Ridin' Dirty (Beautifully Dirty #2) (12 page)

“Haha, I second that,” Maddie says just as loud.

Just as we go to walk away, I see Coop and one of the
Rockstar
models talking. His hair is as if someone, namely her, just ran her fingers through it. I can’t believe him. Well, that ruins my night and now I am ready to leave.

“Girls, I’m going to head home.”

“What’s wrong?” They both ask at the same time, catching my eye, then looking in Cooper’s direction.

“Jesus, I’m going to kick his ass,” Maddie says.

“Not before I do,” Kenna comes back with.

“I just want to go home. So, I’m going to find Ryan and say goodnight.” I see him over in the corner, shooting the shit with a few of the other riders so I head over there.

“Hey, Ry, I’m heading out, but wanted to say Happy New Year.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I’m just ready to leave.”

“Nope, I can tell something is wrong. It’s me, Ans, you can tell me,” he whispers, so no one else can hear us.

“It’s been a great night and not it’s now, so it’s time to go.”

He looks around to see Cooper still talking to the tall brunette and her ‘girls’ that are out there for all to see. “Jackass.”

“It’s fine really, he clearly isn’t going to change. Night.” I lean up and kiss him on the cheek and then he gives me a hug goodbye.

“I’ll take you.”

“You don’t have to do that, stay and have fun. The ball is going to drop soon, you need to find someone to kiss.”

“It’s fine, besides I have the bike tonight, and in that outfit of yours, you’ll look incredible on the back of it.”

“Oh, shut up, you know this isn’t me,” I say, as I swat his arm.

“Well, it might not be the old you, but it looks good on the new you,” he chuckles.

Rolling my eyes at him, I speak, “yeah, yeah. Let’s go then, but only if you’re sure.”

“I wouldn’t offer if I wasn’t.”

We make our way around, saying goodbye to those we need to and then head out the door to his bike.

“Where the hell did you get this?”

“It was a gift from the team owners.”

“Jesus, you boys are spoiled.”

“We are.” He is laughing as he pulls out the extra helmet he has, handing it to me. He slips his own on, then straddles the bike. Sitting down, he flips up the screen on the front of his helmet and tells me to get on.

I do just as instructed, then I’m holding on for dear life. I know he won’t do anything stupid, but he is a risk taker, too. Arriving at my apartment safely, I hop off, remove the helmet, and swat him.

“You ass, swerving in and out of those cars gave me a heart attack.”

“Oh, you’re fine, aren’t you?”

“Yes, but Jesus, don’t do that again.”

“I’m not Jesus, but you can certainly call me that if you must.”

“Oh, shut up.” I start shaking my hair, as we walk up the sidewalk to my apartment building, while laughing.

When we make it to my door, I ask Ryan to come in. As we both get inside, I immediately unzip the side of my boots. To get my feet bare is a blessing after having to wear boots for sometimes fifteen hours a day.

Walking into the kitchen, I pour myself a glass of wine and hand Ryan a bottle of water. We head into the living room and turn on the TV. As I set my glass on the coffee table, Ryan is already settling in on the couch.

“I’m going to change to sweats, I’ll be right back.”

“I can only stay until the ball drops, so hurry up, girl.”

“Oh, relax, we have twenty minutes.”

“Yeah, but you must have forgotten, I’ve known you for years. You can say five minutes and then the next thing I know I’m sitting around for an hour, waiting.”

As I continue walking to my room, I raise my hand straight in the air and flip him the bird. I leave it there too, until I reach the doorway to my bedroom. I can hear Ryan laughing out loud as I shut my door. Walking out, I see him singing to one of the songs that is on the TV. Thomas Rhett is performing his new song,
Crash and Burn,
on one of the New Year’s Eve shows. I love it and apparently, so does Ryan. I step into the living room giggling at him; he smiles and continues belting out the tune, as he now flips me off. I start singing right along with him until the song finishes.

