She cut him off, desperate to explain things away. “You. I know. Yes, Donovan is loosely based on you, but don’t worry about it. I’ve just decided that Hal’s right. I don’t want to fictionalize our relationship for public consumption. What we have is sacred. I’m dropping the Donovan character, and Shelby will marry Rick—”
“But wait,” he said, putting his hand up. “Did that…You didn’t, um, did you really search the alumni directory to find my address?”
Ruby tried to wipe all the expression off her face. “No! Oh no!” She forced herself to laugh her fake, happy laugh. “Of course not. I’m not a Gisbson Alumni. I graduated from San Francisco State! I just took poetic license for the cartoon. I based the character on you, but everything else I just made up. You told me you were being stalked, and I was being stalked, so I, um, well…I must’ve, unconsciously, um…used it.”
“But I got the impression that Shelby had a huge, years-long crush on Donovan.”
“She did.”
Sean rocked back on his heels and looked around without meeting her eyes. “Well did you…?” he trailed off. “Never mind.”
Ruby felt her face grow hot. “Did I have a crush on you?”
He met her eyes briefly and said, “Yes.”
Ruby looked at the floor, unsure if admitting it would be good or bad for her. Maybe it would endear her to him…
“Yes,” she said softly, staring at the floorboards. “I had a huge crush on you in our painting class. Huge. And I know that you probably never thought of me once until we met up again all these years later, but I thought about you…occasionally. I’d moved on with my life of course, but when I saw you in Magenta’s, those feelings of attraction came rushing back.” She risked a quick peek at his face. If this was a romance novel, now was the part where he’d swear his undying love for her. They’d run off, get married, and the book would end with the birth of their perfect child a year later.
She waited expectantly, but he only said, “That’s so flattering! I wish I’d known how you felt back then.”
He wasn’t feeling sorry for her, was he? She spoke without thinking. “I know, I know. If you hadn’t already been dating Millicent, you would’ve asked me out. and…” Oh shit. She’d been eavesdropping when she’d heard that.
He had the funny look on his face again. “How…how did you know that?”
“Know what?”
“That I would have asked you out back then if it wasn’t for Millicent?”
She shrugged. “I didn’t know for sure. I just remember that there was this…awareness between us, and I wondered, at the time, why you never took advantage of it. I figured you must have had a girlfriend, because it was obvious we were attracted to each other.”
“…Or, maybe not,” she said, to fill the silence.
Sean ran his hands through his hair. “No, you’re right, and I thought the feeling might have been mutual, but you kept sending me mixed signals. And there was Millie, so, the opportunity kind of…floated away.”
What mixed signals? She’d done everything but shout her love for him from the mountaintops! “Well, thank heavens we’re together now!” she said, flashing him a brilliant smile. “And nothing’s ever going to come between us again.” She went to hug him, but he took a step back.
“What does that mean? We just started dating you know.”
Shit. She’d spooked him. She stepped towards him and spoke in a soothing tone, “I know. And I hope we continue to date for a while. Okay?”
Sean eyes darted from thing to thing. “I should go. I have to pick up Danny later.”
She’d scared him off. “Please don’t go yet!” she begged, sounding way more desperate than she meant to.
“I have to,” he said. “The tires!” He stomped over to the window and looked out. “I don’t believe this!” he shouted, staring out the window. He turned to face her. “My car’s been stolen! Who would steal a car with four ruined tires?” He narrowed his eyes. “And how—”
“Surprise!” Ruby squealed. “I got your car towed to Armstrong tires while you were still asleep, and I’m having all new tires put on!”
Sean started pacing. “I wish you hadn’t done that. My insurance company won’t pay if I didn’t get permission first, and I’m not sure I have enough on a credit card to cover them. How much do you think they’ll cost? Probably at least five hundred bucks. Shit. There’s the Bank of America Visa…no, I think it’s maxed…”
“Oh no! I’m paying for this whole thing! It’s already done. Don’t worry about a thing.”
“Why would you do that?” he asked. “That’s hundreds of dollars.”
