Do Me Right (De Toi à Moi #1)

Twenty One

The water turned bright red as I rinsed out the wash cloth. His nose had thankfully stopped bleeding, but his face and hands were covered in dried blood. And a lot of it was Wayne’s. “You really didn’t have to do that,” I started when I turned around and walked back over to where Ryder sat on the edge of the bath tub. He was shirtless, his shirt currently rolling around in the washing machine to get the blood out.

I bent down in front of him again, running the cloth over his jaw as carefully as I could. “Yes I did,” he said while he winced in pain when I touched his lip. “He was trespassing.”

I sighed, dropping my hands from his face. “What if someone caught that on tape?”

“I’m not a celebrity,” he laughed.

“Every time you attend an event, it’s reported somewhere. You don’t need this. It could ruin your career.”

“I don’t care,” he growled. “He was being a dick. He wouldn’t listen when you told him to go. Someone had to do something.”

“Well, thank you,” I reached for his hand, dabbing it with the cloth.

“Ow.” He pulled his hand away and cradled it in his other. I rolled my eyes, grabbing his hand back. “Are you okay?” he brought his hand up to my waist, careful not to touch where I’d hit the table.

“I’ll be fine. You’re far worse off.” I wanted to continue cleaning up his face, but he suddenly stood up and grabbed the cloth out of my hands. Without saying a word, he turned me around and unzipped my dress. I let him push it off my shoulders, leaving me in my strapless bra and panties, before he turned me around again. His eyes widened when he looked down.

“Belle,” he breathed. He fell to his knees in front of me and ran his fingertips over my bruise. Now it was my turn to wince and hiss in pain. “Oh my God.” He closed his eyes, pressing his forehead against my stomach. “I can’t believe he did this to you.”

“Ryder, look at what he did to you!” I cried.

“I don’t care,” he looked up at me sharply. “He hurt you, Belle. That is not okay with me.”

“He only hurt me because you started the fight,” I said softly. “Which you shouldn’t have done but, at the same time, I love that you did that for me.” I lowered myself onto my knees as well and ran my fingers gently over his face, careful not to touch any of his bruises.

“This isn’t exactly how I imagined the night to end.” He turned his face around to press a kiss onto the palm of my hand. He frowned and I realized applying pressure to his lips must hurt. It was cut and swollen pretty badly. “What happened with you and Wayne?” He grabbed my elbows and slowly lifted us up to a standing position again.

“I realized it wasn’t what I wanted,” I said with a shrug. Ryder walked away from me, opening the cabinet beneath the sink. He pulled out a tube of ointment and squeezed some into the palm of his hand. “He had a very clear idea of what he wanted and, they weren’t the same ideas I had. You know like girls who have this ridiculous five year plan?” I looked down at Ryder when he bent down in front of me again. Slowly, he started to apply the ointment to my bruise, moving his fingers around in circles. The sticky substance felt hot on my skin. “Well, Wayne was exactly like that. He wanted to move in together after college, he was even starting to talk about kids,” I laughed. “He never accepted the fact that I wanted to go to France. In the end he let me go but, he never really wanted me to leave. I mean, I don’t blame him. His parents met in college and got married only a year after. He wanted that for himself and for a long time, I thought that was what I wanted too, but then I realized it wasn’t. I didn’t wanna settle after school. I’m only twenty one. I wanna live my life. I wanna have fun, explore… I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life with someone who tried to turn me into someone I’m not.” I snorted. “I didn’t want to have a boring sex life.”

Ryder’s eyes snapped up at mine. They twinkled with amusement. “Boring sex life?”

“Missionary. Always.”

“Really?” he raised an eyebrow and stood up straight again when he was done applying the cream. “You went missionary for the past three years?” I nodded. “Now I don’t believe that for a second.” He smirked, amusement still swirling around in his eyes.

“It’s true though.” I shrugged my shoulders. “I mean, I did a little experimenting before I met him but after that it was the same thing every time. You were actually the first after Wayne,” I added silently. And as usual, he had heard me loud and clear.

“So you’re trying to tell me that after three years of having the same sex you do a complete three sixty and screw me wild in the middle of a club?”

“Yes,” I laughed. It did sound a little unbelievable, but that was exactly what had happened. “And that’s beside the point anyway. The point is, I broke up with him because we had different ideas about life and he was slowing me down. He tried too hard to push me into a certain direction.”

“So what did he want?” Ryder walked around me to wash his hands even though I was sure he already knew the answer to the question. Maybe he just needed me to confirm it. I looked down at the bruise that was now glistening under the light with the ointment spread all over it. When I didn’t immediately answer him, he turned around to look at me expectantly.

“He wanted a second chance.”

“I should’ve known,” he scoffed with a shake of his head. Okay, apparently, he didn’t know. He reached for a towel to dry his hands. When he was done, he threw it into the laundry basket and headed to the door.

“What are you gonna do about the contract you offered him?” I asked, following him out of the bathroom. “Why did you even offer it to him in the first place?”

“I acted on impulse. I thought if I could keep an eye in him… I should’ve known it was a bad idea. I can’t break that contract,” he sighed, shaking his head. He flipped on the light in his bedroom and stripped out of his pants. “That would be unprofessional and my father wouldn’t forgive me for letting a client go without a proper explanation. I don’t exactly think telling him he wanted to steal you away would go over with him very well.”

I laughed and crawled under the sheets, waiting for him to join me. But then I realized, this was never gonna work on a personal level as long as we were working together professionally. “What are we gonna do about your family?” I asked, turning onto my side.

Ryder sighed and got into the bed with me. He laid down on his side, facing me. “It’s gonna be alright, Belle,” he said, trailing his hands down my arm. “I’m not gonna let anyone take you away from me. Not even my own family. You’re mine.”

I smiled and leaned in, pressing my lips against his. “Belle,” he groaned, pulling away, “as much as I really want to kiss you right now, it fucking hurts.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, crawling into his chest. I sighed in pain when his hips collide with my bruise. He immediately sat up, looking down at me. “It’s okay.” Smiling sweetly, I placed my hand on his cheek and slowly guided him back down onto the pillow. “It hurts less when you massage it.” I guided his hand down to my bruise. “Are you sure a kiss won’t heal your lips?”

He laughed and shook his head. “Go to sleep, Angel.”

I wanted nothing more than to go to sleep and forget all about the night’s events, but there was one thing I needed to know. “Why was Ellie there?”

“I don’t know, Belle. I haven’t seen her in months.” I felt him shake his head while he sighed heavily.

“What happened between you two?”

“Not now,” he groaned. “Go to sleep.”

“Ryder–”

“Not now,” he repeated. I sighed but decided not to try and ask him again. The last thing I needed right now was to fight with him. “I’ll tell you one day.” That was the last thing I heard before I fell asleep in his arms.