~Ryder~
The party was alive... loud engines still cooling outside, the smell of gasoline mixing with whiskey and perfume.
Music thumped through the floorboards, and everywhere I looked, someone was laughing too loud, drinking too fast, pretending life wasn’t one long road to chaos.
Tessa stood across the room, sunlight in a black dress.
Every man who looked at her forgot whatever woman he came with.
And that... that did things to me.
She was talking to Duke and a few others, laughing at something he said, her hand brushing a lock of hair behind her ear.
I couldn’t stop watching her — like some part of me needed to make sure she was still there, still breathing, still mine.
That was before the waiter showed up.
“Champagne, sir?” he said, tray shaking a little from the crowd bumpi
