TORMENTED_ Jani Kay - Jani Kay Page 0,82
care what anyone else thought, but it mattered to me that Ryder was okay with it.
“Fuck . . . I’m really at a loss for words.” The smile disappeared, but the warmth remained in his eyes as they searched mine. “Is it really what you want? You love him?”
“Yes, I do. I love him, warts and all.”
“Yeah, I understand that. Love has a way to knock you on your ass. I never wanted it, but love found me in the form of a sassy blonde I couldn’t resist. Now I can’t imagine life without her, so I get it.”
“We have your blessing?”
“That’s putting it a bit strongly.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Let’s just say I’ll give him a chance to prove himself as the right man for you. But I’ll be watching him. One wrong move and he gets to deal with me.”
Leaning forward, I planted a kiss on his cheek. “Thanks,” I whispered. It was comforting to know that Ryder had my back.
Gripping both my shoulders, Ryder narrowed his eyes and asked, “What were all those sad tears about, Eva? That had nothing to do with Harrison’s proposal, did it?”
“If I’m honest, I’ll admit it did. I’m so scared he won’t want me any longer when he finds out—” I choked and went silent. Talking about my fears was harder than I’d imagined.
Ryder sat on the sofa by the window and patted the seat next to him for me to sit.
“Explain. This part I’m not getting,” he said.
I rubbed at my chest. “Something terrible happened.”
His brows knitted together, and his jaw clenched. “Carry on.”
“I . . . um . . . Nolan . . .” My voice faltered again and the lump in my throat sat there, refusing to budge. I avoided Ryder’s eyes, keeping mine cast down and letting my hair hang over my face like a curtain.
“Nolan?” Ryder let out a long breath. “Tell me what he did.”
The words refused to leave my mouth as tears welled up in my eyes again. Sweat broke out on my skin, and I rubbed my clammy hands on my skirt.
Ryder gritted his teeth. “Eva, did he fucking rape you?”
I nodded. Heat spread from my chest to my cheeks, and I involuntarily clamped my thighs together as shame washed over me.
“Fucking pig!”
Both the anger and volume of his voice startled me.
Ryder jumped up from the sofa and slammed his fist into the wall. “I’m gonna kill the dirty pig with my bare hands.”
“Ryder, calm down. I don’t want anyone else to know. Please don’t tell Harrison.”
“I don’t understand why not. Summers will want to skin the bastard alive when he finds out. We’ll be on the same side again, but we’ll be fighting about who gets the honor of ending that miserable fuck’s life.”
My hand flew to my throat. “Please don’t do anything silly. You’ll go to jail—Nolan isn’t worth it. That’s why I won’t tell Harrison. He’s bound to have the same reaction as you, and the last thing I want is for either of you to rot in jail because of Nolan’s crime.”
Ryder’s eye started twitching. Fuck. I hated when that happened.
“You can’t hide this from Summers. Not if you’re serious about marrying him.”
“Please, I don’t want anything bad to happen to either of you. Nolan already tried to get rid of Harrison by sending him on a dangerous mission. God knows what will happen to my fiancé if things get out of hand. I’m keeping this between us for now to protect Harrison. When we get back to LA I will report to the authorities and get myself checked out. They’ll help me deal with it in a professional manner and know what the best way is to go forward. ”
“No way that’s going to work. Summers is smarter than you’re giving him credit for. He’s going to figure it out and go ape-shit crazy. Let me handle this, okay?”
Nausea pushed up into my throat. This was a cluster-fuck of events, and I couldn’t see a good outcome however I looked at it.
Ryder came back to where I sat and pulled me into a hug. “Listen, I’m sorry about the outburst and if I scared you. Are you okay in all of this? Because right now, that’s the most important thing, even though I acted all crazy when you told me.”
I folded my hands in my lap and gave him what I hoped was a reassuring smile. Heaven forbid I tell him that it was