The Ritual: Chapter 21

I STAND IN my bathroom getting ready when Ryat walks in already dressed in his clothes from last night. “You don’t have class today,” I say to him. He doesn’t have any on Fridays. Come to think of it, I never really see him going to any classes or talking about schoolwork. He may be on campus but never actually doing anything there. Makes me wonder if the Lords actually have to attend.

“I’ve got somewhere to be before my plane leaves this morning,” he says cryptically, walking over to me. He slaps my ass while staring down at it. I’m still naked, and my hair is wet. I just got out of the shower. “Fuck, that ass—”

“You pick.” I interrupt him.

He steps behind me, reaching up. He gently pulls the hair off my chest and shoulder to lay across my back and leans down to kiss my neck, while his eyes find mine in the mirror. “Pick what?” He kisses my neck again.

“The fantasy,” I whisper nervously.

His free hand comes up and wraps around my neck while his other comes around and massages my breast. “What about it?”

“You told me last night to tell you what I wanted in order to act out my fantasy.” Something about our conversation last night took a weight off my shoulders. I woke up feeling lighter—more confident in myself and what I want.

“I did,” he agrees, his teeth sinking into my skin.

I swallow the moan and focus on what I’m trying to say before I lose my nerve. “I’m telling you now, I want you to pick.”

“How I act it out?” he confirms.

I nod. “Yeah.”

Smirking, he meets my eyes in the mirror. “Last chance.”

I frown. “For what?”

“To rethink that.” I go to ask what he means when he continues, “Because you might not want to give me that kind of power.”

I swallow nervously but nod. “I’m sure.” I’m not backing down. My mind knows right from wrong, but my body craves the wrong. And as little as I know about Ryat, I do know that I can trust him. My body reacts to his touch, his lips, his dominating demeanor. All I ever wanted Matt to do was take control. I would be stupid not to use Ryat when he’s offering me that very chance.

“Limits?” he asks. “Anything off the table?”

Biting my lip, I think of one thing. “No anal.” He obviously has a thing for asses. I’d like to ease into that one.

“Okay, then.” He kisses my neck once again and pulls away from me. “I’ll see you Sunday.” He slaps my ass and turns, leaving the bathroom.

“Wait. When will we do it?” I ask.

He stops and turns to face me, tilting his head to the side thinking about it. “Do you want to know? Or would you rather be caught off guard?”

The thought of not knowing has my heart racing and my skin tingling. It just takes away another choice that I didn’t realize I wanted him to have. “Surprise me.”

He nods and then turns to leave.

RYAT

I BRING MY car to a stop in the parking lot at the house of Lords. Entering the double doors, I check the time on my watch. I have two hours before my father’s jet is set to leave for New York. I hate to be late, but I’m not going to put this off.

“Hey, where have you been?” Prickett asks as he sees me enter. An apple in one hand, his cell in the other. It’s clear that Gunner hasn’t filled him in on what we did at Blackout last night. But I didn’t expect him to. It wasn’t Lord related. Just two overly jealous men who will do anything to prove a point.

“Matt here?” I ask Prickett, avoiding his question. I actually prefer staying at Blake’s apartment. It’s not as secluded as I’d like, but it’s better than this place full of horny fucking men.

“Yeah, he’s in the gym.” He and Gunner exchange a look.

I run up the staircase, taking a right on the second floor. Then I storm down the hallway to the double doors at the end. I shove them open, noticing Gunner and Prickett are behind me.

The gym is large with everything you could possibly think of, plenty of each station for us all to work out at the same time comfortably. When you tell almost a hundred men they can’t fuck, you find a lot of them work out to take their minds off what they really want. Thankfully at this time, most of them are already in classes or still asleep.

Matt’s the only one in here at the moment. I spot him over in the corner, working out with the free weights. He smirks when his eyes meet mine in the floor-to-ceiling mirrors. “Pretty sure these weights are too heavy for you,” he jokes.

Walking over to him, I pick up a thirty-pound dumbbell off a bench next to him and swing, hitting him on the side of the head.

