up with you.”

  I have to help her up in the jeep and I get to touch her ass. My dick starts to stiffen and I have to shake it off. Once I’m in the jeep, she reaches over, rubbing the stubble on my face, and giggles. “You know, Ryder, if you weren’t such an asshat, I’d think you were cute.”

  “Well, thanks, Blondie.”

  She passes out on the way to the hotel and I have to carry her in. I go to the room number that Judd text me, but there’s no answer. I beat on the door again with a passed out Scarlet draped over my shoulder. Finally
, my phone chimes. It’s another text from Judd.

  Just give me another hour, man. Please, I’ll owe you.

  Look, just crash there. Scarlet is passed out anyway she can stay with me.

  Awesome.

  I make my way to my room down the hall and put her on the other bed. I pull off her boots and place her under the covers. The next thing I know, her pink top is flying off, revealing her amazing tits and she shimmies her jeans off under the blanket. She pulls the blanket up on her and passes back out. Fuck, this is going to be fun to explain in the morning.

  Chapter 3

  Scarlet

  Oh, damn, my head hurts. I think something died in my mouth. I roll over to see a male figure covered up in the other bed; he has his back to me. Looking down, I realize I that I’m in nothing but my lacy panties. I can feel the heat creeping up my face. All of a sudden, there is a grunt from the other bed.

  “Hey.”

  I look back over to find Ryder staring at me. Well, to be honest, at my boobs, which I just noticed aren’t covered. I pull the blanket up, covering myself. How did I get out of my clothes? That son of a bitch. I pick up my boot off the floor and throw it at him.

  “You asshole. How could you?”

  He puts his hands up in defense. “What?”

  “You stripped me practically naked. What the hell am I doing in the room with you anyway? When we left the bar, you were giving me a ride to my room.”

  As I’m picking up something else to throw, he put his hands up again. “Whoa. That was the plan. You passed out after we left the bar. Then Judd and Annabelle were still busy when we got here. So I brought you here, put you on that bed, and took off just your boots. You did the rest there, sweetheart.” He motions up and down my body.

  I put my head in my hands. “I’m going to kill Annabelle.”

  He stands up, walking to the bathroom in a pair of boxers. Grabbing a cup of water, he returns and hands it to me with some aspirin . “Here, take these. We’ll go grab some breakfast and see if our friends can tear themselves apart from each other.”

  “Did Judd go to school with you and Annabelle?”

  “No. Judd’s daddy worked for my dad. His dad runs a couple of our farms. So Judd and I grew up together. He tries to keep me straight and out of jail.”

  I try to relax. He’s trying to be nice. This has obviously been a weird twenty-four hours. So I try to make conversation. “He seems nice. Well, the five seconds I got to talk to him before he and my best friend started sucking face. Will you hand me my top and my jeans? I gotta walk down to my room and grab my bag.”

  Handing me my clothes, he goes back to the bathroom. “He’s a great guy,” he says through the bathroom door. “I’d trust him with my life. He likes me for who I am, not how much money my family has.”

  “You know, if you hadn’t come on to me like some kind of sleaze ball, I might have liked you for who you are, too.”

  He steps back out into the room. “Hey, I just feel that it’s important to be upfront. You’re the one who was telling me how cute I was last night when you were drunk.”

  “I did not,” I argue.

  “Yes, you did. Well, in your defense, we’d just ran into the two douche nozzles. So I think, looking at me, you just said what felt natural.”

  I stand up after pulling on my boots. “Whatever. But I do appreciate you giving me a ride and not leaving me with those two. I vaguely remember seeing them anyway.”

  “Like I said, I go way back with those two and I can’t stand them.”

  I touch his arm as I grab the door. “Well, thanks anyway. I’m going to grab my bag.”

  I walk down the hall to my room and bang on the door. Annabelle answers with a towel wrapped around her. She has “I just got fucked all night long” hair. “Hey,” she says.

  “I need my bag. If you can pull yourself away from GI Joe long enough to hand it to me.”

  “Yeah, sorry about last night, but that was just too good to pass on, trust me. Here’s your bag. We were thinking about going next door to that Waffle House to grab some food. What about you and Ryder?”

  “We were talking about some food. I’m going to take a shower and we’ll meet you over there in, say, forty-five minutes?”

  “Sure.”

  I walk back down to Ryder’s room and knock on the door. He answers in a towel. Damn, he’s got some killer abs. He motions for me to come in. “Do you mind if I use your shower?” I ask. “Annabelle said that they’ll meet us next door in forty-five minutes for some breakfast.”

  “Sounds good; I’m starving.”

