Ryley's Revenge

3. Ryley

3

RYLEY

Never in my twenty-four years of existence had I been knocked down and f****d in the dry tailpipe like I’d been three days ago. Everything I once believed in was a goddamned lie. What made it worse was finding out the truth from Tyler, and not Gabriella. For a whole month I was led to believe Ashleigh was with her pansy-a*s fluffer of a boyfriend, only to find out she dumped him when they got home from Vegas.

It was during that particular trip when I had her in my arms again, thinking she was pregnant with my child. A sick, twisted part of me had hoped to God she was pregnant so that I could have a fighting chance with her. Now, with her running away to Aspen, I didn’t know what to think.

The second Tyler told me what was going on I pretended it wasn’t that big of a deal, even though deep down I wanted to hit something so f*****g hard it’d make my knuckles bleed. For two days, I trained nonstop with my coach and Camden, ignoring every single phone call and text; especially, the ones from Gabby. My mind was a jumbled mess of s**t. Ashleigh Warren had head f****d me into falling for her and then she left. I was a fool to fall, but dammit to hell, I wanted her back.

I was Ryley ‘The Rampage’ Jameson. I had women falling all over themselves just to suck my d**k and do whatever I wanted them to. I loved it . . . or at least I pretended I did. It didn’t help that I envisioned Ashleigh every time.

Sweat poured down the sides of my face, arms, and back as I pounded the punching bag, over and over again. My teeth were clenched so tight I could feel the pulse in my temple beating out of control. I was confused, angry, and most of all, I wanted answers. Tyler was right, I needed to find out what was going on.

“Ryley.”

I heard my name, but didn’t want to stop. Hitting and fighting was what I was good at, it kept my mind occupied from the tension pulling at my chest. Just a little bit more and the pain would be in my arms and the muscles in my back, not in—

A hand came down hard on my shoulder, drawing me back. “Ryley, stop!” my coach barked. “You’re overdoing it, son. You need a break.”

“Just a little bit more.”

“Now.” The warning in his tone made me stop. Grabbing my wrists, he lifted my hands, snarling at my busted knuckles.

Danny Echols was my dad’s best friend and the only father figure I’d had for the past couple of years. His silver hair was damp with sweat, and over his shoulder I could see my brother in the ring, taking off his gloves and looking on in confusion. Camden had no clue what was going on with me.

Breathing hard, I stepped away and looked down at my hands. They were b****y and split wide open.

“Look, I don’t know what’s going on, but you better figure it out soon. Surely, it’s not because of the title fight is it? I know you and your brother will be battling it out soon, but that’s no reason to let it f**k with your mind.”

Bursting out in laughter, I shook my head, fisting my hands by my side. My knuckles split open even more and I welcomed the pain. The fight with my brother was the last thing on my mind. “Trust me, Danny. I’m not worried about the f*****g fight. I have other things on my mind right now.”

“Oh, don’t worry about him, coach,” Camden called. “He just needs a good lay or two.” He winked at me and smiled, thankfully drawing the attention of our coach.

Danny sighed and waved me off. “All right, I’ll back off. But I want you to soak those hands and get them healed. I don’t want to see you around here tomorrow. You got that?”

Turning on my heel, I grumbled, “Yes, coach,” before waltzing off toward the locker rooms. He knew I wasn’t going to stay away.

Luckily, no one was in the showers. The only people who ever used the locker rooms were the fighters who trained in the gym, which happened to only be a handful of us. After turning on the shower, I stripped out of my blue and white fighting shorts and tossed them on the bench. A little blood smeared on the white cloth, but I didn’t care.

Once the room was filled with steam, I stepped into the near scalding water and hissed as it hit my open wounds. Hanging my head, I placed my sore hands against the wall and let the water run down my body, washing away the sweat and tension. It wasn’t long before my muscles began to relax. However, they tightened back up when a set of soft, feminine arms wrapped around my waist from behind. Her hands slid down, one cupping my balls while the other wrapped around my c**k, massaging me.

“Don’t tell me you forgot me already?” she whined in my ear.

Her touch did nothing but piss me off. Pulling her arms away from my body, I turned off the water and stalked past her to my locker. She was n***d, her body glistening as the shower head dropped its last few drops on her skin. I wished I wanted her, but I didn’t. For the past couple of weeks she’d been mine . . . but not anymore. The only reason I kept her around was because she looked like Ashleigh, with her dark hair and wide-set green eyes. But no matter how I diced it, she just wasn’t the same.

“I’m not in the mood today, Natalie.” Grabbing a towel, I ran it over my body quickly and reached into my locker for a clean T-shirt and jeans.

“Not in the mood? Since when are you not ready for me? We’ve been doing this for how long now?”

Almost every day for the past couple of weeks.

Arms crossed over her chest, she glared at me with anger radiating from those emerald green eyes of hers.

“It doesn’t matter,” I replied, “I’m done.”

“You’re done?” she scoffed. “Just like that?”

Zipping up my jeans, I nodded my head and started for the door. “Yep, just like that.”

I’d been told by many women I was an a*s. It didn’t bother me. Not even when Natalie called me every single name in the book as I walked away from her, screaming as loud as she could. Today was shaping up to be one spectacularly shitty day.

My prediction was confirmed when I walked out of the locker room and locked eyes with the one person I’d been avoiding. Dressed in her tiny black shorts and red sports b*a, Gabriella was ready to train. It was amazing how fast her body had transformed from slim to outright muscle. But from the looks of her, she didn’t know I knew about Ashleigh.

She was up in the ring talking animatedly to Camden and my coach. When she spotted me, I didn’t smile back at her. She said her goodbyes to my brother and hesitantly walked down to me, stopping a couple of feet away.

“Why haven’t you answered my calls?” she asked.

About that time, Natalie stormed out of the locker room, her hair dripping water all over her tight, white tank top. “Get used to it, honey. I wouldn’t waste your time on this dickwad.”

Biting her lip to keep from smiling, Gabby watched Natalie walk away before turning back to me. “Um . . . o-kay. It looks like you’re not having a good day.” She set her gym bag down and stretched her arms over her head.

“More like the past few days,” I snapped, crossing my arms over my chest. “Is there something you need to tell me? Or maybe something you forgot to tell me?”

Nervously, she laughed. “Not that I know of. Can you give me a hint?”

“Vegas.”

Sighing, she closed her eyes and hung her head, her midnight hair covering her face. “Tyler told you?” When she looked up, I nodded once. “Goddammit,” she hissed, grabbing my arms. “She made me promise, Ryley. What was I supposed to do? She’s my best friend.”

“Well, so am I.”

“I know you are, but it’s not the same. Tell me what I can do to make it better.”

“You can start off by telling me what the f**k’s going on.”

Letting my arms go, Gabriella flung hers in the air. “I wish I could, but she keeps brushing me off. I’ve been trying to get her to talk, but she won’t confide in me.”

Taking her elbow, I pulled her along beside me and out the front door. “Well, right now she’s not going to have an option.”

“What do you mean? Ryley, where are you dragging me to?”

I opened the passenger door to my black Mercedes G-class and ushered her inside. “We are taking a day trip to Aspen. You’re going to take me to her.”