“I feel responsible for the damage. Jeremy’s my problem, not yours. Consider it another birthday present, birthday boy.”
“You don’t have to do this. You already got me that beautiful watercolor set and those brushes. And the party.”
She put her arms around him. “And now I’m getting you tires. I know I didn’t have to, but I love making you happy. I’d do anything for you.”
After a few seconds she felt Sean hug her back. When he spoke, he sounded sad. “Well, thank you. I owe you one.”
Ruby’s eyes lit up, and she hugged him tighter, snuggling her face into his soft, green sweater. He owed her one!
And she always called in her debts.
CHAPTER 36
Ruby slathered heavy foundation on her bruises before she made up her face. When she was finished, she looked in the mirror and smiled. Nude lip, perfect smokey eye, tight red dress. Sean was going to flip.
She was still on her period, but this should keep him interested.
She took a bunch of selfies of her posing and pouting in the mirror. When she felt she had enough, she took off her dress and took twenty or thirty more of her in red lingerie. Finally, she stripped and took ten more of her completely naked, in only her heels.
She put on her robe and chose her seven favorites, which she used her favorite filter on and edited until she glowed, before texting Sean three pictures of her in the dress.
He immediately texted back, “Wow! You look hot. We goin’ out for my birthday tonight?”
Instead of answering, she sent him three pictures of her wearing lingerie.
He sent her back the purple horny emoji. She smirked and sent him her best nude.
She was on pins and needles awaiting his response. A minute later he sent her a picture of his erect penis and she laughed. Men always sent pictures of their junk.
“Happy Birthday,” she texted.
He FaceTimed her, and when she answered, he was naked and so was she. “Turn around,” he said. “Lemme get a look at that butt.”
▬▬▬
That evening, Ruby hung up her phone thoughtfully as she sat against Sean’s headboard. “That is one angry woman.”
“Did she tell you anything helpful?” Sean asked, looking up from his book.
“No.”
Talking to Lauren Cosway had been a waste of time. The woman was a paranoid freak, unable to move past the “how did you get this number?” line, asked in an increasingly desperate wail.
Ruby hadn’t learned anything helpful.
She began scrolling on her phone.
“I’m sorry,” Sean said. “Anyway, thanks for waiting to come over until Danny was already asleep. I don’t like introducing him to my girlfriends until I know they’re going to be around awhile.”
Ruby frowned as she typed. The kid would see her in the morning, so what was the big deal? And she was definitely going to be around awhile. “It’s not like I had to come over all that late. He was asleep by 8:30.”
Sean chuckled. “That was quite unusual. Usually, he puts up a huge fight at bedtime, but he was all tuckered out. My friends and I took him bouldering at Moonstone, after I left your house this morning, and he loved it.”
Why was he doing fun stuff without her? She would have loved to tag along. And those friends better not be women. “Who’d you go with?”
she said, sharper than she’d meant to.
“Sid and Mike. You met them at my party.” He reached for the light, but she stopped him.
“Look at this,” she said, handing him her phone. “That’s Jeremy.”
In his mugshot, Jeremy looked gorgeous and pissed off, hair beautifully moussed and mussed. Sean’s eyebrows shot up and he frowned and squinted at the screen before shaking his head. “I don’t recognize him. He looks nothing like the kid I went to school with. If you hadn’t told me that was Jeremy, I would never have guessed. Jeremy was…” he hesitated. “Jeremy…just looked very different.”
Finally, he knew that her stalker wasn’t a troll. “Right? It’s weird.”
He reached around her and turned off the light.
“Isn’t it a little early for bed?”
He grasped the back of her neck and pulled her lips down towards his. “Well, it would be, if we were planning go to sleep.”
Ruby responded for a moment before pulling away. “Tomorrow, maybe, we can make love, I should be over, or just on the last dregs of my period by then. But tonight, unfortunately, it’s still here. I’m sorry,” she said, climbing under the covers and snuggling close.
