Don't Forget Me Tomorrow (Time River, #2)

by A.L. Jackson

But tonight, a bulky hedge of silence echoed back. So thick I tasted it. A sour lump of dread. It clung to the darkness as if it were its own entity, dripping from the walls and crawling across the floor. My skin slicked with sweat, and my flesh pricked with those goosebumps you get when you’re being watched.

The solution landed directly on Ryder. Ryder who lived super close. His house was only a mile away. He was the obvious choice even though there was a part of me that hesitated. The last thing I wanted to do was wake him in the middle of the night for no reason. Or worse, interrupt something that I sure as heck didn’t want to interrupt.

“Don’t even give me a thought, Cookie.” As if he didn’t possess most of them as it was.

I could tell by the distinct sound of it that Ryder had driven over in his car. Or maybe I just noticed everything about him. Recognized him. The pieces of who he was entrenched in my psyche. His presence thick. Powerful as it curled through the atmosphere.

Ryder’s words pulled me back to him. “I’m going to give Ezra a call to get someone out here to check on things, but not until I get you two out of here.” That time my furrow dug so deep I was pretty sure I was seeing double. “Excuse me?” “Getting you out of here…taking you to my place.” “I don’t think that’s necessary, Ryder.” He stepped forward, towering over me like a dark storm, that mayhem I could always feel vibrating beneath the surface surging through the room and ricocheting from the walls. “It’s very necessary, Dakota. You think I’m going to leave you here knowing some asshole might have been trying to get into your place? Not going to fucking happen.” “We’re not your responsibility.” “Yet I’m the one who’s here.” His words were close to a growl, sharp as they raked over me.

But staying with Ryder? There had to be a better solution. I wasn’t sure I could handle that. Being in his space. Close quarters.

It took me a second to wrap my head around it, and I moved for him, reaching out to touch his forearm to stop him. “This is a bad idea, Ryder.” He whirled around, and shock spiraled through me when he suddenly had me by the jaw, fingers soft but sure before his hand slid up to my cheek. His hot palm burned into my flesh. My stomach tipped onto the floor. What the hell was he doing? My feet had turned to putty as he stared down at me. “Call it what you want, Dakota, but I’m not leaving here without you and your son.” The pad of his thumb traced along the hollow of my eye. “I won’t take that risk.”

“I’m not sure, Dakota, but if you are? I promise I will take care of you. Protect you.” “Why?” “Because protecting you is what I was created to do.”

One night. It wasn’t like I hadn’t spent the night under the same roof as Ryder before. But it’d been a long, long time ago, and it’d always been wrought with that crush that had made me feel like I couldn’t breathe, like the walls had closed in. Made me toss, awake but never fully alive. Wanting with a need that would never be met.

I forced a big smile to my face. “Fine. But know Kayden is going to destroy your house.” Ryder chuckled. Low and deep and dark, and still, the man somehow made it seem easy and light. “You think I’m afraid of a two-year-old?”

“Are you sure it’s not a bother?” I asked. “Like I said, taking care of you is what I was meant to do, Dakota.” Confusion bound, and I couldn’t get free of the snare of those eyes that were watching me. I had to refuse it. Not allow my head to go tripping into fanciful things. It’d hurt too damn much when I’d learned Ryder would never love me back. Not the way I’d wanted him to. So, I found the will that I’d come to find then, the strength, and I pulled back up some of those walls that sometimes threatened to slip, remembering that Ryder would never be anything more than a friend.

And I guessed I had to admit this was Ryder offering his own personal strength. His own type of dedication. Swooping in. Forever the protector. The one who’d step in front of a car spinning out of control to push their loved one out of the way. The one who’d fight if it came down to it. Oh, and Ryder would definitely fight. He might come off as easygoing, but I’d seen him come unhinged a time or two.

My stomach tightened when I thought back to what he’d done when I was nineteen. The turbulence of his assault and the aftermath of what he’d left behind. No, Ryder was not to be toyed with, which I guessed was part of the reason I’d called him in the first place.

