“To protect ourselves,” Barr said. “And you, Ti.”
Tinsley looked at Ruby. “Are we safe?”
“What did you guys do to Garcia?” Ruby asked.
“Made him think we were high above him,” Kip said. “The other guy threw up.”
Ruby rolled her eyes. “He’s such a pussy.”
“So you don’t owe anything to anyone?” I asked again.
“Nothing,” Ruby said. “I swear.”
Tinsley looked at me.
I watched her shut her eyes for a second.
She then threw her right arm across her body and grabbed Ruby’s hair.
“Oh, shit!” Kip yelled.
Tinsley pulled Ruby back to the SUV and held her down in the back.
“Look at me,” Tinsley growled. “Look at me, Ruby. What the fuck were you thinking? Huh? You want to die? You want to end up half dead in a closet like my mother? After all we’ve been through in life?”
“I’m sorry,” Ruby cried. “I got lost in it all…”
“You need to swear on your life that nobody is going to come after us,” Tinsley said.
“I swear on my life,” Ruby said.
“How fucked up are you? How bad is it?”
“It’s not that bad,” Ruby said. “You’re hurting my hair.”
Tinsley backed off of Ruby.
I slid my hands to her waist and pulled her against me.
I felt her body shaking.
Ruby collected herself and looked at us, crying again.
There wasn’t an ounce of remorse going through me. She needed to know how serious this was and how serious we were.
“You’re going to clean yourself up, love,” Barr said. “And stay away from that town.”
“No matter what it takes,” Kip said. He approached Ruby and touched her back. “We’ll get you some fresh clothes and shit, okay? Get you cleaned up. But no more junk.”
“Ever,” Tinsley said.
Ruby nodded. “I know. I only… it doesn’t matter. Garcia doesn’t matter to anyone. He’s nothing. Believe me. Nobody is going to give a shit about him. Even if he tries to say something, nobody will care.”
Barr and I looked at each other.
He nodded.
I had to take Ruby’s word and Barr’s judgement on this.
I tightened my grip on Tinsley’s waist and pushed her toward Ruby.
“It’s all good now, girl,” Kip said. “We just needed to know what this was. You’re going to be okay.”
“I’m sorry, Ruby,” Tinsley said. “For the way everything happened. I thought my mother was dead in the closet. And then a friend of hers… she took me in. My mother went to rehab. She’s clean now. And I just…”
“We kept her for ourselves,” I said.
Ruby looked around at us. “Who the fuck are you guys?”
“The Rulz, love,” Barr said. He flicked his cigarette away.
“You’re like the guys I would dream about to come and save me,” Ruby said with a weak laugh.
“Wishes come true, girl,” Kip said.
“Except Pres is all mine,” Tinsley said.
Ruby looked at me again and I winked.
“Where can we take you, love?” Barr asked, getting things back on track.
“Straight to rehab,” I said.
“No,” Ruby said. “I can’t afford that. I can’t do that…”
“You have to go somewhere safe and quiet,” Tinsley said. “You can’t come to BFH. It’s too much. And I’m already living in Kip’s guesthouse.”
“Which I’m willing to kick her out of if you want it, girl,” Kip said.
“Wait,” Ruby said. “So you’re banging this guy” - she pointed at me - “and then you’re living with this guy” - she pointed at Kip.
“Yeah,” Tinsley said.
“What about this guy?” Ruby asked, pointing to Barr. “What does he do for you?”
“I save the junkie best friend from an early death,” Barr said.
“Noted,” Ruby said.
“We still need an answer,” I said. “Where are we taking you?”
Ruby bit at her top lip. She started to nod. “I know where I have to go…”
* * *
It was a hell of a drive.
At least a good hour north.
Which was good.
The more distance the better.
In the backseat - the way backseat - Ruby and Tinsley sat facing each other, talking, laughing, and telling old stories. Most of the stories they’d get halfway through and just start laughing. They laughed so hard they cried a few times.
With each mile we put between Ruby and that town, she seemed to calm a little.
I had no idea what she had been taking, but soon enough the urge would crush her. She was far from being in the clear of anything. But if she could get somewhere safe and quiet and stay there, she would be okay.
“What’s your take on it?” I asked Barr.
Kip popped his head forward, between Barr and I.
“I think we’re okay,” Barr said. “She’s right about Garcia. He’s way down on the list of people we should worry about. Even if his guys showed up, it’s not like we took anything. We just roughed him up.”
“And took his girlfriend,” Kip said.
“They won’t care about that,” Barr said.
“I appreciate what you both did,” I said. “This isn’t our thing. I don’t want this to be our thing. But…”
My voice trailed as I heard Tinsley burst into laughter.
Her laughing made me smile.
“She makes it worth it,” Barr said. “We get it.”
“She’s good for you,” Kip said.
We arrived at some small beach town about thirty minutes later.
The houses were small and all looked the same. There was a sense of calm through the town. The kind of place you’d never hear about unless you knew where to look. Where the main street in town had a store with everything you needed.
