“Gobble, gobble, girl,” I said.
Ruby shook her head.
She turned and started to walk fast.
I wasn’t letting her get away like that.
I chased after her.
I grabbed her arms and spun her around.
She let out a gasping yell and swung her hand, slapping me across the face. Hitting me right where Garcia and Pres had already hit me.
I grabbed her arms again.
I pulled her close.
She froze.
My hands touched her face.
I leaned down and kissed her.
She started to melt into me but stopped.
She shook her head again and slammed her hands to my chest and pushed me away.
She blinked fast and I saw a tear fall from her left eye.
I let her walk away this time.
But I wasn’t leaving just yet.
* * *
I had done so much less for so much more in my life than I did for Ruby.
Yet I knew exactly why I was doing what I was doing for her. And to her. And with her. I actually gave a damn enough to think about her grandmother for a minute or two. Not in any kind of crazy or GILF way either. But actually as a person. Trying to piece together what must have happened with Ruby’s mother and how sad and scary it was. Then to lose her granddaughter for a little while only to have her granddaughter come back trying to get cleaned up from slipping into the same life as her daughter.
And who the hell was I?
I was the guy that was going to save Ruby?
I didn’t even know what that meant to me.
I just liked being near her. And talking to her. I liked everything she had to say. And offer. I could listen to her stories all night. Or stare into her eyes all day. Or touch her stubby toes and tickle her feet for the hell of it. Or crash into a drug house to find a plastic ring.
Whatever worked.
I sat behind the wheel of my SUV and gave Ruby five more minutes.
At minute four, she texted me.
Where r u
I grabbed my phone.
Same spot. Not leaving until I know you’re okay.
I waited again.
I pictured all the girls on the beach.
The girls getting tanned. The girls on their phones. The girls listening to music. The girls with their tops undone, with their backs fully exposed.
I thought about the girls at the party.
What party?
Any party.
There was always a fucking party.
Always somewhere to drink, flirt, and take things somewhere else.
And there I was sitting behind the wheel of my SUV, hiding on the side of the road, anxious for Ruby to reply.
She did a few seconds later.
Come over
I lifted my eyebrow.
Are you setting me up to get beat up by your grandmother? Because if so, it’s worth getting to you.
I curled my lip like a cocky asshole after sending the text.
Ruby wasted no time in replying.
Come over at ur own risk. I’ll b out front if you have the balls to show up. Goodbye
I laughed.
I tossed my phone to the passenger seat and backed up.
If I had to take a wooden spoon to the head a few times to get Ruby’s grandmother’s trust, then so be it. I had hit my head plenty enough times already in life.
As I drove up to the house, I saw the front door open and Ruby stepped out onto the small porch.
Besides her, the first thing I noticed was that there were no other vehicles there.
That left me with two words running through my head.
Home alone.
I walked to the porch and Ruby stood there with her arms crossed.
“Where’s Gram?” I asked.
“Don’t talk about her like you know her.”
“She hit me with a wooden spoon,” I said. “We’re practically family.”
Ruby’s mouth open but she didn’t say anything for a few seconds. “I can’t figure you out, Kip.”
“Why’s that?”
“Do you really like me or are you just fucking insane? I mean, you really went to get this stupid, plastic ring for me?”
I walked up the steps and towered over Ruby. “That’s the thing, girl. It’s not stupid. It matters to you.”
“No it doesn’t,” Ruby said. “I was mad at myself for going over there. For what I did. I had been good and then I slipped.”
“And you didn’t fall,” I said. “And that ring is a reminder of it.”
Ruby grabbed my hand. “Follow me. Say anything dumb and I’ll kick you in the balls and never talk to you again.”
“So you are home alone,” I said with a grin.
“Not for long,” she said. “Don’t fuck this up.”
Ruby pulled at my hand.
I followed her.
There was a problem.
She was fucking me up… my head and my heart.
* * *
The upstairs to the beach house was like one continuous bedroom with connecting doorways. I had to give it to Ruby, the place was pretty damn cool.
“I know it’s not a fucking mansion overlooking perfect surf water,” she said with an eye roll.
“Hey, I didn’t say a thing,” I said. “This is really cool up here. Very chill.”
“Chill? Really? Do you say chill often?”
“Not usually,” I said.
“Ah, fuck…”
“What’s wrong, girl?”
I stood in the doorway to her actual bedroom. The top of her bed was against the single bumped out window that I had caught her attention from when I needed to talk to her the day Gram attacked me with a wooden spoon.
Ruby moved toward me and she grabbed my shirt.
Her hand twisted.
“Does this mean you like me?” I whispered.
“No,” she said. “I’m the one making the decision here, understand? I’m going to use you. Not the other way around it, Kip. You’re not going to get to me. But…” She shut her eyes and sighed.
“You can tell me anything that’s on your mind,” I said. “I can keep secrets.”
“Good,” she said. “Don’t fucking say a word about this.”
Ruby pulled and jumped at the same time.