Sean didn’t say anything as he untangled himself from her grasp and rolled away. His body was stiff. She felt completely rejected. Her face burned. “What’s wrong?” she said, expecting him to turn and take her in his arms.
“It’s just a little hard to stop so suddenly once we’ve gotten started, is all.”
Ruby sat up in bed but left the light off. They’d barely kissed! “I’m sorry,” she said again, wishing she could do what he wanted and cursing her stupid period.
She looked at his rejecting body language and came to a decision. Why couldn’t they make love anyway? Millions of women did it. Besides, they could lay down a towel, use a condom, and shower afterwards. She smiled. “You know, if you’re okay with it, so am I. Just let me freshen up!”
She hopped off the bed, and he grabbed her arm. Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness well enough to see that he wasn’t looking at her.
“What?” she said, suddenly raring to go.
He let go of her. “That wasn’t exactly what I meant.”
She turned on the light.
He shielded his eyes with his hand and snapped, “Turn it off!”
She took a good look first. He had an erection so what was the problem? She left the light on and sat on the edge of the bed. “Help me to understand what it is that you want.”
“I don’t want to make love, necessarily, but I wouldn’t mind if you…” he left the rest hanging in the air.
If she what? And then she winced. “Did you want a blowjob?” she asked, her head suddenly filled with terrifying memories of Jeremy that she tried, and failed, to quash.
He sat up eagerly and crawled towards her. He nuzzled her neck and fondled her breasts through her shirt for a moment. “That’s even better then what I had in mind! I’d love one! But only if you want to,” he said. “I know you’re fragile.”
What had he had in mind then? Anal? “No, no it’s fine,” she lied, deliberately shoving her disappointment and fear and disgust aside. “I’m fine. I want to. I just want to make you happy. I’ll do anything you want.”
Gasping and trembling, fighting her gag reflex and what she supposed was a nasty case of PTSD, she forced herself to prove it.
When she was finished, Sean went to kiss her, pulled back and said, “Are you crying?”
▬▬▬
They got dressed and went downstairs. Sean set a kettle on to boiling so they could make the hot cocoa she’d brought over. It was raining again, and the temperature had dropped, so he turned on the gas fire while the water boiled. They sat on the couch in front of the fire, cuddled under a blanket, and turned on Netflix.
When the kettle whistled, he left her side and returned ten minutes later with two steaming cups of cocoa. He handed her a mug. “Careful, it’s hot,” he said.
The show was only halfway over, and Ruby was already yawning. She was so tired and cozy she didn’t want to move from this room, but she had to. She had to set her plan into motion. Her life had been so much easier before Sean. Now it was just one scheme after another…
“Chloe needs to go out before bed,” Ruby said.
When Sean got up to open the back door, Ruby dug into her pocket for the tissue containing a crushed up muscle relaxant and some of the sleeping pills she’d stolen from Hilary’s house. She stirred the powder into his drink, took a tiny sip, and grimaced. It was bitter. Maybe he’d be too tired to notice.
He came back in and stretched out beside her. “Whew. I’m exhausted. You ready to turn in?”
“Sure. But let’s drink up first. Last one done’s a rotten egg!” she said, raising her mug and taking a sip, hoping he’d follow her lead.
He took a sip, made a face, and set his cup down again. “Too hot.”
“Don’t be a whiner! Be a man! Drink it down!” He had to. He was her alibi.
His eyes sparkled. “It’s too hot, too hot, I say! But you go ahead. I dare you.”
“Well, I double dare you.”
He crossed his arms. “I triple dare you.”
She leaned back, looked at him lazily through her eyelashes and said, “Well, I triple dog dare you.”
“Aaaugh! The triple dog dare kiss of doom!” He recklessly picked up his mug, sloshing hot liquid over his fingers, and downed it. He smacked his lips. “The triple dog dare does it again. Bud I tink I burred by tong—” He squeezed his eyes together and shuddered. “Gah…it’s awful. Horrible aftertaste. How’s yours?”
“Well, I’m not drinking it now!” she said, giggling at his expression.
“Why, you little brat!” he said, coming after her. She dodged him easily, watching him yawn.
