Ruby

“Thanks for the ride, Harry.”

I’d just completed my first full day as an employee of Hains Investigations. It’d gone well. Nothing too strenuous, or exciting . . . unfortunately. I spent most of the day doing background checks. Though, I did get to help Harry with an infidelity case he was working, which was kind of cool. I’d scaled a fence and snapped pictures of a woman and her lover boinking on the kitchen floor while her husband was at work, so kind of gross as well.

“No problem. Neco bringing you in tomorrow? Or should I swing by and pick you up in the morning?”

I was going to drive myself. Neco just didn’t know it yet. “I’m all good, thanks though.”

He left and I locked up after him. My bruises were gone now. I felt great, actually, and after a rather heated exchange and three days of sitting around doing nothing, Neco had given in and agreed that I should be good to go to work. He was worried, I got that, but there was no reason for me to be sitting around doing nothing. Scott might be unstable, but he wouldn’t just come strolling into the agency after me, and if he tried, I’d see him coming with the surveillance equipment Harry had installed. Plus, I had my gun . . . and my Taser. Scott wouldn’t be much of a threat after I’d zapped him with fifty thousand volts.

When Neco got home, we were going to have words. He’d driven me this morning, but I wanted to drive myself. I wanted my life to get back to normal, and this time I wasn’t going to let him distract me with sex. Snatching up my phone, I checked for messages. Nothing from Neco, but there was one from Lulu checking on me. I quickly fired one back, filling her in on my current state of mind and asking her to grill her fiancé for information. Uncool of me, I know. But I was getting desperate.

Neco had left early this morning for work. No details. In fact, he was being cagey as hell. I’d worked for them, for God’s sake. I knew what they did, how they made their living. There was no reason to keep things from me. Unless it was about me, in which case I was pissed as hell.

Lulu replied quickly. I have ways to make him talk.

Hmm. Maybe she was onto something there. I shook my head—like I had any power over Neco whatsoever. The man did what he wanted, when he wanted. One small, occasionally irritating, woman—naked or not—couldn’t get that man to spill his secrets. I sighed, dropped my bag on the table by the door, and then flopped onto the couch. I was lying on my back, staring up at the ceiling, trying to figure out my next move, when someone knocked on the door.

Neco’s apartment was like Fort Knox, the security the high-tech kind. Only someone with the codes could get up here. I climbed to my feet, walked to the door, and peeked through the peephole.

Zeke stood there, expressionless. Dirty blond hair, messy, like he’d been running his hands through it, beard thicker than when I last saw him.

I pulled the door open. “Hey. What’s up?”

“Neco’s going to be late,” he said, giving me a good dose of that Southern drawl of his. That, combined with the husky, rough quality to his voice, sent a little shiver down my spine. The man was a total enigma.

“Why didn’t he just call me himself?”

“He’s on a job, didn’t have time.”

“Right. And why didn’t you just call?”

Zeke shrugged.

Of course, Neco told him to check on me. Annoying. I eyed Zeke, wondering if he’d give me more information. “You want a drink or something?”

He shook his head. “I’m good.”

“Does Nec have some kind of lead . . . about my case? Is that why he’s going to be late?”

Zeke stood there, his tall frame making me feel like an Ompa Loompa by comparison. Zeke wasn’t as built as Neco—he was leaner. He was hard, corded, muscular strength. With the amount of hours he spent in the workout room in the office, this was understandable. The man never seemed to just . . . relax. He was on. Always. I wanted to feed him cheeseburgers and force him to watch TV with me. It would never happen.

He stared down at me. Damn, what was it with these guys and their scary-intense eyes? “If there’s something you need to know, Nec will tell you.”

“Is that a yes, then?”

He kept staring at me, damn mouth zipped shut. I broke eye contact first because no one could hold Zeke’s gaze for any amount of time and not be intimidated. He didn’t mean to do it. I didn’t even think he was fully aware of it. But whenever I looked into his eyes, those demons riding him, they looked right back. All his pain, the scars he’d collected, the horror he’d seen while he was overseas, they were frighteningly clear.

An idea sprung to the front of my mind out of nowhere. It must have shown on my face because he raised a brow. I smiled. He frowned, mouth turning down the corners.

“Have you got some time to kill?” I asked casually.

He shrugged again.

