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“I’ve known Kane for a long time.” I stuck as close to the truth as possible. “Friend of the family. Just hadn’t seen him for a while.” I shrugged. “We reconnected back home.”
“Reconnected?” Ruby gave me an exaggerated wink. “I’d love to hear the dirty details of that.”
My cheeks heated instantly, and Ruby giggled. “That good, huh?”
“No, no…nothing like that.” Okay, exactly like that, but not the way she thought, obviously.
“Sure, sure. He’s capital H hot, Chuck. Seriously!” She fanned herself. “Those guys in there are built like my wildest fantasy men combined. I nearly choked on all the testosterone. And when they came barreling into my place like superheroes? Damn, I thought I was hallucinating.”
There was an undercurrent to her words that made my smile falter. She was riding an edge right now, going along with things to keep her sanity. Underneath it all, she was crumbling. My world and what it came with could drown even the strongest human.
“I freaked out when you screamed,” I said as I sipped my coffee. “Kane knew they were in the area, so he made a call. No big deal. I’m just glad you’re okay.”
Ruby set her cup down then rubbed her arms. “Yeah, it’s just weird, you know? For Jared to act that way. He was always a lazy ass, but he was never violent. I probably should call the cops or something, but Lex told me they’d make sure Jared understood not to come back.” She shivered, all trace of humor gone from her face. “They said they wouldn’t hurt him.”
They lied.
“You didn’t fly here just for me, though, did you?” She screwed her face up. “I didn’t pull you away from your family business, did I?”
I started to shake my head then realized Ruby would see through my bullshit in a heartbeat. “I was freaked out, Rubes. I heard you scream. I wasn’t here for you.” I put my cup down. “But yes, I have things to settle here, too.”
“To settle, as in you’re staying in Vancouver, aren’t you?”
I didn’t come here with the intention of shutting down my life in Toronto, but now that I was here, I knew my presence would only put Ruby in danger again and again. I nodded, fighting the urge to blurt the truth and beg Ruby to come with me.
She rubbed her thumb, circling her cuticle over and over, her eyes downcast. “Fuck, that really sucks.”
“Why don’t you come back with us?” Even as I said it, I knew she couldn’t. “You can stay for a while. Take a vacation.”
“What? And leave my dream job?” Ruby smiled sadly. “I don’t exactly get vacation time.”
“Yeah.” If I was truly alpha of the Duke clan, the only pack I’d feel confident wouldn’t totally mess Ruby up, I could set her up in a place, pay her bills and find a safe job for her to do for the pack. She’d see right through it. Which meant, she’d have to pledge allegiance and that would come with all kinds of truths that I couldn’t and wouldn’t force on her. It would change her in many ways, harden the parts of her that I loved.
“I guess you have to take those three guys back with you, right?” She cracked a smile. “It wouldn’t be my luck that they’d live here.” She rubbed her thumb again, frowning a little as she did. “I can handle three guys, don’t you think?”
“Three at once?” I laughed. “Hell yeah.” I frowned as she continued to rub her thumb. “What’s up with your hand? You burn yourself or something?”
Ruby looked down at her thumb, then back up at me. “Nah, just a scratch.”
I moved closer, shifting my legs to the floor then inspected her thumb. There was a red streak and a divot that extended from her cuticle to her first knuckle. “How’d you do that? Looks sore.”
“It’s nothing.” She waved my concern away then picked up her cup again. “Like I said, things with Jared went crazy, fast.”
I froze, my own cup midway to my mouth.
“He actually tried to bite me. Got my hand in his mouth.” She laughed. “Imagine if I got rabies or something from my ex.”
My world stopped. My breath came out so hard that my coffee sprayed.
“He broke skin? With his teeth?” I dropped my cup back to the table then snatched her hand again. “Fuck.”
“Not a big deal. Seriously.” Ruby tried to laugh it off. “It’s just itchy as hell.”
“What’s wrong?” Kane said, filling the door with his huge body, his tone all business.
I locked eyes with him. “Ruby’s been bitten.”
Chapter Nineteen
