Rider smiled slightly. “Is that a real question?”
“I’m sorry. I feel like I am about to lose it.”
He promptly banged against the door with the butt of his gun. “Hey, asshole, I don’t particularly care if my club wanted me to show restraint or not. If you bang again, I’m putting a bullet through the door. You’re choice.”
The noise immediately stopped. Tilting his head, he quipped, “Easy peasy.”
Folding her arms over her chest, she glared at him. “You don’t seem to be very put out by getting shot again or locking a hostage in my closet.”
A lopsided grin slid onto his face. “This ain’t my first rodeo, babe.”
Chewing her bottom lip, she worried over the undeserving man. “Any idea what your friends are going to do to him?”
“Don’t know or care. My job was to find him. We’ll sit down at church and everyone will vote on his fate. I don’t much care for killing him, but I ain’t interested in spending the rest of my life looking over my shoulder either.”
The man’s raspy voice sounded off through the door. “Fine, we can call a fucking truce.”
Ryder banged the door. “Now ain’t the time, slimeball.”
Tiffany’s brow furrowed. “You’re so cavalier about violence and death. I can’t say that I like that about you.”
“Men like me have seen a lot of fighting and been through a lot of shit, doll. Just because I’m hardened to it all don’t mean I expect you to be.”
Ace groaned. “Shit, you two. Get a fuckin’ room.”
Rolling his eyes, Ryder ignored him. “Just hang tough through this one situation. I promise, no more ridin’ dirty.”
“What does that even mean?”
“Means he won’t be running drugs or guns no more,” Ace’s muffled voice reached out to them.
Ryder banged the door hard enough to split the wood. “Will you shut the fuck up, Ace? You ain’t helpin’ my case.”
Tiffany looked between the door and the man she was quickly falling in love with. “I can’t do this right now, with an honest to goodness hostage in the closet.”
“Fuckin’ fine, be that way.” Ryder kicked the chair away from bracing the door and opened the closet. Grabbing the man, he dragged him into the kitchen and threw him down into a chair.
“Why don’t you make our stalker some freakin’ coffee? We’ll treat him like an honored guest.” Ryder was totally off the chain at this point, allowing his anger and frustration to get the better of him.
Tiffany bristled at his tone. Stalking over to the coffee machine, she spat back, “You are really unbelievable. I hope you know that.”
“You’re the one who wanted to feed him tea and crumpets, princess.”
Tiffany hit the on switch and turned to face both men. Folding her arms over her chest, she studied them intently. Ace was a real piece of work. He screamed lone wolf, unhinged, and a little psychotic. Though he put forth a herculean effort to hide it, she could see defeat stamped over every square inch of his face. He was, in her opinion, nothing more than a regular guy pushed to his breaking point.
The man standing beside him with her small gun clutched firmly in his hand was in crisis mode as well. Ryder’s face was weary, and he clearly felt his back was against the wall. He was certainly a man hardened to the ugliness of the world around him.
Perhaps that’s what made him belligerent and cynical at times. Stress certainly brought out his dark side. Still, she’d be lying if she said that’s all there was to him. Ryder was also intelligent, brave, funny, flirtatious, and very direct. She wasn’t used to his particular brand of outright honesty, but she definitely liked it.
Maybe the other man possessed similar qualities. He was too overwhelmed with fear and grief over his brother for any of it to shine though at the moment though.
The different perspective she brought to the situation was that of a medical professional. In her world, everyone mattered, most especially the dirty, injured, grieving ones. Did both men frighten her? The answer would be a giant hell yes. The real problem was that neither of them scared her half as much as they should.
“I want the two of you to work out this little problem,” she announced. She watched as shock tore through both men.
“What the fuck, Tiff?”
Lifting her chin, she said, “You heard me. Ace is right about one thing. You two are as bad as each other. Use that as your common ground.”