Clothes sizes aside, I drank in every curve on Ruby. Each one was accentuated in the tight-fitting sports bra and yoga pants that hugged her body. I shut down a growl that clamored in my throat. Her breasts were bigger than I remembered.
I couldn’t wait to get her in the ring. If she was still as nimble as she’d been in high school, I was in for a treat. Back at the academy, I couldn’t take my eyes off her when she’d practiced ballet. She’d moved to the music with grace and beauty. But nimrod, you’re not here to salivate like a guy who can’t keep his dick in his pants. I tensed every muscle in my body. I was in for a tough hour. Control would be the key as I trained her.
Hot air brushed over my ear as Dillon spoke. “Close your mouth, dude. It’s rude to drool like a starved man.”
I was a starved man. Starved for her touch, her kiss, or whatever she would give me, especially the truth of what had happened to her in the last four years. I waved her over. Norma stopped her and whispered something to her. Ruby shied away from Norma, biting her lip.
Motherfucker. Blood rushed to my dick.
“Don’t forget to ask her about my place,” Dillon said. “You should also talk her out of the fight. That shit is dangerous.”
“Bro.” Kade blocked my view of Ruby. “Are you listening to Dillon?”
“I got it. Place. Fight. Dangerous.” I scrubbed a palm over my mouth. “I’ll do my best, but I can guarantee you she won’t listen to me.” She has no reason to trust me. She thinks I boss her around as it is.
Dillon slapped me on the back. “I’m sure you will.” Then he leaned into Kade and whispered, “Your brother has it bad for her. He recited some Star Light shit to her the first night he found her. He could’ve gotten me to drop my pants after that romantic spiel. Maybe I should get in the ring with her, Kross. You’re not in any shape to train her.”
“Get out of here.” My tone sounded a little lethal. “No one is touching her except me.”
Kade grinned. “I believe Dillon is right. You’re smitten.”
“Call the love police,” I bit out. “Now, do you want to meet her before I kick everyone out of here?” The gym was thinning out, and I would be locking the doors soon. I’d planned our meeting time so that Ruby and I could be alone.
“Remember what we talked about,” Kade said. “Make her feel comfortable. Let her open up to you. Don’t go all commando on her, or you’ll never get answers.”
The girls slowly sashayed over. Norma’s mouth moved the entire time, and my stomach knotted the entire time.
“Did you decide if you’re going to invite her to Thanksgiving dinner at our house?” Kade asked.
I’d thought long and hard about it. Mom and Dad would have questions: How did we meet? What did Ruby do? Was she in college? Where did she live? All those questions that parents usually asked. I wasn’t sure they were ready to learn that Ruby had been homeless. I also wasn’t ready to put Ruby or myself in an awkward situation. “I don’t think she’s ready. Nor are Mom and Dad.”
Kade opened his mouth but quickly shut it when Ruby and Norma joined us. Norma waved at Dillon as if she was trying to get him to notice her. I wanted to check on Dillon’s expression, but as Kade had said, I was smitten with the beauty next to me. Her light-blue sports bra brought out more of the blue in her blue-green eyes. Kelton had said Lizzie’s eyes changed with the color of her clothes, and it drove him wild. I was learning from Kelton that we had several matching tastes when it came to women.
“Ruby and Norma, this is my older brother, Kade,” I said.
Ruby flashed one of her ball-tightening smiles. My dick jerked inside my cup.
“Nice to finally meet you,” Kade said. “Treat him with kid gloves in the ring, or else I’ll have to live with his bruised ego.”
Ruby kept her smile, and my dick kept growing. I was glad my cup was in place, although the fucker was beginning to pinch the side of my groin as I held back a groan.
“Hi, I’m Norma.” She tucked a short strand of her blond hair behind her ear.
Kade smiled at her.
“All right, let’s get to work.” I grabbed the ropes as I eyed Ruby.
We either work or make out. One of the first times we’d made out had been in the academy’s gym. I almost laughed out loud at the parallelism from the setting to the uneasiness between us. I wasn’t an amateur when it came to a woman’s body, but Ruby wasn’t any woman. She was one who was breaking down my walls, igniting emotions that I’d kept dormant and hidden.
