Chapter Seven
RUTH
“Rebecca Winston wants you as a guest on her show next week.”
You had to give Jayne props. The woman barely even flinched when we woke up this morning. I was sporting a mild headache that I knew would get worse as the day went. Jayne, on the other hand, just smoothed down yesterday’s clothes and whipped them back on, refusing to take something from my closet, not that we were the same size. Now she was hustling phone calls and handling my shit while I showered and tried to decide where to go from here.
Don’t think about it.
But I was thinking it. I had the spotlight on me everywhere I went. I had plenty of attention. Why did I have to send Amit those stupid texts? I didn’t do well with mistakes. I was going to beat myself up. In my head, I felt like my outbursts had been attention seeking.
I groaned, tossing my phone and accidentally hitting Jayne with it. I couldn’t stand to torture myself by looking at the text any longer. She bent down to retrieve it off the ground and saw the cause of my distress when she glanced at my phone’s screen.
“Will you stop,” Jayne said, pushing me out of my self-loathing. “It’s already done. You can’t take back the texts you sent him.”
I palmed my forehead. “It’s making me cringe just thinking about it. Why do you let me keep my phone when I drink?”
She laughed. “Cause you normally don’t do anything like that.” That was true. I didn’t know why that chiseled piece of perfection was tearing me all to pieces. And the saddest part of all was the time I had been in his presence had been all but maybe two minutes—a good several feet apart. “Ruth.” Jayne dropped down beside me on the sofa and grabbed my hand reassuringly. “It’s okay to be attracted to someone.”
I sputtered. “What? I’m not attracted to him. I can’t stand the way he acts dismissive and cold toward me. I feel foolish for wanting to know what he looked like for so long.” I groaned. “This is your fault. You planted the Amit seed in my brain and got me curious. Now, I’m pissed. Before I had nothing but silent respect for the guy since he seemed to have my back even if it was for the company.”
“It’s more than that, Ruth.” Jayne shook her head. “He doesn’t deal with anything himself, unless it’s about you then he wants to know everything. Most of the time, he pushes boundaries and does shit that a normal person wouldn’t get away with.”
I held up my hand. “Stop it, Jayne. No more talk about him.”
“Ruth, he’s magnetic and wholly male. There’s nothing wrong with being drawn to him. I’d let him all up in this if I could.” She pointed toward her crotch. “In fact, you should let him get up all in your business. I fully support Ruth Thomas having some fun. Fun in which she desperately needs.”
I was attracted to him, but I was irritated by him too. Besides, even if Amit did show an interest in me—which I highly doubted—there was still the demon problem. He killed every man that wanted in my pants. Thankfully, he didn’t mind my hand and vibrators since he’d yet to ax them or my fingers.
What a dick of a demon!
He took my soul and wouldn’t even let me get any nooky. Not that I wanted Amit.
The bastard.
Now I felt stupid for cursing a man so much for doing absolutely nothing to me other than wanting to get away from me. That wasn’t anyone’s fault but mine. I shouldn’t have let Jayne feed my curiosity about the mysterious president.
I didn’t have time to dwell on this situation with Amit. More than anything; I wondered if I could get up on stage one last time? Or several? Should I try writing one last song to leave behind?
Like what the hell did I want to do with what time I had left?
That was what I was afraid of. That I wouldn’t figure it out before my time was up.
Then my mind returned to Amit. “Have you forgotten how quick he was to get away from me yesterday?” I glanced at Jayne.
“He looked like a man that needed distance in order to keep himself in check,” she said. “I just got this vibe that he’s barely holding onto something—a very thin thread that he doesn’t want to snap.”
“Huh.” I smirked at her. “You got all this from one look?”
“Don’t belittle my skills, Ruth. I’m pretty damn good at reading men and women.” She gave me a sly look.
“Okay. Change the subject.”
“All right.” She blew air through her cheeks as she got up from the sofa. “Rebecca’s talk show or nah?”