Christ, he was a hard nut to crack.

I crossed my arms. “So I had this idea.” A shudder moved through me before I could hold it back, images flashing through my mind like a projector on the fritz. “When Scott . . . you know, came after me, I let him get the better of me . . . I dropped my guard.”

Every muscle on his finely honed body tightened.

“I hated that, Zeke. I kept thinking . . . I should be able to fight this asshole off.” I shook my head. “I’ve done advanced self-defense and close quarter combat classes, but I don’t know, I guess I froze, or I never really believed Scott would do that and hesitated.” I forced my eyes to meet his. “I fucked up.” I glanced down the hall beyond him, feeling the same need to be stronger, better, smarter, to not be this . . . this victim anymore. I’d had a scare. I’d gotten the shit beaten out of me, but I hadn’t changed my mind about what I wanted to do. I just had to make sure I was prepared in every way I could to do the job. I turned back to him. “Will you work with me maybe teach me some attack moves, how to fight dirty, to kick some ass?”

His head tilted to the side, like a large, curious jungle cat. “Not sure Neco would like that,” he finally said.

His voice was low and a little rough, but also held a softness. Affection, understanding, came through loud and clear. “It can’t be him, Zeke. You know what he’s like. He won’t be down with me learning to fight, really fight. Self-defense, sure. More than that, he’ll assume I’m going to go vigilante on the mean streets of New York.”

“Are you?”

“No,” I partially lied. No, I wasn’t going to go vigilante, but I would use it for more than self-defense. “Of course not. I’m an agent for Harry now. I need to know this stuff.”

He stayed motionless, staring at me for several seconds, then finally said, “I’ll show you a few moves now. More than that? You talk to Nec first. He’s cool with it, I’m at the agency gym every morning.”

“Yes!” I did a little one-two punch in the air then flexed my biceps to try and lighten the moment. He shook his head, and I think I saw his lips twitch, but I couldn’t be sure.

“We do this, I’m not going easy. I teach you right or not at all.”

I nodded, excitement and relief unfurling in my belly. That was exactly why Zeke was perfect to train me. “Good.”

He walked in, took off his jacket, walked to the middle of the floor, and motioned me forward. I swallowed past my dry throat, past the awful feeling in my gut, those flashes of memory, Scott’s expression as he hit me over and over again, of that feeling of helplessness. I swiped it from my mind, leaving it behind, and met Zeke in the middle of the room.

We did exactly what he said, went through the basics, things I already knew, but the way Zeke showed me, explaining what each move did, how it worked, why it was effective, really sunk in. Zeke had a way about him. He never made you feel self-conscious or stupid—not that any of the other guys did, or would, but there was just something about Zeke. Maybe he made me feel a little like I did when I was around Neco, but obviously without the blistering sexual attraction. The way Zeke quietly observed made me nervous but safe, at the same time.

We finished up when Zeke had to take a call.

I left him to it, after I not so subtly eavesdropped to see if it was Neco. When I established it wasn’t, and we said our goodbyes, I headed to the bathroom to grab a shower. I stripped off and looked at myself in the mirror. I looked like myself again. I felt stronger, my confidence receiving a boost after my session with Zeke. I couldn’t wait to do another one.

I also knew I couldn’t sit around and do nothing. I wasn’t going to just wait for Neco to fix this for me. I was a capable, strong woman. I didn’t need a man to fix anything for me. It’d taken me a long time to get to this point. I’d relied on Neco so much through my life . . . I’d needed him, and I’d always need him in a lot of different ways, but I didn’t want our dynamic to be hero and damsel anymore. We needed to go into this relationship as equals.

Neco didn’t want me leaving the apartment on my own, but I needed to do this. I was strong, I was smart, and knew what I was doing.

I was an agent, and tonight I had work to do.

* * *

Jimmy’s apartment building was not the best. Scott’s best friend was an actor, or so he said. He’d never actually been in anything, not even community theater, from what he’d once told me, which was why he lived in a dump like this. Since he also had a bad habit he couldn’t quit, I was surprised he could even afford this place, let alone pay for drugs. I took the stairs to his third-floor apartment, since the elevator was out of order. Neco said Zeke had checked the place out, but Scott knew what most of the guys at the agency looked like. He could have been hiding or maybe he’d been somewhere else when Zeke came looking. There was something he wanted to tell me, protect me from. I wanted to know what that was.

