Ruby lifted her head just a little and looked out the window. “That’s not the sun. The moon is just really bright tonight.”
“Ruby.”
She groaned loudly when she knew I wasn’t going to go away. “All right. I’m going. I knew you were going to come in here early.”
She sat up with her hair draping over the front of her bare chest and I was already sorry but I had to ask. “You didn’t kill him, right?”
Ruby looked over at Darius and he was seeming still right out asleep. How was I supposed to know if he was still alive? I wasn’t Jaylyn.
“Are you going to ask me that every morning?”
“Well, you are naked. I was just making sure.”
“No. I didn’t kill him because we didn’t do anything.”
“All right. Then get him up. You have to get ready.”
Ruby nudged Darius as she started to get up more but he didn’t wake up then she sighed and climbed on top of him.
“Ruby, come on.” I was ready to turn and leave but I needed to tell Darius to get downstairs with Zayden since Troy was going to be an extra few minutes longer than I would have liked.
“What? This is how I need to wake him up.”
“Yeah, I bet.”
Ruby leaned down to Darius and started kissing him. The second I noticed him start to respond in any kind of human male way possible, I cleared my throat for their attention.
“Oh, hey, Adele.” Darius said. “Come to join us?”
I stood with my arms crossed, letting my look say it all and Ruby hit him in the shoulder with a laugh while she got up completely with the sheet. “No. She came to wake us up.”
Darius looked out the window, moving his fingers back through his hair. “All right. So, when do we leave?”
“We leave when you’re ready.” I said. “Zayden is taking a dive in the pool to wake up. It looks like you could use it too, really bad.”
Darius sighed and climbed to his feet. “Yeah, I probably could. We’ll have to reschedule.”
“Ruby, do something with him before I freak out.” I turned and walked out of the room. I’ve had enough. I just wanted him to get down there and not leave Zayden alone. We didn’t need to get into detail of his request. I wasn’t in the mood. I just wanted to get them out of the city the fastest way possible and to do that, everyone had to hurry and get ready.
Chapter 24
Darius
I laughed to Adele’s frustration with me. She needs to relax a little. It really was just a joke. I guess I just thought with having Zayden back she would be a little looser with her humor but apparently it’s going to take more time than I realized.
“You should really try not to get her going so early.” Ruby said. “We’ll have to live with her like this.”
“I know. Just trying to get her out of that.”
“Just don’t do it again, please. She’s moody enough.”
“All right, promise. Are you coming?”
“No. You go. I’m just going to get ready real quick.”
“Okay. I’ll be back.”
“Just go to the top of the stairs and you should see it.”
I nodded to the easy instruction and left the room. My eye was on the open doorway at the end of the hall and Zayden greeted me when I got there. “There you are. I was wondering when someone else was going to get down here.”
I started down the stairs and looked around. The room was filled with obstacles high up on its two story walls with ropes and practice equipment everywhere. It was so weird to see how others were so dedicated to their life of killing. “Would you look at this place? They’ve really got it made here.”
“Yeah, they do. We don’t even have a place like this back home.”
“Yeah. Home. I’ve been trying not to think about it.”
“We did what we had to.” His voice was the same as mine. Neither of us enjoyed talking about the one place we may never get to go back to. “Run into Troy on your way here? I haven’t seen him yet.”
“I would have thought he’d be down before me. There’s no way he’s still sleeping.”
“Didn’t start without me, did you?”
I turned my head and saw Troy skipping quickly down the stairs like he was wide awake.
“Does that answer your question?”
Zayden smiled as I climbed in the pool with him. “What’s put you in such a delectable mood this morning?”
“I just had a great morning that surely made up for my unexpected encounter with Kole last night.”
“What do you mean?”
“He stopped by her room not long after we got there.”
“Really?” Zayden was somewhat shocked yet interested at the same time but I already knew he was there. I just didn’t know what went on. “What happened?”
“Not too much. They talked and ah, oh, my hand got broken.”
“You hit him?” I asked, maybe a little amused that Kole didn’t mention that. “We saw him leaving but didn’t hear anything.”
“No. I barely touched him because Jaylyn wanted him to leave. There’s something weird about his gift. She says he can’t be forcefully touched.”
“Forcefully touched? Well, that puts a damper on things.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Well, lucky Jaylyn was there to heal it.” Zayden said.
“Yeah. I forgot about it completely after he left. We ended up staying up late.”
Of course they did and I was glad he had to share it. Not really but I’m sure he heard the carelessness of it on my voice. “Well, great for you.”
“What wrong with you?”
“Sorry I’m not showing more enthusiasm for your success with Jaylyn but I’m just really fucking tired. Ruby’s bed is so comfortable and the night wasn’t nearly long enough.”
Zayden looked at Troy with a grin and I should have just kept my mouth shut. I knew what was coming. “Did you get the chance to throw her back on it?”
I answered while trying not to get angry about it. “No. It wasn’t even close that. I haven’t gotten to it the second time yet.”
