Page 31 of Ryder’s Storm

Again, Ryder punched him, and Derek yelped in pain, blood running from his nose now.

“Get the fuck out, before I have to call the coroner,” Ryder ground out between clenched teeth and catapulted him through the door into the hallway, where Derek landed hard on the wooden floor.

“You can’t throw me out. It’s not your house!” Derek yelled back.

Scarlet marched through the door. “No, he can’t.” She paused for effect. “But I can. Get out!”

Ryder stepped next to her, but remained silent. She appreciated him letting her have this moment, while she suppressed the urge to kick Derek while she had the chance. But she wouldn’t sink this low. He didn’t deserve it.

Derek scrambled to his feet. “This is not over. I’m Claudia’s guest. Wait until she hears about this.”

Was he trying to threaten her? “Wait until I tell my father.”

With a glare, Derek moved his gaze from her to Ryder. “I’ll get you for assault.”

“Yeah, not in this town, you won’t,” Ryder replied. “Or would you like me to have a chat with the Chief of Police and tell him that you were attempting to rape Scarlet?”

With a defiant lift of his chin, Derek spun around and left the house, slamming the door shut behind him.

Ryder walked to it and flipped the deadbolt shut, before turning back to Scarlet. “Does he have a house key?”

“I don’t know. It’s possible that Claudia gave him one.” Though she hoped not.

“And where is your stepmother? The whole reason for giving me the night off was because she was staying here.”

“She had to drive back to Palo Alto for some papers for Dad.”

“And leave you alone with a man you’ve only just met?” Ryder growled in displeasure.

Ryder was one to talk. He, too, was a man she’d only just met. But she decided not to point this out. Instead she said, “Do you think Derek will come back?”

“Jerks like him don’t learn from their mistakes.”

Scarlet nodded. “I’m assuming you’re staying overnight.”

“Yes.” Then he ran his eyes over her. “Did he hurt you?”

“No. He didn’t get a chance.” She’d been incredibly lucky. Her stupid idea of flirting with him to get back at Ryder had nearly backfired in a bad way. Scarlet took a breath. “How did you know to come back?”

Ryder hesitated, then gave her a regretful look. “I didn’t. I should have known he would try something like that, but the reason I came back had nothing to do with Derek. I wanted to speak to you about what happened last night. I wanted to explain why—”

“There’s nothing to explain.” She tried to keep all her emotions in check, but wasn’t sure she succeeded. “Thank you for helping me just now, but it doesn’t change what happened between you and me. I know why you rejected me last night.”

He looked at her, seemingly baffled. “What? How?”

“Oh please!” she huffed. “You have a girlfriend! By the sounds of it, last night you came straight from her bed to mine. Of course you couldn’t have sex with me. You were already… well, uh, depleted.”

“I don’t have a girlfriend!” Ryder protested. “And I certainly wasn’t depleted as you put it. I didn’t have sex with anybody last night.”

“Don’t deny it. You spoke to her this morning. Sweetheart, Nessie,” Scarlet said imitating his inflection.

“That wasn’t my girlfriend. Nessie is my sister.”

“And why would I believe you?”

Ryder pulled his cell phone from his pocket and selected a contact, then put the call on speaker and let it ring. He showed her the display so she could see that the contact’s name was indeed Nessie.

“Hey, what’s up?” a young woman answered.