I hadn’t come unprepared. I had my gun, as well as my Taser and some pepper spray. But the same thought I’d had after my encounter with him on the street was running through my mind. I truly didn’t believe he wanted to physically hurt me. He was a sick, perverted, confused individual, and I would love nothing more than to castrate him with a rusty spoon, but there was more to this whole thing.

Let’s go, quickly. It’s not safe.

He’d seemed genuinely concerned, panicked when he approached me outside that cafe.

I needed to know what he meant by that? Why didn’t he think I was safe?

And if he tried to hurt me again? I was more than ready. This time there would be no hesitation.

I knocked on Jimmy’s door, then reached back, resting my hand on the gun I’d shoved down the back of my jeans.

Scott apparently wanted me, badly, for whatever reason. Which meant if he was here, the door would open.

Nothing. Not even a scrape or bump came from inside the apartment. I tried again. Still nothing. I contemplated sitting there in the hall and waiting, but changed my mind when I heard yelling from the apartment across from me.

What now? I needed to figure out my next move.

And I wasn’t leaving without getting inside Jimmy’s place. Scott could be in there now, hiding, assuming Zeke had come back or one of the other guys from the agency.

I took the stairs back down to the ground level and out of the building. There was a small alley between Jimmy’s building and the next and I hustled down it and glanced up at the fire escape.

Doesn’t look too hard.

Fifteen minutes later, after boosting myself up on a dumpster, I was climbing the fire escape to the third floor. It was rickety as hell, rusted and squeaky, but no one poked their heads out to check what was going on. I found Jimmy’s window and tested it. Locked. It was dark inside. I couldn’t see much of anything.

Hmmm.

Screw it.

Taking off my jacket, I wrapped it around my fist and waited. As soon as a horn blared down the street, I smashed through the glass, hoping the noise covered the fact I was currently breaking and entering. I quickly unlatched the window and climbed in, careful of the glass. My feet hit the carpet and I straightened . . .

My hand flew to my nose. Dear God, what the hell was that smell?

I pressed my shirtsleeve to my nose and mouth, walked to the door, and flicked on the light. The place was a mess. Furniture overturned, food dumped out of the fridge onto the kitchen floor. Cockroaches scattered and I swallowed back a shriek. I fucking hated cockroaches. That must be the smell. It’d been over a week since Zeke came looking for Scott and the place was pretty stuffy and warm.

This wasn’t good, not at all.

I moved toward the bedroom. The door was slightly ajar. May as well check the place out before I left. Scott still could have been here, could have left some clue where he was going next. And where the hell was Jimmy?

I stepped over a couch cushion and, covering my hand with my sweater, so I didn’t leave any prints, shoved the bedroom door open.

A scream burst from me before I could stop it. I stumbled back a step, my eyes locked on the bed in the middle of the small room.

Jimmy lay face down, hair matted with blood. It had soaked into the covers around him, a reddish brown stain surrounding his motionless body. Going by how much there was, I could only assume his head wasn’t the only place he’d been injured. I’d never seen a dead body before, but I didn’t need to check his pulse to know that’s what I was looking at.

Someone had killed Jimmy. Had brutally murdered him.

I stumbled out of the room, scrambling back out to the fire escape. And as soon as I was back on the ground, I called the cops with an anonymous tip, because I couldn’t just leave him up there like that.

A shiver skated up my spine. Did this have something to do with what Scott wanted to tell me? Where the hell was Scott?

God, why would anyone what to hurt Jimmy? The guy was harmless, kind of sweet. He didn’t deserve to die like that. No one did.

I left the alley and, shoving my hands in my pockets, got the hell out of there.

I needed to get home before Neco did.

* * *

Neco

I stood, hands curling into fists, pacing my living room like a caged lion. The rage pounding through me was more than I could contain. I stormed back to Scott’s laptop and looked at the screen again. I wanted to find that fucker and torture him, dismember him, burn him until there was nothing left. The cameras Scott had put in Ruby’s room didn’t just feed to the sick fuck’s computer, they were live streaming to a website. I hadn’t been able to gain access to it yet. It was locked down tight, more than likely invite only, which meant assholes with lots of money. I had a sick feeling about this. Was there more to this than a bunch of perverts in suits watching Ruby sleep, shower, brush her damn teeth?