“Well, is there a problem as to why? I thought you said you were going to change for her?”
“Yeah, I did but you should know this is going to take time. I don’t want Ruby to just be like one of the others.”
“But you’re making her one because you’re putting it off.” Troy said.
“You say that like it’s easy to just do.”
“That’s because it should be if you really care about her.” Zayden explained. “This isn’t about worrying if you’ll survive every time, is it?”
“No and I do care about her but I’m just not ready.”
“Don’t worry about it. You’ll get there.” Troy said.
“It helps that she thinks it’s best to hold off on it as well. She has a real problem even thinking about the possibility of killing me.”
“But how long will that last?” Zayden asked.
I shrugged at the question. “I don’t know. For as long as I need it to, I hope. I know I could easily convince her to but first I have to be ready.”
“Don’t take too long.” Troy replied. “Trever may be counting on things going badly so she’ll break first like he said.”
He just had to mention that name and completely ruin my mood. “Oh, don’t. It will not come to that so can we please not talk about him? It annoys me.”
There wasn’t even a long enough silence to take a breath before I heard Adele’s laugh echo in the high ceiling. “And people think I have problems.”
I looked up to see her stepping down the stairs towards us. She was wear this weird short blue corset top around her ribs that looked almost like suede from this distance and some kind of black strips coming out of it to cover the rest of her top that tied around her neck. She also had on these small blue shorts but it was her boots that were strangest of all. They were blue that traveled all the way up to her thighs with openings behin
d the knees but the top of them went even higher and attached to her belt. I learned to like it quickly but I still have never seen anything like it on anyone.
“What are you wearing?” I had to ask it and maybe get some kind of answer.
“What?” She looked down at herself as she stepped off the bottom step. “It’s what I wear when we go to warmer climates. Maaki can get pretty hot even during this time of year.”
“Are you all dressed like that?”
“No. Each reflects our own personal taste. Ruby will help break you of your problem when you see hers.”
I narrowed my eyes just slightly. “I’m not going to give in just because of what she’s wearing.”
“Well, I could always make you.”
She said it so casually that I laughed. “Make me?”
“Don’t think I can?”
She raised her hand up towards me and I immediately felt it, quickly putting my hand down in the water to my lap. “Hey! Don’t do that!”
Adele laughed again and lowered her hand. “Then don’t think I can’t and you should probably learn to limit your open aggression about Trever around here.”
“Why?” I didn’t feel the need to. I wasn’t afraid of him.
“Because he’s important whether you want to believe that or not.” I sighed and strayed my eyes down on the water. I did not want to get into why but I think she knew why because she crouched down behind me with a change in her voice like she was trying to be caring. “I understand why you hate him but what you’re doing is like asking Ruby to hate every woman you’ve ever been with.”
“And doesn’t she?”
“She usually doesn’t get along with other women but that’s not the point. The point is, it’s foolish.”
“The point is, it’s not the same.” I corrected. “All those women were only in my life for one night or even less, not over and over and especially not after the fact.”
“Well, then that just proves that there’s one very different thing between you and Trever.” I didn’t say a thing because I didn’t care about the answer but Adele went ahead and told me anyway. “He has heart. He’s never used women because he knows how to care.”
“Are you talking about me again?”
Adele sprung right to her feet from the humorous yet annoying sound of Trever’s voice. “No!”
I didn’t even have to look to know that it was him and I heard him walk closer. “Still lying, I see.”
“What are you doing here?” Great question.
“We have a new target.”
“What do you mean we?”
Trever looked up, tracing his eyes along the high ceiling. “Kole is on the roof and so you know, he can hear everything you’ve said.”
Adele quickly glanced down at us and started to walk with Trever to the far wall but we could still hear them. “So, who’s this target?”
“Why? You want in? That won’t be necessary. Kole can handle it.”
“Doesn’t mean you can’t tell me. You’re using my roof after all.”
“Just a poor soul caught abusing his wife. I saw her last night. She was pretty banged up, too scared of what he might do if she told anyone but I knew.”
“So, you’re having Kole kill him?”
Trever folded up the papers into his pocket and began to scale the obstacles on the wall to reach the highest window. “Better to catch him before he touches those children, assuming he hasn’t already. What else could really be done? It’s hard to change one’s nature. Once he’s dead, she’ll take over his estate, we’ll wipeout any and all debt and she can live happily ever after with her children in a fearless environment.”
Adele smiled and looked back towards us. “And that, gentlemen, is a perfect example of heart.”
Trever sighed and turned back before going out the window to the roof. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?”
“It’s okay. Jaylyn is with Ellie right now. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind a few extra minutes.”
Trever smiled and glanced at us. “Good luck explaining that to them.”
He was finally gone and Adele slowly turned back around to us like there was some secret about who this Ellie was.
“Explain what to us?” Zayden asked. We were awake enough now and all started climbing out of the pool. “Who’s Ellie?”
