No Turning Back (Breaking the Rules #4) - A.M. Madden Page 0,24

what she had, that goodbye would have felt like a final one. I had to trust our foundation was enough to bring her around. Whether it was in a way I wanted, or in a way that would erase her from my life, would remain to be seen.

The end of my night ended up nothing like what I’d imagined it to be. When I’d set out to pick Riana up, I stupidly assumed—arrogantly assumed—that come the end of our night we would’ve been back together. I had gone as far as imagining having her again for the first time in years, reacquainting my lips with every inch of her body, waking with her in my arms.

Instead, there I was pacing my apartment with a bourbon in hand, trying to figure out what could be preventing her from being with me. Overthinking every word, every physical reaction, every meaningful look she gave me caused a restless night.

Come morning, the first thing I did was call Wes. We’d met years ago in New York when he’d flubbed an interview with me and then begged me for another chance. I gave him that opportunity and have been stuck with him since. He had followed me to California and then to Florida. All kidding aside, the man was so much more than my assistant; he was a great friend… normally.

However, at that moment, I wanted to kill him.

“Shit, what time is it, dude?” he asked groggily over the phone.

Ignoring him, I barked, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Tell you what?” he whispered before I heard a door click shut. He was with someone, and I didn’t give a shit.

“That you saw Ree… bought her a fucking coffee? Told her I was engaged!” The silence that came as a response meant he was busted. “Seriously? You knew how hard it was to get over her.”

“Exactly,” he finally spoke in a normal tone. “At that time, you finally seemed happy with Diane and—”

“She wasn’t Ree.”

“Still, you moved on. Riana had, and you needed to. Shit, Ryder, you were a mess after coming back from that damn trip without her. You were so convinced you’d get her back, and when you didn’t, you lost your mind.”

“Don’t throw that in my face. I was drunk.” I’d taken one day and said fuck it all to hell. It wasn’t my finest moment.

“Come on, Ryder. I’m not talking about the drunken binge. For months, you’d snap anyone’s head off if they so much as looked at you sideways. I knew if I told you that I saw Riana, you’d get into your own head again… maybe fuck up a good thing with Diane, or worse, quit your job and run right back to her.”

“Diane fucked things up with Diane.” And then something occurred to me. “Wait… did you know Riana was single?” Silence. This fucker. Riana having a boyfriend was the only reason I had moved on in the first place. He was right… knowing she was single would’ve abso-fucking-lutely stopped me from starting a relationship with Diane, and most definitely from thinking of proposing to her. “You should’ve told me, Wes!”

“It wouldn’t have done a damn bit of good, Ryder.” I heard him guzzle something noisily over the phone. “You should thank me. Look at you now. You ran into her for all of five minutes, and you’re already foaming at the mouth.”

“So the fuck what? Why shouldn’t I try to get back the one woman I ever loved?”

“You loved Diane.”

“Not like I loved Ree.” All I heard was a rush of air. “You can think this is a bad idea all you want, Wes… I don’t agree.”

I kept to myself how skittish Riana had been last night, but the more I thought about it, the more I knew whatever caused it could be fixed. Maybe not tomorrow, or even next week, but eventually I would have Riana back in my life the way I wanted her to be.

Until he threw a fucking dart at my logic by quietly asking, “And if you get transferred again?” It was my turn to remain silent. Taking the opportunity, he continued, “You know it can happen, Ryder. And then again after that, and again after that. It’s the nature of our business. Athletes move around, and you follow. You yourself said the next person you end up with must be okay with your reality. Don’t you think you should be sure Riana will be on board with that plan before you jump back