Ant didn’t deny it. Ruby felt heat crawl up her spine—anger mixing with fear. “Curiosity doesn’t give you the right to corner me in my exam room. And it doesn’t give you permission to use your FBI resources to do a background check on me.”
Ant’s eyes softened. “I wasn’t trying to corner you. I was trying to see if you’d tell me yourself before I dug further.”
Silence stretched between them, and she knew that she wasn’t going to win this battle. Ant didn’t feel as though he had done anything wrong. Hell, he probably felt she was in the wrong for lying to him, but he had no right to dig into her past just because she had lied to him. She wasn’t one of his cases or persons of interest.
Banshee looked between them and then back at Ruby. “You want me to handle this?”
Ruby hesitated because she knew that if Banshee handled it, Ant would disappear. Her problems would be solved, and no one would have to find out about her secret, but something in Ruby twisted at the thought of never seeing Ant again.
“No,” she said finally, “that won’t be necessary.”
Banshee’s brows lifted. “You sure?”
Ruby nodded, “I can handle him,” she lied. She wasn’t sure if she could handle anything that Ant might throw at her. She just hoped that he had finished digging up dirt on her. Ant’s gaze locked on hers. Something like respect flickered there, and she wondered what that was about.
Banshee sighed. “Fine, but hear me, Ant—one wrong step, and you won’t make it out of Huntsville with all your teeth.”
Ant smiled faintly. “Fair enough. Message received.”
He turned to Ruby. “Valentine’s Day’s still open. No pressure.”
She barked out her laugh, glaring at him. “You’re unbelievable. Do you really think that I’d go out with you now?”
He shrugged, “I hope so,” he replied. He walked out of Savage Hell without looking back, and all Ruby seemed to be able to do was stand there, shaking, as she watched him leave.
Rebel put a hand on her shoulder. “You don’t owe anyone the truth unless you want to give it. Just remember that it’s your story to tell, not anyone else’s, and no one can take it from you.”
Ruby swallowed hard. “I don’t know if I can keep lying to everyone,” she admitted. “Especially not the Harlots.” Keeping the truth from her sisters felt wrong. If a stranger could figure out her secret, everyone would be able to. She wanted to be the one to tell everyone.
Banshee squeezed her hand. “Then don’t lie to them. But make sure whoever gets the truth is worth it. You know that the Harlots will always have your back.”
Ruby stared at the door Ant had just walked through, her heart pounding as her past clawed at her. He knew the truth, and now, Rebel knew. Her can, or worms had been opened, and there would be no putting them back. It was time to decide if she just kept surviving or if she finally stopped hiding the truth.
The one thing she knew for certain was that there was no way that she was going to be Ant’s Valentine’s date—no matter how much her traitorous body wanted her to say yes to him. He had betrayed her, and that was something she’d never be able to forgive or forget.
ANT
Ant walked into The Velvet House and quickly looked around. The lights were low, and the base-heavy music, that seemed capable of crawling under his skin, hummed through the place. The air was foggy with the smell of perfume, sweat, and desperation tangled together so tightly that he couldn’t tell where one ended and the next began.
“You’re late,” his boss grumbled from behind the bar. He slid him over a shot of whiskey, and he took it. He really didn’t need this job now that he was working full-time for the FBI, but for some reason, he couldn’t seem to quit. Knowing that he’d be leaving Ruby there alone to fend for herself just felt wrong to him. Sure, she was capable as hell. He knew that much for sure, but knowing that and quitting weren’t exclusively mutual.
“I told you that my work at the FBI has to come first. If I’m a little late, you’ll either have to learn to deal with it or fire me,” he said. He looked over the bar at his boss, knowing that the guy had no other bouncers who could take his place. If he fired Ant, he’d have to spend triple what he was paying him if he wanted the same security detail that he was getting from him.
“Fine,” he almost shouted over the music. “Just try to fucking get here on time from now on.” Ant gave him a mock salute and headed to the front door to start his shift. With any luck, tonight would be a quiet night, but that wasn’t something he usually counted on.
Ant stood near the wall at the entrance with his arms crossed. He was wearing the black T-shirt that he wore every night that he worked at the club. It stretched across his shoulders with SECURITY stitched across his chest in bold white letters. To everyone else, he was just the bouncer for this shift—paid muscle making sure things didn’t get out of hand. But his eyes weren’t on the crowd. They were on the stage waiting for Ruby to come out to dance.
He told himself he was here to keep an eye on her and keep her safe, but that was only a partial truth. Honestly, he wanted her to see that he was there and not going anywhere any time soon. That part was the most truthful he had been with himself since meeting Ruby.
When the music shifted—slower and darker—the room seemed to lean forward as one. Ant felt it in his gut before he saw her. She stepped into the light like she belonged there, but he knew that she didn’t. Scarlet was Dr. Ruby now, and seeing her up on stage felt wrong.
She wasn’t dressed the same as the others, but then again, she never did. She wasn’t overdone and didn’t look cheap. She was confident in a way that had nothing to do with the men watching her up on stage, and everything to do with who she was.
Ruby wore her hair down when she usually wore a wig to hide her natural beauty. Her posture even seemed different than usual to him. Her expression seemed to be more focused, distant, and guarded in a way that made his chest tighten. Shehadn’t put on her mask tonight as Scarlet, but there was no mistaking that it was who she was now.
Ant’s jaw locked. It wasn’t just that he knew that it was Ruby dancing on stage; it was the way she moved—precise and deliberate, like every step mattered. Like she was doing a job, not putting on a show. Like she was somewhere else in her head entirely.
He couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her as she moved to the music. He had watched her dance countless times before, not really knowing who she was. Now that he knew her true identity, watching her felt almost wrong, but he couldn’t bring himself to look away from her.
