Ruby looked at the clock and started to sob. Now his parents would hate her!
“Ruby?” He softened his tone. “What’s wrong? I’m sorry I yelled—”
“Jeremy’s dead. I killed Jeremy,” she said dully, wiping her eyes.
“What do you mean you killed him? When? What happened?”
Ruby decided not to mention detective Fung. The less Sean ever connected her and Tara, the better. “Right after I got home from CVS, Jeremy came over here, broke down my door, and shot at me.” She started sobbing again and grabbed a paper towel to wipe her eyes.
“Oh my gosh!” Sean said softly. “Are you all right?”
“Yes, luckily. But my house isn’t.” She looked around the room and shuddered again. “We struggled over his gun and it jammed, which gave me time to grab mine—”
“You have a gun?”
Oh no. He wasn’t one of those anti-gun freaks, was he? She hoped not, but if he was an anti-gunner, she’d be one too. Guns were merely a means to an end. She didn’t worship them or anything. Now that she finally had Sean, she’d be anything he wanted her to be. She was his to mold.
“I’ve had the gun for years, but I just loaded it today,” she said. “I was really frightened by this whole situation with Jeremy, and I thought I might need it for protection.” She snorted. “Which I did. I shot him five times in the chest, and he died right here in my entryway.”
“I can’t believe this!”
She sniffled again. “I’ve been talking to the police all afternoon, and it looks like they’re not going to press charges against me. They said it was a clear-cut case of self-defense.” Though some of the detectives clearly still thought she’d killed Tara. She pictured Fung’s face. He’d been absolutely dumbfounded by the shooting. Lange though, Lange had guessed the truth. But it didn’t matter what he or Ben thought, as long as the evidence she’d planted stood up. And it would.
Because Jeremy wasn’t around to refute it.
She started to cry again for his benefit. Boy, was she going to have a headache tonight from all this bawling.
“Oh, Honey,” he said. Her ears perked up. Honey? That was the first time he’d used an endearment for her. Real progress! “Thank goodness you’re all right.”
“Yes. But the police took Jeremy’s body and left this bloody mess for me to clean up.” She walked over to the front window and peered out between her blinds. The police tape and the detectives were gone, but the press was still there. “And the press is camped outside my door. I’m living a nightmare.”
“This is unbelievable.”
“I’m sorry I forgot about dinner. I hope your parents won’t hate me, but I couldn’t eat right now, and I really should call someone about cleaning this up before it sets.”
“Don’t worry about my parents,” Sean said. “I’m sure they’ll understand. I’ll be right over to help you.”
If they cleaned up the blood together, they could bond and…she made a face. No way. That was a bridge too far even for her. “That’s very sweet, but I was planning on hiring a cleaning company. The police recommended it,” she said. “Will you come over and keep me company while they clean, though? I’m…” she swallowed and forced the quiver back into her voice, “I’m afraid to be alone.”
“Of course. I’ll be right over.”
“Be careful of the press. You’ll probably be cornered when you arrive,” she said.
“Don’t worry. I’m a big boy. Once your house is clean, you’ll have to come back here and stay the night. You can’t stay there.”
“No, but how can I leave? My door is busted!”
“I’ll bring over some plywood to cover it for the night. You’re coming!”
“But what about your parents? I thought…They’ll let me stay over?”
“Sure…in the guest room.”
Come on. He was thirty years old! And she was finally off her period.
“At least until they’re asleep,” he continued, and she smiled.
“You’re sure they won’t mind? They don’t even know me.”
“Of course, they won’t mind. You’re my girlfriend, aren’t you? They’ll love you. They love all my friends.”
“Yes,” Ruby piped up joyfully. “Yes, I am your girlfriend.”
She hung up and called the cleaning crew. Once everything was settled, she scrambled for the bathroom, took a quick shower, and changed into tight jeans and a soft gray sweater that set off her blue eyes beautifully. She put fresh makeup on her bruises, taking care to try and make it look like she wasn’t wearing any makeup, and brushed and flossed her teeth.
