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Chapter Eighty Seven
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Caleb
"Still getting no signal." I sighed, tossing my phone down onto my bed.
Aaron looked up from where he was sitting on a rickety, old wicker chair that looked as if it had been salvaged from out of a dumpster. He was devouring a cheesy gordita crunch from Taco Bell.
"Are you sure you don't want another one?" he offered, gesturing to the tabletop picnic in front of him.
I scrunched my nose. "Nah, thanks, I'm good," I replied, having lost my appetite, no thanks to the musty smell in the cheap, crappy, hotel room.
Aaron gave an indifferent shrug.
"Alright, don't say I didn't offer," he muttered, then went right back to eating.
I rolled my eyes. "G
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Caleb"What?" I blurted out, feeling the veins in my temples pounding with pressure. "This isn't happening," I muttered, shocked."Listen carefully to what I'm about to say to you, son, this is serious." Dad's voice oozed authority."Jesus Christ, this isn't happening," I repeated, feeling the panic pickle beneath my skin like pins and needles."Caleb, did you visit Ava at all before you left?" Dad asked, deadly serious as if this was of great significance."What? No. I refused to see her," I answered, truthfully."Can anyone else vouch for that?" he asked, anxiously."Yes, Aaron ... Dad, you'd know that I didn't. Jeez, check for my scent for Chris
Little Ruby Red Chapter Ninety
Caleb "You can drive. I'll ride shotgun," Aaron announced, tossing me the keys. Neal's Honda Ridgeline sat two in the front and three in the back. After hauling our bags onto the back seat, I climbed into the driver's side, pulling the door shut. Aaron climbed into the passenger side and reached for his sunglasses from the glovebox. Zachary and Mal pulled up alongside us, getting ready to follow behind us. Aaron donned his Ray-bans, then fiddled with the stereo, searching for a station. We had no chance of getting a signal in the dead zone, so we played the CD we found in the disk drive. It was a compilation of old rock songs. I put on a pair of polarized aviator sunglasses, grateful to take the strain off my eyes. An Ambulance and two cop cars had arrived to tend to the guys I r
Little Ruby Red Chapter Ninety One
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Little Ruby Red Chapter Ninety Two
Ruby "Steady," Dad warned as he watched me maneuver myself in the self-propelled wheelchair. "Watch the doorframes ... jeez!" His voice hit a higher pitch than usual, then he winced, bringing his hands up to hold the sides of his face as I scraped past with a millimeter gap to spare. He blew out a relieved breath through puckered lips, then let out a strained chuckle. "Dylan, remind me to pick up some learner stickers, will you? I'm getting flashbacks from her very first driving lesson." I rolled my eyes at Dad's dramatic ramblings. "You almost caused that accident, yelling that there was an injured rabbit in the middle of the road. I made an emergency stop, only to find out it was a stuffed toy that had fallen out of some kid’s pushchair."
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Ruby We rounded the corner and entered a stylish coffee shop. Dylan maneuvered my wheelchair through the myriad of tables and chairs, stopping momentarily as if he was searching for someone. Someone waved and it caught my attention; I almost choked on my gasp as I saw who it was. Sarah, Mia, and Tegan were sitting in a booth. Their beaming smiles greeted me as I approached them. Dylan parked my chair at the front of the table and my friends took turns to hug me. "I've missed you," Sarah gushed, burying her face into my hair. "You're the only person in the entire world that I've cried over, I hope you know that?" We both chuckled. "Your tear ducts work then?" I poked fun, all in good faith. "I don't know because you broke them," she joked back.
Little Ruby Red Chapter Ninety Four
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Little Ruby Red Chapter Ninety Five
Caleb "Thanks for your warm hospitality." Aaron flashed a dazzling smile at the barmaid. He turned to me with a look of innocence. We were inside the Wolf Den saloon at Alpha Beau's pack. "What?" He shrugged. "You know damn well, what," I chastised, "Your mouth runs loose when you're drunk." I rolled my eyes. "Look, do what you want, just don't embarrass us, okay?" I crossed my arms, casting him a reproachful frown. Aaron's eyes bulged. "I'm not flirting or anything," he dismissed quickly. "I'm just being friendly." I knew better than to think he was flirting. Aaron liked to think that he could charm people with his charisma. Sometimes it worked, and other times, well, let's just say he'
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Ruby The cold, wet sensation from the ultrasound gel made me tense for a moment, watching the small screen with eagle eyes. As the black and white image appeared before us, it was clear to see that there was not one, but two babies nestled together, side by side. Caleb scrubbed a hand over his shocked face, edging closer to the screen. "Well, I'll be damned," the doctor breathed out with surprise. "There is no doubt about it, you're having twins. Do you want to know the sex?" she asked, invoking mixed feelings within me. Part of me wanted to keep it a surprise but the terrified part of me needed to know for sure. Caleb gave me a look which suggested that he was fine either way. God love him, his eyes were glossing over with proud tears of joy
Little Ruby Red One Hundred and Twenty Nine
Ruby "I still remember the first night that we laid like this while watching over Alex. It was the same when Raine was born," Caleb reminisced. Something somewhere caused the room around me to distort, like ripples spreading wide across a calm lake. "Ruby," Caleb's youthful voice called out to me from somewhere beyond a dream. "Babe, you better wake up or else we're going to be late for the obstetrician appointment," I heard him say. Temporary confusion fogged my brain until I realized that I had been dreaming again. Part of me felt the loss of what I hoped our future could be as it slipped away, and the other part of me was relieved that I woke up at that point before the beautiful vision altered into something that could only be de