“Look how tired you are. Let’s turn this fire off and go to bed,” she said.
Sean yawned again. “You’re right. I need a good night’s sleep.”
They let the dog back in, put the dishes in the sink, turned everything off, and started up the steps. By the time they reached his room Sean was starting to stumble.
She lay down beside him and within five minutes he was gone. Her eyelids felt heavy too, and every fiber of her being called out for her to stay here in this comfy bed with him. Maybe if she closed her eyes for just a moment…she jerked awake and forced herself to get up.
The dog followed her silently as she slipped on her shoes and jacket, grabbed Sean’s house keys from the table by the front door, and left the house.
The first order of business was finding Jeremy. Now where to look…? As far as she knew, he hadn’t been back to the house next door since his arrest and her restraining order. She’d check his old house first.
As soon as she reached Jasmine Drive, she noticed his house was all lit up. Good. He was home. She started to turn around…but actually, she couldn’t assume it was him inside. For all she knew, he had the lights on a timer, or he’d already rented the house. There was a For Sale sign at the bottom of the driveway. She’d have to look in his windows.
She parked the car three doors down and sat. It was raining hard, and she was afraid to get out and creep up his long driveway to peek in his windows. What if one of his neighbors called the police? How could she possibly explain what she was doing? She had her hand on the door when she thought of a better idea. Why didn’t she just call him? That was much less risky.
She got out her cell, looked up his home number in her notes, and realized as she was dialing that she didn’t know this phone number and was dialing the wrong house, which would do her no good.
Well, there was no other way. She pulled up her hoodie and hurried down the street towards his house, sloshing through puddles, afraid someone would jump out at her from behind every parked car.
She glanced furtively around before creeping up his long, dark driveway, hugging the shrubbery and hoping he didn’t have cameras. At the top, she saw h
is convertible and his SUV parked beside the garage, spun on her heel, and headed back down. Unless he owned a third car, he was here.
She drove home over the speed limit, aware of time passing.
She pulled past her driveway, parked on the shoulder, and cut through the dark woods bordering the road, heart pounding, until she came to her garage door. She’d already checked, and her doorbell camera didn’t reach her yard unless it was filming someone at her door. She couldn’t allow it to catch her here, because she didn’t trust that if she deleted it, the police couldn’t still get the deleted footage. She’d been turning it on and off randomly since she’d thought of it though, so that should help.
She opened the garage door and closed it behind her, on the verge of a panic attack. She took deep breaths to calm herself and went inside. She turned off the doorbell camera, put on a pair of her brand-new latex gloves and went to find the things she’d taken from Jeremy’s house the other day. She sorted everything carefully into two piles. A keep pile and a put-back pile.
She flipped through all the photos of herself from under his mattress, putting all the naked pictures of her in the keep pile, and all the rest in the put-back pile. But wait. The naked ones were the best ones to show the police the extent of his obsession with her. …She found the one of her curled up in a fetal position. You could tell she was naked, but you couldn’t see…much. Side-boob, butt crack, a hint of nipple…She put it in the pile going back to Jeremy’s. She didn’t want cops poring over her naked body, but if she had to allow it, at least she had a nice ass.
Maybe Ben would see it too…give him a thrill.
She placed Jeremy’s gun into her keep pile, but she put all her financial statements and receipts, his notebook of lists on her, and her apology to him in the put-back pile. She’d already thrown away the note he’d pieced together, but she had plenty of other stuff to take its place.
Ruby went to her safe and dug out the jump drive with Tara’s pictures on it. She plugged it into her laptop—she needed to get rid of this laptop! She made a running list in her notes on her phone of things to destroy tomorrow morning. “1. Laptop. 2. Cellphone.” She needed to be clean when the police finally came with a warrant, which she was convinced would be soon. She pulled up the three pictures of Tara and studied them carefully. They were dark, but in one you could clearly tell that it was Tara in front of her house. Hopefully, the police could figure out by Tara’s outfit when they had been taken.
Drawn To You: A Psychological thriller Page 34
