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“Fuck the guests,” he muttered, but followed Gunner. “Shouldn’t you be upstairs monitoring?”
Gunner pointed toward a hall ahead and, hopefully, another exit to the front. Ryder’s brain had ceased to operate, apparently.
“Kit has taken over for a few minutes during the break before dinner service,” Gunner answered, then sprinted ahead into the hall. He pointed to the green exit sign midway down. “Areyouokay, though? I don’t know if you’re in the right frame of mind to handle whatever this is.”
He knew what Gunner was saying, and if their roles had been reversed, he, too, would question Gunner’s state of mind.
Ryder came to a halt under the exit sign, trying to find his old determination. He looked at Gunner and all his calm dissolved into a trembling urgency. “Something’s happened to Nita. I heard her scream on the phone. I have to get to her.”
Gunner’s eyebrows shot up in surprise at the words. “Whoa, okay. Take a breath. I know it’s urgent, but… Christ, man. I’ve never seen you like this and it’s freaking me out.”
Ryder’s chest heaved as he fought to control his racing thoughts. “I know. I-I can’t explain it, Gunner. It’s like...like I can’t bear the thought of something happening to her. I barely know her, but I can’t… I feel like I’m having a fucking heart attack.”
He was having some kind of attack if he was pouring his heart out to an employee.
Gunner’s gaze softened, understanding dawning in his eyes. “Okay. I get it. You’re in deep, man. Love can hit you like that.”
Ryder shook his head, his mind a whirlwind of conflicting emotions. Gunner was talking out of his ass, but it was difficult to organize a comeback insult amidst the chaos.
“I’ve got to go,” he repeated, but Gunner grabbed his arm when he tried to leave.
“Are you okay to drive? The guest cars are right outside, but I can get one of the guys—”
“I’m good. You need to get back to your post,” he said, and shoved him away.
“Okay. Listen. She’s going to be okay,” Gunner said, staring into his eyes. The man’s firm voice helped settle his nerves.
He pushed through the door into the pouring rain, looking for the row of black cars.
Moving robotically and not even acknowledging the man who gave him the keys, Ryder realized the truth in Gunner’s words. He couldn’t let his emotions override his duty. With a deep breath, he regained some semblance of composure. It didn’t mean his hands didn’t shake as he fumbled the key into the lock.
Climbing in, his mind reeling, he revved the engine to life and squealed the car away from the curb.
Rain lashed against the windshield as he followed the driveway out to the main road. Thoughts of Luke rose. Could he have found out where Nita worked and come back to take some kind of revenge out on her?
Or had the mysterious saboteur returned? The thought chilled his skin and he accelerated past the English Manor toward the turnoff for the compound.
Each passing moment heightened his sense of urgency, the weight of responsibility heavy on his shoulders. He had to find Nita. Had to get her to safety.
Or get her to a hospital, came an insidious whisper.
As he fishtailed onto the road to the compound, his emotions churned within him. A tempest of fear, resolve, and something deeper. Something he didn’t want to name but somehow knew would be impossible to deny once he saw her.
I won’t let this happen again,he told himself, pressing down on the accelerator.
The car sped up an incline, seeming to burst out of the trees into a small gathering of low buildings. He saw the golf cart immediately and hopped the BMW over the curb to screech to a stop behind it.
Jamming the car into park, he didn’t even turn it off. He just clawed the door open jumped out. He hadn’t gone three steps when he saw a hulking figure round the corner of the condo. The figure carried a lumpy bundle, and everything in Ryder’s vision turned red.
His legs pumped, the storm of wind and rain raged into his face as his hands reached out. One grabbed Nita from the man’s arms, the other connected with the man’s face. A crunch vibrated up Ryder’s arm as he clutched Nita against his side and spun out of the way, ready for the man to retaliate.
He didn’t.
His large body crumpled to one knee as he lifted a hand to his face.
“Verdammt!” he yelled, the deep voice nasally but accented. “Goddammit, I think you broke my nose.”
As he cradled Nita’s shivering body against his, the crisp enunciation of the words shook a memory loose.