After coming home and finding Ruby looking wiped out, even in sleep, I ignored the urge to climb in beside her and decided to have another crack at Scott’s laptop. It paid off. I now knew the cameras had been used for more than just material for Scott to stroke his dick to, and I had a name: Imperious Incorporated. But that’s all I had. The owners were anonymous, hiding behind a shell company. They’d kept their names off any and all paperwork connected to the name, which was perfectly legal. Whoever was behind it had made sure to cover their tracks and then some, but I had a few contacts I could call on, people who may be able to dig deeper. I needed to make sure Ruby wasn’t at risk from these people. I carried on scrolling though files, pictures, whatever else I could find. Shit, I was almost afraid to look. What the fuck would I find on this motherfucker’s hard drive? There was nothing of importance in his documents. He didn’t have much in the way of pictures either. I clicked on videos and hit the first one. It was titled Chantal.

It took only a few seconds for me to work out what I was watching. The prick obviously liked to video the women he fucked. I clicked out and scrolled through the names. There were a lot and I couldn’t work out how all these women could be so damn blind, stunned that not only did they talk to the sick little fuck, they let him fuck them.

I was about to exit out and close it down, when a name caught my eye . . .

My entire body froze.

No.

Please, fuck no.

Ruby.

I felt like someone had just battered the side of my head with a baseball bat.

On autopilot, I clicked the video open and stared at the screen in a numb kind of daze. Ruby stumbled into the shot giggling. She tripped on something and fell on the floor, busting into more laughter.

“I think I had too much tequila.” Her voice was slurred. She was obviously wasted.

Scott moved into the shot. “Nah, just the right amount, beautiful.” He leaned down and roughly picked her up off the floor and dumped her on his bed.

“What’re you doing?”

“I’m going to kiss you.”

She shook her head. “That’s a bad idea. We live together.” She smiled a dopey smile. “You just moved in. If I lose another roommate, I’m screwed.” I was going to throw up . . . but I couldn’t look away. Couldn’t make myself slam it shut.

Scott dragged her shirt off, and Ruby just lay there, too fucked up to even know what was going on. “I’m not going anywhere. You got a boyfriend?” Scott muttered, then started kissing her tits.

She shook her head in that sloppy way wasted people do. “No.” She pushed at his shoulders. “Come on, Scott. Let me up.”

Scott lifted his head. “Why? You still a virgin?”

She shook her head again. “I’ve done it once before.” She frowned. “Didn’t much like it.”

“Then whoever you were doing it with wasn’t doing it right.” Scott said.

Another shake of her head. “Maybe. But we’re roommates, we can’t do this,” she said again.

Scott turned his head, looking right at the camera, right into my eyes, like he knew I’d see this one day, and smiled. I couldn’t move, couldn’t fucking breathe as I watched him turn to her, shoving her legs apart.

“Come one, Ruby.” He ground against her and she gasped. “You know you want to.”

“It’ll make things weird between us,” she slurred in reply.

He kissed her softly. “No, it won’t. We’re just two people making each other feel good. That’s it. No reason to overthink it. Nothing will be weird,” he said, coercing her.

She blinked up at him. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” He ground into her again. “You’re so fucking hot, Ruby.”

His hand dropped to her thigh and he shoved up her skirt.

She tried to sit up. “I don’t know, I still don’t think this is a good idea. Maybe I should go back to my room.”

Scott pressed into her, holding her down. “You don’t want to go back to your room.” Ruby bit her lip as Scott dragged down her underwear.

“I’ll make you feel good.” He was fumbling with the front of his jeans. “You on the pill?”

“Yes,” she mumbled. “But . . .”

“Shhhh.” His hips jerked back then slammed forward.

She cried out and it wasn’t from pleasure, hands, nails clawing at his back. She wasn’t wet, didn’t want him—didn’t even know what the fuck she was doing.

The hair on the back of my neck lifted, and I broke out in a cold sweat, salty-tasting saliva filling my mouth. I dragged in a breath through my nose, fighting the urge to vomit as my body started to shake so hard from rage, I didn’t know what to do with myself. I curled my hands into fists, knuckles cracking, fingers going numb I squeezed so tight.

