From Lies to Promises (12 page)

  “
Sure, you can start taking the dishes to the table. If you don’t mind.” I reply.

  “If I minded I wouldn’t asked if I could help.”

  With the table set and the food done, we sit down to enjoy our dinner. I look at the table and realize Ryder took the candle sticks off the book shelf and placed them in the center of the dining table. It’s romantic, in the old fashioned corny kind of way. Ryder moans as he takes his first bite of chicken and the heat in my belly from earlier has come back full force. Throughout dinner I am distracted by the noises he makes, which makes my hunger go wild. And we aren’t talking about hunger for food. Up until Ryder, I have never felt an attraction so intense, raw. It’s not just about the lust, it is so much more.

 
If this relationship holds strong I will eventually have to tell him more about me.
Will he be here after I tell him? Will he be as supportive as Lexi and Skeigh? Could he even look at me with that same fire in his eyes?
Finally, I give up on eating anymore and start taking the dishes into the kitchen. I start rinsing off the dishes when Ryder walks in.

  “You alright?” He places his beer and plate on the counter next to the sink. “You hardly ate a thing, and I have seen you eat.”

  “I’m fine. I guess I didn’t have much of an appetite tonight.” I pick up his plate to wash it off when he grabs my wrist.

  “You sure?”
I look up into his sweet, concerned eyes before replying.

  “Absolutely.” I plaster on a smile that feels fake even to me. He lets go of my wrist and I finish rinsing the dishes. “You want to watch a movie?”

  We end up watching re-runs of
The Big Bang Theory.
It’s perfect, a nerdy comedy that you can’t help but love. I sit in the corner of the couch and Ryder sits just inches away. I was hoping that watching something on TV would be a distraction, but with him this close it is a no go. Goosebumps line my arm and I let out a little shiver.

  “Are you cold?” Ryder ask.

  “Just a little.” I say. Knowing good and well the shiver wasn’t from the cold. Ryder reaches behind us on the couch and pulls the afghan that was draped there down. He unfolds it and spreads it over us both and scoots closer, his arm thrown over my shoulder pulls me into him.

  “Thank you. All better now.” I tell him with a smile.
A faint smile appears on his face as he looks down at me.

 
“That’s my goal, Kat. To always make you feel better.” His other hand snakes up to my chin and tilts my face to him. “In any way that I can.” Then his lips are on mine. Hard and sweet at the same time. It feels like he is letting me know that he can feel this just as much as I do, and I let him. I can’t get enough of his kisses, they are like a healing balm over my entire life. His tongue moves over mine with determination as his hand move from my chin, down the side of my breast where it stops and he pulls his mouth from mine.

  I whimper and go to pull his lips back to mine but he stops me and ask, “What is that?” as his fingers point to where I keep my knife.
Shit.

  “
Um, well, it’s a knife.” I say wondering what he is thinking. His travels under my shirt ever so slowly reaches my bra strap and pulls it out.

  “You keep a knife in your bra?” He flips it open looking at it curiously then closes it back and sets it on the table.

  “Yeah. A girl has to be prepared.” I laugh out awkwardly and shrug one shoulder.

  He turns back to me and next thing I know I am on
my back as he hovers over me, holding himself up on one elbow and his other hand on my hip. “That is hot as hell.” He punctuates each word with a swipe of his lips across mine before taking them fully. The hand that was on my hip is now below my knee bending it around his back. He slowly brings it down my thigh back to my hip. As he settles in between my legs, I feel his arousal against me. My hands are all over him. The muscles in his stomach jerk when my hands make their way there.

  Ryder grabs my wrist and pins them above my head. “I am going to risk sounding like a girl, but we need to slow down.”

  “What if I don’t want to?” I question and raise my eyebrow up at him.

  He lets out a small laugh, “God, darlin’ you are going to be the death of me.” He inhales shakily and sits up on the couch. “As bad as I would love to continue, I can’t. You deserve
special, and right here on your couch when your roommates can come home at any minute is
not
special.”

 
“Fine.” I follow suit and sit up, but tuck my feet under me. We knocked the cover off in the floor so I bend forward to pick it up.

  Ryder stops m
e by yanking at the blanket and laughing, “Are you pouting?”

  “Depends, will it work?” I say with a smile.

  “Pouting never gets you your way, Katrina.”

  “Oh, that coming from the guy who pouted to get me to go on a date with him.”
I accuse. “It sure worked for you.”

  “
It was life or death. Fine, I’ll grant you one pass…” I go to say something but he stops me and continues, “But it can’t be tonight.”
What the fuck.
Is he serious?

  “Isn’t there like this rule that says sex on the third date is ok?” I huff.

  “Maybe there is, maybe not. Either way it’s not relevant, because we are only on our second date.” Ryder holds firm.

  “Um, we went on three dates.” I confirm.

  He shakes his head and says, “I’m not counting our trip to Sir Goony’s. It was great, but like I told you before I prefer just you and me.”

  “Then our next date, our third date, better be very special.” I tell him.

  Ryder starts laughing and I laugh with him. He takes me in his arms and I lay my head on his shoulder and breath in that scent that is only Ryder. We decide to turn the TV off and play Rummy. We are halfway into the game (I am sure he is cheating), when the girls come home with company. They ended up at TJ’s and ran into the guys, minus Jake. Not that I am complaining.

 
“Oh, cards. Perfect I want to play.” Skeigh says as she heads to the kitchen, Dave right on her heals. Everyone else takes seats around the table. Skeigh comes back sitting a bottle of liquor on the table, then passes out shot glasses. She and Dave have to get the stools from the other side of the kitchen counter before they can take their seats.