I could handle this. It wasn’t any different than hanging out with him at Mack’s or at my brother’s or at my mom’s. Or any of the times he’d come by my house to help with things, or when I’d pop over here to drop off some special recipe I’d made. It was totally, completely the same. I didn’t know why I was making such a big deal about it.

I stalled out for a fraction of a beat. This dark, casual mayhem that stirred the air and sent it skittering across my flesh. Midnight.

God, why did a man snuggling a baby have to look so good?

“I’m not incapable of carrying in a few bags, Ryder.” He smirked one of those smirks that danced through my insides. “Clearly. But why would you go and do that when I’m here to do it? Use me up, Dakota.” He had the audacity to wink. “You’re asking for it.” I forced lightness into my voice as I yanked a little to free myself from his hold. The connection was just too much. “I’m going to get used to this pampering, and you’re never going to get rid of me. Lugging around that kid is getting tough. He’s heavy.”

“Who said I wanted to get rid of you?”

“We won’t be staying more than one night, Ryder, so this is great, thank you.” He laid Kayden down in the middle of the massive bed that took up half the room. The covers were a satiny sheen of black. Not surprising since that’s what most of his house was decorated in. Then the ground shook when he shifted around, tall and dark as he erased the space between us, and he backed me into the wall. Eyes flashed as he angled down, words harsh and jagged. “You’ll stay here as long as needed, Dakota. Until we know you’re safe, and I won’t let you go a second before that.”

Bright, blinding light blazed out from the opening and cut into the duskiness where I stood chained to the spot. Or maybe I was just dumbstruck by the sight. Ryder had been on his way out, and he halted in the doorway, standing there in only a pair of gray sweatpants, black hair wild and his chest bare. So tall and imposing and perfect that the breath fled from my lungs. It left my chest feeling empty and achy. There was nothing I could do. My eyes roved. Drinking in every inch of him. It wasn’t like I’d never seen him without a shirt before. It didn’t matter. Every time it knocked me upside the head. Made me stupid. Mouth watering, and my wayward heart hammering a thousand errant beats.

His skin was taut and tanned a golden brown, all his corded muscle bristling with that power that vibrated beneath his cool exterior. Though tonight, there was nothing cool about him. He was heat. Flames. A freaking fire that would consume me in a beat. A dark tower that loomed in the doorway.

But what always reminded me of my place was what sat in the center of his chest. It was a broken clock. Distorted and warped. The bottom of it was crumbling, and a bleeding human heart had fallen through the hole. A hand held it up, crushing it while it struggled to beat. My throat nearly closed off as I looked at where its fractured hands were forever stuck at five o’ four. A moment in time that had marked him. Scarred him. Destroyed him. A time that had crushed me, too, though I doubted he truly knew how deeply it had.

“It’s not a problem. You’re the one who opened your house up to us.” His expression flashed in intensity. His eyes raced over me so fast I had to have imagined it. “My house is always open to you, Dakota.” Everything tightened, glowed and pressed and burned. I blamed it on the night. The way everything seemed to become compressed. Dense and thick.

Eyes ablaze, his head cocked to the side, and he continued to hold onto my elbow like I might suddenly disappear. “You think any of those women could ever be more important than you?” My chest nearly caved with all the times he’d hurt me doing just that. A sharp blade dragged across my flesh every time we’d been at a bar, and he’d walked out with someone else. “More than that, you think I’ve ever brought one of them here?” A scoff quivered free. “I might not know where you spend your time, Ryder, but I know how you spend it.” There was no keeping the hurt out of it. No faking it. A thundercloud cracked through his expression. Shame and regret. Tears stung at the back of my eyes, and I turned my head away, dipping my chin in embarrassment. God, the last thing I wanted was for him to feel sorry for me. With his free hand, he reached out and forced me to look at him. “But that time isn’t important, Dakota. It’s wasted. Squandered. Told you before, if you need me, I’m there. It doesn’t matter what I’m doing. I would never forget you. Do you understand?” Meet me in the place of the forgotten. I gulped, and I could barely nod. “Good.” He grunted it right before he turned and walked out without saying anything else. He left me there, half pinned to the door and trying not to drop to my knees. Wondering what the hell had just happened.

