“It’s never made me this happy to hear it, though,” he said, and before she knew what was happening, he had pulled her close to him and placed his hands behind her head. Ruby instinctively closed her eyes as he tilted her head back and kissed her softly. She pushed towards him in response and kissed him back. She didn’t want the moment to end. Her response seemed to excite him because his hands traced the back of her neck where sensitive goose bumps had formed. He was kissing her, hard, his tongue forcing its way into her mouth while his hands were tracing the curves of her back. Ruby couldn’t help moaning softly as she felt the sensation of their tongues touching. She could taste the pizza on his breath while her own hands rested on his muscular chest, which was heaving excitedly. Their kiss seemed to last for hours, and Ruby could feel her lips swelling up. She still had no intention of stopping. She continued to kiss him back while feeling his hands tracing the outline of her bra strap on her back.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”. They had both heard Tracey’s shrill voice at the same time and pulled away from each other in shock. Tracey was standing at the end of the road, illuminated by the street light that was hanging over her. Her arms were crossed across her chest, and she was standing, tall, her thin legs planted wide apart and her eyes full of rage.
“Were you following us?” Ruby couldn’t help yelling back at Tracey, just a split second before Tracey whipped around and ran back towards her house.
*****
Ruby sipped some soda from the plastic glass in her hands while her eyes remained on Connor in the ice rink, deftly sliding the hockey puck in salute to the goal. The crowd erupted in a loud cheer around her, and she smiled in silence but remained seated while people around her exchanged high-fives.
From where she was sitting, she could see Tracey and Mr. Jonson sitting at the front row, close to the rink, exchanging happy hugs. Ruby grunted unhappily and turned her attention to Connor again. He was being congratulated and hugged by his teammates as he slid across to the edge of the rink to wave to his family.
For a second, she thought he was scanning the bleachers for her, but he looked past her and smiled broadly at his friends. Jane, with her auburn curls was waving frantically at him and squealing with delight. She watched as Connor came over to her and pulled himself over the glass division to shake her hand. Jane blew him a kiss, and Ruby watched him laugh. His dimples indenting his cheeks while his bright blue eyes looked happy and proud. It was making her sick. She missed him. She barely knew him, but watching him live his life happily, watching Jane and him touch – all of it was too much to bear.
Ruby got up from her seat and left her glass of soda behind as she squeezed her way through the cheering crowd. She couldn’t believe how things had changed so quickly. After Tracey saw them kissing, Connor had run after his sister, leaving Ruby alone on the street feeling absolutely disoriented. Tracey, after that, had refused to acknowledge her presence in school, and Connor pretended not to recognize her. Within one week, she had made a friend she had thought would be one of the best friends she ever had, had kissed and started falling in love with a guy who was straight out of her dreams - and within the same week, she had lost both of them. Now it had been nearly three weeks since she last spoke to either of them, and she had never felt lonelier.
Ruby finally made it out of the crowd and started climbing down the steps to the bottom, hoping Tracey wouldn’t notice her trying to make a sneaky exit. She pulled the hood of her sweatshirt over her head and made sure she didn’t look in the direction of the Jonsons.
“Isn’t that Ruby?” she heard Mr. Jonson’s voice behind her and quickened her pace. But it was hard getting past the hoards of people who were celebrating.
“Ruby! Ruby!” she heard him call out and realized it would be too rude to pretend that she couldn’t hear him. She turned around slowly and found Mr. Jonson waving at her while Tracey stood by him, glaring. Ruby plastered a fake smile on her face and waved back weakly. She saw him motion for her to come over and breathed in deeply before squeezing past the crowd over to them.
“How are ya Ruby? You haven’t come by the house since that night,” Mr. Jonson said, thumping Ruby on her back. She noticed how he had the same broad smile as both his children. Ruby smiled back at him and started fiddling with the dark strands of straight hair that lay on her right shoulder.
“All good?” he asked and looked from Tracey to Ruby and then back at Tracey. Tracey and Ruby both remained silent, and Mr. Jonson sighed loudly.
