Boulder (Riders of Apollo #5)

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Ford Wilson

We've been in the salon for hours, they've finally moved on from the hair to nails and the men are getting frustrated with the absolute waste of time this is. Riley has been filling the annoying silence with stories from her past with a bright smile on her face and her laughs are so loud. She's different than before, I'd even venture to say better than before and I can't help but stare at her.

"Are you getting your nails done, Riley?" Saviour asks as they pull up to the desks in the back, the men scattered in the free seats surrounding them.

"No, thank you, I do them myself." I sit down on one of the chairs at the back and Riley drifts over to me to sit in my lap. "Gosh, this is so boring. Do you do this a lot?"

"No, it's once a month and normally there are only two of them but during peace time they got really clingy." Lexie says with a laugh, inducing Bear to squeeze her sides and tickle her. "It's not a lie!" She squeals in response and he backs off with a shake of his head.

"Aww they're like puppies, give them enough attention and they'll follow you around forever."

"Don't start, Riley." Bear scolds playfully and she raises her hands in false surrender.

"Okay, since you guys have spent basically the whole goddamn day getting hot, we are going clubbing tonight. I'm making the executive decision for all of us."

"We haven't been out in awhile... I'm down." Saviour says first.

"Hell yeah, girls night!" Lexie concurs, the other two agreeing swiftly afterwards. This is gonna be fun.

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"Just put a dress on and let's go!" Bear shouts into the pink room while I lean on the bar, drinking a beer. Ever since we got back from the bar the women have been tucked away in the pink room getting ready to go out.

I seriously don't know what they do in there but it takes forever. As per the usual, Riley has been singing her dirty songs and coming out every hour or so for more alcohol, still dancing to her music with a cheeky grin on her face. "It's the Black Eyed Peas, you uncultured swine!" Riley appears again, skipping over to me immediately. "Hi."

"You okay?"

"Lexie is fixing for a smack but yeah, you?"

"I'm waiting on you."

"No, you're waiting on them. I'm ready." She steps back and twirls so I can see the whole outfit. She's wearing leather pants and a low necked blouse that shows me enough to want to rip the buttons open, her shoes bring her up to my chin instead of my chest and she looks fucking delicious. "Hmm, with that face I'd say you like it."

She laughs and presses herself to my chest. I stroke down her neck and she shivers, grabbing it and tugging it away. "You are not going to seduce me into not going, Ford." She whispers and I roll my eyes.

"I forgot we were even going anywhere when I saw this." I drift my fingertips down the middle of her chest and she laughs again, this time breathlessly.

"You're so not helping." I kiss her then, just to shut her up and her hands tug on my hair almost immediately. It feels good to have her this close again, her lips on mine and her tongue in my mouth. "Yep, definitely not helping."

I smirk and she smacks me for being cocky. Thankfully, the rest of the women are ready and we move to get in the vans. There's no point in riding there if we're drinking so prospects drive the vans there and back, no one drives drunk.

"Right, I'll order the margaritas!" Lexie shouts and both Saviour and Riley shout no immediately.

"I'll take tequila straight and beer."

"I'll take vodka." You can tell which one was which and Lexie gives in to the requests. The waitresses bring the drinks to our VIP section where Riley immediately starts pouring shots. Only Saviour, Riley and Rubble take one.

"Fuck sake, Rubble. Keep up!" Rubble laughs as Riley shoves him another shot, he takes it with a grimace.

"I hate tequila." He groans and she glares at him.

"Here." She hands him the salt and the lime and he rolls his eyes. "Just drink it, fussy. Soon enough you won't be able to taste it."

Soon enough comes at around one am. Both of them are wasted, Riley has spent the last two hours - yes, I said hours - dancing. The others tapped out close to half an hour ago but she's been chatting with some girl while singing along to every song that comes on. It's like her playlist is attached to the sound system or something because she knows every word.

"You know she's been talking to that girl for a while, right?" Bear asks me and I give him a weird look.

"Yeah, and?"

"You forget she swings for both teams?" Ah fuck. I roll my eyes and step down from the VIP section and the dancers part for me to reach my woman who is glow-eyed and excitable.

"Honey! Look, this is Bea, she's really nice. Bea, this is my idiot. Idiot, this is Bea." What a lovely nickname for me. I just stick to the 'honey' and the 'my' in those sentences or I'll get pissed off.

"Hey." I greet, still concentrating on Riley who is now leaning against my chest again but still carrying on her conversation with Bea. Bea is a small redhead, like Lexie, and she seems nice but I can't help but be jealous of their communication.

"Bea's boyfriend is a drag racer and she invited me to a race! We have to go, you'll come with me, right?" And the jealousy disappears as her big eyes look up at me, I kiss her forehead and agree to go before telling her that I should get her home. "I'll see you next week, Bea!"

I coax her into the van with the rest of the group and she cheers like she hasn't seen them in a week despite having seen them less than an hour ago. "Rubble, Rubble, Rubble. Did you find a girl yet? I'm very invested in this."

"No, I did not." Rubble pushes her shoulder with his own since she's between the two of us and she shoves him in retaliation.

"Fuck sake, one of these days you're gonna find one of us," She points to the Angels in the car as she talks, "and she's gonna be great."

"One day."

"God, this is depressing." Riley picks up my hand and puts in on her right thigh despite the fact I'm on her left side and tucks herself under my arm tightly with a soft sigh. "Better."

Adorable.