Yes, they were just going to be supervising a cleaning crew, but she just might talk to the press, and she always liked to look her best. Especially for her man.
You just never knew when that proposal would come.
CHAPTER 40
Ten Days Later
Tonight was baby night! At least according to her ovulation predictor kit. Sean was coming over, and since she’d played sick for the past two days, his sperm count should be high, and he’d be raring to go.
Now for the condoms.
She opened her box of lambskin condoms and tore one off to sacrifice. She’d been thinking about it, and she worried that pinpricks alone wouldn’t do the trick. It would be theoretically possible for sperm to get through, but she needed a deluge to make sure one hit that bullseye the first time.
Using her good scissors, she cut the tip off the condom and pondered it. How likely was Sean to notice that? If she fetched the condom, and she pretended to open it and put it on him, and then climbed on top of him in the dark. …He wouldn’t be able to see that the condom had been tampered with. But would he be able to feel it?
The hole was kind of big. What if it slid down to the base of his penis during heavy thrusting? He might could notice that.
She got a cucumber from the fridge, estimating that it was both shorter and wider than Sean, fully erect. …Close enough.
She unrolled the condom over it, pulled down on the bottom, and the top of the cucumber poked right through the hole she’d made. Shoot.
She tossed that condom, opened another and cut a smaller hole. This time it worked perfectly. She smiled. She would carefully slit five condoms right before he arrived, repackaging them loosely, just in case. She had to make sure that, at least initially, the lights were off. And she had to pull the used condom off and flush it before he saw it every time they made love.
Of course, the scissors would have to be sterilized. She carried them over to the gas stove. Might as well do that right now before she forgot.
▬▬▬
Ruby lay in the dark with her knees up in the air manifesting herself a baby. It was just after two in the morning, and she had five more minutes in this position. She smiled over at Sean sleeping beside her. Maybe right now they were becoming parents.
She closed her eyes and breathed in his scent. Her plan had worked perfectly. They’d made love three times, and all three times she’d flushed the condom away when they were finished. Sean had been none the wiser.
He trusted her, but then, why shouldn’t he? She was his girlfriend.
Things were going so well. The DA had decided not to charge her with anything, having determined that she’d killed Jeremy in self-defense. Four days ago, her car had been discovered and the police had immediately impounded it, but no one had told her anything about what might or might not have been found.
For the Tara thing, she’d retained the same lawyer she had picked out of the yellow pages on the night of Jeremy’s death. He cost a small fortune, and she resented every dollar she gave that shyster, but he was on her side, and he knew things the police never bothered to tell her.
Through him, she knew that the police had found some things of interest when they’d gone through Jeremy’s house. The lawyer didn’t know the specifics, but luckily, she remembered every clue she’d so thoughtfully planted. Although you’d think they’d have given her
back that nude picture. …Assholes.
At least the press had finally stopped hounding her. Murdering someone in self-defense could sure make you a media darling.
…And get you many more client newspapers.
If she became pregnant, she knew Sean would never leave her. Not that she was worried. All the signs were favorable. Even that handwriting analysis she’d sent away for on a whim had been good news. Their report said Sean was optimistic, sociable, intense, and sensual, and that he avoided confrontation—exactly what she wanted in a partner. They were a perfect match. A baby would tie them together forever. She closed her eyes and whispered, “Please let this work.”
Halloween
“Oh!” Ruby snapped her fingers as she climbed into Sean’s car beside him. “I forgot my purse in your living room. Gimme your keys.”
“I’ll go,” he said. He shut his door and started for the house. “Where is it? On the couch?”
She quickly caught up to him. “No, it’s okay.” She snatched his keys from his hand. “I’ll get it. I also kind of have to pee.”
“Okay.” He turned around, and Ruby went inside and locked the front door behind her. This way, he’d have to knock instead of barging in, and she’d get a warning.
