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Ryder - Andrew Did What?
“Oh, hi, kiddo.” Gran walks past the officers, and the body tied up on her floor, to give Ryder a kiss on the cheek. “I thought you said Denise’s party was today? Shouldn’t you be over there enjoying some cake or something? Sorry we didn’t make it. We got caught up, as you can see.”
“Well hello there, handsome.” Gladys has spotted Devon standing behind me. Not that he’s hard to notice. He practically had to duck his head to get through the door. And turn sideways. “How would you like to stick around and let us practice our Shibari on you?”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Gladys.” Gran chides her friend. “You and I don’t have enough rope between us to tie up that monster. Good lord boy, where’d they get you from? From the size of you, I’d say your poor mother’s coochie still hurts. Mine hurts just looking at you, but I’d say that’s for an entirely different reason.” She winks salaciously.
“Devon, this is my Gran, Delores. Gran, this is Devon. He works as security for the band. And I don’t think it’s very polite of you to talk about how he destroyed his mother’s vagina. At least not during the first meeting.”
“It’s fine, dude,” Devon tells me. “My mom talks about how I destroyed her vagina all the time. It’s why I’m an only child. Apparently you don’t just get over giving birth to a 15 pound baby naturally.” He turns to Gran. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Delores. I’ve heard good things from this guy right here.” Devon steps aside to reveal Aiden standing behind him.
“Oh, Aiden, honey. Glad you’re here. I learned some new lap-dance moves at the seniors’ centre that I need to show you. I even learned some nice knots in Shibari that I can use, so you’re not tempted to run away like you did last time. Once I get my ropes back from that idiot on the floor, that is.”
“Everyone shut up!” I bellow. Why are they talking about Devon’s birth and Gran’s lap dancing skills where there is clearly something more important going on here? “Can someone please explain to me why the hell Andrew is gagged and tied up on the floor? And why did I have to find out from Devon that you two had snuck out of the party and run over here, to what? Rescue my grandmother?”
“Well, yes. But as it so happens, it’s Andrew who needs rescuing from Gran and Gladys.” Denise says with a smile. “Gladys says after her work with a stun gun that he probably rivals you in the downstairs hairlessness department.”
Gladys interjects, “Got him right in the nuts! And then Delores tied him up with some of her fancy knots.”
Denise hands me her phone with a text message screen pulled up. On it I see a message from Andrew saying he’s going to take something from me since I took something from him, and just before that there’s a pic of my Gran on the couch.
“You came here to hurt my Gran, you son of a bitch?” I stomp over to where Andrew is still tied up on the ground and kick him before the cops can get to me. “What was your big plan then, idiot? Did you think Denise was going to see that you’d hurt a sweet little old lady, sorry Gran, and then she wouldn’t be able to resist you?”
“OK, I think that’s enough now,” one of the cops says. “I’ll cut these ropes off and we will take this guy to the station. You ladies will all need to come in to make statements as well.”
“Wait!” Gran yells. “Don’t cut my rope. I can just untie it. I paid good money for that stuff.”
I let Gran and the cops figure out the Andrew situation on their own, and I pull Denise aside.
“Are you OK? You’re not hurt, are you?” I ask.
“I’m totally fine. Gran and Gladys had it handled before we even got here.”
I let out a breath I didn’t even realize I’d been holding, then pull Denise in for a hug. “I can’t believe you would just run in here like that? You should have told me. I would have come with you. Andrew could have seriously hurt you.”
“I wasn’t intending on rushing in here alone, Ryder.” She pulls back and looks into my eyes. “I had already called Kaden, I mean, Officer Cross, to meet us here before we left Connor’s house. He pulled up just as we did.” She points to the male cop; a good-looking, muscular guy, with a short, conservative style haircut, and tattoos covering his arms and part of his neck. He looks like the kind of guy Denise should be settling down with. Just the right mix of wholesome and edgy.
“You wantedhimhere? And not me?” The sickness I feel sneaking up on me is a jealousy like I’ve never experienced before. Maybe she didn’t really feel anything for me. At least not like I feel for her.
“What? No. It’s nothing like that, Ryder. Kaden is Xena’s brother. I wanted to make sure he’d be the first cop here. You know, in case Andrew had hurt Gran and I had to accidentally on purpose fatally wound him.”
“I would have backed you up.” Xena peeks her head between us. “It would definitely have been in self-defence. No jail time. You guys wouldn’t have had to worry about your baby being born in prison or anything.”
Suddenly a weight crashes into me from the side, knocking me down and taking Xena with me. Luckily, I was able to push Denise back far enough that she didn’t fall too. Not that I want Xena to get hurt, but she’s not the one who’s got a baby to worry about, after all.
“I knew it! You asshole. I knew it was your baby this whole time. You took her from me. She was mine. I was going to make her into the perfect woman. I should have known she was just like every other slut I’ve been with. That baby is going to be born all fucked up from the drugs you guys do all the time. If it even make-”
I finally wrestle my arms out from underneath me and I slam my fist into Andrew’s mouth before he finishes that awful thought. Unfortunately, Xena’s brother pulls him away from me before I get any more punches in.
“Yup, you’re right.” Denise spits at him. “I’m just a slut and I’m having Ryder’s baby. Are you happy now?”
“Hey now, y’all need to stop talking about my future granddaughter-in-law like that. She’s a nice girl, and she’s going to be giving me a great grandbaby soon. But I expect the two of you to get married first, you got that?” Gran comes over and hugs Denise. Looking deep into her eyes she tells her, “I’m so happy to have you in our family, young lady. You’re full of piss and vinegar, just the sort of girl my Ryder needs to keep him in line. But I won’t tolerate anyone calling you a slut, even if you’re saying it yourself.”
Aiden reaches his hand out and I take it, accepting the help up off the floor. Devon has already picked up Xena and is currently looking her over, checking for injuries, I expect. Her brother is glaring at him during this inspection, but his hands are full with pulling Andrew off the ground.
Not sure how Andrew thought that attack was going to go, considering Kaden handcuffed him just as soon as Gran untied the ropes. After knocking me down, all he did was roll around on top of me and yell out his little rant about Denise and the baby.