She buried her face in her knees, hating the way it hurt to breathe. “I brought cookies into class to share for Paisley’s birthday.” “That’s cool.” She shook her head. “At lunch, Mason said I was a fat Betty Crocker.” Anger moved through him. She could feel it. “He’s nothing but a jerk, Dakota. Everybody’s got their own size. Look at your brother. He’s two times the size of me. You don’t listen to people like that. Besides, my mom says you’re the prettiest girl she’s ever seen.” “Really?” Did he think that, too? “Yeah. He’s probably just jealous of you because he doesn’t get to have all the awesome stuff you make. And who the heck is Betty Crocker?” She almost laughed, but she was still crying full force, and it made her hiccup instead.

She hugged her knees tighter and whispered, “I think everyone just wants me to disappear. Go away. Forget all about me.” “Well, that’s not going to happen, Dakota. I could never forget about you.” Her heart did that throbbing thing where it felt like it might blow up from the pressure. “You have to say that because you’re like my family.” “No way. I’m saying it because you’re probably my favorite person in the whole world.” She peeked out at him, trying to catch his lie. “Not better than you like Cody,” she challenged. “Ha. I like you ten times better than I like Cody.” He smiled at her with his big red lips. That was always when the butterflies fluttered the hardest. Well, that and when he was eating something she’d made.

Without climbing down, he hopped off the branch and landed right on his feet. He stretched out a hand for her, and his black, black hair blew in the breeze. “Come on, I’ve got you, Cookie.” And she knew she didn’t want to be out there alone. She wanted to be with him. So she reached out and took it.

But I guessed I felt safe here, as if whatever was going on back at my house couldn’t touch me,

I tiptoed back out, though this time the house wasn’t still. That energy hummed. Alive. I followed it to the doorway of the bedroom where I’d slept. Ryder was in the room, wearing the same pair of gray sweatpants he’d had on last night, though he’d pulled on a tee-shirt. I couldn’t tell if I was mourning the travesty or breathing a sigh of relief. My stomach fisted at the sight of him, so rough and menacingly beautiful. The angles of his face sharp and hewn in severity. His lips so red. A cool, dark king. But it was the sight of him lifting my son from the playpen that contracted my chest in a need so intense that I felt like I was being crushed.

My skin buzzed, and I shifted on my feet, unable to stop the old insecurities that flared when he looked at me that way. I had on sleep shorts and a long-sleeved matching tee. The black fabric was loose and draping at the shoulder, but it didn’t do a lot to conceal anything. Long ago, I’d accepted my body. No longer saw it as an imperfection or a blight. Had come to love it. But the one person in this world I’d ever wished I looked different for was Ryder. He had a type, and I definitely wasn’t it.

I’d once thought that he maybe could get over that. See me for me, the way his words had always expressed. But there’d always been a wall. An obstacle. I’d tried to knock it down, and I’d taken the chance, placed myself at his feet. He’d rejected me. I’d never forget his words. Sweet and tender and so horrifyingly painful that I still carried them like a scar. I love you, Dakota. So fucking much. But not like that.

You could say my son was obsessed with Ryder. I didn’t blame him for the affliction.

The entire house was unique and manly and oozed his aura so profusely that I felt as if I were wading through a torrent of him as I tiptoed through the living room and into the opening to the kitchen.

Kayden howled with laughter before he opened wide so Ryder could fly the spoon into his mouth. “That was the biggest bite I’ve ever seen, K-Bear.” “I gwow big,” Kayden said, so proud, his grin so wide. “That’s right, you are.” Love rushed, and I suddenly felt rawer than I had in years.

He squealed, puckering his adorable lips, and I reached out and caressed down his cheek. “Love is on house.” He slurred through the words, and my chest fisted, so tight I thought it might cave, and I leaned down and pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “That’s right. Love is on the house. Free and forever.” Because he would never have to ask for it.