She blew out a breath then said good-bye to Norma. I did the same with Dillon and Kade.
After they left, Ruby and I didn’t move until the sound of someone dropping a weight shattered the trance we were both in. My gaze darted to the weight area. Detective Rayburn was lifting. He’d returned from his assignment two days ago, but I didn’t need his help anymore now that I’d found Ruby.
I pulled apart the ropes. “After you.”
She hopped in the ring like an expert boxer. I followed, my limbs a tad unsteady.
“Why don’t you get your muscles loose?” I’ll just stand here and drool.
She gnawed her bottom lip.
“Okay, ground rules.” She couldn’t keep acting all shy or else I really would have her splayed out on the floor of the ring.
Penelope’s voice filled the sparse gym. “I’m sorry I’m late.” She giggled as she staggered toward us from the reception desk.
A chill slid down my spine because she was drunk or high on something. Detective Rayburn lowered the weight bar and whipped his blond head around.
“I thought you said you didn’t have a girlfriend.” Disappointment or jealousy or both rode Ruby’s tone.
“She’s only a client. I teach self-defense.” But Penelope’s appointment wasn’t until tomorrow.
Mark ran to her side. “Whoa! Penelope. Are you okay?” He knew Penelope since he spotted for her whenever they were in the gym at the same time.
She waved him off. “Fine. Fine.” She giggled again as she smoothed a hand down her miniskirt and kicked off her high heels. “Kross, you’re supposed to teach me self-defense tonight.”
“She’s drunk,” Ruby said.
She was on something. That was for sure.
“Stretch. I’ll be back.” My voice came out rougher than I’d intended.
As soon as I jumped out of the ring, Penelope threw her arms around me before I could get my feet on the floor. “I missed you,” she cooed as she mashed her breasts into me.
What the fuck? I gently grabbed her arms and removed them from me. “Our appointment is tomorrow, and you’re wasted.” I didn’t smell alcohol on her. “What are you on?” Her eyes appeared to be dilated. I hadn’t known her to do drugs, but then again, I didn’t know every detail about her.
She let go of me and wobbled.
“Easy,” Mark said as he steadied her, his hazel eyes going wide.
Penelope peered up at Ruby with droopy eyelids. “Is that the drabby girl from Fireants? Raby, is it?” She snorted. “I heard him talk about you. Ooh, I feel dizzy.”
“You heard who?” Ruby asked from above me.
“He…” She licked her lips. “The big guy.” Her gaze drifted back to me.
She was probably talking about my interaction with Ruby at Firefly last week since Penelope had been there when I’d threatened Ruby.
Penelope swatted at air as she tilted her head back. “Kross, what’s Raby have that I don’t have?”
“It’s Ruby,” Ruby said with a sneer.
“I think she’s tripping on something strong,” Mark said. “I can take her home.”
“Are you sure?” I hated to dump my problems on Mark.
A heavily accented voice drew our attention toward the entrance. “She owes me money.” A thin older man with dark skin stood at the check-in desk.
Penelope hiccupped then swatted at air again. “Oh, yeah. Cabby. Oooh, that rhymes with Raby.”
“I’ll pay the cabby,” I said.
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“No, I got the cab.” Mark hooked Penelope’s arm through his as they made their way toward the check-in desk. “I jogged over here earlier, so I don’t have my truck.”
“Let me jot down her address.” I trailed behind them. After I gave Mark Penelope’s address, I ushered them to the door.
Before Penelope walked out, she gave me a chaste kiss on the lips. “We had fun.” She swayed.
“We did,” I said as I steadied her. “I’ll see you tomorrow for training.”
Mark gently took hold of her arm. “Let’s go.”
Once they were gone, I locked the door. I was thinking about what in the world Penelope could have been on when I banked left toward the ring. When I did, I wobbled to a stop, losing the air in my lungs.
Ruby was stretching in one of her ballet poses, standing on one foot with the other leg lifted toward the ceiling, holding the back of her thigh. After a long second or two, she lowered her leg then her entire body to the mat in one of those splits that gymnasts did. Another second passed. She bent over her leg, extending her arms out toward her foot. Man, those moves got the blood pumping through my veins.
