Ruby

Grabbing a beer and my book from my room, I hit the couch.

I’d thought going back to the King Agency today to get my stuff would have had me regretting my decision to leave. Surprisingly, it hadn’t. If anything, my resolve was even stronger.

I loved the guys that worked there like brothers. Which was exactly why I had to leave. They were all too close to me. All of them had known me as the scared, emotionally abused little kid I’d once been, and I was starting to get the feeling that was how they’d always see me. I wanted to do P.I. work. I wanted to be out in the field making a difference, and if I stayed where I was, I was never going to get my chance. I’d finally let go of that last sliver of hope, that one day Neco and me would be more.

He felt responsible for me. Saw me as someone that he needed to protect. Probably because he’d saved my ass too many times to count. But I didn’t need that from him anymore. I could save myself. Unfortunately, the damage was done. He’s seen me at my worst, and he couldn’t see past it, to the Ruby I was now.

The truth hurt like a son of a bitch, but it shouldn’t be a surprise.

My mind drifted back to that place, that time, before I could stop it.

Neco had given me some money for my birthday and he’d looked so proud when he handed it to me. I didn’t like that he was working for Tomas, but it seemed to make Neco happy. He could buy things for his mom. He told me all the time that when he could finally make real money, he’d make sure she never had to be with another man she didn’t want. I didn’t know exactly what he did for Tomas, but I didn’t care, I was proud of him, too.

I pulled my new dress over my head. I’d bought it with the money he’d had given me. It was deep purple and I loved it like crazy. It had thin straps that showed off my shoulders and sat mid-thigh. I was sixteen now. Mature. I wanted Neco to see me that way, too.

Pushing my door open, I peeked out to check the coast was clear. Valery was not in a great mood. She hadn’t even wished me happy birthday. Not that that was anything new. Neco’s mom had made me a cake, though, a chocolate one, and we’d had it for breakfast. I’d walked out of his room this morning and she’d been standing in the kitchen waiting for me, the cake in the center of the table. It’d had candles and everything. She was more like a mother to me than Valery had ever been. Neco’s mom didn’t care that I slept there most nights. She also never asked questions, which I was grateful for.

Valery was asleep on the couch, the TV blaring. Yes! I started to sneak past the door.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Crap. I should have gone out the window, but I was scared I’d catch or tear my dress on the way out. I ducked my head back around the door. “For a walk.”

“Let me see you,” she said.

I moved into the doorway.

“You look like a slut.”

I swallowed.

“You been whoring yourself out to that black boy across the street?”

“No.”

“Little slut,” she muttered. “You get pregnant, you can fuck off and find somewhere else to live.” Then she turned back and stared at the TV.

I spun away and ran out. Not as bad as I expected. She’d said worse. Luckily for me, her favorite program was on and she was more interested in that instead of me, for once.

The street was dark, but there was a full moon. It was also warm, and I was glad, I didn’t want to cover my dress with a sweater. I walked along the street, following the thumping beat of the music coming from Tomas’s house. I could hear people talking and laughing and my belly flip-flopped. I’d never been to one of his parties before, but I wasn’t a kid anymore, and Neco would be there to look out for me.

I walked down the broken concrete driveway. Several guys were standing around and I felt their eyes following me.

“Who do we have here?” one of them said, moving toward me.

I ignored them all and quickly walked toward the back.

There was a bonfire in a drum, and most people were back there. I stopped, searching for Neco, and some guy slung his arm around my shoulders.

“Hey, baby . . .”

That’s all he got out before Neco was in front of me. I smiled up at him. “Hey.”

He stared at the guy still with his arm around me and shook his head. The guy dropped his arm instantly and backed off. My heart did a little flutter.

Neco’s eyes slid back to me. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

I jerked back. I thought he’d be happy to see me. “I, ah . . . I thought . . .” Suddenly I didn’t know what to say. That never happened when I was with Neco.

He dragged a hand over his cropped hair, eyes dropping to my dress. “Fuck.” His nostrils flared. “You can’t be here.”

“But . . .”

“These aren’t the kinds of guys you need to be hanging around, Ruby. You’re a fucking kid.”

“I’m not, and you know it.” I could see several girls from my class standing around. “And I . . . I wanted to show you my dress. I bought it with the money you gave me.”

He stilled and his eyes did another sweep, from head to toe, and his chest expanded to twice the size on his next breath. “Ruby . . .”

“Do you like it?”

“It’s not safe for you here. You need to leave.”

I wanted to hear him say he liked it; I wanted to hear him say I looked beautiful. I ran my hands over my hips. “But my dress . . .”

“Go the fuck home, Ruby!”

I jumped. Neco had never yelled at me like that. Ever. He looked so angry, angry at me. Oh God, I’d gotten it all wrong, I’d made a mistake . . .

