The next morning when I woke up I felt well rested. As I opened my eyes I realized that Ryan was still lying next to me, his bare chest rising and falling slowly letting me know he was still in a deep sleep. When I glanced down his body I noticed a very prominent bulge under the sheets. I had to bite my lip so I wouldn't laugh. I had always heard that this sometimes happens to guys but I had never seen it myself.
I took one last look at Ryan's beautiful sleeping face and then I quietly climbed out of bed. I quickly tiptoed over to my bathroom, shutting the door behind me. I turned on the shower so the water could start heating up and then turned to look in the mirror. My lips were dark pink in color and a little swollen, my hair was insanely messy, and my eyes were bright and alert. I looked like a completely different person.
When the water was hot enough I climbed into the shower. As I stood under the warm spray of water I hadn't really been paying attention to what was going on around me, so I didn't hear the bathroom door open. I was just about to turn the water off when a pair of strong arms wrapped around my waist.
I jumped a little and spun to face the person behind me. My legs almost turned to jelly at the sight of Ryan. When I had jumped I had moved back so now he was directly under the spray of the shower. His hair was dark blonde now and his skin was covered in tiny droplets of water. God it should be a crime to look so good.
"Good morning" he said as he pressed his lips against mine, apparently his condition had gotten worse. I just smiled.
"Apparently" he smirked at my reply before pressing his lips to mine.
"How are you doing this to me?" he asked his voice deep.
"I don't know what you mean." I said as I ran my hand down his chest and across his abs.
"How is it that just the thought of you has me hard?" he asked, emphasizing his point by pressing his lips to mine. All I could do was smile.
"I don't know baby, but why don't you ponder that while you wash up." I said smirking before slipping away from him and quickly exiting the shower and bathroom. I just towel dried my hair and then threw it up into a messy ponytail. I pulled on a new set of underwear and then threw on a pair of jeans and a black tank top.
I checked the time before heading downstairs, it was only nine so I had a few hours before Ethan would be home. I made my way to the kitchen and started mixing together some pancake batter as I fried some bacon on the stove. I hadn't been downstairs long when Ryan strolled into the kitchen. He was wearing his clothes from the night before. He walked over to stand behind me.
"That was a very dirty trick." He said his voice very close to my ear.
"Sorry, I just needed some food. You wore me out last night." I said turning to face him, he smiled.
"Right back at you" he said before moving back around the counter to sit at the bar across from me. I made him up a plate of food, and he ate it all. Considering how fast he ate it he must really have been as hungry as I was. When we were both done I took our plates and stuck them in the sink to deal with later.
"So now what?" I asked as I walked back around the counter. I climbed up onto Ryan's lap, wrapping my arms around his neck. His hands moved down and grabbed my hips. He pulled me closer to him and then smirked at me before capturing my lips with his.
My hands moved up into his short blonde hair as he continued to kiss me. After a few minutes I had to break the kiss because my lungs were screaming for oxygen. His lips moved down to my neck and started working on a spot just below my ear, he was marking me and just the thought of what he was doing made my heart skip a beat.
Just as I was about to pull his lips back up to mine, my cell phone buzzed on the counter behind me. I grabbed it and looked at the number flashing across the screen. My blood went ice cold almost instantly. I stopped moving all together, this got Ryan's attention. He pulled back to look at me just as I answered my phone.
"Hey Jake, what's up?" I asked. Ryan smirked at me, but I could have sworn I saw a flash of anger in his eyes. He leaned in and started placing kisses down my neck again. I had to bite my lip to keep from moaning into the phone.
"Wait what?" I asked not hearing what Jake had just said.
"I said Max and I got done early and we were going to go down to the water sports complex and you're going with us." Jake said laughing. Ryan's hands moved back to grab my ass, pulling me against him again.
"I don't know man I'm kind of tired." I tried to keep my sentences as short as I could.
"Were not taking no for an answer. Look we are like five minutes from your house so you better go get ready." His words made me jump off Ryan's lap, ending the call in the process.
"You have to leave, now!" I said running into the next room and grabbing his shoes. I threw them at him as he walked into the room behind me.
"What I can't stay and say hi?" he asked smirking at me. I just looked at him.
