1. HIT BY BILLIONAIRE

~RUBY

I was singing along to Doja's Agora Hills when my phone rang for the millionth time. I sighed, immediately knowing who the caller was before even checking the contact name.

When has Ella never stressed the hell out of my life?

I clicked the red icon, cutting the call and turning up the volume on the car speaker as the song started all over again.

"Kissing and hope they caught us…"

"Whether they like it or not…I wanna show you off… I wanna show you off…" I continued to sing, nodding my head to the beat when my phone rang again.

I sighed as I reduced the volume and clicked the green icon.

"Dude, what the hell? Where are you?" she practically yelled immediately the call went through. My shoulders shook with laughter at her outrage and I let her steam without interruption.

"Are you even listening to me?" she asked and I rolled my eyes.

"I am. I was waiting for you to stop shouting," I replied and she gasped. God, this girl has to be the most dramatic human ever.

"What do you mean, shouting? I've been waiting for you for the past 30 minutes and now you're claiming that I'm shouting? Seriously?"

"Ella. Calm down. Don't blow my head off. I'm almost at the mall okay? I'm like…two streets away. Chill. Nobody's in a hurry," I replied, still nodding to the beat of Agora Hills playing in the background.

"Whatever. Just be snappy about it and get here in the next five minutes or I'm going to kill you for real this time."

"Aye, aye captain. Now get the hell away from my phone. You're distracting me from listening to my sweetheart," I snapped lightly and ended the call.

I turned up the volume of my speaker again as the traffic light turned red and continued to sing. I've been obsessed with this song since it got released and I absolutely cannot get enough of it.

"Somethin' different about you... Love it when he hits and smacks too... Baby, let me lick on your tattoos... That's true that I like PDA, take it to a seedy place…"

I kept getting bemused glances from cars on the other side of the lane but I didn't care. They could stare all they liked. I was getting really engrossed in the song, raising my voice and bobbing my head frantically when my phone rang again.

"I'm stuck at a red light you dolt. Stop calling me and disturbing my song," I screamed at her without bothering to reduce the volume, glaring at my phone screen as though she could see me.

"Oh my freaking goodness. Are you listening to what I think you're listening to?" She screamed— literally screamed. I bet she would be kicked out of the mall if she kept up with the crazy attitude.

The light turned green and I sped off, singing at the top of my voice and I could hear Ella singing along with me.

"Oh. Now that I'm playing our favourite, you're no longer screaming at me?" I chuckled. She ignored me and when the last chorus faded, I turned off the speaker.

"I'm here, dolt. You don't need to—" I started to say when my car jolted forward, the momentum threw me off instantly.

"Hmm? What were you saying?" she asked but I was too stunned to speak. If I was right, and I hoped as hell that I was wrong, then someone had just hit my car.

"You know what, El? I'll be with you very soon. Gimme a few seconds," I said and hung up without waiting for her reply. I stepped out of my car and was shocked to see my bumper ripped off.

What the hell?

I swivelled to the car that committed the heinous act and saw that the owner was sitting comfortably, nodding along to whatever he was listening to through the headset.

I stormed towards the car, stewing with righteous rage.

He was so far gone into what he was listening to with his dark shades on, so I proceeded to bang my hands on the hood of his car to get his attention.

"Uhm…ma'am? I think you've got the wrong car," he called out, rolling down his window. I glared at him and continued to bang my hands on the hood, sending a silent message for him to step out of that car and face me.

"If you want to vandalise other people's properties, I can direct you to a safe place where you can do it without getting arrested," he sounded amused, which only fueled my anger.

I marched towards him, my expression murderous.

"Step out!" I ordered, placing my hands on my hips. He only continued to stare at me with that annoying amused expression and I banged my hands on his hood one more time.

"Step the fuck out of that car, you asshole!" I screamed, breathing heavily. I was beginning to draw a crowd but I didn't care.

He sighed, rubbed his temples and stepped out of the car.

Holy shit.

My anger sputtered for a second, taking in this man in all his glory. He was ripped and those muscles looked so heavenly that I could get lost exploring forever. His eyes were green, which immediately became my favourite color and his hair— oh my freaking goodness!his hair. They looked so soft and I suddenly wanted to run my hands through them.

This man was hot as hell, damn. There was also something familiar about him but I just couldn't place where I had seen him.

He stepped towards me and one look at my face, froze him in place.

Oh my goodness. Is he checking me out too?

I could feel my cheeks turning red and I turned away, trying to hide my blush when my eyes landed on my broken jumper.

That jolted me out of my mindless fantasy and my anger came rushing back.

I turned back to glare at him.

"Aren't you going to apologise?" I snapped, crossing my arms across my chest.

"Apologise? Sorry but you were the one who was banging on my car."

"Because you ran into me and ripped my bumper off," I screamed, my hands forming into fists. The audacity of this man!

He took a step towards me.

"Look. I don't know what your deal is. But you're causing a scene and well, I've got better things to do than to argue with someone like you."

"What do you mean, someone like me? You're so rude and arrogant. I will teach you a lesson," I spun around and saw a policeman eyeing our exchange.

I walked towards him and explained what happened. The guy was leaning on his car, his arms crossed as we walked towards him.

"Arrest him," I ordered and flicked out my tongue at the offender, expecting him to react.

The policeman took one look at him and stepped back, looking between us anxiously.

"Erm…ma'am. I'm afraid I can't…uh…make an arrest. This young man is Ash Riverstone. He—" he started to say but the guy cut him off, stepping up to me.

"Little Miss Fireball. Are you sure you want to keep this man uncomfortable? He obviously can't do anything to me. Why not just let us forget about this little…squabble and go our separate ways?" he said softly, his eyes boring into mine.

That was when it all began to make sense. Of course, the Riverstone brothers. They were the most powerful family in our city and they were above the law.

They were twins, one twin was calm and cold and the ideal businessman while the other twin was this annoying man.

My phone rang before I could reply and the guy turned away from me, dismissed the officer and drove off without another word.

"What? I'm on my way in," I snapped at Ella and hung up as I stormed into the mall.

Ella must have sensed my foul mood and said nothing as we proceeded without shopping. I was still so mad over what happened that I could not stop thinking about it.

The audacity! And to think I thought that blubbering police man was actually efficient. Bunch of fools, both of them. I just repaired the bumper last week. And now I had to repair it again!

Ella tapped my shoulder, shaking me out of the pit of anger I was in and gestured towards my bag.

"Your phone's ringing, girl. What are you so engrossed in?" She said lightly as I checked who was calling.

My hiss could be heard in all of the city. I dropped the phone back into my bag and went on with what I was doing. The phone continued to ring and after the fifth ring, Ella sighed.

"Just pick it up, babe. I don't know what crawled up your ass but that call seems important. No one would be persistent if it was not about something urgent," she urged and I gave in.

"What?" I snapped at the caller. His reply took the air out of me, and the shopping basket dropped from my hands to the floor.

"Ruby? Ruby. Who was that?" Ella asked, panic evident in her voice.

"Patrick. He said my father collapsed at the office today. He had a heart attack," I whispered to my best friend, as the first set of tears rolled down my eyes.