Slowly pushing upright, she set her gaze on me. “What’s wrong?” Immediately, she wrapped her arms around her midsection as though I had caught her naked. “You told me to stretch.”
I shook my head. Naked. Stretches. That bare skin around her midriff only helped spur the fantasies going through my head. It was my fault she was dressed in that tight, revealing outfit. Women dressed like that all the time in a gym. But Ruby wasn’t every woman. “Nothing. I was just thinking about Penelope.” Big, fat lie. “I haven’t known her to wig out on drugs.”
She shrugged. “People do it all the time. I see a lot of homeless people who are junkies.”
Reality roared back, quick and cold. I padded across the gym floor and hopped in the ring.
“What big guy do you think she was talking about?” Ruby asked.
“She was probably remembering when you and I were arguing in the hall at Firefly. Afterward, I called it quits with her. Let’s forget about Penelope. So where were we?”
“You were about to go over ground rules,” she said, letting go of her stomach.
Fuck ground rules. Whatever happened tonight happened, and I wasn’t going to stress over anything else, including my dick, which wasn’t cooperating. “Footwork. Let’s start there. Keep moving around your opponent. The goal is to tire her out as you deliver each blow. The minute you stop is the minute she takes control and the minute you get knocked out. Like you did.”
“That was your fault,” she said in a not-so-nice tone. “You distracted me.”
“No. You let your guard down,” I said dryly.
“Because of you. You should practice what you preach. You let your guard down earlier when I was rooting for Liam.”
I couldn’t argue with her on that. “Why did you?” I was more curious than hurt.
“I don’t know. He was the underdog, and maybe part of me wanted to get back at you.”
“Fair enough. Now that we’re even, let’s talk about blocking.” Fisting my hands, I raised them in front of my face so I was looking at my forearms. “Do as I do.”
She did, and I gently grabbed her left wrist. “Hold this one in place to keep your face protected while you punch with your right. The opposite works if you punch with your left hand.” I stepped back. “Now throw a punch.” She’d been wild when she fought at Tommy’s before. I wanted her to be more controlled. “While you’re punching, you’re moving, and you’re watching your opponent. She goes right, you go left, always keeping yourself protected. If she comes at you on the left, use your forearm to block her. Try a few moves on me.”
She grinned as though she’d been waiting forever to hit me. I smirked but shouldn’t have.
She threw a right hook that hit my jaw. “Not so tough, are you?” She puffed out her chest, sucking in her lip.
She could hit. I would give her that. “Again,” I said in a serious tone before I tackled her to the mat. Her moves were turning me on. Just the way she danced on the balls of her feet was sexy.
For the next thirty minutes, Ruby used me as her punching bag. I blocked as she jabbed. I coached as she jabbed again. I couldn’t say I was excited about her fighting, but at least now she had a few moves in her boxing bag of tricks.
“Okay.” She wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. “I think I got a couple of good moves.” She sounded excited. “Thank you.” She sank her teeth into her bottom lip.
My dick jerked. “Ruby, bite your lip again, and I will kiss you.” For the last half hour, I had done my best to be the consummate professional. But I was hanging by a thread. Fuck patience. Go on. Get what you want, and take what’s yours. That was always my motto. Certainly, acting like a gentleman was first and foremost, just as Kade and my old man had taught us boys. Hence, the warning my dad had ingrained in us: Let a lady know your intentions.
Ruby’s tongue snaked out. “You’re still impatient.”
I moved until a paper-thin space separated us. “I’m not playing, Ruby.” My voice was husky.
“Then kiss me. Unless you’re afraid.” Her shyness vanished as though she had flipped a switch to her sassy alter ego.
One side of my mouth twitched. I grasped her arms gently around her biceps then leaned in. My gaze riveted to hers. She tensed as though I was squeezing out all the feistiness in her. She was nowhere near ready for me to kiss her. Hell, she wouldn’t even look at me, and suddenly, my gut formed a big knot. I was the asshole who’d left her. She didn’t want anything to do with me.
“I don’t want you fighting on Saturday,” I exclaimed as I took in a quiet breath, trying to calm my erratic pulse.