“Uh oh. I sense something is amiss,” he said with an embarrassed look. He turned to Tracey and waited for her to respond.
“Stay out of it dad,” Tracey finally said and turned away from them, and he had no other choice but to turn his attention to Ruby.
“Why don’t you tell me what happened?” he said to her, even though he nearly whispered it; it was obvious that Tracey heard him, and she threw Ruby a look of warning.
“Nothing, Mr. Jonson. I’ve just been busy,” Ruby said, trying to sound as convincing as she possibly could.
“You’re as bad a liar as my kids,” he said with another huge sigh and grabbed Tracey and Ruby by the shoulders with his arms. Tracey tried to wriggle away from his grip, but he pushed their heads together and held them in that position.
“Stop fighting with everybody, Tracey!” Mr. Jonson said, he wasn’t laughing or smiling anymore. He appeared to be genuinely worried about his daughter.
“You don’t even know what happened, but you’re blaming me!” Tracey screeched out. The loud cheers around them ensured that nobody paid attention to the scene that was unfolding.
“I know you well enough to know that you’re the one with the grudge, Trace,” he replied calmly. He still had their heads gently knocked against each other.
“Let me go dad!” Tracey screeched out again, but her father continued to hold onto the two girls.
“Let them go dad ...” They heard Connor’s voice behind them and Mr. Jonson immediately dropped his arms, out of surprise perhaps.
“I wish Mom was here,” Tracey said with tears in her eyes, pushing past Ruby and running through the crowd towards the exit. Ruby stood in shocked silence between Connor and Mr. Jonson, staring at Tracey’s disappearing back. She wasn’t sure how she should react now, although she was acutely aware of Connor’s eyes fixed on her.
“She finally made a friend, Connor,” Mr. Jonson said dejectedly.
“It’s my fault,” Connor said, and without warning Ruby had started to cry. She had no idea why she was crying. She had not cried in years. Even now, she didn’t really have a reason to cry, but she just stood there between the guy she was in love with and his dad, and she was crying uncontrollably.
*****
Ruby didn’t realize how and when Connor had come forward and wrapped his arms around her. She had instinctively placed her head on his shoulder and was sobbing into the fabric of his jersey. She could feel his large strong hands stroking her head.
“I see,” she heard Mr. Jonson say, which was when she pulled away from Connor, even though his hands were still gripping her shoulders.
“Tracey just feels left out,” Mr. Jonson said to Ruby more than Connor, and again, Ruby had no idea how to react to that.
“She threatened me into cutting off from Ruby. So I don’t know why she still feels left out,” Connor said, and Ruby turned her watery eyes towards him. What he said made her heart skip a beat. So he hadn’t just taken advantage of her. Tracey had made him stop talking to her. For some strange reason, that made her feel better.
“Well, that’s not fair. She can’t dictate terms to you. Even if she was friends with Ruby first,” Mr. Jonson said and smiled apologetically at both of them.
“It’s not her fault. She’s afraid she’ll be abandoned. By me. By Connor,” Ruby finally spoke up. She had been thinking about it for several days now, and she had grown to forgive Tracey. She had decided that she would stay away from Connor as well, just so tha
t Tracey didn’t feel as bad as she already did.
“You’re right. But I can see what it’s doing to you both, and that’s not healthy either,” Mr. Jonson said and came over to Ruby to pat her on her shoulder.
“Don’t you worry, Ruby. I know my girl. All she needs is her daddy to come along and explain it to her,” Mr. Jonson said with a smile. “All I needed, was to understand the problem. Now that I see it, I can fix it,” he added and began to walk away. “You guys make up all right?” he said to them as parting advice as he disappeared into the crowd and left Ruby and Connor standing there.
Connor’s hands were still on Ruby’s shoulders, and she moved away from him so that they fell.
“Ruby, I’m sorry that I ignored you. I didn’t know what else to do. Tracey threw a massive tantrum,” Connor said immediately and stepped closer towards her. Ruby backed away, wiping tears away from her cheeks.
