When Ember Met Ryder

Hello All. Welcome to my new book. Before you start, don't forget to join my F******k packhouse called The Black Alder/Accalia packhouse for updates and giveaways. Enjoy!

Do you want to hear a story about a queen who instantly found true love and lived happily ever after? Well, tough shit. This isn't that type of story. This is my story. My life, and how it all got turned upside down before I could come to know what love really was, but before I can get to the juicy parts of my life, I need to start at the beginning. I need you to really understand just how fucked up my life really was before I met.....them!

"The true stars of the show", one of them yelled from one of the rooms. I paused the video I was recording.

" Shut up, I'm recording" I yelled back, to which two pairs of laughs followed. Rolling my eyes, I continued.

Let me take you back to the beginning......................

Ember

I'm in bed and it's dark. Two pairs of hands are roaming all over me. I couldn't see who they were, but I didn't want them to stop. This was new for me. I usually can't stand anyone to touch me lately, even my own boyfriend. I could tell that neither of them was him either, but I didn't want their hands to move away. "Dear God , don't stop", I moaned slightly, feeling their hands across my neck, my chest, my back. One male was behind me, another in front of me as I sat on my knees. The one behind me was teasing me, breathing small blows on the right side of my neck. The one in front of me had his nose on the nape of my left shoulder blade. It was almost as if he was sniffing me as he trailed his nose to the left side of my neck. I stood completely still until he licked my sweet spot that sent a wave of tingles down my spine. I couldn't help the moan that followed after it and I heard them both grunt in unison at their satisfaction at hearing it. " Your ours", the one in front whispered in my ear before tugging on my earlobe gently with his teeth. The one behind me gripped my throat, but not in a way that made it uncomfortable. It was a demanding yet comforting way. He whispered in my ear, " Tell us what you want, Red", but before I could reply, I woke up to the sound of my stupid alarm going off.

"Fuck Me", I said out loud. That was the first time I had ever had a dream like that and I was wet from it.

"Language", I heard my mom call out from the room. I giggled and hopped out of bed, getting ready to start my day, cleaning the dream out of my head. It is a rainy day here in Tallahassee, Florida. It was definitely a nice change of pace since it's usually in the mid 90s all the time. I came out of the bathroom and looked at the clock. It was 7.30. I had to be at work by 10am. After I finished getting dressed, I helped my mom out of bed, washed her, and changed her into her daily clothes. I knew it always annoyed her, since there was a nurse from the family of the job I worked for that came by every morning at 9am to do this for her, but I wanted to. Sometimes , it felt like this was the only thing I could really do for her.

Four years ago, on a rainy day, my parents were on the way to see me graduate high school. They were about to take a left turn at a green light when an oncoming truck didn't stop at the red light and rammed into their car. Dad lost control of the vehicle and it flipped over a few times. Dad had a heavy impact and was killed on the spot due to his injuries and a heart attack. Mom survived, but had damage to her head, legs, and spine. She lost both of her legs to an infection that grew from her injuries. The truck driver didn't even get arrested as he drove away from the scene, and the stupid fucking cops had no idea how to trace him, even though there was surveillance that got the whole accident on video from a cafe across the street.

Ever since then, I have been taking care of mom. We didn't always have the best relationship. I didn't really have the best relationship with dad either. I grew up in their home having trouble in school sometimes. My classmates would always tease me about my red hair, or my curvy body. I developed faster than all of the other girls, who were slim and beautiful. Almost model like. I got my looks from my mother, having double d breasts, wide hips, and a small waist with a bit of belly. It was always an issue with the other girls, because boys would hit on me non stop, and it would make the girls jealous. Jealous enough that they would pull my hair, say smart ass remarks to me, and bump into me. My first reaction would always be to punch them in the face and mess up their pretty features. You would think they would have learned the first time it happened, but nope. My parents were called each time I fought and they were always disappointed in me.

Dad never hesitated to tell me how much of a fuck up I was to him, and that I was always ruining the family name. Mom didn't say much, but her silence sometimes hurt even worse than dad's words. I was put out of the house by 16, and after being on my own for a few weeks, realizing I had no where to go, I swallowed my pride and begged them to let me back in. They agreed, on the condition that I attended anger management until I graduated high school. My reward if I met their conditions was them paying for me to go to culinary school, since my passion was always to be a professional chef.

