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He’s my client.
I shake my head and catch up to his form, which has disappeared through another set of double doors with a small window I can peek through. When I cast my gaze over the partition, he’s lifting the shirt from his frame and tossing it onto the ground without a care in the world. My breath hitches at the sight of his tightened muscles and sweat glistening on his bare chest, those tattoos covering his back standing out.
This is a terrible idea, I should turn around right now and figure out where my room is. He does know I’m staying here, right? Mack said that I wouldn’t have to worry about finding somewhere to stay, since I live over two hours away from his house, enunciating that there was plenty of room at Ryker’s place.
A thump brings me back to the present, and I snap my attention onto Ryker as he leans down to grab his shirt, brushing the fabric across his face to soak up the sweat. My heart nearly leaps out of my chest when he lifts back up, and I quickly make my way back down the hall, then turn the corner.
There are so many damn halls in his house, I wouldn’t be surprised if I get lost trying to navigate this maze. When I come to the first open door, I disappear inside and slam a palm against my forehead from how easily my mind wandered at the sight of him. The sound of the floorboard creaking outside my door has me freezing against the wooden frame and sucking in a lungful of air.
I glance down briefly, noting his shadow hovering in front of the door, and silently pray that he will get away from it. After what seems like forever, he moves away, and I finally let out the breath I was holding while inching further into the darkened room. As soon as I flick the light on and note the black comforter draped over the large mattress, along with the masculine scent wafting through the air, I know I’ve gone into the wrong room.
Shit.
My phone blares in my pocket and I immediately rip it out, my brother’s name flashing on the screen, before punching the green button to answer it. “Remind me to never take a job like this again,” I mutter into the line before he’s got a chance to say hello.
He lets out a deep chuckle. “Well, hello to you too, sis.”
“It’s going to be a grueling, Eli.”
“I could’ve told you that much when you mentioned who you would be working with.”
I roll my eyes and sink onto the mattress Ryker will soon be lying in, then groan loudly. “I’m currently hiding in his room.”
“Uh, why?” His voice has gotten a tad harder, but I can’t bring myself to wonder why that is.
“Because I’m an idiot who doesn’t know how to find my way around a house,” I say, a fake smile plastered on my face. “Oh, and because he couldn’t bother to show me where my room was.”
“Sounds like you’ve got things under control over there.”
“Yep, everything is going perfect,” I say sarcastically. “What do they expect me to do when he’s not even open to me helping him?”
Elias sighs heavily. “You’ve gotta prove that you know what you’re doing, which you do, and maybe he’ll fall in line after that.”
“You could be right. It’s just going to be difficult, and he’s definitely going to fight me on stuff.”
“And you’re the perfect person to handle the fight, sis. Look, I’ll let you get situated. I just wanted to check in on you and make sure everything was okay.”
“You always know the right things to say.”
“Love ya, sis. You got this. Just remember why you’re doing it!”
As soon as I got the details of this therapy gig, I knew it was something I couldn’t pass up. All I’ve been trying to do is save up enough money to pay off my parent's house because they took out a second mortgage to help pay for my college tuition and master's degree. It wasn’t until I was almost graduating that I found out they did it, and I vowed to myself I’d give it all back when given the chance.
Most of the big chunks of money I’ve put toward it came from the other celebrity clients I’ve helped throughout my career, but those types of clients are few and far between.
When I first started at Mindful Solutions, I told them I wanted to work on short-term, high-profile contracts, knowing that I could earn large sums of money in a shorter time. It’s much more complicated than I thought dealing with celebrities and their egos.
It’s been a slow process, and I was worried I’d spend the next decade saving money up for it – until I got the call for this job with Ryker. I’m spending the next few weeks helping him work through his anger, which is detrimental to his well-being and being part of the band, and at the end of it, I’ll get enough money to put a chunk toward my parents' mortgage.
A knock sounds on the door, and I tuck my phone back into my pocket before walking up to the door and pulling it open. Ryker leans forward, his arm resting against the doorframe above his head, and I swallow thickly at the sight of his corded arms. “You gonna let me in my room, or do I have to ask your permission?”
I blink and catch the smirk on his face, then roll my eyes. “If you’d show me where my room is, there wouldn’t have been any confusion.”
His smile drops, and he pushes away from the frame with narrowed eyes. “Your room?”
“Well, yeah, Mack said there would be a room for me here.”
He curses under his breath, then shakes his head with a heavy sigh while pinching the bridge of his nose. “Yeah, sure, follow me, Whitney.”