He stumbles over, dropping the weights he was holding. “Fuck …” he groans, his hand going to a gash that is now bleeding from the side of his head. I hope he’s seeing fucking stars right now.

Gunner’s eyes widen while Prickett drops his apple to the floor. Ignoring them both, I grab Matt’s hair and yank him over to the bench press. I throw him onto it facedown.

“Load it,” I order to Prickett and Gunner. Might as well put them to work if I’m going to give them a show.

Matt is still pretty dazed from the hit to his head, so he’s not fully understanding what’s going on just yet. Making his body sluggish and slow to get up. His head hangs off the end, and his arms dangle off the sides, touching the floor.

Prickett and Gunner put fifty pounds on each end and then lift it off the bar. Pressing it to his back, they pin him down but hold it steady on both sides, making Matt groan from the weight.

I crouch down in front of his face that hangs off the end of the bench. “I saw you talking to my girl yesterday.” It’s clear that Blake doesn’t remember our conversation before she passed out last night because she didn’t mention it this morning. And I’m not going to remind her of it, but I’m also not going to rat her out. Matt needs to think I saw it, not that she told me what he said and did. Because I know if I hadn’t forced her, she would have never told me. And I don’t like that.

Gunner and Prickett push their weight onto either end of the bar, shoving it further into his back, making him bare his teeth at his silence. He coughs, face turning red, but he’s fully aware of what’s happening right now. “She’s not yours.” Matt manages to get out through gritted teeth. “Doesn’t matter what you fucking do! She will be mine!”

I can’t argue that because it’s the truth. That doesn’t mean I fucking like it. “Here’s the thing, Matt. I don’t give a fuck about that. She’s mine right now. And I don’t fucking share. So as a reminder …” I stand and grip his sweaty hair. Yanking his head up, I bring my knee to his face, hearing a crack, and he cries out. His body jerks, and the guys have to grip the bar tighter to keep it in place.

Keeping my hand fisted in his hair, I crouch back down beside him this time and whisper into his ear. “That was for putting your fucking tongue on her face. Do it again, and I’ll cut the goddamn thing out.” I let go of him, and his bloody face falls to hang over the bench.

“Stay the fuck away from her, Matt. This will be your only warning. I already took her from you once, and I can do it again.” With that, the guys let go of their ends, and it slides off to the right of his back. The weight catches his body and shoves him to the floor with it.

I turn and walk toward the double doors to exit the gym when I hear him shout, “She does not belong to you! She will be my wife!” He’s screaming as the doors shut behind my exit. Taking the stairs down to the first floor, I head to my room to pack my bag for my trip home.

“What the fuck was that about?” Prickett charges into my room with Gunner behind him.

“Nothing,” I lie. I’m not in the mood to go through this with them. My entire body is vibrating right now because I’m so pissed at Matt. At Blakely. I know it’s not her fault, but the fact that I may have never found out doesn’t sit right with me. And I can’t even fucking tell her that because then she’ll know she told me last night. Fuck!

“What the fuck, Ryat? That was not nothing.” Gunner is the one who snaps.

I throw the bag on my bed and turn to face them. “I didn’t need your help. So next time don’t follow me and get involved.”

Gunner snorts, and Prickett runs his hands through his hair.

“Listen …” Prickett steps into me. “Things haven’t been the same since you and Matt returned from Chicago last year. We all know it. We’ve all seen it. I don’t know what the fuck went down there, but you need to get your shit together. Fighting in the Lords over a chosen …?” He shakes his head. “That’s the last thing you want to be seen doing.”

I step into him, not about to back down. I love Prickett as a brother, but I’m not past breaking his fucking jaw. “Then he needs to keep his fucking hands off what’s mine.”

“Jesus, Ryat. Are you falling for her?” Gunner asks, wide-eyed.

“Fuck, no.” I hiss at his dumb-ass question. “This is about Matt and him putting his hands on something that doesn’t belong to him,” I shout. “I didn’t give him permission—”

“I’m going to stop you right there.” Prickett interrupts me, placing his hands up and stepping back, giving me some space. “Did he fuck her?”