I forced myself to watch the whole thing. Punishment for letting her go, for letting this happen to my woman. She never once told him to stop, but I wasn’t even sure she was still fucking conscious. It was over in a few minutes. Scott got up, wiped his dick on Ruby’s T-shit and grinned down at her, looking smug as fuck. Ruby was out cold. Scott walked to the camera and turned it off—but not before one last smirk into the lens, right at me. Then he waved. “Hi, Mom,” he said then snorted.

I slammed the laptop shut and stumbled to my feet, dragging my hands over my head. The fucker was sick, sicker than I thought. I was as close to the edge as I’d ever been. I stood there, emotions like a tornado inside me, whipping through me, tearing at my insides—fuck, shredding me. I was torn between going in there and holding her so tight she’d never get away from me, and shaking the fuck out of her for getting herself into that situation with a guy that, at the time, she’d hardly known. Shit, she’d never known.

It was wrong, I knew, feeling that way. None of it was her fault. None of it. It was all mine. I’d left her unprotected. I’d failed her.

I sucked down great lungfuls of air, but I couldn’t stop shaking, from the rage thrumming through me, from having no one to direct it at. I wouldn’t rest until I found Scott.

Until I put him in the ground.

I moved down the hall on autopilot, pushing the door to our bedroom open. Ruby was curled up on her side of the bed.

My heart started thumping harder in my chest.

She shifted under the covers, then rolled over, lifting to her elbows. “Neco?”

I couldn’t make my goddamn mouth work. How could I tell her, what I’d found out today, what I’d just seen? How?

She sat up, the covers dropping. She was wearing that tank she liked to wear to bed. Her skin looked even paler in the moonlight streaming in through the window. “What is it? What’s going on?”

“You’re beautiful,” I choked out.

Shoving back the sheets, she walked straight to me, knowing what I needed instantly. Her, close. Her hands went to my waist, fingers curling into my shirt, and she tilted her head back. “Talk to me,” she said, concern clear in her eyes.

I cupped her beautiful face. There was no way to sugarcoat this, any of it. As much as I wanted to shield her from it, I couldn’t. This was about her, had happened to her, and she deserved to know. I slid my thumb along her jaw. “I found out the footage Scott was getting from those cameras wasn’t just streaming to his laptop.”

She blinked up at me. “No?”

I could tell she was trying not to show how worried she was, but I could hear it in her voice. “Baby, it went to a website . . . where people pay to watch.”

Her body started to tremble against mine, and she started breathing harder, faster.

“Ruby . . .”

“Right.” She nodded, slender throat working. “I guess it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise, really. He had cameras in my room, there was always a chance he’d shared the footage.”

I slid my thumb along her jaw again. “I found something else.”

She dragged in a breath through her nose. “Awesome.”

I stared down at her. “Baby . . .”

“Whatever it is, Neco, I can take it.”

Fuck.

I turned, pinning her to the wall, lifting her, so I was all she could see. I knew she saw it all on my face then, the sympathy, the rage, so much rage, on her behalf, when I felt her body brace against mine. Preparing to take the blow I was about to deliver.

“I found a video on his laptop . . . a whole lot of them, actually.”

“What kind of videos?”

“Baby, they were sex tapes, of him and the women he slept with.”

Her eyes screwed shut, an anguished sound tearing from her throat. Then she started to struggle. I wasn’t letting her go, though. I was never letting her go. No matter what was thrown at us, we could face it together. “Ruby, look at me.”

She turned away, refusing to do what I asked, and whispered, “You found one of me, didn’t you?”

I tucked her hair behind my ear. “Yes.”

She bit her lip, and I could see she was fighting not to fall apart. “I don’t . . . I barely remember that night. Not after we started drinking. I don’t even know how it happened.”

“You were out of it. He wasn’t. He was also persistent. I don’t even think you were conscious for some of it.”

She covered her mouth with the back of her hand, fingers shaking. “You watched it?”

I nodded.

“Oh God.” She looked up at me. “I . . . I don’t even remember us coming home that night. All I remember is that I’d been upset that evening, and Scott insisted we go out to cheer me up.”

“You were upset?”

She swallowed, eyes darting away again. “Yes.”