“Now!” he barked.

I spun and ran away.

When I hit the street, I was struggling to breathe through the pain his words had inflicted. I loved him, so much.

He didn’t love me, not the way I loved him.

He didn’t want me.

“Hey, baby,” a deep voice said behind me.

I spun around, and the guy that had put his arm around me was following me. Another guy behind him. “Where are you going, sweet thing?”

“Home.”

“Now why would Neco let his girl walk off all alone?”

“I’m not Neco’s girl.” I shook my head, as another wave of pain nearly overwhelmed me.

He grinned and I knew I’d made a mistake.

Neco may try to shelter me, but I lived on the same streets as him. I knew how things worked around here. I tried to walk away. “I need to go.”

“Not so fast, baby.”

They moved in on me before I could make a break, grabbing me roughly.

“You wanna have a little fun, girl?” the other guy said.

“No.” I shook my head. “I want you to let me the hell go.”

They laughed and started dragging me further from the party. I struggled, letting out a scream. One of them cursed then backhanded me. My mouth filled with blood and tears stung my eyes. I tried to fight but I couldn’t get away. They took me to the park across the street then shoved me to the ground. One guy held me down while the other climbed on top of me. The sound of fabric tearing filled the air, and another scream tore through my lips. The guy holding me down kneeled on one of my arms and covered my mouth again with his hand.

“Hurry up, man, I want my turn.”

They guy on top of me undid his jeans.

I was shaking my head frantically, fighting as hard as I could. They laughed at me and the guy on top of me gripped the front of my underwear . . .

Then he was gone . . . flying across the dry grass. The other guy holding me looked up and his eyes went round, then he let me go suddenly and I could hear him scrambling back behind me.

Then Neco was there. He had a gun in his hand and it was aimed at my attackers.

“Can you get up, Ruby?” he said to me, without looking down.

A sob of relief escaped. My body ached from being thrown down, I was shaking uncontrollably, and I had to spit the blood still filling my mouth to answer. “Yes.”

Neco pulled me into his side as soon as I got to my feet, doing his best to cover me since my dress was ripped right down the front.

“They hurt you?” he growled.

I knew what he meant. He wanted to know if they’d raped me. “No,” I whispered.

“Don’t fucking move, you hear me,” Neco growled to the two men now cowering on the ground.

I saw Hunter crossing the street toward us, and relief washed over me. Neco couldn’t take on these guys on his own.

“Nec, what’s going on? You left the party so fast . . .” Hunter’s voice trailed off when he took in the scene.

Neco spoke to him without taking his eyes off his targets. “Give her your shirt and hold this.”

Hunter dragged off his shirt and tugged it over my head then took the gun.

“Come on, then,” Neco barked out, motioning for the two assholes on the ground to get to their feet. “Show me how fucking tough you are.”

I’d seen fights, a lot of them. I’d even seen Neco fight before. But nothing like this.

He fought both of them until they stopped coming at him, until they stopped getting back up, then after giving the guy that ripped my dress one last brutal kick to the ribs, making him scream—he took me home.

A shiver slid down my spine and I quickly shook off the memory. I’d held on to the fantasy of us for far too long. Now I was putting it behind me and going after something that was actually attainable.

I was still reading my book and onto my second beer when Scott stumbled through the door. Jesus. He looked more strung out than I’d ever seen him.

A cheesy grin spread across his face. “You miss me?”

He’d been gone a couple days, something he did often, and another reason I could put up with him as a roommate. He dumped his laptop bag on the small table by the window and plonked down beside me on the couch, slinging an arm around my shoulders.

I gave him a shove. “You need to go sleep it off, Scott, seriously.”

“You wanna sleep it off with me?”

“No.”

“Instead of falling asleep, and this . . .” He tapped the book in my hand. “Dropping on your face again, you could fall asleep with my face between your thighs.”

“You’re disgusting.” I gave him another shove and he almost rolled off the couch.

He stumbled to his feet and shrugged. “If you’re gonna be like that . . .” Then he swayed up the hall to his room.

I opened my book again, and was halfway through my page when Scott’s words drifted through my mind.

Last night, I’d fallen asleep reading and my book had dropped, hitting my nose, startling me back awake. An unsettling feeling curled in my belly.

Maybe he meant another time?

He was wasted, he probably didn’t even know what he was saying. But why would he even say that?

Could he be . . . ?

Was he somehow . . . watching me?

No.

No, of course he wasn’t. I was being ridiculous, wasn’t I?

Several hours later, the book was finished and I was struggling to keep my eyes open. I stood with a yawn, and headed to my room.

I was in the middle of my room, about to take off my shirt, when I glanced up. There was a smoke detector in the far corner. I never really thought about it that much. The cover was crooked, like it hadn’t been put back on correctly.