“No.” I would have killed that sorry son of a bitch right there in the weight room and hung his body for all to see just to make a point.

“Then you can’t go after him, Ryat. Unless he did something with your chosen without your permission, the Lords won’t see your tantrum justified.”

“Tantrum?” I give a rough laugh.

“What else would you call it?” Gunner shrugs.

My teeth fucking grind because I could explain it to them a million different ways, and they wouldn’t understand.

Someone knocks on my bedroom door, and I snap, “What?”

It cracks open, and Sarah pokes her head in. Her eyes go from me to Prickett and then Gunner. “I’m headed to class,” she tells him.

He looks at her, then back at me. After a long second, he sighs. “I’ll walk you out.” Then he leaves me alone with Prickett.

“I …”

“Leave, Prickett.” I’m over this conversation.

He hangs his head, rubbing the back of his neck. “I just hope you know what you’re doing, Ryat. I’d hate for you to come this far and lose it over a piece of ass.” Then he too turns and walks out, leaving me pissed off.

An hour later, I’m boarding my father’s private jet when my cell rings in my pocket. Taking a seat in the white leather chair, I see it’s a number that isn’t saved and shows no name. Not uncommon.

“Hello?” I answer.

“Hello, Ryat.”

I recognize his voice immediately and sit up straighter in my chair. I haven’t spoken to him since I met him in the middle of the night in his office when he told me to choose Blakely. “Sir …”

“I heard there was an issue this morning at the house of Lords.”

My teeth grind. How the fuck does he know? Prickett and Gunner may not understand what I did, but they’re not rats. There wasn’t anyone else in the gym. And I know Sarah doesn’t know what happened. That only leaves one possibility. Matt! He’s already run his mouth to his daddy. Maybe he thinks if he can get me stripped of the Lords, he’ll get Blakely sooner. Maybe that was his plan all along. Go to Blake, threaten her, thinking she’ll run to me, and I’ll attack him. Fuck, if that was his plan, I fed right into it and gave him exactly what he wanted.

“Yes, sir. It won’t happen again,” I lie. Matt needs to learn his lesson. If I need to do that again, then so be it. I’ll face those consequences, when the time comes.

“No need,” he says dismissively.

I frown and repeat. “No need?”

“Yes. I’m not aware of the details, and neither do I care. But just so we have an understanding.” He pauses and clears his throat. “You do whatever the fuck is necessary to keep him away from her. And I’ll make sure that these pesky rumors are never heard of.”

A smile grows across my face. What the fuck has Matt done to piss off this man?

“Am I clear?” he asks at my silence.

“Yes, sir.”

Click.

I sit back as the engines come to life on the jet, and that smile grows even bigger, making my cheeks hurt. This game just got a lot more fun.

_______________

THE TOWN CAR pulls up to the front of the Victorian mansion in Upstate New York where I grew up.

Getting out, I grab my bag and head up the steps. Before I can even reach the last one, the door swings wide open. My mom shrieks, placing her hands over her mouth before running to me.

“Ryat!” she screams a little too loud in my ear as she hugs me tightly.

I drop my bag to hug her back. “Hey, Mom.”

“Oh my God, I’m so glad you’re home.” She pulls away and cups my face with both of her hands. “You’re such a grown man.” I see the tears start to build in her soft blue eyes.

I never come home. It’s not because of her or because of my dad. I just choose to be somewhere else. “I’m only here for the weekend,” I remind her.

She smiles at me. “I know. But soon, you’ll be living here again.”

I don’t respond to that.

“Son,” my father calls out from inside the house.

“He’s been waiting on you,” she says softly.

Kissing her on the cheek, I reach down and grab my bag before walking inside.

“I’ll take that.” She jerks it from my hands. When I go to reach out for it, she adds, “I’ll put it in your room.” Then she turns and practically skips up the stairs.

Taking in a deep breath, I walk down the hallway and into his study to the right. He sits behind his desk, typing away on his computer.