There are only ten minutes until the clock strikes midnight and we’ll be ready to start the New Year, once again. I am ready for this year to be different than last, for that matter, different than the last four, but clearly that isn’t going to be happening, at least not right now. I pick up my glass of wine, downing it. I need a stiffer drink than this, so I walk into the kitchen, pull out Kenna’s bottle of Fireball from the fridge and pour a shot.

“Wow, girl, where is this coming from?”

“Nowhere, I just need something a bit stronger, that’s all. Why?”

“Well, unless you’ve changed a lot over the last four years, you don’t usually drink to get drunk, and those aren’t little shots. That shit will kick your ass before you know it.”

“I haven’t changed, but I have a lot on my mind tonight and this is helping.”

“Drinking is not the answer, Ansley.”

“Screw you, Ryan. How do you know what the answer is? Cuz, I have no clue.”

“Here, give me one? If I’m here, you aren’t drinking alone.”

“No, you are driving and the way you ride that bike, you can’t drink even one.”

“Haha, I’ll stay here tonight and head out first thing in the morning. I don’t have practice till three, so I have plenty enough time to get my ass home.”

“Only if you are sure,” I say reaching for another shot glass out of the cupboard. I am happy to have him hang out with me for the night. I pour him his first and my second.

“I am, let’s do this. But if we do this, we are doing it right.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? Doing it right . . . am I doing it wrong?” I ask, downing my second.

“Slow down, girl, or you’ll be on the floor after a couple more.”

Pouring myself another one, I hand Ryan his and I take mine. We walk back to the living room because the ball is about to come down the pole. We start shouting out the last ten seconds until the fireworks start and the New Year begins. Our glasses clink together and our heads tip backward, downing our shots.

I head back to pour another and Ryan is right on my heels. He watches me as I carefully fill each of our tiny glasses to the top. Setting the bottle back down, I take a deep breath and turn to face him.

“Kiss me.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me, kiss me!” This time I say it a little louder.

“I heard you the first time. There is no reason to shout at me, Peanut.”

“Then do it!”

“Why do you want me to kiss you?”

“Because I do.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“It’s New Year’s Eve, there, is that a reason?”

“No, it’s not.”

“Fine, I’m going to bed.”

“Ansley, wait.” He grabs me by the elbow, not letting me walk away.

“Ryan, I just need to go to bed.”

“No, talk to me, what is going on?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I picked the wrong guy to fall in love with.” I pick up my fourth shot and down it, as a tear falls.

Ryan set down his glass and placed his hands on the sides of my face, cupping my cheeks. Closing my eyes; I stand there in front of him. “You can’t help who you fall in love with, girl, you should know that by now. And me kissing you, isn’t going to prove anything.”

“I know, but it might help,” I say in my drunken state.

“If I thought it would, I’d throw you on this counter and have my way with ya.” He starts laughing as he places a kiss to the top of my head.

“I’m not easy, Ryan. I’d make you work for it, ya know. Though another shot might help.”

“You girl, don’t need another shot, that’s for sure. You are already feeling no pain.”

We do two more and he is right, my bottom lip is numb and Ryan has two heads. Next thing I know, Ryan throws me over his shoulder, just as Kenna and Maddie walk in.

“What the hell happened to her?” Maddie asks, laughing hysterically.

“The same fucking thing that happened to you, dumb ass,” Kenna sounds annoyed.

“Maddie, are you in trouble?” I ask, lifting my head as Ryan starts walking. I slap him on the ass, telling him to stop.

“Peanut, you hit me again and I’ll slap your ass back.”

“Oh, she might like it . . . do it.” Maddie is in rare form.

“Maddie, you shut up or I’ll have Kenna kick your ass. If fact, Kenna go do it . . . do it Kenna, do it!”

“Jesus, these two need another drink, I think. Maybe it’ll help them pass out, so I don’t have to hear their mouths anymore.” Kenna is so pissed and that causes both Maddie and I to start laughing out loud.