Tension suddenly barreled into me from behind. Tacky and tight. The air thinned. The only sound the quiet volume of Kayden’s show from across the room and the thud of my heart that pounded in my ears. I felt like I could hardly move as I slowly shifted around. Ryder stood five feet away, all menacing glowers and huffing like a bull. “I don’t like it, Dakota.” “I don’t like it, either. Some people suck, but there’s not a whole lot we can do about that other than let Ezra do his job.” Ryder stepped forward. “There is plenty I could do about it.” Barely contained fury slipped from his tongue. I shook my head. “Don’t be an idiot, Ryder. Ezra has this handled, and the last thing I need is you getting involved in something that doesn’t even concern you.” He slowly approached, closing the distance until there was no space left between us. “Doesn’t concern me? Believe me, Cookie…” His words scraped, low and gruff. Edged with a razor. “It absolutely concerns me.”

“We each have our own lives, Ryder.” I forced it out around the tumult. His teeth ground. “You are my life, Dakota.” Chaos whipped. A muddled confusion.

“Yes, Dakota, it is necessary. You think I’m not going to have a comfortable place for Kayden to sleep while he’s here?” A comfortable place for her? Too fucking bad it wasn’t in my bed.

Kayden smacked his little chest, and a rough chuckle got free, affection so fierce it was almost painful. But love was like that a whole lot of the time, wasn’t it? Painful. Unfulfilled. Unrequited. That or you were terrified you were going to lose it once you had it.

“You don’t have to go back to your house soon, Dakota. My place is yours for as long as you want it.” Forever if need be. Hell, I’d be a lucky bastard if I could have that. But I wasn’t lucky, was I?

In that one second, the instant I saw her after she returned, every single one of those things had come rushing back at me, and my soul had known. But I’d been a fool. Made a deal with the devil, thinking I wouldn’t get played. So now I was left doing my best to pretend like what I felt for her didn’t exist.

I started out, only her voice froze me, all the teasing gone as she looked at me from across the space. “Thank you, Ryder. I don’t know how I’ll ever fully repay you.” I knew what she was referring to. That it wasn’t just her staying here while she was in need. The money I’d given her. It’d been my biggest pleasure and my greatest downfall. But I knew, standing there looking at her right then, that I’d do it a thousand times over. “What’s that you always say? Love is on the house.” Then I tapped the heel of my fist on the doorframe before I walked out.

Once we had that extra security in place, we’d go home. Taking extra precautions to protect my son didn’t make me weak. It made me smart.

Watching him put that crib together was like watching my own personal porn.

We were almost finished when I heard footsteps echoing on the stairs. A minute later, Ryder appeared in the doorway. Paisley and I both looked up, but I was pretty sure it was only me who felt the earth shift. That slight tilting that always shivered through me whenever he came into my space. Only this time, I swore I felt the world canting farther to the side than it ever had before.

He slanted me one of those grins. The kind that dripped sex. I doubted he even knew it. The impact he had.

Ryder slamming down the lid to her laptop trapped the words on my tongue. “Absolutely not,” he snarled. Paisley blinked up at him. Completely innocent when she was as guilty as could be. “And why not?” That fierce gaze slanted to me. “Because I said no.” I didn’t know if I was irritated or turned on. Both, which pissed me off, too. “Sorry to break it to you, Ryder, but I’m pretty sure you don’t have a say in the matter.” Paisley shook her head at him where he was still leaning over the table with his hand holding her laptop shut. “Our Dakota here is ready to get out and have a little fun. She’s on the hunt for the good D. You wouldn’t want to get in the way of a woman in need, would you?” Something like fury brewed across his face.

Ryder looked at me in what appeared to be disappointment. Or maybe it was pain. Then he turned and walked out.

I was going to lose my goddamn mind. Being in that house with her. Knowing she was in the next room. Sleeping in that bed. Or in the shower with water streaming over her bare skin. Or downstairs, padding around on those cute feet. Or just fucking everywhere. She’d infiltrated every crevice and had seeped into every crack.

But what had nearly sent me over the edge was walking in to find Paisley setting Dakota up on that dating app. The idea of it knocked through me like a hammer to the head. The truth that one day, she was going to find someone else. As she should. That didn’t mean it didn’t nearly spin me into violence.