“I’m glad you could make it home, son,” he says, glancing up at me, then going back to his screen.

I fall into the brown leather couch. “You said it was important.”

His cell phone rings, and he stands. “Give me a second.” Dismissing himself from the room, he answers it.

I pull mine out and enter my passcode before pulling up my app that shows me the inside of Blake’s apartment. She’s lying in bed. She must have gone back to take a nap after her first class. I know she’s tired. After her drunken state last night plus waking up after her dream, she didn’t get much sleep.

She’s on her right side, facing one of the cameras. The covers are shoved down to the footboard. All she wears is her thong. Her clothes are on the floor by her bed.

“Sorry about that,” my father announces, entering, and I lock my cell before he can see what I’m looking at.

“It’s fine.” I shove it into my pocket and think of anything but her to ignore my hard cock.

He sits back behind his desk, undoing the button on his Armani suit jacket, his green eyes meeting mine. “Mr. Williams called me.”

I roll my eyes. “Can’t say I’m surprised. I’m sure I know what he wanted too.”

He nods. “Cindy told him who you chose, and he wanted to know why.”

“Did you tell him it’s none of his goddamn business,” I growl. God, that family is annoying. The fact that I have to marry into it gives me a migraine. And they keep overlooking the fact that no one chose her. That should be the first hint. I’ve seen Lords go to war over wanting the same chosen, while refusing to share her with one another.

“Well, she will be your wife—”

“Not by choice,” I interrupt him, standing.

He sighs heavily. “Arranged marriages aren’t uncommon in our social circle, Ryat.”

I walk over to the window and look over the grounds. You can see the horse stables from here. My mom loves her horses. She’s been riding since she was a kid. The only kind of horse my father likes are the ones that win him money at the track. “Yeah, well, as long as the prenup doesn’t mention anything about remaining faithful.” I give him a pointed look. “For either of us.” She can fuck who she wants, and I’ll fuck whoever I want. I don’t want to get caught with my pants down around my ankles and her try to take me for everything I have.

He runs a hand down his face. “The Williamses aren’t the issue right now.”

“Then what is?” I ask, looking back out the window.

“Matt.”

I tense. Does my father know what I did this morning? That Blakely is causing problems? He knows I had to choose her, but does he know why? I decide the best way to find out what he knows is to play stupid about what I did to Matt in the gym this morning.

I snort. “He’s always a problem.”

“I’m serious, Ryat. He’s getting worried. He’s offered to pay.”

I look back at him and growl. “How much?” So, my knee to his face has made him desperate? He thinks I have the chance to take Blakely away from him.

“Fifty grand.”

I roll my eyes. “The Winstons always have been fucking cheap.”

“You saying you want to offer more?”

Walking back over to the couch, I sit down and arch a brow. “Since when is that an option?” He’s got to be joking, but I’ll see where it gets me.

He shrugs. “This isn’t about you. It’s about Matt.” Leaning forward, he places his forearms on his desk. “So, I’m asking you … How much more are we going to offer?”

“I’m going to marry Cindy,” I argue. “Why would I make an offer for a woman who I have to toss to the side afterward?” His logic doesn’t make any sense.

“I can’t tell you that,” he answers simply.

I roll my eyes. “Of course not. How do you even know he wants to buy her now?” He’s trying to guarantee his future that I threatened to take away from him. He never wanted her. Matt is to marry Blakely because his father told him that’s what he’ll do. There’s no other reason behind it. Now I have the fucker scared. I took his toy, and he knows it won’t be clean and innocent when I’m done with it. No, it’ll be dirty and tarnished. Used every way imaginable.

When she sucks and fucks his cock in a way that makes his head spin, his first thought will be—did Ryat teach her that? I damn sure did, you son of a bitch!

“I received a call,” he answers vaguely.

And I don’t ask any further questions because I know I won’t get any answers.

“So, I’m going to ask you one more time.” He speaks, and I come to a stop and look at him. “How much is she worth to you?”