And he’d used that fact to prey on her. I don’t know why I pushed, but I heard myself ask, “Why?” Whatever it was, remembering it made her uncomfortable. “What had upset you that night, Ruby?” I cupped her jaw and made her look at me. “Tell me.”

“It was nothing,” she said, voice soft.

I suddenly felt like I’d swallowed a lump of lead, because I knew. “It was me, wasn’t it? You were upset because of something I did?”

“It doesn’t matter now.”

“It fucking does matter. You were sad, because of me, and Scott took advantage of that, he used that against you.”

Her now glistening eyes met mine. “It wasn’t your fault, Neco. It doesn’t matter what it was. It could have been something small. God, maybe you didn’t talk to me that day at work, or I didn’t see you. My feelings aren’t something you have control over. You were always on my mind. I just, missed you . . . all the time. There was nothing you could have done to change that, and that includes how I was feeling that night . . . what happened with Scott later.”

She was trying to make me feel better, but all she’d succeeded in doing was reaffirming what I already knew. That I’d failed her. I should have held onto her and never let her go. Because even that . . . that fucking horror show I’d watched on Scott’s laptop, was about me. She’d gotten into that situation because of me, because I’d put distance between us, when she needed me. When I should have done the opposite as soon as I was free of Tomas.

When I started working for him, I’d been forced to give up Ruby to keep her safe, giving up on a life with her so I could work for him, the only way to save my mother. At the beginning, I thought I could have both, have it all. I’d been wrong, and Ruby had paid the price. She’d paid it over and over again.

“I can’t believe I let him do that,” she said, cutting through my thoughts.

I held her tighter. “You didn’t let him do a fucking thing. That fucker preyed on you, took advantage of you . . .”

“No, I . . .”

I kissed her, cutting her off. When I pulled back, I shook my head. “None of this is on you.” I kissed her again gently. “I’ll make him pay, I promise you that.” Then I kissed her again, soft and sweet, while she trembled in my arms, as she held on to me tighter.

“I need you,” she said against my lips. “I need you to wash it all away.”

Lifting her, I turned, and walked her to the bed. “I’ll give you anything, everything. All you have to do is ask, and I’ll do whatever it takes, always.”

We dropped to the bed, and she dragged my shirt up and off. “All I want, all I need, is you.”

“You’ve got me, you’ve always had me, even when you didn’t know it. I was always yours, Ruby. Always.” Then I kissed her again while she worked the button on my jeans and slid down the zipper.

I dragged her panties down, shoving her tank up and off. I needed to feel her skin against mine.

Her legs wrapped around my hips instantly. “Now, please. Don’t make me wait.”

I didn’t, couldn’t. Fisting my cock, I guided myself to her and slid home. Then we were moving together, rolling and grinding, kissing the whole time. Ruby fed me every moan and whimper, every cry, as I took her slow and deep, as I did my best to wash it all away.

We were lying together in the dark a little while later when she said quietly, “Please . . . please, don’t lock me out of this. I don’t want to feel helpless. Promise you won’t keep things from me, not when he’s out there, when that motherfucker is still out there.”

I curled her in closer. “I promise.” I kissed the top of her head. “But I need something from you, too. Leave this case to me. I won’t hide shit from you, but just . . . leave this one to me.”

She lifted up and looked down at me. “I can do more than sit behind a desk, Neco. I wish you could see that . . .”

Every muscle in my body tightened. “You don’t think I see it?”

“I haven’t exactly shown you what I can do. I’ve done one idiotic thing after another to get your attention . . .”

“Yeah, to get my attention. Shit, Ruby, I know how smart and quick, how fucking talented you are. I know you can do anything you put your mind to. And even though I hate it, I know you’ll make an amazing agent.” I met her stare. I needed her to understand where I was coming from. “The reason I don’t want you on this case isn’t because I don’t think you can do it. I’m asking you to leave this to me because I will lose my mind knowing you’re putting yourself in Scott’s line of fire every damn day. That fucker is still out there, and we still don’t know what his motives were for coming after you.”

“I don’t think Scott really wants to hurt me.”

“I hope you’re right, but we have no way of knowing for sure. Promise me you’ll leave this one for me.”

She let out a long breath. “You won’t keep anything from me?”

“I told you I won’t.”

“Fine,” she muttered, then snuggled in closer.

Thank fuck.