“I’ll have another.”

“Me, too,” Maddie chimes in, adding fuel to the fire.

“Ryan, you better get her in her room before I kill one of them.”

“Oh, tough girl . . . you think you can take me. Let’s go!” Maddie is going to be knocked out by Kenna, if she keeps pushing her.

“You two are not funny when I’m sober.”

“Then, you girl, should drink with us,” I say, as Ryan rounds the corner to my room.

“I’m going to get you a bottle of water and two aspirin, you need to take them before going to sleep or you, my dear, are going to be a hurting cookie tomorrow.”

“Oh, cookies sound good.”

“Peanut . . . get ready for bed.” Ryan chuckles at me as he heads back to the kitchen.

“Whatever.” But as he walks out, I follow him.

“What are you doing?” He turns around once he hears me behind him.

“Nothing . . . coming with you.”

“No, you turn back around and get ready for bed.” He places his hands on my shoulders and faces me toward my room.

“Whatever; you, Ryan, are no fun!” I kinda shout at him, hoping he hears me as he continues to the kitchen.

I walk back into my room, which is spinning a little as I sit on the edge of my bed. I fight with my socks until Ryan walks back in. Bending down in front of me, he takes both of them off and then hands me the meds and water. Taking them as instructed, I stand and start getting ready for bed, not even caring that Ryan stands right there. I remove my shirt first, as he turns around. I slip out of my skirt and pull up my shorts, then fight with my shirt for a minute or two before I fall back on my bed. It takes everything I have not to throw up while I dress.

“Come on, girl, let me help you.” He leans forward and scoops me up, then balances me to pull back my covers. Tucking me in, he hugs me, kisses me on the cheek and tells me to get some rest, and he’ll see me in the morning.

“I love you, Ryan.”

“I love you too, Peanut.”

Cooper

LAST NIGHT BECAME
a blur to me, after my heated moment with Ansley in the middle of a crowd of people, I thought I was going to lose my mind. When the tip of my tongue touched her ear lobe, I wanted to head further south, straight to her perfect jaw line, over her collar bone, and down to her belly button. I need to know if she’s perfect everywhere. After walking away from her, I picked up a couple shots, downed them, and then picked up a couple more. Wanting my fingers on her, and knowing it wasn’t possible yet, made them wrap around the next thing I found, a shot glass. I needed to touch her, but not until she was ready. Knowing that she wants me the same way, is all it’ll take before I’m loving all over her body.

I decide this morning that it’s time to get my head on straight. The Supercross season is going to start soon and I need to be ready. So that’s what I do. I get up, take a shower and then start busting my ass from when the sun comes up until the sun goes down. This starts the cycle of how the next couple of weeks go by.

It’s time to head out to today’s practice, and I am looking forward to getting my laps down by two seconds. Believe it or not, two seconds can make all the difference in a race. I put in two hours of hard riding before Jesse and I call it good and ride off the track. I still need to hit the gym, so I’ll be going there after I take the bike to the garage that we store them in. I walk over to the outside showers, near the pool house, and strip down to just my boxers. I stand under the water for about thirty seconds, letting it cool me off before I step out and dry off. I know I’ll need a long shower after the gym, so I just grab a pair of the extra shorts we have stored out there, throw them on, and head to get a work out in.

I have gotten a few texts from Ansley. She keeps asking me to talk, but right now I need to stay focused on the races that start in less than a week. I let her know I’m thinking of her as well, but need to stay on track for training. We text almost every day, actually a couple times throughout the day. She understands where I need to be and is supportive of it as well.

On Thursday, I’ll be catching a quick flight to Anaheim, California for the race that will take place on Saturday. We have press day on Friday, so that’s going to be a full day of doing interviews. I’ve had to meet with our PR rep on a couple different occasions about what we should or shouldn’t say. We aren’t supposed to talk too much shit regarding other riders, and of course, we are instructed to shout out our sponsors whenever possible.