The last thing I expected was to be picked up and tossed over Ryder's bare shoulder. Although I couldn't complain about the view as I had a front-row view of his toned butt. I could feel his sinewed muscles rippling as he moved towards a room, kicking it shut behind him and he dropped me unceremoniously onto the couch. He moves in closer to my face with his arms caging me in, all I could see was the uncontrollable rage in his eyes as he gritted his teeth and spat out

"What the fuck are you doing here princess, I'll give you ten seconds to explain yourself before I flip you over and spank you so bad that you'll think twice before acting like such an idiot again"

I contemplate not responding to him, to see if he'll go through with his threat but looking at his beaten up face I couldn't bring myself to torment him anymore. My heart was aching at the condition of his face, the bruising from the previous day still prominent on his handsome face, new ones now appearing and sweat and blood trickling down his cheeks. Why would anyone do this to themselves?

He raises his eyebrows questioningly

"I..I..umm wanted to talk you about something " I stuttered out and look down playing with the hem of his hoodie.

Ryder sighs and flops down on the couch next to me and he turned his body, stretched out, and rests his head on my lap. I moved my arms in surprise giving him space to rest his head.

He licked his lower lip and stared up at me reaching his hand up to play with my hair "What was so fucking important that you couldn't wait a day princess ?'' he looks at me, not as angry as before thankfully.

Now I feel like an idiot, how do I tell him that I came this whole way to talk about a kiss, a kiss that made him run away. I feel super insecure and a little silly as well and I rack my brain trying to think of a different reason that brought me here.

'Umm ..well..I..thought...no..I was..I.." I stop and look down at him again to see a smile form on his face "This is a first, you're lost for words, normally you would have some snappy comeback ready for me''.

I look at his beautiful face and feel my heart literally clenching. How could this boy invoke such intense feelings in me over just a few days? I bring my hand up and trace his face carefully avoiding the bruises which were so many that it was a difficult task. He swallows and his eyes darken, he reaches his hand up and holds my chin tenderly, and pulls my mouth down to him, ever so slowly. I close my eyes as my lips are an inch away from his ready to feel his warm lips on me when I hear the door suddenly open and shut.

Ryder quickly let go of and me and jumps up into a sitting position on the couch. I look up blushing slightly to see Ryder's coach standing in front of us. He threw a towel and a bottle at Ryder which he catches and he places a first aid kit and an ice pack on the table near the couch. " So the rumours are true, Ryder has a missus" he jerks his chin at me "The name's Johnny, although lover boy there hasn't told me anything about you which I am a little upset about"

I smile at him "My name's Anna, short for Annbeth"

"She is not my fucking girl Johnny'' I looked at Ryder who was ignoring me and wiping himself with the towel. I was feeling whiplash with his bipolar attitude. One minute he was all up on me the next he was acting like I was a stranger. I start feeling a little annoyed and upset at him so I move a little away from him on the couch leaving some space between us and I fold my arms and look at him. He just gave me a quick emotionless look and then opens the bottle and starts drinking water all the while avoiding eye contact with me.

Johnny snorted " Yeah right, that's why you chased her around the ring like a lunatic, picked her up like a rag doll and brought her here to make out with .. "

Ryder crushed the empty bottle and snapped "I said she's not my fucking girlfriend, Johnny drop it" Johnny raised his hands in surrender "Oh well, no surprises there then, I mean she's too pretty for you anyway" he smiled warmly at me " Well Anna, since your not his, one of the trainers here, Derek's the name, nice boy... he wanted to meet you... "

Ryder threw the bottle across the room and growled" She's fucking not meeting anyone" he stands up in anger and instinctively I reach my hand up and catch his arm feeling the tension leave him when I touch him. He groans and sits down moving closer to me so that our legs are touching.

"Right then..." Johnny smiles at him widely. That's when the door opens and Bryan, Amelie and Colton walk in shutting the door behind them. Bryan walked forward with his hands held up "I swear Ryder, I thought you invited her, that's why I brought them here... if I had known I wouldn't ..."

Ryder jumps up and stalks up to him anger emanating from his body "What the fuck are you on about, why the fuck would I invite her here, I wanna rip your throat out for even bringing her here..." He grabs Bryan by the shirt and I couldn't take it anymore. I stand up angrily and shout out "What the fuck Ryder let him go, it's not his fault it's mine, I lied to him''

Ryder let go of Bryan and walked back to me "What the fuck is wrong with you then ?" he poked me in the head with his forefinger gently " Are you mental or retarded? Why did you come here in the first place.. I mean please enlighten me as to what was so fucking important that you had to come here. I'm still waiting to hear your stupid reasoning to be here, I mean is someone fucking dying... because if it's not that then nothing else justifies you being here''. he glares at me

I swat his finger off my head with my hand " Don't talk to me like that.." I glare at him "I wanted to talk to you about something but you know what... with that attitude of yours I've decided it's not worth it." I look at his face "Now sit your butt down, I need to fix whatever's left of your stupid ugly face" I pick up the ice pack and turn around to glare at him. He stares at me and I can feel everyone waiting to see what would happen with bated breath. Ryder sighs and sits down and lifts his face towards me. I sit down and press the ice pack against his cheek and with my right hand I start taking out the bandages and wipes to fix his face.

