Ryker (The Powers That Be Book 4) Read Free Page B

pocket and brought it to my ear, too pissed to care that I was risking being pulled over. “Did you hear that?” I screeched at Gladys.
    “I did! Oh, my God! Frankie! He sounds so hot!” she squealed.
    What?
    “Are you kidding me right now? Did you not just hear what he said about me?”
    “Yes! That’s what was hot!”
    “Glad! He was making out with another woman! He fucked her last night! The night after he fucked me!” I couldn’t help but scream now.
    “Calm down, Frankie.”
    “Calm down? Seriously?”
    “Yes.”
    Wow. Had everyone gone nuts in the last twenty minutes? I brought my phone down to Bluetooth it as I focused on evening out my breathing. Okay. She was right. I definitely needed to calm down. Jesus.
    “Are you calm now?”
    I rolled my eyes. “I guess,” I bit out.
    “You like this guy.”
    “ Liked ,” I answered, making sure to put emphasis on the “D.”
    “Okay, liked. And up until about twenty minutes ago he was your dream guy, right?”
    More eye rolling, more biting out. “Yes.”
    “So what’s changed?”
    “Really?”
    “Yeah, really.”
    “Gladys, he fucked another woman!”
    “So he’s a guy with lots of testosterone. Are you guys dating? Nope. So it’s not like he was cheating on you! You think he’s been celibate all this time just waiting for you to come to him?”
    She had a point. I guessed. “But he was supposed to be my future husband,” I said quietly, trying to come to terms with what had just happened.
    “And you wanted your future husband to be a virgin?”
    I blew out a breath. “I don’t know why you’re on his side.”
    “You know I’m always on your side. I just want you to see how silly you’re being.”
    “Whatever. If you went to see Nathan Bogle to start your life together and caught him making out with some hot stripper chick, you’d be pissed too!”
    I heard her gasp. Ah, I knew that’d open her eyes. “You’re right. Shit! I get it now! I’m so sorry!”
    I chuckled before answering resignedly, “It’s okay. So my dream was bashed two days in a row. Time to get a new one, don’t you think?” The backs of my eyes burned and I had to blink several times to keep the tears from coming just thinking how stupid I’d been. “God, I’m such an idiot.”
    “No, you’re not. And from what that guy said I’m not so sure your dream’s over just yet.”
    “What?” I asked on a disbelieving huff.
    “He said you were the best he’s had, Frankie.”
    Now I huffed out a humorless laugh. “I’ll bet he’s had so many how would he know? You eat enough cream puffs, they’re bound to start tasting the same, Glad.”
    “Well, apparently he likes the cream in your puff.”
    “You didn’t.”
    She laughed. “I did. But mark my words, Frankie. He’s not finished with you yet.”
    “He has no choice because I’m finished with him,” I retorted.
    And I really hoped I meant it.

3—Escape
     
    I had only two classes this semester including my student teaching seminar which would meet periodically throughout the semester as well as two days this week (that was where I was headed now) then I’d begin fourteen weeks of student teaching. I was excited because I’d be teaching seven weeks of English and seven of PE in two separate schools and I couldn’t wait to get started. I’d also enrolled in Care and Prevention of Athletic Injuries which met on Monday and Wednesday nights in the training room of the fieldhouse. I’d taken it on a whim thinking that if I ever decided to coach a high school sport I’d need it, so what the heck.
    Today’s seminar lasted just under an hour and now I was in line to sign in and pick up my packet.
    “Frankie!”
    I turned and saw my friend Shelby walking up.
    “Hey, Shelby. You ready for this?” I grinned at her. She was an elementary education major and wanted to teach first grade. We’d met in our College Algebra class freshman year and from the beginning I’d known she had to be majoring in