"You know the answer to that. Jake is one of my best friends and he hates you, so you cannot be here when he arrives." I said as I made sure nothing was messed up in the living room from the night before. Ryan just laughed as he moved to stand in front of me.
"I'll see you later then." He said before leaning down and pressing his lips to mine. My phone buzzed again, it was a text from Jake. 'We're almost there you ready?'
"Okay you have to go now" I said as I pulled Ryan along behind me as I headed out the door. I pulled him over to his black suv and waited for him to climb in it. He kissed me once more and then drove away. I waited until he had turned out onto the main road to breathe easy, but not two minutes later I saw Max's mustang pull in.
I ran back inside and upstairs to my room. I glanced around. My bed was beyond repair so I just skipped it completely as I ran over to my dresser. I dug around for my swim suit and found the one I wanted just as I heard the door open downstairs.
"Amanda you ready?" I heard Jake yell.
"In a second!" I shouted back before rushing into the bathroom to change. When I emerged from the bathroom I found Jake and Max in my room.
"You ready yet?" Max asked as he saw me leave the bathroom.
"Yes" I said as I let my hair down. I had thrown on a little makeup while I changed so I was good to go. I slipped on my black flip flops and checked myself in the mirror one last time. I had picked a light emerald green bikini that fit me well.
The color contrasted nicely with my hair. I led the guys back out of my house and outside where I was forced into the almost nonexistent backseat of Max's car. I had to sit sideways and stretch my legs out the side window near Jakes head just so I would fit comfortably.
"Dude your feet stink." Jake joked as he pushed my feet away from him, I laughed.
"No they don't" I said pushing them back towards his face. It wasn't a very long drive to the water sports complex and before I knew it I was climbing out of the back seat, or trying to at least. Jake held his hand out to help me and I took it gladly. I was almost out when my foot got caught and I went falling forward, thankfully Jake was there to catch me.
"Thanks buddy" I said as I stood up.
"No problem" he said smiling at me.
"Well would you look at that, the new guys just got girls falling for him right and left." I knew that voice, and if its owner was here that meant that Ryan was here to. When I turned my fears came true, Eric was walking by, Ryan not far behind him. He laughed at Eric's joke but the expression didn't touch his eyes. He was mad, and I could tell.
"Screw you guys." Jake said before throwing his arm around my shoulder and leading me in the direction of the picnic tables that were scattered around the complex. As we sat down I noticed the while bandage on Jake's hand. I grabbed his hand in mine.
"What the hell happened to you, you punch a brick wall or something?" I asked as I pulled the bandage back enough so that I could see his badly bruised knuckles.
"Nah he just kicked these guy's asses yesterday, Look." Max said before holding up his phone for me to see. I watched the video of Jake as he beat the crap out of these four losers driving a yellow hummer. When the clip was over I just sighed and looked at Jake.
"You know Roka's going to kick you out for this right." I said raising an eyebrow at him.
"How's he ever going to find out?" Jake asked before standing up to throw away the trash from the hot dog he had grabbed before we had sat down. As soon as he left the table these two girls leaned over to ask Max about Jake and boy did he lay it on thick, I think I zoned out about the time he said he was Jakes trainer.
Someone moved behind me and I turned to see Baja walk up to Jake. She said something but I wasn't entirely sure what, and then walked away after Jake most likely made some smart ass remark. He went to the bathroom then and I jumped up and chased after Baja. I called her name and she turned to look at me.
"Hey Amanda, how are you doing?" she asked.
"Good" I told her as I pushed my hair behind my ear. Her eyes got a little wider and she smiled at me.
"You might want to leave your hair the way it was, that is one massive hickey on your neck." I felt my face heat up as she reached out and moved my hair to hide the mark on my neck.
"Thanks" I said.
"Who gave you that?" I couldn't keep my eyes from glancing in Ryan's direction. Of course she noticed.
"Oh I see. Just be careful Amanda." She went to walk away but I reached out to stop her.
"Wait, I know Jake can be a jerk sometimes, but he really does like you. Just give him a little time to cool down." she smiled at me and just nodded before turning back around. I turned around as well and started off back towards the table Max was still occupying. This time she was the one to call my name. I turned back to look at her.
"I won't tell anyone you know, about…" she said indicating to the same spot on her neck that my hickey was located.