She was in my arms and our lips were locked like they had been super glued for days.
She grabbed my hair and pulled, kissing me harder than any other girl had ever kissed me before.
I fucking loved it.
I kissed her back with the same care and passion, knowing exactly what she wanted me to do and why she didn’t want to make it into a big deal.
As I walked her toward the bed, she broke the kiss and grabbed my face. “I don’t know what kind of cheap games you play, but don’t play them with me. We don’t have time. I mean that, literally. So get to the point.”
“Not a problem, girl,” I said.
We kissed again.
I lowered her down to the bed and my hands helped themselves to sliding along the sides of her body. Down to her waist and I cut up under her zip-up hoodie and under her shirt too. I felt her breathing heavy, her belly fluttering to my touch.
I pulled my hands away, remembering time was against us.
I put my left hand flat to the bed and used my right hand to slowly unzip the hoodie.
When the zipper popped free, I saw the super tight tank top that hid nothing of her body.
I sucked in a breath and lowered my mouth to her neck as my right hand grabbed the bottom of her shirt.
Ruby pushed me away and sat up.
I stepped away from the bed and she took the liberty of stripping off her own shirt. She then crossed her arm over her bare chest and looked at me.
“Are you okay here?” she asked.
“I’m better than okay, girl. I’m fucking perfect.”
I lifted my shirt over my head and touched the front of my jeans.
/>
Ruby leaned back and kicked my hand away from myself.
“I meant… okay… as in… do you have something with you?”
I grinned. “Of course I do. You never know when the moment is going to appear.”
Ruby put her head back and let out a long sigh. “I have never hated and wanted someone so much before.”
“That’s part of my charm, girl.”
“I wasn’t talking to you.”
“Oh. Right. You were talking to the stars again. Except we’re inside. And it’s daylight. There’s no stars.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Ruby said.
I stepped toward her again. My heart raced inside my chest like it did only once before in my life.
I reached for Ruby’s face and made her look at me.
“Maybe I can help you see some stars, girl.”
Chapter 10
I pulled the heavy comforter up to the middle of my back as I settled my body down between her legs. Her eyes were changing colors again by the second, leaving me captivated and distracted. Almost to the point that I almost forgot what we were about to do.
I had to mentally slap myself and move my eyes from her eyes.
That’s how people fell in love, dammit.
My eyes moved down along the exposed skin of her body.
I gritted my teeth and lowered my lips down to her neck.
I kissed her softly and Ruby sucked in a breath.
Each time she exhaled, it was with a mix of pleasure and anger.
I liked it.
She touched my back, her fingers grazing my skin.
I moved my lower half as needed, fully ready for Ruby.
I kissed my way to her ear and paused.
I put my hands to the bed and lifted enough to put a small distance between us.
“Ready, girl?” I whispered.
Ruby turned her head so we were looking at each other.
She nodded to me.
There was a subtleness to it all. An almost complete silence to start, like we had never done this before.
Her hands dug into my back for a couple seconds and then moved to the bed.
She shut her eyes and sucked in a breath.
I sucked in a breath too but did it in silence. I didn’t want her to know how close I was to making a fool of myself by ruining this in two seconds.
There was just too much happening between us.
When Ruby opened her eyes, I kissed her.
I tightened my grip on the sheets of her bed and hovered over her. My head dipped down so I could kiss her in a way she’d never forget. And the same with the lower half of my body. Those first few moments of silence were gone.
The faster I moved, the faster she did too.
The harder I kissed her, the harder she kissed me back.
If I nibbled on her bottom lip, she bit mine. If I moved my right hand to ease over her chest and feel her beautiful body, she would claw her right hand to my back.
And if I stared at her, she was would stare back, but only for a few seconds. Then she’d put her head back, bite her lip, and move her hips with as much force as she could.
We were teetering between the line of hookup and realness.
A line that I stayed far away from.
Yet I had been the one who had driven all the way up here. I was the one who put my life at risk for her. I was the one who couldn’t stop thinking about her. Or wanting her. Or waiting for this exact moment between us…
Ruby hooked her legs around my body and pulled at me. She looked at me again and nodded. As she lifted her head off the bed, I moved my right hand to hold her.
I shut my eyes and felt the moment between us reaching its peak.
I fought that feeling off with everything I had to offer.
Ruby didn’t help matters as she jumped off the ledge first.
Her lips touched my shoulder and her little but strong breaths attacked my skin.
She buried her face into my neck and gasped for a breath.
My fingers spread wide across her upper back as I continued to hold her, feeling everything about her.
I looked down at her, her hair in my face.
That wild hair that matched her wild eyes.
The smell of shampoo and the ocean mixing together.
Making me rethink my life as I couldn’t believe I was picking out the smell of her hair.
“Kip… now…”
Her words were the command and there was no resisting now.
I eased Ruby down the bed again and put my nose to hers.
Our eyes fought and flirted.
I lowered my lips to hers but didn’t kiss.
I pulled away.
Then I kissed her.
