I feel drawn to her in ways I can’t describe, ways that should scare me because all I want to do is tell her everything. Everything I’ve been through, everything I’ve seen and every dark and crazy thought I’ve had along the way.
I don’t know how it is that she’s worked her way into my life like this, but she has and now I can’t imagine my life without her. Besides getting out of Providence, she is literally the best thing that’s happened to me in ages. And I don’t ever want to lose her.
“Hey, you good?” she asks, as her friend waves goodbye to us and walks off.
I blink, stare down at Ruby who’s watching me with a worried look on her face. Smiling, I wrap my arm around her, drawing her close. “I’m good. So, boyfriend, huh?”
Ruby blushes, even as a smile tugs at her mouth. “Is that okay?”
I laugh. “Of course it’s okay,” I reply, kissing her. “I really like it.”
“Good,” she whispers against my mouth, before we continue walking toward her class.
When we reach her lecture hall, she turns to me, still smiling as I pull her into my arms. “I’ll meet you here after you’re done, okay?”
She glances at the classroom briefly before turning back. “You don’t have to,” she says. “I’m pretty sure he’s got the message.”
I lean down and brush my lips against hers. “I know I don’t have to,” I whisper. “I want to.”
She kisses me back, before slipping her bag off my shoulder and turning to head into class. I watch until she disappears inside, before my gaze turns to the windows of the classroom. The asshole is standing there watching me, an emotionless expression on his face and his gaze locked on mine.
As juvenile as it is, I’m tempted to flip him off, but I don’t want to create any more trouble for Ruby, so I turn and head back home instead.
An hour or so later, the back door opens and Reid and Sienna walk in, both of them talking and laughing. They stop when they see me sitting at the kitchen counter, eating another piece of cake as I go over the roster from the bar.
“Hey,” I say, lifting my head and smiling at them. “How was your weekend?”
“So good,” Sienna says, clearly excited as she walks over and hugs me, her eyes flicking to the cake. “We had such a great time.”
“Uh huh,” I reply, returning her hug. “And did you actually see any of San Diego or was it just the hotel room?”
Sienna swats my arm, but she’s still smiling as Reid chuckles. “We saw plenty of San Diego,” she says, heading to the fridge to grab a bottle of water. She must see the cake too, because she pulls it out before reaching for the knife to cut herself a piece. “What about you? How was your weekend? Did you have a good birthday? Did Ruby look after you? She made the cake, huh? Is it good?”
I laugh. “Geez, so many questions, Sie,” I say, holding up my hands. “But yes, I did have a good weekend, thanks. And yes, the cake is amazing.”
Sienna stares at me, her brows narrowed as she searches my face as though she’s expecting to find more of an explanation. “That’s it?” she asks, a note of sarcasm in her tone that I know means she doesn’t believe me and was definitely expecting more than that.
I shrug. “It was a good weekend,” I reply, trying not to give away how fucking awesome it actually was.
Sienna glares at me for a few seconds longer before muttering, “Ugh, I’m getting nothing from you. I’ll try Ruby.” And then she walks out of the room, a piece of cake in her hand.
When I turn to Reid, he’s leaning against the counter, his arms crossed over his chest and a smug look on his face.
“What?”
He laughs. “Good weekend,” he repeats, clearly mocking me.
“It was.”
“Right,” he adds, crossing his feet at the ankles as he continues to stare at me.
“What?” I ask again, wondering exactly what he’s getting at. I know we’ve been friends for most of our lives, but I’d like to think I’m pretty good at hiding what’s going on with me right now, especially given Sie didn’t cotton on.
“Oh, I don’t know,” he starts, arm out as he waves a finger in my general direction. “You seem different?”
“I’m a year older?”
Reid rolls his eyes. “Yeah, it’s not that dude,” he says sarcastically. “You seem…happy, like you…I don’t know, got laid or something?”
It’s said like a question, but it’s so fucking close to the truth that I can’t actually look at him without completely giving myself away. Instead, I push out my stool, making my way to the fridge to grab a drink as I try desperately to wipe the smile off my face because that’s exactly what’s happened. That and so much more.
“Caleb?” he says.
I shut the fridge door before turning to face him. “What?”
He smirks at me, not saying anything at first as he continues to look at me, searching for something. Eventually, he says, “So you and Ruby had a good weekend, huh?”
“Yep.”
“And there’s nothing else you wanna tell me about that weekend?”
“Nope.”
“No, so nothing I don’t know, special happened?”
I roll my eyes at him, taking a sip of water before saying, “Well, obviously you and Sie had a weekend of that kinda shit, but no, Ruby and I had a good weekend, that’s it.”
It actually hurts my heart a little to say these words. Even though I know they are not true, and the plan was always to fuck with Sie and Reid for a while, there’s a part of me that feels like I’m betraying Ruby and what we now have by lying about our weekend together.
“Riiiiight,” Reid says, dragging out the word as he pushes off the counter. “Well, for the record, I totally don’t believe you, but I’ll let it slide for now.”
“Oh well, thanks,” I say sarcastically. “Why don’t you tell me about your weekend instead, minus the sex part.”
Reid laughs now. “Not much else to tell then really, is there?” he says, slapping me on the back as we make our way to the living room.
Ruby and I don’t end up going for a run after her class because the second she and I get home, Sienna is on her. I’d managed to fill her in on the grilling I got from both of them and we both agreed to continue the ruse of nothing going on between us.
Despite not feeling entirely comfortable about us hiding it, I can’t deny that the whole secretive, sneaking around thing is also pretty fucking hot. I kinda like the fact that Ruby and I are sharing a bed, but in a totally different way now and neither my sister or my best friend are any wiser.
It’s nearly eleven by the time I get home from work and as I walk up to the back door, I notice the two trash cans beside the house have been knocked over, their contents spilled all over the grass.
I glance around, wondering if this was done by an animal or some drunk college kids or something, but there’s no one around, the street quiet. After I clean up the mess, I cast one more look down the street and this time I notice a car parked by the curb.
It looks innocent enough except for the shadow of someone sitting in the driver’s seat. I can’t make out their face, but it’s enough that prickles of fear dance up my spine, my heartbeat kicking up a notch as a feeling of being watched comes over me.