Ruby rattled off the directions to a house and when I pulled into the gravel driveway, the tires crushed the rocks and spit them out behind me.
There was an old ass looking car sitting close to the house.
I parked the SUV and looked back.
“This is it,” she said.
“How long has it been?” Tinsley asked.
“A really long time,” Ruby said. “I hope she’ll take me in.”
“She will,” Tinsley said. “Your mother caused this. Not you. I’m sure she’s been waiting to hear from you.”
“We’ll make sure you get in safe,” I said.
Ruby and Tinsley hugged one more time. They both started to cry.
Then Ruby moved quick.
She dove over the seat and had her new bag with her. We had stopped at a store to let her pick out some clothes and whatever else she wanted. Just to give her a chance at starting over.
She was on the backseat on her knees, reaching back to open the door, her eyes locked to Kip’s eyes.
“See you around,” she said to Kip.
“Yeah, girl,” Kip said. “Take care of yourself. I mean it.”
“Wouldn’t hurt to have someone check up on me once in a while,” Ruby said.
Kip grinned and winked. “I’ll see what I can do. I kind of have my hands full with Tinsley.”
“No, he doesn’t,” Tinsley said. “He’s all yours, Ruby.”
“We’ll see,” Ruby said.
She slid out of the seat and Kip leaned toward the open door.
Before he could say something romantic or stupid, Ruby slammed the door on him.
I looked at Kip. He was still grinning.
He nodded. “Definitely hot.”
We watched as Ruby approached her grandmother’s house.
Ruby’s mother had gotten into a big fight with Ruby’s grandmother years ago. Ruby’s mother wasn’t the cleanest person in the world and Ruby’s grandmother couldn’t watch it anymore so she left and stayed away.
Ruby knocked on the door.
When it opened, a tall, skinny, older woman stood there. She quickly covered her mouth and started to cry.
She then fell to her knees.
“Shit,” Barr said.
Ruby fell to her knees too.
They both embraced one another.
“She’s okay,” I said.
“Just shocked as hell,” Kip said.
I turned my head and looked at Tinsley. “What about you, sugar… are you okay?”
“I think so,” Tinsley said.
Ruby and her grandmother got to their feet and went into the house.
The door shut and that was it.
It was officially over.
Ruby was safe.
Tinsley was happy.
I let out a long breath and backed out of the gravel driveway.
Not even a mile down the road my phone rang.
It was my father calling.
I ignored the call.
I grinned.
Calling about the ditch and what was going to happen next. My best guess was that he promised his investors the land and he wanted to make a deal with me over it. Since I kicked his ass and a deal was a deal…
When the voicemail popped up on the screen I had to listen to it.
I had to hear the worry in his voice.
After the day I had…
When I heard his voice playing in my ear, I curled my lip.
But then… my lip stopping curling.
I steered the SUV to the side of the road.
“Pres?” Barr asked.
“What are we doing?” Kip asked. “Do you have to take a piss?”
I tossed my phone across the seat at Barr.
“What the fuck?” Barr yelled.
I looked at him. I turned my head and looked at Kip.
Then I looked at Tinsley.
“What’s wrong?” she asked me.
My lips moved but it took me a few seconds to find the words.
“My mother is dead.”
Chapter 16
I stood next to the pool and slipped my hands into my pockets. The pool was calm and quiet. As was the ocean that sat just beyond the pool. The perfect kind of wealthy paradise most people would kill for. That sense of ease in life. Not a care in the world about money. As though money truly did fix every single problem.
Not that this was a problem.
It was life. It was death.
In a sense it was relaxation and peace.
Finally.
If there was one thing my mother deserved more than anything else in the world it was that. We never talked about what happened after death but if anything did exist out there, I hoped she was surfing somewhere. Running on the beach, screaming with laughter, talking to the waves and the clouds, and that she would never feel an ounce of the pain she felt while she was alive.
Toss all that forced happy bullshit aside and everything else was much simpler.
My mother was dead.
I shut my eyes and lowered my head.
Behind me stood Barr, Kip, and Tinsley. In a strange way it was like looking at the new version of the Rulz. I pictured the way Tinsley sprang into action with Ruby. And the same with Amelia. Knowing when to be kind. Knowing when to be a bitch. Knowing when to attack. That was how things got done and how you survived.
Because on the other side of survival it was… this.
This empty feeling. This questioning feeling. My mind wanting to be really pissed off, yet at the same time wanting to throw memories at me. Wanting me to talk about how my mother used to wake me up early to go for walks on the beach. How she’d somehow manage to get things packed up and we’d disappear for the day to go on an adventure. How she never let the flaws of my father and the hell in our house rattle her soul for a second. How she managed to look at me and always smile, or laugh, or tell a joke, or tell a story about the water and mythical creatures… all the while knowing that her husband - my father - was somewhere fucking some woman.
And there was a moment when my mother first got sick that I wondered if things would change. That maybe her illness would provide some sort of asshole wakeup call to my father.
