“Ruby,” Casper barks. His face is as red as a beet.
She turns and has her mouth open to snap back, but Billy draws her attention as she walks into the clubhouse with Jack in tow. I shake my head, anticipating the shitstorm we’re about to have as the tide shifts and Ruby’s anger moves to a new target.
“Woo, did it just get chilly in here, or is it me?” Jack half jokes as she looks around and sees everyone not talking, with Casper and Ruby standing on either side of the room and me halfway between.
“I think it might be me,” Billy says, as she doesn’t miss the glare Ruby isn’t hiding that well each time she looks at her. “Something on your mind, Ruby?” Girl definitely has balls, thick as steel. Not only for having to deal with Casper and his dominant ass, but to call out Ruby right away and not wait for some of the tension to die down.
“A lot, actually. But since I’m not fucking the president, I have to keep my mouth shut. Unlike you,” Ruby sneers.
Billy looks at Casper, and it seems Ruby isn’t the only one mad at her. Casper’s glare doesn’t dissipate as hecatches his old lady’s eye, and I see Billy’s shoulders drop as if realizing it.
“Law, right? Rue say something?” No one nods, but the unspoken is enough to say it all. She takes a step in Ruby’s direction. “Look, I’m sorry—”
“Save it. Tell your sad story to someone who gives a damn. And that ain’t me.”
“Hey,” Jack barks and steps in front of her sister as if she needs to protect her. When we all know that no one will lay a hand on an old lady. Even Ruby. She might want to hit Billy, or all of us, but she won’t. “Billy only told me and Rue to have us keep an eye out. Not only on your dad, but on you too. You’ve got people after you who you need to watch out for. We made the call. Not the Crazy Eights. They would have told us to forget the protection and care about ourselves. We have our own threats to worry about. Bigger than some girl’s daddy who doesn’t love her anymore. So get off your fucking high horse and look around. This place, all these people? They did it to protect you. To care for you. You think they do that easily? Fuck no. You think they care about me? About Rue? Hell, Billy would be out on her ass if she wasn’t with Casper. No one in this place cares if we live or die, but they do you. So stop throwing your pity party and do the right thing.”
“Right thing?” Ruby’s head twitches as she looks around at us—at all of us—nodding as she goes.
Jack, a bit harsh in her words, said what’s been said behind closed doors. What’s been whispered about. Not by me, but by others. And those who don’t meet Ruby’s eye as she looks around are the ones who agree. And Ruby sees that. She sees everything.
“Right. Got it. Let’s go, Nat.” She starts to walk away. “Give my room to someone who matters. Give it to Jack for all the fucks I give. I won’t be back,” she tosses over her shoulder as she reaches the door.
“Ruby,” I call out to her as she pushes the door open and Nat goes through first.
She looks at me, and I see the sadness in her eyes. “What? No Peaches?” She shakes her head as if she’s disappointed in me. “How quickly the tides turn. Find someone else to fuck, Koop, because it ain’t me. Not anymore.”
With those parting words, she walks out, and the door swings closed.
I stare at the door, hoping for her to come back through it as I feel every eye in this place turn on me.
“You fucked Ruby?” I hear the anger in Bass’s voice as I look at him, then see half the damn brothers rise, one after another. Their anger is clear in their unison against me.
I don’t deny it. And they don’t need me to say it.
And when the first fist comes at me from the VP, I welcome it.
Chapter 32—Ruby
“Are you okay?” Nat’s hesitation is clear. Well, that, and it took her five minutes to say anything after we both got into the car and drove away from a place I once called my home. Not anymore.
I shake my head. “Not even close.”
“Yeah. Didn’t think so.” I see her look out the window from the corner of my eye. But she must have decided the silent game is no longer needed, as she turned back to ask, “Is your dad really alive?”
“Yup.” I pop thePmore out of the anger still coursing through my veins than to emphasize the point.
“And did you really just… break up with Kooper?”
“Yup,” I say with a tired sigh. But is it really a breakup if we were never actually together? Sure, we’ve been together for years, but nottogethertogether till last night. A long night, but it was only one night. We shared a kiss before that. Some meals too.
Wait. Were Kooper and I dating?Thinking back on it, every time we were together, it was more than just a check-in. Check-ins don’t take people out for dinner and pay. Check-ins don’t play video games with them on a Saturday night while their boys are out partying.
Fuck. I think we were dating. I was just too stupid to notice.
“Damn.”
“That about sums it up,” I mutter.