  “Let’s play screw your neighbor.” Says Rhett from the other end of the table. I look over at Ryder sitting next to me and mouth
‘if only’.
He laughs and we go back to watching Rhett shuffling the cards. If you have never played screw your neighbor, then all you need to know is the name says it all. Every player gets one card. It starts with the first person dealt to, just like all cards games. If you have a low card then you want to pass is on to your left, but you have to wait for the person to your right to decide if they want to trade with you first. If they do you have to, unless you have a King which in that case you would turn it over as soon as you realize it. The dealer can trade with the deck. King is your high card, Ace your low card. At the end of the round the person with the lowest card, drinks.

  I have a ten. I’m really happy with that, until Cole decides he wants it. When I look at my new card it’s a damn two. So, I immediately go to trade with Ryder
and he has a freaking king flipped up on the table looking at me with those freaky little eyes. We wait for the round to finish and flip up our cards.

  “Great, you and Cole both screwed me.” I shout as I take the shot Lexi poured for me. When I am done and place it back on the table everyone looks like they are about to bust.

  “What?” I ask.

  A small snicker makes it paste Lexi’s throat and they all lose it. “Oh, wow. Kat, you really need to think about what you say, before it just comes out.” Lexi tries to get herself under control before going on. “Never mind, that would take the fun out of it.”

  I know I have broken out into a blush, but I stay quiet. We keep playing for what seems like hours. Other than Lexi and Skeigh, I really haven’t been able to be this comfortable around anyone else. Especially not of the man variety. The ones in this room are the exception, I may not know why but I’m going to go with it.

  “Well ladies, I do believe we are going to call it a night.” Cole says.
It is the most he has said all night, but he doesn’t seem to be in a bad mood. Just tired.

  Ryder tells me not to make plans for tomorrow night and gives me a soft kiss on the lips. After they leave me and
the girls pick up the mess, and take a seat on the couch. I may be tipsy, but as I sit here I begin thinking about Ms. Bran. The thought really hasn’t been that far away.

  “I think I
am going to call Victoria in the morning and have her meet me for lunch somewhere so we can talk about this in length.” I think out loud to the girls.

  “Who is Victoria?”
Lexi asks.

  “That’s M
s. Bran’s first name isn’t it.” I nod to Skeigh, “I thought I heard her right when I first met her. Why are you calling her by her first name now?”

  “She said me calling her Ms.
Bran all the time made our interaction impersonal. I agree with her, surprisingly.” I tell them.

 
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Lexi asks.

  “I am going to talk to her. Never said I was going to actually tell her anything.” I say.

              The next morning I dig out the folder and find Victoria’s card. She was more than willing to drop her lunch plans and meet me. I have a few hours until I have to leave and I realize that I haven’t even read anything in the folder that I hold in my hand. As I read the memories come back to life. The first statement she has is from a girl I went to school with. She was nice, but never talked to me. I read through each of them, none of them are from people that were close to me or my family. Not a one of them knew everything. When I reach the last page I am plagued with more questions for Victoria. It’s dated three months ago with my mother’s name at the top.

  All that is on it is what Victoria wrote down. When she met with her, and that she thought my mother was being eaten alive with guilt. N
ot one word that my mother had given her, and it makes me wonder if she even got anything from her. Again, questions just kept piling up in my head.

  I’m late leaving the house. It took a lot longer to read through the statements than I thought. When I finally arriv
e at the little café Victoria is already seated and sipping on a latte. She has chosen a table at the back, and I am happy to notice that the place is pretty much empty. I take a seat across from her and place my bag next to the table.

  “You came.” Victoria says surprisingly.

  “I called you to meet, of course I was coming. I was looking over the stuff in the folder you handed me.” I tell her. “I figured it would help me understand what you know.”

  “Ah, I see.” She sits her cup down and we order before another word is said.

  I take the folder out and place it on the table. “There is a paper in here about your meeting with my mother, but there isn’t anything she said on it.”

  “You want to know
if
she said anything.” She says more like a question. “Darla did talk. I got a good bit out of her.” Victoria reaches for her purse and pulls out a piece of paper. “This is what she gave me. When we finish here, I will let you have it.”

  “Look, I’m not even sure I want to hear what she told you. I’ve probably heard it all before.” I say.

  “I very seriously doubt you have. You need to be willing to let your past go, before you are ready to read this though.” She places it back into her purse when the food arrives.

  I take a bite out of my penne while I contempl
ate what she could have told Victoria that she hasn’t already said to me. “From what I did get from the folder, you are missing most of it. All the people, besides my mother that you got to talk to you, well they were nothing but acquaintances.”

  “I figured as much. That is where you come in. I need you to tell me what really happened. When people read this I want them to feel your pain. I want them having tears running down their face.” Victoria says in one breath.

  We finish up our lunch and she answers my questions about how much she wants from me and where I need to start at. Victoria, doesn’t want me to hold back on anything. She wants everything from me. Everything.

  “Look, I am going to try to do this. Not for you or anyone else, but for me and only me. I think I need to get this off of my chest to move on completely.” I take a huge breath before I continue, “But I seriously think it’s going to take some time to get it all out.”

  She sits back in her chair and replies, “That’s fine. I am here no matter how long it takes. As long as I can show I am making progress with my editor.”

  I
tell Victoria my schedule and she takes it all down and lets me know she will be in touch for our first session. When we say our farewells she hands me the piece of paper from her and my moms’ session. I look at it apprehensively, and when I look back up she is already walking down the street. I head back to the house to tell the girls everything that I learned and that I actually agreed to tell her my story.