Ryder looks at Bryan "Sorry Bryan. I just lost it" he says gruffly and then smiles "What did you think of the match?"

Bryan smiles back at him "I thought you would break my face in man, but yea I'm sorry, I'm never believing a word that comes out of these two's mouths again" he glares at Amelie who pouts at him and his eyes soften.

And like that the tension dissipated with everyone talking about all the stuff that had happened and the coach giving Ryder some tips on his fight. Everyone was laughing and joking around like this was a dinner party, internally I was still trying to process that Ryder was a fighter. I finish dressing his face and although he kept talking to the rest of the guys he had one hand on my thigh drawing circles on it which I tried to ignore although it was making me feel all kinds of things.

Once I finish with Ryder's face I lean back into the couch but I feel hot in the small room so I slowly take off my hoodie feeling my top sticking to my body while the rest of them were talking. I shake my hair out and I feel Ryder's gaze on me. He takes one look at me pulls my top down to cover my stomach that was showing and he whispers into my ear "Don't go around flashing your sexy body to everyone, I just might have to stake my claim''

I blush and look up at Johnny who was looking at me expectantly as if waiting for a response. "What?" I bit my lip and blush.

Johnny laughs " Young love, all you see, hear and feel is him. I was asking you if I can count on you to keep him out of trouble for the next two weeks, he can't get into any fights, his body won't take it."

He looks at Ryder " I've rescheduled your next fight to after two weeks... you can come in and train but that's it" He narrows his eyes at Ryder "And no fighting outside Ryder, I heard what happened with James the other day, I don't want you taking up shit from him again.."

Ryder snorts "C'mon Jon I am ok to fight next week .."

"No" Johnny folds his hands "It is final, you train and you rest for the next two weeks nothing more" he softens his tone "I am not asking you this just as your coach Ryder just please..."

Ryder runs his hand over his face "Fine, whatever". A comfortable silence fills the room when Colton speaks up "Right ... I think we should go now. We have to be at school tomorrow " He grimaces " Parole conditions and whatnot" Ryder stands up and pulls on black jeans over his shorts and a black tight T-shirt " Yep let's go" he goes over and hugs Johnny "Ill swing by tomorrow to collect and train in the evening"

I could tell Johnny genuinely cared about Ryder from the way he hugged him back. Bruce hugs Ryder after "I need to take Amelie home, do you want us to drop her" he looks at me still not smiling. I guess he was still unhappy about the lie. Ryder looks back at me "Na, ill take her, I need to talk to her anyway". Colton hugs Ryder while Amelie comes over and hugs me, she whispers in my ear "Sort everything out, call me if you need anything and we'll talk tomorrow" I nod my head and hug her back and watch Colton, Bruce and Amelie leave.

I stand up and pick up the hoodie and start walking when Ryder walks up to me and takes it from my hand and puts it on me. I moan "Ryder it's too hot I am going to melt in this, why do I have to wear this ?" he ignores me and continues to put it on me. Once he's done he stands back and looks at me shaking his head his lips curving in a crooked smile "What do I do with you?" he pulls the hoodie over my head and grunts "Don't take this off, don't stop... I interrupt him "Yea I know the drill, don't stop, don't talk, don't smile, don't look at anyone blah blah, Yes sir" I mock salute him.

He leans down and whispers "This sassiness of yours is going to get you into so much trouble with me " He takes my hand in his and starts walking. As I go past Johnny he pats me on the head and mouthes " Look after him " I smile genuinely and nod at him. Johnny then says loudly to Ryder " Bring her over for dinner sometime yea, Lila will love her" Ryder just grunts and leads me out. There weren't many people outside just a few drinking and smoking and they all just gave Ryder a nod of respect as he walked by. A lot of them didn't even look at me almost like I didn't exist. The one or two who did get some glares from Ryder I am sure because they quickly averted their eyes.

As we left outside the door we ran into the Bouncer guy from earlier. Ryder stops and gives him a one-armed hug holding tightly onto my hand with his other hand. "Hey, man, good match''. The bouncer guy looks at me and smiles " About time you got yourself a missus man, she is pretty, too pretty for you though" he smiles at me his eyes twinkling " how the hell did you manage to get this one...honestly you need to give me some tips bro" Ryder smiled at him "Yea she's precious isn't she...ill catch up with you later bro"

He pulls me along and I wave at the Bouncer guy and smile and turn around to see Ryder glaring at me " What your friends with him now?"

I glare back at him "What, no he is a very sweet man although he's huge" Ryder looks back at him and smiles at me "Yea he is a softie" We walk in silence until we get to his bike parked outside. He turns around and picks me up by the waist and places me on the bike his hands still holding me by my waist. He looks at me seriously "Now tell me what you wanted to talk about princess and this better be good" He folds his arms and lifts an eyebrow at me "I am also curious to know why you've been going around telling everyone that you're my missus "

I bite my lip and pray for the earth to open up and swallow me