Free Promise Me Light by Paige Weaver Page B

knocked.
    “Don’t,” Nathan said, grabbing my arm.
    I shrugged his hand off as cussing came from the other side of the
door.
    “I’m busy. Get your own damn room!” Ryder yelled.
    I heard a girl giggle and Ryder mumble something to her.
    I knocked again, louder this time.
    “Go the hell away!” Ryder shouted.
    Nathan grabbed my arm again. “Come on, let’s go.”
    Before I could argue with him, a guy that looked like he belonged on
Monday Night Wrestling instead of at a college booze party walked up to
us, weaving back and forth on his feet.
    “Where the fuck is he?” he slurred, trying to keep his eyes
focused on Nathan.
    “Who are you talking about, Jeremy?” Nathan asked, standing
between the big guy and me.
    The WWE man looked over Nathan’s shoulder, first at me then at the
door.
    “The asshole. Ryder. Someone saw him come up here with my
sister.”
    Oh, hell.
    “How should I know?” Nathan said, shrugging.
    I thought the guy was going to leave but then loud moaning came from
the other side of the door. Before I could move out of the way, Jeremy
(or Mr. Wrestler Man, as I thought of him) growled and pushed past
Nathan. His meaty hand reached around me, turning the doorknob and
throwing the door open.
    The room was dark but I could see two figures in bed, one on top of
the other. Toned muscles flexed in the man’s back and shoulders as he
moved over the writhing woman beneath him.
    I froze, unable to move another inch. All I could see was Ryder’s
naked body. His perfect naked body. Having sex.
    “Holy shit!” Ryder swore when he saw me standing in the doorway.
Within seconds, he was crawling off of the girl and scrambling to find
his jeans.
    “You motherfucker! What are you doing with my sister?” Jeremy
bellowed, pushing me out of the way.
    I watched in horror as Jeremy bulldozed into the room, out for blood.
Tucking his head to his massive chest, he roared and rushed Ryder,
reminding me of a bull charging a matador.
    Dropping his jeans, Ryder ducked, barely missing the guy’s fist by
inches.
    Jeremy’s drunkenness made his reaction slow. He never saw what was
coming. Ryder landed a solid punch to the guy’s face, fist connecting
with bone. With a grunt, Jeremy went down, landing hard on the floor.
Out cold. Towel thrown in. Fight over.
    I stood rooted in place, staring. My eyes ran up Ryder’s naked
body. Breathing hard, his chest rose and fell as he stared at the
unconscious man. Slowly, his eyes moved to mine, startled when he
realized I was still standing there.
    “Jesus Christ, Maddie!” he said, picking up his discarded jeans
from the floor. Hopping from one foot to the other, he struggled to pull
them on as he kept his eyes on me. “Shit! Fuck! What are you doing
here?”
    Nathan grabbed my upper arm and tried to pull me out of the room. I
refused to move. I was in a weird trance that had me frozen. I wanted to
look away from Ryder but couldn’t. In the shadows of the room, I
watched as he zipped up his jeans, covering what I had seen for only a
few seconds. Holy moly! I blinked, wondering if I was seeing things
correctly. His body was…wow. Just wow.
    Unable to take my eyes off of Ryder, I tried to jerk my arm away from
Nathan but he had a firm grip on me. As Ryder sauntered closer, I
suddenly didn’t care about Nathan’s hand on me. All I cared about
was staring at Ryder’s naked chest, ripped with perfect muscles.
    I watched in a state of shock as Ryder picked up his shirt and
quickly pulled it on over his head, never taking his focus off of me. He
looked worried. Scared.
    He looked like he wanted to throw up.
    The redhead in the bed started giggling, making it impossible to
ignore her any longer. She sat up in bed naked, not bothering to cover
herself. Not caring that her brother was out cold, spread eagle on the
floor. Her mascara was running down her face, her hair was messy, and
she was swaying back and forth on the bed. To say