Nope.
Nothing would change him.
I slowly turned and looked at my real family.
Family.
Fuck.
I was getting soft.
I needed to go find someone and beat the hell out of them.
As I approached Barr, Kip, and Tinsley, I saw tears running down Tinsley’s cheeks.
She was fucking beautiful. Beautiful and sweet. Her heart made of something more precious than diamonds and gold and even the stars in the night sky.
She was holding hands with Barr and Kip but not in the same way she held hands with me. There should have been jealousy pouring through my veins but there was something about knowing the girl I loved was protected by the friends I trusted.
Tinsley broke away from Barr and Kip and ran toward me.
She jumped into my arms and threw her arms around me.
I wrapped one arm around her and gritted my teeth tight.
Barr and Kip approached slower.
Each put a hand to my shoulder and squeezed tight.
“I’m so sorry,” Barr said. “You knew it was coming but that doesn’t matter. Know that, Pres. It’s okay to feel everything.”
“Shit,” Kip said. He cleared his throat. “I don’t even know what to say. Something poetic about time and life. I don’t fucking know. Like the seconds move like the waves to the shore… and we stand there and…”
“Hey, Kip,” I said.
“Yeah?”
“Shut the fuck up.”
* * *
I stared at the door to the bedroom but I wasn’t ready to go inside it yet. To see it empty. To see it void of life. Knowing that sooner or later it would go back to what it was before my mother got sick. I’d have it gutted and remodeled and it would stand as a guest room. A guest room that would probably never get used. Because that’s how most of the houses in BFH were designed to be. Big. And unused. Hell, the only people that used all the rooms in these houses were the ones hired to take care of the house.
I placed my hand flat against the door and sucked in a breath.
“Here, this’ll help,” Barr said as he stepped up next to me.
He had a flask in his hand. A cigarette between his lips.
I swiped the flask and took a drink.
Whiskey.
Probably not the best thing to drink at the moment, but fuck it.
Barr took a deep drag of his cigarette and blew the smoke at the door.
“She’d kick my ass knowing I was smoking in the house,” he said with a grin.
“Yeah, she would,” I said.
“Anything you need,” Barr said. “Anything. Just say it.”
“Is Kip alone with Tinsley right now?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“That’s probably not a good thing.”
“I think he’s still trying to write a poem for you,” Barr said. He laughed. “He gets uncomfortable in situations like these.”
“Yet he could beat the hell out of someone and not think twice,” I said.
“That’s because he loves you, Pres,” Barr said. “I think we all have some wires that have been cut or crossed. But when it comes to this… the Rulz… it’s important.”
I drank from the flask again.
Then I laughed.
“What’s so funny?” Barr asked.
“If she actually would have known you two, she would have liked you,” I said. “Both you and Kip leave quite the impression.”
“Hey,” Barr said, grabbing my shoulder again. “I did play piano for her. Remember that?”
“You were half drunk and hitting on her,�
� I said.
“So?”
I shook my head.
Barr nodded. “Shit, Pres, if things would have worked out, you’d be calling me Daddy right now.”
He patted my back and walked away, leaving me with the smell of his cigarette smoke.
I laughed because if I didn’t I was going to go after Barr and break his jaw.
In a kind way though. If that were possible.
One more drink from the flask and I turned my back on the door and went into the kitchen.
Tinsley was on the counter, her feet dangling, kicking front and back.
Kip had his hands on the counter, one on each side of her, blocking her in.
“Just give me something I can use,” Kip said.
“No,” Tinsley said. “You’re not getting the dirt on Ruby.”
“It’s not dirt,” Kip said. “Dirt is… dirty. Like something bad. I want something good. Like… icing.”
“Icing?” Barr asked.
“Yeah. Like icing on a cake. That’s good, right?”
“How about you just text her and make sure she’s okay,” I said. “Make sure her and her grandmother are getting along. Make sure she’s not feeling it too hard and thinking about going back to that town to find that asshole.”
“I could do that,” Kip said. “I prefer icing though.”
“Then we’ll go get you a fucking cake,” Barr said.
“I don’t want a cake,” Kip said.
“Just the icing,” Tinsley said. “Duh.”
Barr touched his chest. “Duh, love.”
I walked toward Tinsley and she put her foot up and kicked Kip away.
I took his spot and scooped her up into my arms.
With her I felt some kind of comfort. And enough love that I could figure out how to get through all this shit.
Because it didn’t just begin or end with my mother’s death.
It went much deeper than that.
I heard the echo of a voice and felt the tension grow from Barr, Kip, and Tinsley.
When my father appeared in the kitchen, he was on the phone.
“Let me call you back,” he said. “My son is here.”
My son…
My father ended the call.
He looked around the kitchen.
“I’m glad you’re all here,” he said. “I mean it. It means a lot to me. To Preston. And to my wife.”
His chin started to quiver.
PRES: a bay falls high novel Page 14