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I lean in close, bending slightly at the waist while hating the mid-thigh skirt I have to wear. Not my style, but what choice do I really have? My eyes are at the same level with his, not caring if I smell like milk. “Thank you for making my stay here extra welcome. My name is Rubiana. Get it right. Only my close friends call me, Rubi. Asshole.”
He gives me a grin and shrugs his shoulders. “Good. I’m glad we established that we aren’t friends. We aren’t anything. I’m just making sure you know your place while you’re here.” He turns his head, but then whips it right back. “And one more thing. I hate repeating myself, but I’m going to say it for the last time. Fuck with Tyler, and I’ll end you.”
I blink at him like his threat doesn’t faze me in the slightest. I don’t care anymore. The only person I can count on is myself now.
Ky
THE REST OFthe day goes smoothly until I’m heading out to my car parked in the senior row at the front of the student parking lot. I see Tyler’s worried expression as he’s looking at the students coming out of the school who are walking out in groups and going to their cars, getting ready for whatever afterschool activity they are running off to.
I haven’t seen Rubi since lunch, and I’m relieved that I don’t have her in any other class except Algebra 2. I didn’t think seeing her again would bring out these savage feelings of anger toward her. I’ve been in a funk ever since finding out that she is here, and I know I’m handling it pretty bad.
I face Nicole before Tyler walks over. I had to wait until school was over so I could call out Nicole for the little stunt she pulled spilling milk all over Rubi’s head. I didn’t want it to get that far in confronting her.
“I didn’t ask you to do that,” I snap.
She shrugs her shoulders and smirks. “I was just helping out. Since you don’t like the fact that she is here, I did it for you,” she purrs.
“Well, don’t do things for me I didn’t ask for.”
She rolls her eyes dramatically and my left eye twitches in annoyance. I’ll deal with her later.
My intention of confronting Rubi was to feel her out to find out what her real purpose is, not make things worse for Tyler. I can tell Tyler is stressed about his father showing up at the school after Rubi’s little milk accident. He is worried about how his mom will take it when she finds out her son was being a dick when he probably lied and said he was cool with Rubi living with them. Tyler’s a good guy and he doesn’t need this right now.
I never told them about Rubi and I don’t intend to tell them about how I know her. I hate keeping secrets from them, but I don’t want to let anyone know that we have a complicated history. I don’t want them to know that she is the catalyst for my anger and the reason why I don’t have girlfriends or want to get married. Ever.
I walk up to Tyler, leaving Nicole standing there as he watches the front doors of the school. Waiting.
“What’s up?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “I’m pissed at you for what you did at lunch today. I have to wait for her to come out so I can give her a ride home. Father’s orders. I know I will have to explain what happened to her.” He turns his head to look at me. “Why did you do that?” Tyler asks.
I raise my hands in mock surrender. “I didn’t tell Nicole to do that. That was all her. I told her to lay off and not to get involved.”
“Yeah, man, but your little side chick, or whatever you want to call her, just fucked me at home. My father is going to give me shit about messing with her. It’s like I have to babysit her and make sure she stays out of trouble. Court order.”
“First… Nicole is not my side chick, because that would mean I have a main chick, which I don’t have. I’ll take care of Nicole’s little infatuation with me. She just needs to know she isn’t special because I fucked her at Conner’s party over the summer. It was supposed to be on the down low like most of my hook-ups, but I guess she can’t accept it. Not my fault.” I’m not the type of guy to let it be known who I sleep with. I guess some of them want to brag that I slept with them. “I wasn’t trying to make it hard on you at home. I was making sure she knew how her year here will go…and what do you mean by a court order?”
Tyler told us a little about Rubi being his half-sister and how his father found out about it, but he’s kept pretty silent on the details.
“I overheard my father talking to the principal. She has a record, like I mentioned before…all underage misdemeanors. Stealing, I think he said.”
I play it off like I don’t know anything about the situation. I knew it was for stealing. I sent a text to my father’s lawyer when I found out that she was here in algebra class. He said that she had a record for stealing. That is all he could tell me since she is a minor. “What the fuck for?”
It doesn’t matter. It’s not like I care that Rubi turned out to be a criminal.Liar. It’s not my problem, but apparently this is something that affects Tyler. That’s what I keep telling myself.
He unlocks his truck and opens the driver’s side door, and I walk around to my car and do the same. I’m able to see him over the roof of my car with my height advantage and the fact that his truck is lifted. “My dad doesn’t say much about her past. It’s like some big fucking secret he doesn’t want known. Not even my mom knows. Like I said before, all we know is that she is biologically his and technically my half-sister, she’s been in and out of foster care for whatever reason, and has gotten into trouble a couple of times for stealing. She has three stints in juvenile detention. I overheard them say when I was in the principal’s office.
“He let allowed her in your house when she’s a thief?” I blurt. What the fuck? How could his father trust her, but then again, maybe he doesn’t trust her, so he has Tyler babysitting her before and after school like a child.
“My father was defending her to the school. He said she had it tough and that she only did those things for food and clothes. The last time it was for the other kids who didn’t have anything. I guess not all foster families are good. She was in for two months this past summer and just got out. Hence, the court hearing my father showed up to. If she gets caught doing anything illegal, she will be tried as an adult. My father is on his guilt trip and assured the judge that he would make sure she graduates high school and stay out of trouble as part of her sentence. That’s all I know. The last thing I need is my father getting on my shit about her.”
So, she does have a heart. Just not for me. She never bothered reaching out to me. Ever. I can’t lie and say I didn’t wonder what happened and why I wasn’t good enough for her. We live in a modern world. Facebook or IG. She could’ve searched for me online. It’s not like she didn’t know where I lived. I guess I have to face the truth…she thinks I’m not good enough for her.
Now she expects me to be civil or friendly. Fuck that. Fuck her. Thinking those two words has the thought of Rubi’s tan thighs wrapped around my hips as I punish her for not wanting me. I told her she smelled and was not pretty like the other girls I hook up with, and it’s all bullshit. Rubiana Murray is hot as fuck.
The front doors of the school suddenly open, and she appears wearing a boy’s polo uniform shirt I’m sure they gave her from the lost and found. My brows pinch together as she has a plastic grocery bag hooked on her finger that must contain her wet school shirt and hoodie. To my surprise, she turns to the left and throws it in the trash. It must smell like vomit by now. It’s not going to go well when Tyler has to explain to his father that it was my fault Nicole stuck her nose in where it didn’t belong.
She makes her way toward us with a blank expression and walks up to the door on the driver’s side of his truck. She is facing me with the door open as I watch her cross her arms, and that’s when I notice them. The tattoos of the flowers. The same flowers I gave her the second day she showed up in my backyard. The flowers she once told me were her favorite. I always placed them on the blanket near the tree that held our treehouse. We built that treehouse together. It was our spot. At least it was until the third summer I got tired of waiting for her to come back and burned it. My father almost lost it when he saw the smoke and flames. I burned the tree practically to the ground. Ashes was all that was left. Just like my feelings for her.