Adele smiled as she pushed the water off us, putting it right back into the pool so we were dry. I almost forgot what that felt like. Still weird. “Ah, I’ll let you decide that when you see her. Everyone has a different opinion. Just hurry. Get up to Ruby so she can dress you.”
“Dress us?”
“Yeah. If you’re going to travel with us, you’re going to dress like us.”
I laughed and looked over Adele’s outfit again. “Ah, I don’t mean to be rude to your style or anything but I don’t think that will look good on me, let alone fit.”
“You’ll be wearing guy clothes, obviously. Ruby designed them, I just threw them together. We had to work away from that Senian look you tend to have.”
“We actually have that?” Troy wondered, looking at himself then to us next to him. I didn’t know we had that either.
“You can. Just think of this change as having to be in disguise, dressing as someone you’re not. You made us do it, now we’re making you.”
“I guess that’s fair.” Zayden sighed.
Adele smiled and turned around to lead the way.
Jaylyn was in view when we made it upstairs and started down the hall. It wasn’t surprising but she was also in some sort of weird looking outfit that I’ve never seen anyone wear. It was mostly just this one piece that was like a high collared sleeveless shirt on the top but it barely covered the rest of her. At this angle, it seemed as if just a strip of the green suede came down from top and went between her legs. She had her gray thigh holster for her weapons that seemed to hold this suit on her with boots that went above her knee.
Damn. I liked this one too but I was getting worried. This was Jaylyn. Ruby was ten times as racy when it came to her clothing. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what she would look like.
I had to stop trying and just wait my turn, I guess. I focused more on Jaylyn in front of us in the middle of the hall and noticed she was talking to some little blonde haired girl.
If I didn’t know any better, I would have guessed she was hers. The hair was exactly the same but I didn’t want to make it obvious and alarm Troy right off that maybe this was something she has yet to mention.
“Oh really? How old?”
“I’ll be four, silly.” The girl held up her hand, showing the number with her fingers.
“Wow, four. Where did the time go?”
“Will you come? Please? Daddy says I had to ask.”
“Oh, I don’t think we’ll be back in time, sweetie but when I get back we’ll do something extra special together just the two of us. How about that?”
“Okay! We could go riding! Daddy promised me a pony!”
“Did he? Well, we’ll have to make sure he comes through this time. If he doesn’t, we’ll beat him up together.”
“You’re the best!”
Jaylyn laughed and hugged her. “Now go downstairs. Your grandmother is waiting for you and I promise, if I see your father, I’ll remind him about the pony.”
“Okay! Have a fun trip! Bye!” She skipped down the hall as Jaylyn stood up and watched.
She passed us like we weren’t standing here all and I couldn’t help but breakout a smile with another clue about who she could have been.
“What?” Jaylyn asked.
“You didn’t tell us you have a kid.” Zayden said a bit playfully.
“She’s not mine.” Jaylyn snatched.
“Trever’s then?”
“Ah, no.”
“Really? Blonde curly hair, lightening green eyes and she’s not yours or Trever’s? Have another sibling then or family?”
“No.”
I heard Ruby’s laugh and lo
oked up, watching every step she took. She looked incredible. She was wearing a pair of red suede patchwork shorts that were cut the length of the sides that wasn’t really that long and laced up to stay on and show off her legs but the best part was her hair. She still had it completely down and her hands were covering her breasts like she had yet to put her top on. I kind of hoped she wasn’t planning to go like that because then it would have been hard to keep to our agreement.
“Be sure to tell them who her father is, Jaylyn.” She said, reaching her side. “I’m sure they’ll really believe she’s not yours then.”
Jaylyn just stood annoyed, shifting her weight and sighing. “She’s not mine, okay. Stop making a big deal about it and put clothes on!”
She started walking towards Adele’s room and Ruby stayed behind with a smile, not caring that she was topless. None of us really cared. “It’s Kole. What a strange ironic coincidence.”
Zayden and I looked over at Troy at the same time and Jaylyn sighed again and turned around. “All right, so what but I’m not her mother. I’ve never been pregnant in my life.”
“How do you know you’re not now?” Ruby smiled.
“If I was, believe me, I’d be the first to know.”
“Maybe it’s too early to tell. You are getting awfully moody.”
“Adele! She’s doing it again!”
Adele came out of her room, strapping her sword around her waist. “Would you two cut it out?! I’m really not in the mood for your arguing and you three, get dressed! Do you want to stay here?”
“No!”
“Then hurry up. We’re leaving when you’re ready. You too, Ruby!”
Ruby laughed. “Come on. She’s serious.” She turned down the hall and we followed into her room. “Pardon my mess.” She kicked a bunch of her clothes back into the closet and shut the door. “I’m still in the process of looking for my top.”
“Whoa.” Troy muttered. “Nice room.”
“Thank you. Well, here’s your stuff.” She took a step towards the bed and turned so we could see it while slipping on a pair of knee high boots that matched her shorts in the red patch work design. “We didn’t have much time but it’ll do.”
Endless Night (Fate's Intent Book 3) Page 10