The unease from earlier came rushing back.

I grabbed a chair from the living room to get a closer look.

I twisted it open . . . and found a tiny black camera inside. I’d seem them before, of course, many times, so there was no way I could mistake it for anything else.

Holy fuck.

I was going to throw up.

Other things Scott had said to me jumped forward from my memory, little things that on their own hadn’t really clicked, but now made sense.

He’d been watching me.

I found two more: one attached to my lamp, another by my mirror. I stood there frozen for several minutes, not sure what the hell to do next. So many things rushing through my mind at once.

His laptop. That’s where the cameras had to be streaming to. He took it everywhere with him.

I raced out to the living room. Scott’s door was still closed, so I grabbed his bag and pulled out his laptop. I fired it up, but it was password protected. I tried a few different options, denied access each time.

“Ruby?” Scott’s voice jolted me from the screen in front of me, to where he was standing staring at me. “What are you doing? Why are you on my laptop?” He took a step forward.

I stood, knocking over the chair I’d been sitting on. “You’ve been watching me, haven’t you?”

He started scratching his wrist, twitching, eyes bloodshot. “You don’t understand. I had to, but I promise, I promise I’m going to make it better, okay? I’m going to fix this.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” I grabbed my phone from the couch, shaking my head, feeling sick to my stomach, violated. “I’m calling the cops.”

He dove at me suddenly, knocking the phone from my hand. I jumped back, skirting the couch, and dove for it. He did as well, but I beat him to it. He was blocking the door out of the apartment, so I ran for my room. I slammed the door shut behind me, throwing the little slide lock I’d put on when I first moved in. Scott started hammering on the door, screaming for me to open up, saying he’d fix it over and over again.

He wasn’t making any sense.

I was freaked—God, scared—and I’d hit Neco’s number before I knew what I was doing. It went straight to voice mail. A sob exploded past my lips. That’s when the door flew open and Scott stumbled through, wild eyed. He came at me, I tried to make a break for it, but he grabbed my wrist and wrenched the phone from my hand, flinging it on the bed before I could react. I cried out in pain when he twisted my arm and shoved me face first against the wall.

He leaned in, face close to mine. His pupils dilated, the black almost swallowing all the blue of his eyes. “I’ll fix this,” he said again. “I’ll keep you safe.”

I struggled, but he wouldn’t let me go, so I slammed my head back, connecting with his nose. He screamed in pain, momentarily letting me go. I made a break for it, but he dove at me again, catching me around the legs, knocking me down. My head collided with the floor, hard, pain exploding behind my eyes. He straddled me, and plowed his fist into my face before I had time to react, stunning me further, then he kept on hitting. I screamed in pain, in anger, and he kept coming at me, over and over again. I’d let him take me down, and after that hit to the head, I was too disoriented to fight him off.

“You’re making me do this,” he yelled. “I didn’t want to hurt you! Why are you making me hurt you!”

My ears started ringing, blood filling my eyes, my mouth. I could hear him sobbing, apologizing as he beat me.

“Scott, no . . .”

“I’m so sorry,” he said again. “But I don’t have time to fight you on this . . . you have to come with me.”

I kicked out, tried shove him off. But my eyes were already swelling, I felt nauseous, and my head was pounding. I was pretty sure I was concussed.

He jerked me to my feet suddenly. I tried to talk, but only a garbled sound came out of my mouth. He half carried, half dragged me to the door and out into the hall, then we were going down the stairs. I had no idea where he was taking me, but I knew I had to get away or, I decided in that moment, die trying. Somehow, I drew the last of my strength and shoved at him. He wasn’t expecting it, his hold not as tight. I spun, slamming the heal of my hand into his already mashed nose then, grabbing his shoulder, brought my knee up, slamming it into his nuts. He screeched, but didn’t let go of me. My head was spinning, pounding, and I lost my balance. We both tumbled down the last few steps, landing in a heap on the floor. I tried to crawl away, but Scott recovered faster, the drugs he was on more than likely dulling the pain of his injuries, then he had my arm and started dragging me across the ground and out the door. I tried to call for help, but still nothing would come out.

“It’s okay, Ruby,” I heard him say. “I know you’re angry at me now, but I’ll explain. It’s going to be okay now, I’ll look after you.”

He’d just beaten me senseless, and now he was talking about looking after me?

“Wait here while I get the car. Don’t move.” Then he took off around the corner.

Wait here?

Scott was so damn high, he had lost all grip on reality. Somehow, I managed to drag myself to my feet. I couldn’t see clearly, and my glasses had been knocked off in the apartment. It was late, but there had to be people around, someone that could get me help. A jogger rounded the corner. He had headphones on and didn’t hear me call out to him. It wasn’t easy, but I managed to stumble out in front of him . . . then collapsed on the ground.

Everything went dark after that.