They were moving in together tomorrow, and they’d spent the morning packing his things. She hadn’t found the chance all day to retrieve her planted radio, and it was now or never.
She hurried into his living room with Chloe at her heels. She didn’t bother to flip on the light, she just thrust her hand underneath the couch and felt around for it. “Get away from me, you stupid dog,” she muttered as Chloe snuffled in her face. She patted all around and it wasn’t there. What the hell?
She turned on the lamp, shoved Chloe, and got down on her hands and knees to peer underneath. The only things under there were crumbs and an old chew toy.
She stood and grabbed her purse, which she’d deliberately left on the coffee table earlier. Someone had obviously found the radio. She felt uneasy. Why hadn’t Sean mentioned it?
She thought back to how he’d treated her today and recently. She could detect no oddness between them, even in hindsight. He must not suspect that she’d been the one to plant it. She grabbed his keys, opened the front door, and pulled it closed behind her.
His parents must have found it.
She grinned wide and bounded down the steps towards her one true love.
▬▬▬
Ruby packed her art supplies into boxes as she watched Sean in her kitchen, packing up her dishes. He was dressed in faded jeans and a light blue denim long-sleeved shirt. His hair was shiny and hanging in his eyes, and she could watch him all day as he carefully wrapped each dish in newspaper. She couldn’t get enough of him.
They had just listened to some band she’d never heard of before named Peach Pit, though they were listening to her Alexa playing one of her playlists. An old Pixies song that she vaguely recognized began to play.
Sean looked up when the song changed and said, “Wow! I love this song too! That’s amazing! Can I see your playlist?”
She opened her phone, scrolled for a second, and handed it to him with a sly smile.
“Wow, I love all of this. Emancipator and El Ten Eleven—they’re great for grading papers…LITE, Tycho…Wow. I’m surprised, actually, that you have so much math rock on here.”
Math rock?
“…Rihanna, Shawn Mendes, Ava Max—all great to get pumped up to…This is weird, you even have the one Taylor Swift song I like, and that’s only because my niece Camille played it constantly one summer. We have practically the exact same taste in music!”
She cleared her throat. “Really? That is odd.” What if he wanted to discuss math rock? She felt like she was about to break out in hives.
“This is almost too weird to be a coincidence, but it has to be. Right? It’s not like you went out and duplicated my Spotify playlists?” He looked at her uneasily.
She forced a laugh. “Get over yourself! I do have my own taste you know. Can I help it if we enjoy the same stuff?” He relaxed and she snuggled up behind him. “That’s why I’ll be such a great roommate. We won’t argue.”
“At least, not about music,” he agreed, and went back to his dishes.
They were soulmates. They had so much in common, he had to see it. Now that she’d finished assimilating his musical tastes, she’d have to start familiarizing herself with his favorite authors. She loved romances, and she wasn’t into thrillers, but she’d already bought her own copy of the current one he was reading so they could discuss it.
She began boxing her books. It had taken all her persuasion to convince Sean that they should move in together. She argued that first of all, they’d been together for three weeks and couldn’t get enough of each other—she had finally experienced his ten this morning and it was glorious! And second, she was the perfect roommate.
She was neat, she made good money and had excellent credit, and they both needed to move. Her lease was up tomorrow, and she’d been too traumatized to come back here, and him, because he needed a fresh start away from his parents.
He’d been hesitant, until she’d promised that this didn’t have to mean anything relationship-wise between them. They could keep separate bedrooms even if they never slept separately, and they would consider themselves roommates who happened to be a couple, rather than a couple who was ready to move on to the next phase.
He’d bought it, but only a moron would think a situation like that could work, and he wasn’t a moron. He was moving in with her because he loved her, she knew, though he was afraid to admit it because things were happening so quickly, and he was skittish.
She was certain he’d almost told her he loved her once already, but he’d stopped himself.
