I close my eyes for a second, only to open them again and see her looking up at me.
“Sorry,” she whispers, batting her eyelashes. As if this was fucking accidental. Nothing she does isaccidentaland I hate myself for wishing she would put her hand right back on my cock.
“Normal,” I growl, my jaw clenched so hard that I fear for the integrity of my molars.
“Normal? What kind of answer is that,” she says with a laugh, standing on her tiptoes to put a hand on my forehead.
“I’m starting to worry about you, James. We should get you something to eat.”
I grumble something ineligible as I rush out of the changing room.
Ruby is killing me. Or maybe I’m already dead and this ishell. Maybe this is my very own version of purgatory. Maybe Satan is suddenly a woman with ridiculous, probably overpriced, sneakers on her feet and long hair that smells way too good, punishing me for all my sins. And God knows I committed many.
She comes out of the changing room just a few minutes later, walking towards the register to pay for her stuff. With Daddy’s credit card of course. Spoiled brat. I wonder if she had to work a single day in her life, even though I doubt it. Some people just get everything handed to them.
I never walked into a store like she does. When I was little, my clothes were hand-me-downs from my older brother. Sometimes, maybe once a year, I got something new. A jacket, or a pair of jeans, only for myself. After my mom died and I joined the military, I earned more money, but I still didn’t use it to go on shopping sprees. You don’t need fancy clothes when you crawl around in a desert or hide in the sewer system of shoot-me-in-the-head valley.
Every month, I send a good sum of money to my grandma and my niece. They need it more than I do. The last time I saw the little one, she was a baby, not more than a few months old. It’s been almost eight years since then. Eight long years since my brother went to prison. I don’t know if she’ll ever meet her dad, but she’s probably better off without him.
“You want to share a milkshake?” Ruby suddenly asks as we are halfway to the exit of the mall.
“Do I look like I want to share a milkshake?” I want to rub my temples, but then I realize my hands are full with her goddamn shopping bags.
“A bit.”
“No.”
“Well,Iwant a milkshake.”
“Then get yourself one, it’s not my money that you spend on overpriced shit.”
“They are not overpriced, they are organic.”
I watch her as she orders two milkshakes and four huge double chocolate muffins. I already know that I’ll either have to resort to begging or stealing, but one way or another, I’m going to eat at least two of them.
She comes back to me, a pink milkshake in one of her hands and a chocolate one in the other while she’s wearing the paper bag with the muffins in it like a handbag.
She shoves the chocolate milkshake towards me until she realizes that I don’t have a free hand to take it, not to mention that I didn’t ask for one.
“Hey, would you mind if I drive us home?” She asks as we walk up to the car.
“You’re not driving this car,” I say as I put her ridiculous amount of shopping bags in the spacious trunk.
“But I don’t understand why you won’t let me drive?”
“Because I don’t trust you, Ruby. You could drive us off a cliff for all I know. End of discussion.”
“There are no cliffs around. And please don’t be mad at me, but you should be the one concerned about driving off a cliff.”
I let my head fall against the headrest with a groan. As I lean back forward, I almost poke out my right eye with the straw of the milkshake that Ruby holds up in front of my face.
“Try it, I promise you’ll like it.”
The stupid milkshake tastes fucking addicting and I make a mental note to drive back here to get another one as soon as I get the chance. Maybe they do delivery, I sincerely hope so.
“It’s drinkable.”
She grins at me and I don’t like that she already knows what I like. And even less do I like that it feels nice that someone thinks about me like she does.
