Knight in Shining Suit (51 page)

“
Ryder?” a voice suddenly
said behind me that caused my heart to jump and my breathing to
stop.

That voice… for a moment,
I thought I remembered something. So familiar, it almost felt like…
home.

I turned around and found
Astrid staring at me. She looked over at Alizia who seemed to have
frozen in her seat.

I stood up and faced her.
Her eyes were looking at me with wild curiosity, as if she was
asking for an explanation for something. Oh right! I made excuses
about not feeling well enough to see her. And here I am… on a date
with another woman.

“
What?”

For a few seconds, she
looked away, trying to compose herself. And then she took a deep
breath.

God, she is so
beautiful.
Now, I do get why I would fall
for her charms. Just looking at her makes me want to do things to
her… make her scream, forget everything else, except for my
name.

“
I went to your house.
You… weren’t… ready to see me,” she said in a broken
voice.

I sighed. I wanted her to
give up. I don’t enjoy hurting her over and over again. I was
raised to be a gentleman. I was taught not to hurt a woman,
physically or emotionally. And making the beautiful Astrid Jacobson
cry is the last thing I wanted to do. I wanted to make her scream
my name in bed, yes, but I don’t enjoy seeing her eating her pride
away for me every single day.

And I know better than
take advantage of her, too. In fact, I know that if I haul her into
my bedroom and make love to her, she will never even protest. She
would welcome it. After all, she claimed herself to be my
girlfriend.

But I don’t want to give
her false hope either. I don’t know her. I don’t trust her. And I
don’t want anything to do with her until I figure out what she did
to make me do all the crazy things I did for the past year, knowing
that I was too cautious, too guarded, and too careful. How did she
pierce through my shield?

I took a deep breath. She
has to face the truth. Even if I put it a little more bluntly for
her. “Miss Jacobson, when will you get it?” I asked her. “I will
never be ready to see you.”

I saw anger flare in her
eyes. And damn! I don’t think I have seen anything sexier. This
woman is as fiery as she is fragile. I can tell she has many
levels, which makes her even more exciting… desirable. I wonder
what it would be like to uncover all her layers.

Then her eyes brimmed with
tears. “You know, this may not wake you up at all, but it’s worth
the shot!” She said angrily, and without warning, I felt her power
slap on my face.

I froze for a while. I
wasn’t expecting the slap. Well, maybe a little. But what I wasn’t
expecting is that electricity that shot from her skin to mine. The
touch of her skin burned me. And for a while, I thought I would not
recover from it. A flicker of light went in my head. Like a window,
slightly opening. My nerves seemed to jump back to life, just with
the mere touch of her skin.

I stared back at her.
Tears were streaming down her cheeks. Somehow, something inside me
felt heavy. Very heavy. Seeing Astrid sad, I suddenly felt the urge
to pull her into my arms and comfort her, protect her. I cannot
bear to look at her beautiful face filled with sorrow. I don’t know
why.
I don’t even know her!

She stared at Alizia, who
stood up from her seat. Then she gave me one last hard look and she
turned away, tears still rolling down her cheeks.

The sight of her leaving
made me want to run after her. To crush her into my arms and tell
her that… I don’t know what I will tell her. I don’t know her. But
my heart felt like it’s been stabbed. Like it’s breaking as much as
hers. I’ve never felt like this before. And it is confusing the
shit out of me. I have always been in control of my life, but
Astrid… she’s throwing me off-guard, off-balance.

I turned back to Alizia
who was looking at the door where Astrid went through.

“
Biatch. I never did like
her! I don’t know what you ever saw in her!” she murmured. “She’s
poor. She’s so ordinary. So cheap!”

Hearing Alizia bitch about
Astrid like that made me want to strangle her. I had to take a deep
breath and remind myself,
Strict no
hitting girls policy!

“
Shut up!” I told her
gravely. She immediately stopped talking and stared at me. I stared
at her for a long while and I saw fear in her eyes, knowing that
she’s angered me. I realized that Alizia may be rich and beautiful,
but she’s nothing but a spoiled brat who doesn’t care about the
feelings of people around her.

Now I remember.
That’s
why we never made
it past a date. I was never interested in her no matter how safe
she was. She was not as beautiful inside as she is
outside.

How dare she talk about
Astrid like that? She doesn’t even know her!

Well, I guess that proves
what an ass I am, too. I also don’t know Astrid, and yet I kept on
hurting her over and over. Even though, every time I hurt her,
something inside me is also killing me. But until I get my memories
back, I would never understand why.

I took my wallet and
placed some bills on the table. Suddenly, this catch up date with
Alizia was not a good idea anymore.

“
Seeing as I didn’t drive
here, I’ll get you a cab,” I told her and waited for her outside
the diner.

“
Wow! You’re such a bore!”
she muttered under her breath when she stepped out beside
me.

I didn’t have the energy
to think of a smart remark to that. My mind was busy deciphering my
feelings. Something inside me wanted to make me punch myself. There
was a hole in my chest that I could not explain.

When Alizia’s cab sped
off, I decided to walk home.

I feel like a truck had
hit me. And all because I saw Astrid cry rivers of tears because of
me. The feel of her skin against mine is all too
familiar.

I still don’t know what
she did to make me fall for her. It seems like a lot of my previous
decisions revolved around her. I even agreed to make Paris the CEO
of my bars so it could give me more time away from the business. I
wouldn’t normally do that. I would usually want to be hands-on. But
I gave Paris full control of my own business except for Malibu,
which I wanted to handle myself.