  I walk into the bathroom and shut the door, leaning back against it. Reaching over and turn on the shower, letting the steam fill the room. I slip back out of my clothes and step under the hot spray. I scrub last night’s make-up off and then get to work on the mess I call hair. I hear the door open. I know he didn’t just come in here. “Um, hello. Still in the shower here.”

  “I’m going. I forgot to brush my teeth. Shit, it isn’t as if you didn’t show me plenty last night.”

  “You’re an asshole. Do you know that?”

  “Yes, I know I’m an asshole. Don’t be so defensive. I don’t want to sleep with you. So can’t we just be civil to one another?”

  That asshole! “What do you mean you don’t want to sleep with me? You’d be lucky to get to sleep with me. I don’t want to sleep with you, either, so get the fuck out of the bathroom.”

  “What the hell? One minute I’m an asshole because you think I want to sleep with you and now I’m an asshole because I said I don’t want to sleep with you?”

  I find myself standing with my hands on my hips like I’m arguing face to face with him. I shake my head. “Just get the fuck out.”

  He slams the door, walking out mumbling something.

  Ten minutes later, I’m out of the shower and dressed. I finish drying my hair and walk out into the room, where Ryder is propped against the headboard of one of the beds watching TV. Why does he have to be so fucking sexy? He’s left his shirt unbuttoned and I can see the top of his boxers poking just out of the waistband of his jeans. Pull it together, Scarlet; he’s a rich boy with entitlement issues.

  “You ready to get some food?” I ask.

  He turns the TV off and sets the remote down. “Yeah.” He reaches down by the bed and pulls on his boots. “Let’s go.”

  “Do you need to check out or anything?”

  “Nah, I’m staying another day to spend some time with Judd,” he says, buttoning his shirt.

  I shrug and we head out the door. I text Annabelle to let her know that we’re walking over to the Waffle House. She texts that they’ll be over in just a few minutes.

  “Annabelle says they’re on their way and for us to grab a table.”

  We walk in to the typical “Welcome to Waffle House” chorus among the waitresses and cooks. I slide into the booth and Ryder slides in next to me. I look at him, about to argue, when Annabelle and Judd walk in and slide into the other side.

  An older lady walks up to wait on us. “How’re y’all doing this morning?” We all nod and mumble fine. She chuckles. “Sounds like y’all laid out with the dry cows last night.”

  Ryder laughs. “That sounds like something my nana would say. Yes, we did, and it was fun.”

  She smiles and laughs. “Well at least you’re honest. Now what can I get y’all?”

  Judd looks up. “I’ll have coffee and the All American Breakfast. Eggs over medium, with grits, bacon, and a pecan waffle.”

  Ryder looks up. “I’ll have the same.”

  Annabelle laughs. “Well, make that three except give me a Coke instead of coffee.” She looks over at a shocked Judd. “Hey, I burnt off a lot of calories last night. I’m starving.”

  We all chuckle. I look up. “I’ll have a Coke, two eggs scrambled, hash browns, covered and chunked. Bacon and toast.”

  Ryder grins. “Nothing like some good ole’ Waffle House grease in your belly to mak
e you feel better after getting trashed huh?”

  Judd shakes his head. “Yep it’s one of the things I’m going to miss about home that’s for sure.”

  We spend the next forty-five minutes make general conversation with Ryder and me being total smart asses to each other.

  We finish our food and walk out . Annabelle and Judd exchange goodbyes. I look over at Ryder. “Thanks again for the ride last night and not leaving me.”

  He pulls his shades down. “No problem. So you’re finished with your hours now?”

  “No, I’ve got a couple of days this week and I’ll be done. What about you?”

  “I’ve got another week.” We both look over at our friends sucking face. “Damn, is he gonna let her come up for air?” he asks.

  I shake my head and chuckle. “I’m beginning to wonder about that myself.”

  They finally break apart and Annabelle grabs her keys. I pull my shades down over my eyes and climb in her car. She smiles at me. “Ready?”

  “Yeah, I wasn’t the one sucking face.”

  “You so could’ve been.”

  I look at her like she’s lost her mind. “You’re crazy.”

  “Come on, I wasn’t even around you and Ryder that much but you guys have some serious sparks going on.”

  Trying to play off how nice he actually was to me. “Um, yeah, sparks of anger, hate, loathing each other. We’ve just moved past the urge to kill each other.”

  She laughs as we get on I95. “Whatever.”

  Chapter 4

  Ryder

  Watching the girls leave, I just shake my head. “So, lover boy, do you think you’ll spend a day with me now?”

  “Hey, you asked me to keep Annabelle busy and I damn sure did,” he says with a cocky grin.