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Chapter Forty Three
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Caleb
Even in my favorite thinking place, standing under the shower faucet, the arrangement with Aiden was still ringing fresh in my mind.
I enjoyed the feel of the water jets as they massaged my shoulders, cascading a waterfall down my back. I used to find it therapeutic. Only, nothing seemed to lift the downbeat mood I was in. It was time that I faced facts: a deal was a deal. It was only a matter of time before I had to tell Ruby the truth and risk losing her forever. I had just sold my soul to the devil.
Aiden and I had shaken on his deal, but not before I included a condition of my own. One, he agreed on. I asked for a little more time, so he granted me the whole of summer. He even shocked me by suggesting that we make dinner reservations at the Ivy Orchard after graduation. Either it was a genuine heartfelt gesture or a
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Little Ruby Red Chapter Forty Four
Caleb She growled in embarrassment and hid her face in her hands. “Ugh, fine. Just don’t laugh.” “I can’t promise that. You laughed when you saw me standing in the buff. Now that doesn’t do much for the male ego, does it?” I replied, not letting it drop. I wanted my answer more than ever. Ruby gasped in amusement. “I wasn’t laughing at ... whatever.” She rolled her eyes. “Alright, I’ll tell you. Ever since I met you, that night in the elevator in Washington, I thought about you a lot.” A blush crept across her flawless creamy skin. It reached her ears, turning them crimson. I ran a hand down my face in mock horror. “Ooh, no, no, you had a little girl crush on me? Babe, now I feel weird.” She stoo
Little Ruby Red Chapter Forty Five
Ruby Caleb was standing with idle grace, holding the car door open like a true gentleman. He was dressed to the nines in a sexy, black Armani suit that complemented his masculine physique. Combine all of that with a sultry look, he looked glorious. I could scarcely breathe. It got me thinking, ‘How on earth could a man like him possibly be real’? He was too perfect, too good to be true. I wasn’t sure why I was looking for fault all the time or why I couldn’t just thank my lucky stars that I had a perfect boyfriend. Maybe it was because I didn’t feel as if I measured up to him. I thought, if I could find even the smallest fault, just one, Caleb would seem like a real human being and not like some God-like figure that I’d placed on a golden pedestal. “You’re gonna be a little overdressed for a diner, just so you know,” I teased
Little Ruby Red Chapter Forty Six
RubyThe pretty waitress returned carrying an ice bucket containing a bottle of champagne. I didn’t take my eyes off Caleb as she popped the cork and poured some into my glass, then into his.I picked up the delicate flute and brought it to my lips, pulling back for a moment as the fizz bubbles flew up my nose. I took a small sip to sample the taste, wincing and scrunching my lips. The effervescent liquid set my taste buds alight. It was gorgeous. Not like the sugary sweet stuff my mom usually buys at Christmas. I knew absolutely nothing about champagne or fine wines. I was a clueless novice. Just like Eliza Doolittle in the movie ‘My Fair Lady’ before she was trained to fit into high society with all the rich, snobby, socialites, I imagined myself speaking in an overly accentuated, upper class, English accent, reciting the famous phrase, ‘The rain in Spain,
Little Ruby Red Chapter Forty Seven
Caleb“So, have you thought of what you’ll do if your parents move to Montana?” I felt the squeeze on my heart as I asked the dreaded question.Please say you’ll stay.Ruby’s expression seemed pained. Her brows drew together as if she had been worrying about it.“I did want to stay at the house but Dad said I can’t. He thinks I’ll trash it or something.” Ruby rolled her eyes, then dropped her gaze to the table. “I’m worried that they’ll sell it.”“It’s normal to get attached to a dwelling but it’s just a house, Ruby,” I replied, trying to sound positive but judging by her disappointed expression, I would say that I failed dismall
Little Ruby Red Chapter Forty Eight
Ruby Caleb dropped me home, promising to bring my car to me by the morning. My head was giddy from the champagne, so I couldn’t have driven home myself. I blew him a kiss and waved goodbye at the front door. Apart from the slither of light that spilled through the kitchen doorway, the rest of the house was in darkness. It seemed peaceful. My slippers served as a welcome replacement for my high-heeled shoes. I kicked them off, sighing with relief by the shoe rack. My lips curved into a slight smile, replaying the evening’s events in my mind as I shucked off my leather jacket, hanging it up on the coat stand. I hummed a tune, plodding through to the kitchen. My initial thought was to make a hot drink, maybe invade the fridge and seize the can of ready-whip. But the first thing I noticed was the dirty dinner dishes in the sink.
Little Ruby Red Chapter Forty Nine
Ruby “Dad—” My voice came out broken. “I know what happened next, you don’t have to tell me. I hate seeing you hurt.” I wiped my eyes with the scrunched up kitchen roll and then used it to wipe my nose. Dad shook his head. “Well, Ruby, I have to.” Sadness pinched his expression, and I understood what he was trying to convey. He needed to talk about it, so he could fully move on. “It happened. And it’s all happening again. It’s the same threat. They want the same thing as last time. Only, they’re targeting all of us. My family, Vanessa’s family, even Caleb’s family, and more of our friends.” “Dad, who’re they?” I frowned, panic froze me, hearing him bring up Caleb’s name. Dad’s expression darkened. He dodged my question as he continued. “They took our baby from Vanessa’s womb and left them
Little Ruby Red Chapter Fifty
CalebThe following day ...We were about to hold a legal meeting. My father, Aaron and I, were all gathered around my father’s desk, waiting for Charles, our lawyer, to finish flicking through the heavy file. Neither one of us spoke during the painful silence as we watched and waited, and waited.“This is ridiculous,” Aaron huffed and folded his arms.My thoughts mirrored Aaron’s. I had been dreading this encounter for days. Everything was riding on this meeting and I crossed my fingers as I prayed for good news.“So, where do we stand?” I asked, in my assertive, all business, tone. My eyes were fixed firmly on Charles, who was fidgeting uncomfortably under my heated glare.
Little Ruby Red Chapter Fifty One
CalebI spent the morning trying to explain a conference call to my old-fashioned father. It gave me the world’s biggest headache. I lost count of how many coffees it took for me just to get through the day. I just hope my mother doesn’t make Ruby feel uncomfortable during dinner. She promised me she wouldn’t. Too much was riding on this working out well.Giving up for the day, I threw the used roller into the trash bag and turned to face my paint-splattered friend. “Aaron, let’s finish up. I’ve got to go home and shower if I want to be on time to pick Ruby up at six-thirty.”We had been fixing up the office all afternoon. Aaron and I had just as much apple green paint on us as we’d applied to the walls. We could’ve hired someone else to do it, but Aaron wanted to take his mi
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Little Ruby Red Epilogue
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
Little Ruby Red One hundred and Twenty Six
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.”
Little Ruby Red One Hundred and Twenty Five
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.
Little Ruby Red One Hundred and Twenty Four
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
