Ryder:
I woke up with a fire in my chest that felt damn near holy. Not the kind that burns you out—no, this one fed me. It roared with purpose. With her.
Phoenix.
The weight of her sleeping in my bed, her sketchbook still sitting on the kitchen table like a loaded weapon, and the softness in her voice when she thanked me last night… All of it lit something inside me that wasn’t going out anytime soon.
I had plans.
And for the first time, they weren’t just about numbers and margins and club deals.
They were about building something bigger.
Something that started with her.
I shoved the covers off and dressed in a blur. Grabbed Dad’s recent reports on club assets, stuffed them in my bag, and headed straight for the clubhouse. It was barely 6, and the lot already smelled like gas and c