Then I stopped.
Ruby finally grabbed my face and made me stare at her.
The moment exploded between us and she let out a quiet gasp and shut her eyes again.
I kissed her again, this time with no intentions of ever stopping.
The rush of that feeling overtook my body as it always did, but there was something different and almost better when it came to kissing Ruby.
The kiss was short lived though.
She dug her nails into my cheeks and pushed me away.
She took a few deep breaths.
“Kip?” she whispered.
“Yeah, girl?” I asked.
“Get the fuck out of my bed right now.”
* * *
It wasn’t the first time I had to carry my clothes to a bathroom and hang out there for a little bit. I looked at myself in the mirror and wasn’t sure who or what I was looking at.
I wanted to go back to Ruby’s room.
I wanted to crawl under the covers with her and hold her.
I backed away from the mirror and got dressed and sat down on the edge of the bathtub.
The bathroom was old, just like the rest of the house.
But I really liked it.
That was something I tried to explain so many times… for me it wasn’t about mansions or cash. A little place with a little life and a little peace. That was a good thing to have. I couldn’t help where I came from or what I had been born into. But I sure as fuck could control where I was going and why.
A knock at the door ended all those thoughts.
“Kip?” Ruby’s voice asked.
“It’s your house, girl, you don’t have to knock.”
The door opened and Ruby’s head poked in.
Her hair was pulled up into an even messier bun than normal.
She looked good enough that I forgot to take a couple breaths.
“Wasn’t sure if you were decent or not,” she said.
I stood up. “When am I ever decent?”
“Good point.”
I walked toward the door and reached for her.
She swatted her hand at my arm.
She shook her head.
“That’s it then, huh?” I asked.
“Kip…”
“It’s cool. I get it. If you did that as a thanks for getting your necklace, you didn’t have to. I was going to get that thing for you no matter what.”
Ruby grabbed my shirt. “And that’s what I still don’t get. And you need to stop saying that kind of stuff to me. And doing stuff. And showing up. And…”
“And, what?” I asked. “You don’t like to be challenged, do you?”
“I’m trying to figure a lot out,” she said. “I don’t need this to mess that up.”
“Okay,” I said. “So I’ll make you a deal then. You text me when you want. I won’t text you. And if you need… attention… I’ll come be attentive.”
“I’m not some fuck friend,” Ruby said. “I don’t do that kind of thing.”
“Neither do I,” I said.
“Liar,” she said. “That’s all you want. You get the freedom to screw anyone you want.”
I touched her face.
She tried to slap my hand away and I grabbed her wrist.
“Don’t jud
ge me, Ruby. I’m an asshole, but I would never hurt you like that. In fact… I haven’t… let’s just say there were opportunities and I passed them up. For you.”
“And I didn’t ask you to do that.”
“Of course not,” I said. “I wanted to.”
“You better go,” she said. “Don’t want you to get caught here. That wouldn’t end well for anyone.”
I took my hand from her cheek.
I turned and leaned against the wall, still inside the bathroom.
“So were you ever going to tell me that you called him?” I asked.
“What?”
“You called Garcia to come get you, girl. You wanted him to pick you up. You wanted everything to happen the way it did that night. Before you got nervous and threw up.”
“He told you that?” Ruby asked.
“Yeah. He did.”
“And you believe him?”
“Should I?”
“You said you believed in me,” she said. Ruby moved away from me. She pointed down the hallway. “Get out of here, Kip. You got what you came for. I gave you what you wanted. Now you can go brag to Pres and Barr about how you slept with Tinsley’s hot friend. Mark that down in your book or whatever you have to track how many girls you fuck.”
I laughed. “You can’t just let that part of me go, huh? You can’t just understand who I am. Or at least try to pretend to be fake about caring about me.”
“Caring about you,” she said. “Right.”
“Or maybe caring about yourself,” I said.
“Get out,” she said.
“I’m leaving, girl,” I said. “Not the way I want to leave though.”
“Because you’re the one getting out,” Ruby said. “I got what I wanted, Kip. Now I’m kicking your ass out. So you can take that walk and feel the way so many others did.”
I stepped into the hallway and backed up.
I didn’t say a word.
“What are you doing?” Ruby asked.
“Just taking you all in, girl. Trying to understand in my crazy mind how someone so beautiful acts the way you do.”
“Ask yourself that.”
“You think I’m beautiful too?” I asked.
Ruby stood kind of sideways and lifted her right hand. She put her middle finger like she was holding a gun. I clutched my chest as though she shot me.
“You can lie to me, Ruby,” I said. “I get it. I’m a crazy nobody to you. You don’t know how to accept my attention or the way I feel about you. But don’t lie to yourself. Or else you’ll end up right back there again. Right back at his place. Feeding needs that don’t need to be there. Losing time that you’ll never get back. Becoming a cliché to everything you’ve seen in your life. If that happens, it’ll break my heart. And my heart has only been broken one time in my life.”
KIP: a bay falls high novel Page 10