"Thanks" I said before continuing towards the table. Max had left the table apparently so I started off towards the parking lot to find him. I had just passed the guys bathroom when the door opened revealing a much too smug Ryan. I moved around the corner quickly and waited a few seconds, hoping my gut instincts were wrong. Unfortunately not a minute after Ryan had left the bathroom Jake emerged, and he was limping.
"Jake what happened?" I asked as I rushed over to his side. I moved his arm to over my shoulders and helped him walk. I glanced back behind me to see Ryan watching us over his shoulder, and he didn't seem happy. I helped Jake out to Max's car. I climbed in first and then Jake climbed into the passenger's seat. Max turned the key and then drove away.
"What's the beat down?" Jake asked. My stomach lurched.
"No way, absolutely not!" I started but was cut off by Max.
"Dude you have to do it, it's awesome." He said his eyes getting excited.
"What is it?" Jake asked.
"It would be easier to show you." Max said and then turned down the road that led to his house. Several hours later I was still sitting there on Max's couch listening to them talk on and on about the beat down. I looked at the clock then and noticed that it was almost eight at night. I stoop up then.
"Okay Max, either you are going to get your ass up and drive me home or I'm taking your keys and driving myself." I said, he and Jake just laughed before standing up as well.
This time I made Jake ride in the back, and honestly it had to have been one of the funniest damn things I have ever seen in my life. By the time we reached my house it was already dark out. Max pulled up near the front door and let me out, waiting a minute for Jake to change seats before driving off back down my long driveway. I turned to go inside when I heard something behind me move.
"So did you have fun today?" I jumped as Ryan appeared out of thin air. His arms were folded in front of his chest and his jaw was set. I could tell he was upset about something but honestly so was I.
"You have got a lot of nerve showing up here after what you did." I said my hands on my hips. The cool breeze hit me then and I wanted to wrap my arms around myself for warmth but I didn't budge.
"All I did was show Iowa that I am still the best around here." He said smiling a smile that both scared me and made me want to take him in my arms and do unmentionable things to me.
"So you jumped him in the bathroom to prove you're the king. Ryan, when is it going to dawn on you that Jake doesn't want to be the best? He just wants to be left alone." I said as I took a few steps towards him.
"I suppose you would know all about what Jake wants wouldn't you?" he asked his words knocking the breath right out of me.
"You know I actually thought I felt something between us last night, but I guess I was wrong." I said. I turned to leave then but he grabbed my arm to stop me.
"Don't…" he started, his eyes looking directly into mine.
"Goodnight Ryan." I said before pulling my arm free and walking straight into the house, shutting and locking the door behind me. I peered out the small window next to the door and watched as Ryan climbed into his suv and drove off.
I felt the tears forming in my eyes and ran up the stairs to my room. I collapsed on my bed just as my tears started pouring down my face. I pulled my blankets up around me and cuddled up with one of my pillows, but that only made it worse.
Everything smelled like Ryan. I jumped out of bed and pulled all the blankets and pillows on the floor. I gathered them in my arms and took them downstairs to the laundry room. I shoved in the sheets and my blanket and both pillow cases. I slammed the washer door closed and hit the start button.
My tears continued to fall as I made my way back upstairs and as I remade my bed. By the time I was done my tears had stopped and now all I felt was anger. I changed my clothes and put my hair up before climbing into bed. My emotions were running haywire. They kept switching from sad, to angry, and then back to sad.
Sure I was sad about what happened with Ryan, but I was mostly just angry with myself. I should have known better than to get involved with Ryan to begin with. He was one of my best friends arch rivals for Christ's sake, what was I thinking. The only problem was no matter how bad I felt about betraying Jake, I still missed Ryan.
It made no sense to me, two days ago and I couldn't care less about Ryan McCarthy, but now I don't know what we are. I had feelings towards Ryan that I couldn't explain it was almost like, no that couldn't possibly be it after only two days. It was like I was falling for him.
The second I realized that's what was happening my phone buzzed. I picked it up to see that it was Ryan, I hit the ignore button. I wasn't ready to talk to him just yet. My phone beeped after a minute letting me know that he had left a voicemail. I didn't listen to it. I just sat my phone down next to me and went to sleep, thoughts of Ryan flooding my dreams.