And I guess I know why.
Astrid is in Malibu. Of course! It gives me a reason to be where
she is. So I didn’t give up my bars in the city. I even used this
as an excuse to see her.
Stupid!
When did I become stupid for a woman?

Thinking about Astrid’s
beautiful face and curves that seem to be at the right places, I
thought maybe… it’s time for me to visit Malibu.

28.

GUARDIANSHIP:

Legal term which is used
to describe the legal and practical relationship of a parent and a
child, which includes the right of the parent to make decisions for
his or her child as well as his or her responsibilities to take
care of his or her child.

Astrid.

“
D
amn it!” I shrieked when I opened my office and found a tall
figure standing by my window.

Then my heart hammered in
my chest when I realized who it was.

I got that familiar urge
to run after him and throw myself in his arms, thinking that he
would catch me, like he always did in the past. But I knew I would
hit the wall this time.

Then I got that usual
flicker of hope that he remembered even a fraction of his time with
me. Or he somehow felt our connection. Or he was even willing to
work on it until he finally heals. I knew I whacked him on the face
the last time I saw him in Manhattan. Did he come here because
somehow, he regained some memories back?

“
Ryder,” I
breathed.

He turned around and
looked at me. “So this is what you did with my money?” he asked
quietly.

Anger flared inside me
again.
This Ryder is such an
asshole!
He doesn’t miss a chance to
insult me. If I met him like this, I would not have fallen in love
with him. But then, before
my Ryder
went away, he sort of warned me about this. I
remembered what he said to me before he got into that stupid
accident.

“
Always remember that I
love you, okay? I’ll always be that guy who would do anything to
protect you, make you happy. I want you to know that even before I
met you, you were the woman I needed, the woman I have been looking
for.”

Maybe this was what he
meant. The old Ryder Van Woodsen didn’t have much faith in people,
especially women. And maybe I did change him. Maybe I had a
positive effect on his life, too.

I didn’t want to give up
on him. When he never gave up on me, on us. He patiently waited for
me to come around, to realize that he was the one for me all along.
And I must have broken his heart over and over too. But he never
showed me signs of giving up. He stood strong. My rock. My
knight.

I should do the same. I
would wait until he finally found his way back to me. No matter how
much he hurt me or shut me down, I knew this wasn’t him. I knew
this Ryder was just guarding his emotions from something he didn’t
understand, something he didn’t know. But once he regained his
memories of me, he would come back.

“
I don’t see why I would
be interested in these,” he said. “I don’t believe in marriage. My
father went through a lot that didn’t work.”

I took a deep breath. “You
believed in me,” I told him.

He looked at me for a
moment. I held my head high and looked back at him. I didn’t back
down. Then finally, as if he couldn’t take it anymore, he looked
away.

“
I’m sorry, Miss Jacobson,
this is… not… working out for me,” he said in an almost broken
voice, as if he too, was not sure of what he’s doing.

“
Wh-what?”

He turned his back on me.
“Call your lawyer,” he said. “Let’s try to do this as easy as
possible. I’m pulling out my investment here.”

“
But Ryder…” I trailed
off. What is he saying? Moreover, what am I going to do about
it?

I couldn’t believe this
was happening! I cannot believe he could be this harsh. I will be
jobless when he shuts my business down.

Just as if on cue, Adam
appeared in the room, his eyes looking at me and then at
Ryder.

“
Van Woodsen,” he greeted
Ryder, his voice cold. “I guess you also don’t remember me. I’m
Adam Ackers.”

“
Attorney Ackers?” Ryder
asked. Adam nodded. “You were the one who executed the deed for
this company. Good thing you are here. I have no idea what went
through my mind when I decided to invest in this. But now, I’d like
to undo what I did.”

“
Great! If only you
can
un-do
my
cousin, too,” Adam muttered under his breath. Ryder raised a brow
at him. “Never mind,” Adam said. “Just so you know, Mr. Van
Woodsen, you’re going to have to compensate Astrid a lot for this.
Her contract states that you are to pay two year’s worth of her
salary should you decide to pull the plug on her.”

“
Two years?” Ryder
echoed.

“
Adam! That’s not true!
Why would you do that?”

“
Because when Van Woodsen
decided to put up this business, I knew he was doing it to impress
you. And back then I didn’t know what his intentions with you
really were. So I decided to put a clause to make sure that you
will be able to survive for at least two years after he’s done
playing with you.”

“
And I agreed?” Ryder
asked, a little shocked.

“
I’ll send you a copy of
the contract. You’ll see that you signed for it, happily too. You
told me you genuinely cared for her. And you know what, silly me, I
believed you.”

Ryder looked at me for a
second. “I don’t know her well enough to care this much,” he said
quietly.

“
I know,” Adam said
coldly. “And I was afraid for her, so I made sure she would be
taken care of.”

“
Adam, you don’t have to
do this,” I begged.

Adam stared at me for a
while, completely apologetic, but I could also see that he was not
taking any more bullshit from Ryder Van Woodsen. He’d seen me cry
more than enough.

Adam reached out and
touched my cheek. He looked at me reassuringly. He gave me a warm
smile that made me want to cry even more. I thought Adam was the
most unemotional person I knew, but I could see now he really cared
for me.

“
You said you two are
cousins?” Ryder asked, watching us. Right! He forgot everything,
never met me, nor Adam.

“
Yes and no,” Adam
replied. “We’re not related by blood,” Adam said still not taking
his eyes away from me, as if assuring me to trust him and he will
make it right.

“
Oh really? So would you
please get your hands off her?!” Ryder scowled.