AND HE CAN SMELL YOUR FEAR
Ruby:
GOODBYE
CHAPTER 9
Ruby
Imake it to my desk without face-planting, crying, or screaming, which honestly feels like a personal victory.
Ava, Sienna, and Trey track me like a pride of lions watching a baby gazelle prance directly into danger. I give them all my “I will kill you in your sleep” glare and sit down before my knees buckle.
I open my laptop.
I type nothing.
My fingers hover over the keys like they’ve forgotten how letters work. Behind my eyes, the café plays on loop, like a cursed 4K IMAX replay:
Jaxon leaning in.
Jaxon staring at my mouth.
Jaxon saying he wants more than one night.
Jaxon calling me beautiful like it was a casual observation AND a threat.
My thighs clench involuntarily.
“NO,” I whisper at my body. “Stop doing that.”
The body is unbothered, and the body is a traitor.
“Ruby?”
I jump ten feet. It’s Evan, Navy Suit Guy, leaning over my partition with a smile that’s way too curious for comfort.
“Oh. Hi.” I fake a smile that I’m 98% sure looks like pain. “What’s up?”
“Just checking on you,” he says lightly. “You looked… distracted.”
Distracted? No, I’m haunted. I’m spiritually inconvenienced. I’m being hunted by a billionaire with a jawline engineered for corruption.
“I’m fine,” I say too quickly.
Evan tilts his head. “You sure? Because you left the café with Mr. Cole. And then he…”
“He what?” I snap before I can stop myself.
Evan blinks at my tone. “He looked… concerned. Or frustrated. Hard to tell.”
I swallow. “Well, it was just an interview follow-up.”
“Right.” Evan smiles again, the kind of smile that saysI absolutely don’t believe you, but okay.“If you ever want to talk about it, I’m around.”
“Talk about what?”
He shrugs. “Whatever’s going on.”