“Ruby …” he pleaded with her.
“I saw you, Connor!” She threw the words at him with force. “You stayed away from me because of your sister. And did she make you go and fall into Jane’s arms?” she added with the same venom in her voice.
“No. I wasn’t in her arms as you would also have noticed. I was just trying to continue with my life. No matter how hard it was,” Connor said, the same pleading tone in his voice.
“It didn’t look like it was very hard,” Ruby turned her face away from him.
“I don’t know how to prove to you that I’ve been having a hard time, Ruby,” Connor said and moved closer towards her.
“Admit it, Connor. I’m not the kind of girl you want to be seen with. Jane is the kind you want to be seen blowing kisses to after you win a game. Tracey did you a favor by forcing you to stay away from me.” The words came out of Ruby’s mouth in a jumble, and she had no idea if they even made sense. She didn’t even know where they were coming from. She knew she was angry with him but didn’t realize that she was even thinking these thoughts in her head. Connor was looking at her in shock. He was very close to her, but kept his hands to himself.
“You’re being very, very, silly,” he said finally, and Ruby threw him an angry look. The tears were still gushing down her cheeks.
“If that was the truth, why am I back here begging you to forgive me for my behavior?” he added. Ruby looked at him with softened eyes. She wondered if she was the one pushing him away, rather than the other way around.
“Yes, Connor. Why are you back here begging me to forgive you?” she asked him, and just like the first time Connor grabbed her head and gently tilted it back. Ruby tried to struggle against him, but when he placed his lips on hers, she couldn't help kissing him back. Her anger had turned into an uncontrollable passion, and she couldn’t stop herself from biting his lips as he kissed her. Their tongues were enveloped with each other, and she could feel his hands slowly finding their way under her sweatshirt.
“So we can keep doing this,” Connor pulled away from her to say. His eyes had narrowed, and she could feel his ragged, heavy breath fall on her face as he looked deep into her eyes.
“What if Tracey …” she had begun to say, but Connor interrupted her.
“She’ll come around. I always knew she would. I just can’t wait and stay away from you till she does,” he said gruffly into her ears. She could feel his warm fingers gently trace the skin of her back, and she pressed her body close against him.
“Connor …” she whispered into his ears and bit his earlobe and could feel him tense up against her.
“We’re going home. Now,” he said and grabbed her hand and started pulling her through the crowd. Ruby couldn’t help laughing out loudly.
“What about your after-game celebrations?” she screamed out at him, trying to make herself heard over the noise.
“What do you think we’re going to be doing?” he turned around to say, his dimples deep and delicious on his cheeks.
The Basketball Rock Star[bc9]
A big C stared back at her and Elena closed her eyes in utter despair. He gave her a C? A fucking C for the best paper she had ever written? What was wrong with the whole wide world? Everything was going against her these days.
“Do you have any queries?” Professor McKenzie’s voice echoed across the hall and there were a couple of mutterings. “Ms. Winston?” Elena looked up from her answer book, glared at her dork-faced professor and then smiled sweetly, “Not at all, Professor. I’m quite content with your marking.” She gritted her teeth and grabbed her bag before storming out of the hall.
This was exactly what she wanted in the middle of the already falling apart semester. A fucking C! Yeah, she earned that for questioning Professor George McKenzie’s eighteenth-century teaching methodology.
“Elena!” Trent’s voice hit her ears, but she waved him off. “Now is not a good time, T. See you at the game later.” She wasn’t sure she could keep her temper in check for long and snapping it out on her best friend before the entire college would only make her a bitch more than she was already famous for being.
She walked briskly down to the bus stop, avoiding any contact with anyone. Once safely inside the bus, she pulled out her paper and stared at the grade. She couldn’t afford this. A C in one of the major courses meant her scholarship was at stake. A scholarship she couldn’t lose at any cost. Especially when she had made it to the last year.
