Ryder grunted again, and I ignored him, keeping my attention on Ezra.
“I’m going to have to file the report, which means your brother is likely to find out.” Ezra cringed on my behalf.
I let go of a small laugh. “That’s fine. I just wanted some actual information on the situation before the gossip started. You know how he is.”
“That I do. And I already sent someone over to get your door reinforced.”
“I appreciate that.”
“Of course. That’s what I’m here for.” He glanced between me and Ryder. “I’m going to head back to the station. Let me know if you see or hear anything.”
“I will.” Ryder and I followed him to the door.
“Thank you, Ezra.” I gave him a quick hug.
“I’m always here.”
He tipped his head at Ryder. “See you later, brother.”
“Yeah,” was all that Ryder said, and Ezra snapped the door as he left.
Tension suddenly barreled into me from behind.
Tacky and tight.
The air thinned.
The only sound the quiet volume of Kayden’s show from across the room and the thud of my heart that pounded in my ears.
I felt like I could hardly move as I slowly shifted around. Ryder stood five feet away, all menacing glowers and huffing like a bull.
“I don’t like it, Dakota.”
“I don’t like it, either. Some people suck, but there’s not a whole lot we can do about that other than let Ezra do his job.”
Ryder stepped forward. “There is plenty I could do about it.”
Barely contained fury slipped from his tongue.
I shook my head. “Don’t be an idiot, Ryder. Ezra has this handled, and the last thing I need is you getting involved in something that doesn’t even concern you.”
He slowly approached, closing the distance until there was no space left between us. “Doesn’t concern me? Believe me, Cookie…” His words scraped, low and gruff. Edged with a razor. “It absolutely concerns me.”
Rigidness clenched his jaw, and he seemed to war with what to say, the words he released cut with a severity so sharp I felt them raking across my skin.
“I don’t want you going back to your place until this asshole has been caught.”
I struggled to get my bearings. “And I’m not going to live my life scared over some jerk who’s going around stealing stuff. I’ve lived by myself for a long time, Ryder, and if Ezra doesn’t have an issue with me going back to my house, then I don’t, either.”
“Yeah? Well, I have an issue.”
Air puffed from my nose. I swore, he was worse than my brother sometimes.
“I’m a big girl, and I get to make that choice.”
He had me backed to the wall so fast I couldn’t comprehend how I’d gotten there.
Pinned.
Gunmetal eyes flamed in a way I didn’t think I’d ever seen them do before. But his voice was pained. “I can’t take that risk with you, Dakota, and not with Kayden, either. Please. Stay with me.”
“We each have our own lives, Ryder.” I forced it out around the tumult.
His teeth ground. “You are my life, Dakota.”
Chaos whipped.
A muddled confusion.
My brow drew tight, tugged together by the string of uncertainty and old wounds that yanked at the middle of my heart. It was on my tongue to ask him exactly what that meant when he suddenly swore and tore himself away, fumbling back two steps as he dropped his attention to the ground.
Scrubbing a palm over his face, he stared at the grains of wood like they might hold every answer he was looking for.
Then he seemed to gather himself enough to look back at me. A plea was driven into every line on his expression. “Just stay, Dakota. Please.”
THIRTEEN
RYDER
“Is this really necessary?”
Dakota grumbled the whole way up the stairs even though she wasn’t the one who was carrying the boxes. Not that I minded. I only minded that she thought it was a waste of my time or putting me out. For thinking for one second that she was a burden.
I glanced back at her when I made it to the top-floor landing, ignoring the ripping at my chest with how fucking pretty she was, those full lips in a constant pout as she followed me up, carrying a couple bags that I’d also insisted on buying.
“Yes, Dakota, it is necessary. You think I’m not going to have a comfortable place for Kayden to sleep while he’s here?”
A comfortable place for her?
Too fucking bad it wasn’t in my bed.
But I couldn’t let my mind go traipsing into thoughts like that, so I shifted the massive box and sent her a grin. “Besides, I’ve been wanting to put a kids’ room together for all my nieces and nephews, and you know with the way Caleb and Paisley have been going at it, we’re bound to have a little Caleb or Paisley running around here soon.”
Okay, they had no plans for that, but I needed the excuse.
That throaty laugh rolled through the air.
I had to suppress a groan.
How much my dick loved the sound of it.
“We would be in so much trouble then. I’m not sure Time River could handle the likes of that.”
I chuckled. “Kid would be so full of sass we wouldn’t know what to do.”
“So cute, though, right?”
“Oh yeah.” I shifted the box so I could maneuver it down the hall and through the door. Kayden was already in the room where we’d left him in his playpen so he’d be safe while we brought everything in. Holding onto the sides, he started jumping when he saw us enter. “Rye-Rye! Mommy! I see you!”
Dakota laughed that tender laugh. The one reserved for her son. “I see you, too,” she sang, angling around so she could actually see him from behind the box.
“I get new bed?”
“That’s right, K-Bear, you’re getting a new bed so you always have a place to sleep when you come to my house.”
“My house.” Kayden smacked his little chest, and a rough chuckle got free, affection so fierce it was almost painful.
But love was like that a whole lot of the time, wasn’t it?
Painful.
Unfulfilled.
Unrequited.
That or you were terrified you were going to lose it once you had it.
I leaned the box on the wall then moved to run my hand through his hair. “You like it here, huh, buddy?”
“I wike it wots,” he agreed, chubby cheeks denting with those dimples, his little nose scrunched.
A throaty sound came from behind as Dakota leaned down to set the bags on the floor. “Don’t get too comfortable, sweet boy. We’re going to have to go back to our house soon.”
My insides clutched at the thought of it. Couldn’t stand the idea of her there alone. Fucking hated that someone had been lurking around her place. Thoughts plaguing me. Wondering what might have happened if I hadn’t been there. If I’d been too late.
Had I scared the fucker away? Or had he been long gone once he realized it was actually a house, the way Ezra suspected?
But I couldn’t take that fucking chance, and I was angling in Dakota’s direction. “You don’t have to go back to your house soon, Dakota. My place is yours for as long as you want it.”
Forever if need be.
Hell, I’d be a lucky bastard if I could have that. But I wasn’t lucky, was I?
Redness rushed her high, full cheeks, and she fought with rolling her eyes like she thought I was messing with her the way I used to when we were kids.
But I’d stopped looking at her like a little girl a long time ago. The day she’d come back from Boulder where she’d gone to college to study business. It was like every fucking thing I’d known had been demolished that day. Every moment of our pasts coming together to add up to that very second.
Every minute we’d ever spent together had gone through my mind in both a blur and in vivid color. Every time I’d taken care of her, and every time she’d taken care of me. The way we’d just…find each other when the other was in need.
Every interaction purposed. Every moment a building block.
In that one second, the instant I saw her after she returned, every single one of those things had come rushing back at me, and my soul had known.
But I’d been a fool. Made a deal with the devil, thinking I wouldn’t get played.