That dream almost died the day dad did, but mom told me he had already paid for a full 2 years at the Tallahassee Culinary School of Arts. I would be responsible for covering the remaining two years. I was in tears at the news and I made sure every year at school to excel in all things chef as well as my other studies. My two years were up last year, and I spent the summer looking for a job. Dad's life insurance policy was running out , and mom and I both knew that soon, the bills would start to pile up. I found a job at a local restaurant as a waitress. The job was easy enough, but the tips were absolutely trash. I had wanted to be a cook, since they were paid more, but my manager at the time was a scum bag, and wouldn't let me move up in the company. My aunt from my dad's side of the family, Rosalee, would take care of my mom for me while I worked double shifts. If it was not for working doubleshifts and saving money, I might not have met him. Ryder Woodcrest. My current boyfriend.

When I met Ryder at the time, he came in for some food and was going over his phone. I admitted to myself, he was kind of cute, with his dark skin, brown eyes, and black locks with gold on the tips. It was in a man bun. He paid me no mind as he ordered a BLT on wheat toast, and I brought the food to him. The cook had undercooked his bacon, and he was quick to notice. He looked up at me and I could just tell he was going to curse me out, but the look on his face somehow came close to shock. He grabbed me by my arm and pulled me out of the store, pushing me against the wall before I could realize what was happening.

" What the fuck?", I said, pushing him off of me. I was prepared to fight for my life. I knew the staff at the shop would not help me if I was assaulted out here. They were sick fucks and would probably watch and laugh.

" My name is Ryder. You don't you know me?", he asked me. He didn't come forward again. To be completely honest, now that I was really looking at him, there was a sense of familiarity, but I was certain I had never seen him before.

" No , I don't , and I don't take kindly to being shoved against my will on a wall outside my job", I told him. It was at that moment my boss came out.

" Ember, I'm not paying you to fucking entertain your company. Get your ass back to work'' He grunted at me before going back inside. I looked at Ryder, whose brown eyes almost seemed black and he was making a sound I could not even begin to understand. I was uncomfortable already enough.

"If we are done here, I'm going back inside to work, and you can just leave", I said to him, before turning around and going back inside. Thankfully , he didn't follow me. He stood outside the cafe, watching me work. I put one of the knives inside my apron, just in case. He seemed to take a phone call and with one last glance at me, he left.

"Fucking Creep" , I thought to myself.

It was almost two hours later when my shift was done. I had gone around to take out the trash for the night before heading home, and I saw the boss was still here. Which was weird, because he never stayed until closing time. I heard voices coming out the back, and I sat the bags down and stayed hidden behind some trash bins. The man from earlier, Ryder, was with two other men, and they were all beating up my boss.

" How dare...you fucking....talk to her....like that....piece of shit" , Ryder had said.

" Im sorry, Im sorry', the man was whimpering. One of the men with Ryder bent down. I heard a crack and my boss yelled loudly. I gasped. They were going to kill him at this rate. I couldn't intervene. This was Tallahasse. For all I knew, my boss probably owed Ryder money or something. Ryder seemed to sniff the air and then look right in my direction. His men did the same.

" You mind as well come out, love. We all know you are there", he said. How did he know? I was well hidden. Not enough, I suppose. Swallowing my spit, I stood up, and put my hand in my apron. If any of them tried to attack me, I would not have gone down without stabbing someone in the eye first.

" I'm sorry", I said. " I was just leaving actually. I promise, I won't tell anyone.", I swore. I knew I must have sounded stupid. They probably heard that all the time. Ryder just laughed, like it was the funniest thing in the world.

" Now Ember. It is Ember, isn't it? I think you and I both know I can't just let you leave. You are an accessory to murder after all" he said, folding his arms.

" Murder. He isn't dead" I said. It was in the blink of an eye when Ryder somehow uncrossed his arms. I heard a loud " POP" sound, and flinched, closing my eyes. When I opened them, Ryder had a gun in his hand, and there was a hole right in the middle of my boss's head. He was dead now.

" Now, I do believe he is dead. tsk. tsk. tsk. Now what to do about you" he said, holding the gun at me. I hadn't planned on dying tonight, but it was about to happen. I didn't even get a chance to tell mom how much I loved her. Never got to finish school to make dad happy. I suppose I was about to meet dad now. I was a loose end that needed to be cleaned up after watching him murder someone. What I never suspected, was for him to lower the gun.

" Take her" , he said, and before I could react, someone came up from behind me and hit me on the head.