Now is not the time to whine, Elena. You brought this on yourself, her subconscious-self told her, and she mentally nodded. Now she just had to somehow nail this course with nothing less than an A. She stopped at her stop in North Seattle and walked towards the Dick’s Drive-In restaurant where she worked her ass off to cover the rest of her expenses.
“You are late.” Her employer, Quinn, always accused her of that no matter what time she came. “I came as soon as I could. I’ll get started.” She wasted no time in changing into her uniform and taking the counter.
Her mobile buzzed, and she picked up without checking the caller ID. “Elena, where are you?” It was Trent. “Hey, T. I’m at work. What’s up?” She rang the next order and smiled at the customer, giving her the bill.
“You are not making it to the game?” Game? What was the time? She looked down at her wristwatch and her eyes widened. It was already six-fifteen. “I’ll be there in thirty.”
“I’ll ask Valerie to save you a seat.”
“Thanks, T. You are the best, and break a leg!” she wished him and disconnected.
Trent had been her backbone ever since she had entered college. He was her friend, her support, everything. And he was not gay. He was as straight as she was, yet all they felt between them was friendship, nothing less, nothing more. They had hit off together the moment he had sat next to her on their first day.
Trent was in the college’s basketball team, and today was a big match on home ground. He needed her there. She took the bus back to the campus and rushed towards the ground knowing she was more than thirty minutes late. The air was filled with cheers. Her mobile started to ring again. Thinking it was Trent again, she picked up.
“Trent, I’m almost here. Just …” Her words were cut off in between. “You haven’t parted your ways from that loser, have you, Elena?” Her feet froze right there. It was her father, Jonathan Winston. “Where did you get my number from?” Again. Many times, she had changed her number, but every time, he got his hands on it.
“Like I always do, sweetheart. Now tell me, why are you still with that jackass I saw you with last month?”
She cringed at his tone. “I don’t have to answer you, Jonathan. Leave me on my own.”
“Calling your father by his name? You have forgotten your manners, sweetheart. Do I need to remind you which tone to use with me?” Shivers ran down Elena’s spine as the earlier reminder replayed in her mind. No, don’t go there. You are stronger now.
“I have nothing to do with you. Why do you keep coming back to me?”
“You are my blood, sweetheart. How can I not look after you? J
ust because you think you have nothing to do with me, doesn’t mean that I have nothing to do with you too. I’ll always look after you, sweetheart. Always. That’s the promise I made to your mother.”
Elena pressed the end call immediately and then turned her phone off before burying it deep inside her bag. Her breathing started to change and then there wasn’t enough air for her to breathe. She ran blindly into the opposite direction and pushed open the first door she found unlocked before sliding down against the cold tiles. Clutching her stomach tightly, she curled herself into a small ball and rested her head against her knees.
Don’t let him affect you, Elena. Don’t let him get the best of you. You are not your mother. You are stronger than her. You are stronger than you were before. You can fight back today. You are not dependent on him anymore.
She pep-talked herself until she was able to make herself believe that the world didn’t revolve around Jonathan Winston anymore. Loud noises from outside made her realize that she was sitting there for God knows how long. Getting up immediately, she patted her cheeks and brushed her hair into place. The voices grew closer. She grabbed her bag and went for the door handle. She was welcomed by a wall of hard muscles that knocked her off balance and she was falling all the way down.
“Whoa, steady there, sweetheart. Watch where you’re stepping.” A steel grip caught her around the waist and a heavy accent greeted her. Sweetheart. Her first thought went to Jonathan. Was he here? She hastily straightened and fought out of the grip that was holding her.
“Easy, sweetheart.” The hold didn’t loosen and another hand stilled her. “What’s the rush?” This accent didn’t belong to Jonathan. Elena risked a glance up, and the only thing she saw was that the face was not of her father. Relief flooded inside her, and her knees gave away. “Hey, are you alright?” The arms caught her again, and her head was pressed against the hard chest.
Sucker for the Boss Page 53
