Page 70 of On the Rocks
Ruby Grace melted into me, a little sob muffled by my t-shirt as she buried her face in my chest and twisted her hands in the fabric covering my abdomen. She pulled me closer, trying to fold in on herself as I surrounded her, hugging her tight, one hand finding the back of her head. I ran my fingers through her hair, pressed her closer to my chest, my lips finding the crown of her head as I forced a calming breath.
“It’s okay,” I assured her without knowing whatiteven was. “I’m here. I’m right here.”
She cried harder at that, pulling at my shirt again like she needed me closer. There wasn’t an inch of us that wasn’t touching, but I tried, anyway. I tightened my grip, pulled long, calming breaths through my nose before gently releasing them, helping her to do the same.
It felt like hours that we stood there, just inside my front door, her wrapped up in my arms as I rocked her. With each passing minute, her sobs softened, her breathing quieted, and finally, she pressed her hands into my chest, lifting her head from that spot to lock her eyes on mine.
Her devastated, tear-glossed, achingly beautiful golden eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her bottom lip trembling with the apology. “I… I didn’t know where else to go.”
I ran the pad of my thumbs over her cheeks, wiping away the salty streams there before I framed her face in my hands. “You never have to apologize for coming to me. Ever. No matter what.”
She closed her eyes, releasing two more parallel tears before she buried her head in my chest again.
I had so many questions — namely, who the fuck did I need to kill — but, I knew she’d tell me what happened when she was ready. So, instead, I held her, walking her over to my couch and pulling her down into the cushions with me. She curled up in a ball in my lap, and I covered us with a blanket, rocking her gently in my arms until her breathing quieted again.
“Do you want some water?” I asked after a while.
She nodded, sniffing and running the back of her wrist under her nose before crawling off me. I squeezed her knee before I stood, making my way into the kitchen.
Once I was alone, I cracked my neck, forcing a calming breath that was more for me than for her. I had the bad habit of jumping to conclusions, of letting my temper get the best of me, and I knew it was going to take every ounce of willpower I had to be calm and cool and collected when she finally did tell me what happened.
If it was Anthony, if he had cheated on her or broken her heart in any way, Ialsoknew that “staying calm” would be a nearly impossible goal to accomplish.
With two glasses of water in hand, I made my way back to the living room. Ruby Grace hadn’t moved an inch. Her eyes were blank, bottomless holes as she stared at my coffee table.
“Here,” I whispered, handing one glass to her and setting the other on the table. She wrapped her hands around the glass, taking one small sip before resting it in her lap, her eyes focused on the liquid inside.
“Anthony doesn’t love me.”
She whispered the words, and not a single shadow of emotion passed over her face when she released them.
I didn’t know how to respond. Half of me wanted to sayI fucking know that, I’ve been trying to tell you.But, the other half of me knew there was a reason she thought he did before this moment, and there was a reason she thought he didn’tnow.
“That’s not true,” I finally offered, against the internal rolling of my eyes.
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “It is. I heard him…”
I frowned, not understanding.
She closed her eyes, forcing a long breath before she spoke again. “He was talking to his dad on the phone, he didn’t know I could hear him. And he… he said someawfulthings about me, about my family.”
My throat tightened, and I reached for the other glass of water, taking a sip to cool myself down before I spoke. “What did he say?”
“That I was right for theirplan. That I was pretty and I don’t have any aspirations of my own and I’ve beentrained wellto be a politician’s wife.” She scoffed, eyes floating up to the ceiling as she rolled her lips together. “He doesn’t want to marry me because he loves me, he wants to marry me because I fit the role.” Her eyes fluttered shut again. “I’m a pawn in a game I didn’t even know I was playing.”
“He didn’t say that.”
Ruby Grace’s eyebrows bent together in confusion, her gaze leveling with mine. “What?”
My jaw clenched along with my fists at my side. “Please, tell me he didn’t say any of that. Tell me, so I don’t get in my truck and drive across town and beat in his fucking face until no one recognizes him.”
“Noah,” she gasped, reaching out for me. “Please, don’t. Don’t hurt him.” She swallowed. “Don’t leaveme.”
The breath I blew out through my nose felt like fire and smoke, black invading my vision. That son of a bitch didn’t deserve her in the first place, and now?
Now, he didn’t deserve to breathe.