Free Ryder (Rope 'n Ride Series Book 2) by Em Petrova Page A

her side.
    With a roar of fury, Ryder leaped out and wrested the camera from the guy. He’d seen the crew work with their equipment long enough that he knew the basics. He flipped open a little door and ripped the SD card free.
    “You can’t do that. It has Ridge’s ride—” the guy started.
    Too late. The card was in the dust crushed beneath Ryder’s boot heel.
     

 
    Chapter Four
     
    “What were you thinking? You just jeopardized your contract, right along with Wynonna. No interference.” Lane opened his eyes wide to impress his words upon Ryder.
    Raising his shot glass to his lips, Ryder drank off the whiskey. It barely burned on the way down—it was his fourth shot, after all.
    An angry cameraman had gone to his production manager—who was an emotional wreck after being dumped by Wynonna. Who knew what would come out of the meeting. Nothing good.
    “Another,” Ryder said to the bartender, lifting his glass.
    “Make that six.” Buck’s deep voice sounded from his side.
    When six glasses were set up before all the siblings lined up at the bar, they looked at each other and raised their glasses.
    “For you, Dad,” they said down the line and swallowed the liquid.
    The acrid edge of the alcohol took Ryder’s aggravation away—but it also drowned out the flavors of Joy that still lived on his tongue. That was his only regret.
    After she’d walked away from the trailer and the crushed SD card debacle, she hadn’t spoken to him. He’d supported his family members in their events. Then he’d taken his own bull and given the ride his all.
    Knowing Thunder was there to watch nudged him toward a bigger greatness than he felt he’d achieved yet. He wanted to prove to the man that he was worth it—but his determination wasn’t about bull riding.
    He wanted him to see he was worthy of his daughter, dammit.
    This was craziness. A few weeks ago he’d been evading anything remotely resembling commitment. Now…
    When he ordered another shot, Lane shook his head at the bartender and she brought him a beer instead. “Can’t even get ripping drunk with you monitoring me, Lane.”
    They moved off toward a table at the back that would hold all of them. Once they were settled, they stared at each other, nothing to say.
    After a long moment and half his beer, Ryder lowered his bottle and said, “At least there isn’t a Calhoun kid on the way.”
    “What the hell?” Buck said.
    “Was there a chance you were unsure?” Wynonna leaned her elbows on the table, her hands upraised in exasperation.
    He set the bottle on the table. “A bunny called me her baby daddy, but she had the time frame all wrong.”
    “Jesus, Ryder. We can’t let you off the ranch.” West shook his head.
    Some of the whiskey was taking effect and he was much mellower than he had been a few minutes ago. Which was good—he needed it to deal with his family.
    “I don’t think we need to worry about Ryder’s bastard children as much as we should about our contracts for the show.” Buck’s ominous tone silenced them all.
    Dipping his head into his hands, Ryder tried to give a damn that he might get kicked off Rope ‘n Ride. But he couldn’t feel further from that. “I lost my cool.”
    “You think?” West dropped his sarcasm into the mix.
    “You’d do the same if someone you cared about might face a scandal because she was filmed in a place she shouldn’t have been with a man she shouldn’t have been with.” His voice cracked.
    They all looked at him. “What the hell are you talking about, Ryder? Or is it the whiskey talking?”
    “No, it’s me.” He met each solemn gaze. “I was with Joy Humphries—”
    “Jesus.” West smacked a palm on the table.
    “You know how to choose the most untouchable woman, don’t ya?” Ridge asked.
    Ignoring the outbursts, Ryder raised his hands for silence. “I’m only telling y’all because if anything comes of this… moment of anger I had, then you’d find out anyway. I don’t