She jerked out of my hands. “I told you not to boss me around.”
“Underground fighting can be dangerous. And what if the cops raid the joint? You could go to jail.”
She casually lifted a shoulder. “So? Not the first time.”
I locked my jaw. “What?” Surprises were popping up everywhere. “You’ve been in jail?”
“How do you think I get food? You think I can walk into a restaurant and get served for free? I can’t eat out of dumpsters every night.” A chord of sarcasm threaded through her voice. “I’m not Penelope. She strikes me as a girl who would get what she wanted even if she was homeless.”
“Stop comparing yourself to Penelope,” I said in a firm tone. “You’re beautiful on the inside and outside.” Silence ticked for a beat. I softened my voice. “What happened to you, Ruby?”
She scanned the room just as she’d done at Firefly when she saw me from across the bar, no doubt searching for a way out of the gym. Then her eyes closed as her chest rose. When she opened her eyes and set her sights on me, peace replaced the frustration she’d had a moment ago as though whatever internal battle she’d had going on had been resolved. “If you want answers, then pick me up next Thursday. I’d like to show you something near my old house.”
“In the Berkshires? But that’s Thanksgiving. Why don’t you join my family and me?” I would prep my family not to grill her. Maybe by hanging with us, she would see I wasn’t that scared boy anymore. She would see that family meant everything to me. “We can also talk quietly before dinner down by the lake behind my house.”
She let out a nervous laugh. “No way.”
“Then show me before then or on Friday.”
“I can’t. I have to work at Firefly up until Wednesday, and the weekends are always packed. It’s okay. Look, thank you for tonight. I’ve got to run. I promised Norma I wouldn’t be long.” She climbed out of the ring.
I could beg, but she wouldn’t listen. “Remember to block,” I said instead. “Anticipate her moves, and keep your opponent guessing.”
She sashayed to the locker room.
What the fuck had just happened? Your manly ego got in the way, moron.
“Ruby,” I called.
&
nbsp; She tossed a blank look over her shoulder.
“Wear those clothes. It will be easier for you to move around. Oh, and I’ll be there on Saturday night.”
She tilted her head. “Norma said you were banned from Firefly.”
“So?” No amount of cops, Tommy, or even the dipshit bartender, Pete, would keep me from watching over Ruby.
14
Ruby
I waited at the entrance to Boston Public Garden on Arlington Street for my social worker, Ms. Waters, who’d been assigned to my case. My supervised visits with Raven were at the garden. Apparently, Raven’s foster family lived nearby, and they had been taking her to see the ducks and swans every Saturday. So, Ms. Waters recommended we meet there. I didn’t mind at all. I had a great time seeing the excitement on Raven’s face when she saw a swan or a duck or any wildlife. More importantly, I enjoyed holding Raven’s hand as we walked the grounds, feeling at peace, feeling protected from the outside world, and just being a mom… even if it were for only an hour or two.
People ventured in through the gates to my left. An elderly couple lingered for a moment, talking about the George Washington Statue behind me. Then the old man readied his phone camera before he snapped a picture.
“Ruby,” Ms. Waters called from my right.
“Mommy.” Raven’s sweet voice penetrated through me, sending an ocean of warmth to my heart. Sixteen days since I’d last seen my daughter, and I swore time had moved in slow motion. I crouched down as she ran to me, throwing her tiny arms around my neck.
“I’ve missed you, baby girl.” Tears shot out without warning as I inhaled her powdery scent, hugging her as if she was my last breath.
She let go of me and gave me a quizzical expression. “When are you taking me home?”
I tugged her pink knitted hat down over her ears. Then I smoothed my hands over her long black hair that spilled around her shoulders. “Soon.” I swallowed the mountain in my throat, praying that soon meant next week.
I knew better. I gave Ms. Waters a cursory glance as she loomed over us. She was in her mid-forties and wore black-rimmed glasses that hid the lines around her brown eyes. Her light-brown hair was pulled back into a bun, exposing more lines on her forehead. She’d counseled me that my case could stretch out for six months or more, depending on my living situation. She was a nice woman. She was honest, direct, and seemed to want the best for Raven.
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