On the Outskirts

Eighteen

~Ryder~

Sadie had the giggles. She couldn't break them and I didn't even know what we were laughing at but I love that laugh and I love how she looks when she does it. The way she tips her head back and it just erupts from her, how I can see it in her eyes when she rolls her perfect lips together and tries to keep it in until it comes out in almost a squeak, the crinkles in the corner of her eyes and her dimples. Don't even get me started on the fucking dimples. 

"God, I love you."  I lift her up onto the table in the back of the bar, stepping between her legs  and letting my hands rest on her waist. She manages to settle herself down, her cheeks still flushed from how hard she was laughing. It's all Brynn's fault. She's known the longest about me and Sade and yet she's always the one that acts grossed out when I kiss her. Tonight was no different, she was dancing beside us, I kissed Sadie, Brynn gagged, turned around and sent her and her partner collapsing to the floor. It was funny but I think Sadie is a little drunk and just thought it was the funniest thing in the world.  

"Really?" 

"We've been together over 4 months Sade. I tell you this daily. Do you still not believe me?" She shrugged, wrapping her arms lazily around my neck. 

"I believe you like kissing me." 

"Sunflower, kissing you is one of my favourite things in the world." Her lips lifted a little more, that smile slowly growing. 

"It's one of my favourite too." 

"Oh yeah?" 

"Yeah." Sadie stole my hat, sticking it on her own head with a smirk. 

"You know the rules about wearing a cowboys hat." My hands moved down to her thighs, rubbing up and down her jeans slowly. It's not often Sadie gets a night without Hallie now she's at school but when we do, I don't want to keep my hands off her. It's not often I get to hold her and touch her so getting the chance like I get tonight, even if it doesn't end in sex. I just like having her close like this. 

"Yeah. The cowboy has to make me waffles in the morning." 

"The cowboy will make you whatever you want in the morning." She grinned. 

"Uh-oh." 

"What?" 

"Brynn's coming over." Sadie giggled again, putting pressure on the back of my neck until I can down and pressed a kiss to her, smirking when Brynn gagged behind us again. Sadie laughed against my lips and I had to pull back. "Oh, hi Brynn, didn't see you there." 

"Lying bitch. You saw me coming over."

"Are you two done necking each other now? We came out for my birthday and we've had to watch Ryder stick his tongue down Sadie's throat more than the number of shots I've had and that feels illegal." Erin crossed her arms and I rolled my eyes at how damn dramatic she was. This was as much for Sadie's birthday as it was hers and she knew it. 

"Next rounds on me." Sadie tries to climb off the table but I just move into her path. "Ry, let me-"

"Put your purse away." 

"But I-" I snatched it out of her hand, passing it to Brynn behind me who shoved it into her pocket. "HEY!" 

"Sorry baby, Jack's instructions." I set her feet back on the floor, pushing her back into her friends' arms. "Go dance. I'll have drinks when you come back." 

"Let me drive home." 

"No chance." Sadie grabbed my shirt as I kissed her forehead and shooed her off, waiting until I knew she was occupied to leave the guys at the table and head to the bar like I promised I would.  Her birthday had been last week and I'd spent hours over the past 2 months with Hallie teaching her to play the guitar like I'd taught Sadie, just so she could sing her mom happy birthday and she apparently cried. Sadie had set boundaries that if I stayed the night I had to be gone before Hallie woke up otherwise I'd have been there to see it myself and damn, I really wish I had been. I'd taken Hallie that Saturday with Brynn to find her mom a few gifts, sneaking away myself to pick up some jewellery I'd ordered online for her. I hadn't had a chance to give her the little sunflower necklace but I'd left a bouquet of them in a vase on her dresser in her bedroom. 

"Sorry to bother you." I turned my head to the almost fake deep voice beside me. He didn't belong here. White half unbuttoned shirt, a mess of hair on his head and the guy looked like he'd never stepped outside of an office a day in his life, let alone ridden a horse. "That girl you're with. What's her name?" 

"What's it to you?" 

"She just looks like someone I used to know years ago and I don't want to be that guy who says hi to someone who doesn't know her." I looked him up and down slowly before turning back to the bar. 

"She's not interested." 

"Look man, just tell me her name-" 

"I'm not giving you my girlfriends name for you to waltz over there and try to work your city boy charm on her. If you don't know her name, you don't know her so move on. There's about 60 other girls in town looking for a city break. She's not one of em." 

"I think she can decide for herself if-" I turned around, broadening my shoulders so my shadow swallowed the guy whole. 

"See the hat on her head?" He rolled his eyes. "That's my hat and I know you're new to this kinda thing so Imma make it plain and simple. If she's wearing another guys hat and you touch her, you die. Simple as that. Got it?" He scoffs and I swear if this wasn't her birthday night out, I'd have thrown him across the fucking dance floor for thinking I'd let her go that damn easy. 

"Fucking piece of shit cowboys." He mutters as he walks away, sipping on a glass of wine that I know for a fact the bar staff will have had to blow the dust off to open. I spend the rest of the night knowing he's watching her from across the room with his friends. The second Sadie finishes the beer I bought her, I loop my fingers through her belt loops and pull her into me hard and fast, kissing her like my life depends on it, leaving her breathless when I let her go. 

"Wanna go home?" She nods quickly. "Good. I've had enough of dipshit city boys staring at you for one night."