She closed the flaps on the first box of books and grabbed another empty box. She wished she could just tell him the way she felt, but she couldn’t. The first “I love you” had to come from him. He needed to at least wonder if he loved her more than she loved him. She had learned early that the power in a relationship lay with the one who loved the least, and that was him, for now, but she didn’t want him to know that.
“…a coke?”
Ruby looked up. “I’m sorry, what? I was woolgathering.”
Sean wore his beloved, crooked grin. “You must have been. I’ve been talking to you for the past five minutes, and you haven’t heard a word.”
She looked down. “I’m sorry.”
His voice softened. “Oh, hey. I was just kidding around. I just wanted to know if you’d mind if I helped myself to a Coke?”
“Come on. You know you don’t need to ask. You’re welcome to whatever you want.” She waggled her eyebrows at him suggestively. “And I do mean whatever.”
He walked over and gave her a long kiss. “I’ll have to take you up on that later.”
He broke away from her and she sighed. A quickie would have been nice, but they really did have a lot of work to do.
Sean opened the fridge and exclaimed, “Cool!” She looked up, and he stood beside the open refrigerator door, staring at her with a big grin on his face.
“You have colored eggs in here! I’ve never met anyone who colored their eggs except at Easter. What a fun idea!”
She’d read a romance novel years ago where the heroine had colored her eggs, and she’d been determined to do it for Sean ever since. It was whimsical and joyful, and she’d known he’d love it. She walked over and peered over his shoulder. “I color them every now and then. It picks me up whenever I open the fridge. It’s silly, I know, but I’m a cartoonist. It’s my job to be silly.”
He embraced her, still grinning. “You’re anything but silly. In fact, you’re the coolest woman I’ve ever met.”
Ruby was so pleased she couldn’t meet his eyes. “Thank you,” she murmured. “You’re pretty cool yourself.”
He gently cupped her chin and turned her face up. “Seriously. Danny adores you, we like the
same music, the same books, the same foods, we even have the same favorite movie. We both love children and dogs and Mexican food…and we have a phenomenal sex life.”
“True,” she agreed huskily, noticing how skillfully he’d left his parents out of the stuff they had in common. Truth be told, his parents disliked her because they hoped Sean would get back with his ex, and Ruby loathed them right back because they refused to acknowledge how good she was for their son.
“I keep finding out more cool things about you every day. You’re smart and funny and beautiful and sweet…I’ve never met anyone I’ve clicked with so completely. I think I…” he trailed off and cleared his throat.
Ruby was breathing hard and on the verge of tears. She’d dreamt of this moment for nine years and she wasn’t going to be cheated out of it now! “What? You think you what?” Say it!
His voice was husky as he gazed directly into her soul. “I think I love you, Ruby.”
Her perfect moment was spoiled, briefly, as the old Partridge Family song flashed through her mind. She buried her face in his chest and whispered, “I think I love you too.”
They made love on her kitchen floor amidst the boxes.
Life just didn’t get any better than this.
▬▬▬
“I doubt we’ll get any trick-or-treaters,” Ruby pointed out as she opened a bag of miniature candy bars and dumped them into a mixing bowl. “This house is isolated, and we’ll be leaving for the movie at eight, which is prime time for the little monsters.”
Sean patted the couch beside him. “Yeah, but it’s nice to be prepared. And this way, we can eat as much candy as we want with no guilt.”
“True.” She cuddled up beside him and plunked the bowl down in his lap.
They ate candy in silence for a few minutes.
Halloween was her favorite holiday, but Sean wasn’t that into it, so she was pretending she was fine with this boring version. She’d bought elaborate costumes for both of them to take Danny around, but Millicent was being a bitch again and had taken Danny trick-or-treating instead. Ruby hadn’t packed either costume yet, just in case Sean changed his mind and decided he wanted to party last minute.
Drawn To You: A Psychological thriller Page 38