She tilted her head and leaned into my palm. “I know. Because you’re here.”
Her words hit me like an arrow to the heart and I fell a little more in love with her. She was strong and even if I wasn’t with her, she’d have figured it all out. But I was so damn happy I was there for her.
“Sweetheart, you are one of the strongest people I know and you can do anything without me.” She was shaking her head as if she didn’t believe me and a little fear crossed her face. I hurried on because I didn’t want her to doubt I was there for her or that I’d been saying I wouldn’t be. “But you don’t have to. We are in all thistogether.”
Relief showed on her face and then she threw her arms around my neck, squeezing me tight. God, she felt amazing in my arms. I hated to pull away but I needed to make the call. I pulled back and gave her a tender kiss on her lips.
“I’m gonna call Kace so I can get him on his way to the house.” I reluctantly let the beauty in my arms go and put the phone to my ear.
As I listened to my cell ring in my ear and waited for Kace to pick up, I could hear Jett quietly soothing Patience as he spoke to her. Ruby had told her brother she was proud of him and I knew why.
Jett was as much of a stand-up guy at eighteen as the friends I had that were years older. Patience was lucky to have him as a friend. I’m sure she knew that too.
Ruby’s hand rested on my thigh and I covered it with my free hand, rubbing slow circles on it. After a few rings, Kace picked up.
“Yo. I thought you were out of town,” Kace said.
“I’m still out of town, but something big came up at home and I need your help.”
And just as I knew he would, Kace didn’t hesitate.
“Anything you need, man. Tell me and I’ll take care of it.”
I blew out a breath and told him what I knew. Before I even finished I could hear him telling Teal they needed to head out and he was moving around to get ready to go. It wasn’t early and they may have already been in bed, but that didn’t stop either of them. When Teal asked what was going on and Kace said Jett’s friend Patience and her baby needed them, that was all it took. Teal was in and they were going to get them.
“Thank you. I owe you.”
“Don’t piss me off, jackass. You don’t owe me shit. This is what friends are for,” Kace said.
I chuckled at him calling me a jackass and it felt good. Some of the worry rolled off me knowing my friend had things covered.
“You’re lucky Embry didn’t catch you,” I told him.
“No shit. Oops, that's two.” He laughed. “Ouch, woman, you throw a mean punch.” I heard Teal giggle. “My girl is trying to clean up my mouth too before Denver’s first words are profanity.”
He had a good point. With Autumn going to be in the house and maybe Patience too, it was something I should work on.
“I will call you when we have the precious cargo in the car,” Kace said.
Just the fact he called them precious cargo said enough about the man Kace was.
“Ten-Four,” I told him and then hung up the call.
Jett looked over and our eyes met. “It’s all covered, Kace and Teal are on the way.”
He nodded again and went back to talking to Patience.
I pulled Ruby into my arms again and softly stroked the back of her head. Her hands rubbed up and down my back, both of us taking comfort in one another.
When things started with Ruby I had no clue what I was getting into. I knew I was attracted to her and I wanted to see where things went. It was also clear others were involved and as time went on, even more people were being added to the mix.
And a beautiful mix it was.
Offamily.
ChapterEighteen
RUBY
