The Ice Alpha’s Mate (Aria and Ryder) novel Chapter 83

Chapter 83

RYDER

I arrive at Hugo’s still fuming and with a thirst to hurt someone.

65%

55 vouchers

The place is empty compared to what it was when I got here the other night with the rest of the team. A guy is standing behind the bar, drying a row of beer glasses. He shoots me a disinterested look before saying, “We’re closed right now. If you’d like, you can come back later.”

“I need to talk to the owner. Or whoever was here last Friday.”

“I was,” he claims, giving me his full attention. “I was behind the bar the entire night.”

“Do you remember me?”

“Yes, I do. We had to put you out on the sidewalk because you were passed out in one of the rooms upstairs.”

I frown. “Room? What room?”

He doesn’t answer me and simply stares back at me. I brace my hands on the bar top and repeat my question. “What room?”

“The one for paying customers looking to have a decent time. Look, I have a lot to do, and I’d appreciate it if you left.”

“I’m not going anywhere until you give me the explanation I need. What happened in that room? Was I alone?”

He starts shaking his head at me and tells me he won’t repeat himself, and that’s when I genuinely lose it. I slam my fist into his face and jump right over the bar top to where he is, lying on the ground and clutching his face. I grab him by the shirt and raise my fist again.

“OKAY! Okay, I’ll tell you what you want to know. Just calm dow, man!”

“Who was I with?”

“Some blonde. She’s the one who paid for the room. Did it before you arrived.”

“A blonde? What was her name?”

“I don’t know. We didn’t ask.”

“Was she alone?”

“She came in with two guys. They were hanging around you the whole time, and they’re the ones who picked you up from the sidewalk.” He turned his head to the side and spat blood on the floor. His teeth were red. “Fuck. I don’t know their names either. I’m telling you the truth.”

“How do I trust that this is all true?”

“They’re the only ones who paid for a room. I would’ve remembered.”

“Did I have a lot to drink?”

“I don’t know about that. Lots of people get drinks for their friends or whatever. I wasn’t exactly keeping an eye on you. I just remember you because you were in the room, and we had to kick you out. Fuck, I even dressed you up.”

“What?”

“That’s all I know, man. It’s all I know.”

1/3

09:57 Mon, Mar 2

Chapter 83

65%

55 vouchers

I release him with a disgusted grunt and look around. A blonde. Two other guys. They took me back to the dorm. I rake my fingers through my hair and let out a frustrated sigh.

Only a handful of people would know to escort me back to the dorm.

Fuck. Me.

The guy stares up at me while massaging his jaw. I almost feel bad for what I did to him, but then I remember that he would’ve withheld this information from me if I hadn’t resorted to violence.

Without a word, I leave him where he is and head outside. He follows me and locks the door just as I step foot outside, but I don’t mind him. I get in the car and grab the steering wheel while deep in thought.

The image forms quickly in my mind. The blonde can only be Nadia. In fact, I can’t think of anyone else who would be behind such a thing. Naked? In a room? With her? And I can’t remember shit that happened?

My head’s spinning with the kind of rage that would drive me to make bad, bad decisions. Some of which could land me in serious trouble.

Nadia is the first person I decide to pay a little visit to. I have to figure out what she did.

Does this have anything to do with Aria and why she hates me all of a sudden?

Though I want to tell myself ‘absolutely not, I know there’s a high chance that this is all connected. I can’t choose to be an idiot right now.

I have to be practical, and the facts are right before my fucking eyes. This whole thing was a setup, and though I know who the mastermind behind the whole thing was, I’m never going to excuse the people who were behind it all.

The team. Zach, most likely.

Nobody else would have access to that dorm.

I park the car right outside her parents’ house and drum my fingers against the steering wheel. Coming here after all the shit that happened between me and her is definitely a bad idea, but I don’t have a choice.

Besides, it’ll be easier for that conversation to be held here than anywhere else.

I might do something somewhere else.

I get out of the car and press the doorbell by the gate. There’s no security guard around, so I have to wait for the voice in the intercom to say, “Yes?”

“It’s Ryder Drexel. I need to speak to Nadia.”

The voice is silent, and then the static sound disappears. Momens later, the gate opens and I see someone approaching. I don’t know who I was speaking to just now, but the woman approaching me is Nadia’s mother.

She was good friends with my mother. Besides, how could I ever forget her face when her husband was my father’s Beta and she was always around.

“Ryder,” she says dryly, “what a pleasant surprise.”

“Mrs. Palmer. I’m looking for-”

“Nadia, yes. The maid told me. She’s not here. She’s out of town I sent her to spend some time with my sister.”

It takes everything for me to keep the shit she did to myself. “When did she leave?”

2/3

09:57 Mon, Mar 2

Chapter 83

“Yesterday.”

“When will she be back?”

65%

55 vouchers

“Oh, I don’t know. A week? Two? It depends on how she’ll like it here. She has nothing much to do around here since…since the expulsion. It’s better if she occupies herself with something. Did you want to leave a message?”

I have no choice. Nadia did this shit and ran like the coward shes. I tell her I’ll be back when she returns and head to my car. Before I even sit, my phone rings. It’s my father. He’s calling me.

I stare at the screen for the longest time, the decide to let it ring don’t have time for this right now. I have to deal with the other culprits behind this whole thing.

I drive toward the university. My father doesn’t call again.

The sooner I find out what happened that night, the faster I can make things right with Aria.

Until then, I have to figure out what the hell happened.

3/3

AD

Comment

Send gift

No Ads