Little Ruby Red One Hundred and Twenty Eight
Ruby As the years rolled by, Caleb and I looked back on our lives with no regrets. When that time eventually comes when we have to leave this world behind, we would be taking a lifetime full of beautiful memories with us. My heart was full, my life was fulfilled. There was nothing that I would change or do differently. Everything was as it should be. With each lumbered step, my slippers brushed over the soft-pile carpet of the stair landing until I stopped to pause outside the old nursery that once belonged to my children. I thought that we had been bestowed a gift from the heavens the day I found out that we were having twins, but little did I know how much more my heart could contain the moment I discovered that I was to become a grandmother. The Goddess had blessed our family many times, and now my son, Alex, was the proud
Little Ruby Red One Hundred and Twenty Seven
Caleb Ruby turned on the steps of the town hall, facing away from the jubilant crowd. Snowflakes clung to the tips of her lashes, melting as they kissed her rosy cheeks. She tossed the bouquet of white and blue flowers behind her, and as she did so, the women rushed forward, shrieking deliriously, all snatching at the spinning object as it burst apart like a fragrant petal bomb. It was Grandma Lizzie who unwittingly made the save. She walked straight past the jostling females and caught the flowers against her chest. Her face blanched as she realized what had happened and tossed the bouquet away as if it was a hot potato. “Once was more than enough for me,” she joked. “Although, I wouldn’t mind a good old roll in the hay with one of those wolf boys. They've got abs that I could scrub my laundry on and then some.” She winked a
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Ruby The emotion blazed in Caleb's eyes as I walked down the aisle; his mouth hung agape and his brows started to bunch in the middle, giving me the reaction that any bride longed to see. Caleb swallowed hard, causing his Adam’s apple to bob nervously in his throat. There was no sign of humor on Aaron’s face as he observed his friend's special moment. Instead, his expression was one of relieved happiness. Now that his best friend since childhood had found his soulmate, he adopted an air of accomplishment as if all was now right in the world. As the strong notes of the traditional wedding march came to an end, I released Dad’s arm and came to stand beside the love of my life. Caleb mouthed the word “Wow” as he lifted my chin with his fingers, and breathed, “You look breath-taking, love.”
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Ruby “Are you okay, kiddo?” Dad asked, his expression softening as he clasped hold of my trembling hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. I swallowed away the dryness before answering, “I just want everything to be perfect, that’s all.” “And it will be,” Dad was quick to reassure me. “I know how much this means to you; Caleb knows it too. He’s probably memorized his wedding vows off by heart. I bet he was up all night Googling templates from the internet,” Dad remarked in an attempt to make me laugh. His best efforts worked like a charm. I gazed through the tinted windows and out onto the wintry streets. Ice glittered the scraped roads and sidewalks, and some of the maintenance guys were shoveling grit salt on the main walkways throughout town.
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Ruby I turned from side to side, admiring how the full-length wedding gown swayed with my movements. The white sweetheart bodice helped to boost my humble assets, glittering as the Swarovski crystals captured the light. The long, silky skirt gracefully swished around my legs, sending a wisp of cool air around my thighs. Dad made my day when he produced a pair of custom-made Sketchers in Bride White. He paid a seamstress from Montana to sew lace into the leather and add sparkles around the soles. It meant I would be comfortable all day long, especially as my ankle still ached from standing for long periods. “Are you ready, sweetheart?” Dad asked, through the closed door. He had resisted the urge to look at me in my wedding dress, pacing the hall outside mine and Caleb’s room like a caged animal.
Little Ruby Red One Hundred and Twenty Three
Caleb "Yeah, plenty of thing’s spring to mind, but there is one that is owed a confession," Dylan said as he grinned at Aiden, then edged his chair away to maintain a safer distance. "I was sixteen, and Aiden was eighteen," Dylan began to confess, much to Aiden's interest. Upon hearing his name, he folded his bare muscular arms across his chest. "He borrowed my bike without my permission and ended up buckling the front wheel. He never said anything to me, and put it back in the garage in the hope that I wouldn’t find out what he’d done. I found it the following day and smelled his scent all over it, so I knew that he had used it. I was passive-aggressive, and in an act of vengeance, I sabotaged a burrito that he’d been saving in the fridge by filling it with laxatives. I watched as he devoured it for lunch, and asked if I could hang out with him and Vanessa that day. He was rather reluctant because he wanted to fool around with her while her dorm was
Little Ruby Red One Hundred and Twenty Two
Caleb Aaron tipped the empty Tequila bottle upside down to prove a point. “No way! We’ve gone through the second bottle already?” He turned to my father with an accusatory tone. “It was opened twenty minutes ago.” Aaron’s face was partially hidden beneath his Batman mask, but the whites of his bulging eyes were visible among the black face paint. He had been doing rather well, talking in a gruff tone to imitate the caped crusader's voice, but the sheer shock at how fast my father could sink his liquor caused his pitch to raise a few octaves. Dad gave a casual shrug of his green padded shoulders as he raised the shot glass to his lips and downed the contents in one large gulp. Even I had to admit that was pretty good going, considering he was wearing a pair of oversized hulk hands