I shook my head. There was no way I wanted to do any talk show where they’d ask a bunch of personal questions, and I had none to give. No one with two months left to live had time for that.
“Okay,” she said.
I loved that about Jayne. She didn’t try to force me to do things. Instead, she fully supported my choices even if it meant sliding under the radar.
“We lie low for a while and recharge?”
I chuckled as Jayne’s words proved my point. “Yeah, I thought that maybe I’d drop in at the studio sometime this week. See if Roo wanted to give me some music for some new lyrics.” Lil’ Roo was a good friend that I worked with a lot. He was an amazing rapper despite his goofy name.
She sighed. “That’s not recharging. Don’t you ever want to do anything but write songs?”
“No.” I was dead serious too, and she knew it because she laughed. “Words consume me, but I let them.”
“As long as that makes you happy,” she mumbled.
“Music is my love. I think we know that by now,” I told her with a cheesy smile that had her grinning.
There was a knock on the door, followed by several insistent, almost urgent ones. We gave each other a curious look. “Let me see who it is,” Jayne mumbled.
Wouldn’t be the first time a reporter or paparazzi found their way to my door or my house. Being a celebrity was no joke. It could get super crazy and creepy, and way out of hand in less than two seconds flat.
When she opened the door, I heard someone rambling, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying so I got up from the couch and made my way to the front door. Jayne’s mouth stretched from ear to ear when she saw me approaching. “Ruth, you’ll never guess who invited you to join him at Black Heart’s charity event.”
I lifted my eyebrows and frowned. “I thought it was this weekend.”
The young man at the door saw me and turned beet red. Worse than a schoolgirl. Worse than even Jayne did when we crossed paths with some of her celebrity crushes—okay, he hadn’t blushed that bad.
“Ruth.” He dipped his head as he said it.
“The charity event is this Friday, but Mr. Kingston wants to buy you a dress to wear—”
I cut Jayne off by raising my hand in a clipped manner. So, it was Amit Kingston who invited me? “No need, I can buy my own.”
Jayne gave the red-faced man an apologetic look before she glanced my way. “Ruth…”
“And I am going to the charity event this weekend, by myself.” I looked past Jayne to the man. “You can tell Mr. Kingston that I appreciate him thinking of me, but it’s not needed.” Then I glanced back at Jayne. “Now, as you can see I have my running clothes on so if you need me, John will be taking me to the park.”
Jayne closed her mouth and crinkled her nose. “You want a partner?” She leaned in. “Off the clock, of course.”
______
Amit
“I think Ruth wants nothing to do with you now, Sire.” Lars told me his thoughts even when I didn’t want him to. “She looked fine when she left the house.”
I took a deep breath and gripped the desk I was sitting on. I was very restless, agitated, and worn out the last few months. I couldn’t pinpoint why. But then again, knowing that I was so close to having her soul would drive any soul reaper insane. The fact was, it already belonged to me, but I chose to heal it, let it flourish before I ate it. Now I was coming unhinged.
All this work, and she was dwindling on me.
“Yeah, but is her soul happy?” I clipped out. His silence was enough.
“I’m a demon of my word, I won’t take her life before her ten years is up but knowing that her time is almost here is killing her soul.” I picked up the hourglass on my desk and flipped it around. “I don’t know what to do to make her pretty little soul happy. How to keep her mind distracted long enough…?” I drifted off.
“Maybe you could finally let her date?” Lars suggested.
“No.” Hell. No.
“Let her have fun?”
I lifted my eyes up and pinned him with them. “What kind of fun?”
Lars lips curled, showing his sharp tiny teeth. “You always get mad when I do it to dead things.”
“You fucking gremlins,” I spat. “You don’t hump dead things or play with your food. As long as you want to stay by my side and serve me, then I better never catch you doing it again!”
He bowed his head. “I only meant to explain what might lift Ruth’s spirits. I don’t play with my food anymore, Sire. I learned.”
At the mention of Ruth coming into contact with any human male, I switched into my reaping form and hissed. “Absolutely not.”
Then I went in search of her.