~RUBY I didn't look back as I stormed away from Ash, anger pounding in my bones. He thought he would just apologise for being shitty to me and I'd just laugh it off and be nice and friendly to him? Ah. As if. He was the worse jerk ever, even worse than my high school crush who turned out to be a bully. I would never, ever forgive him for hurting me. I don't care what Ethan thinks is best, as long as Ash doesn't care about my feelings, I certainly would not care about his. And he had the audacity to look sincere! Like he actually wanted to apologise. The nerve! An apology can never solve our enmity. To hell with him and whatever crawled up his ass. I opened the bedroom door and collapsed on the bed, still heaving with anger. I wanted to strangle him. Oh. I wanted to strangle him so bad. I thought back to how small and pathetic I sounded when he was gripping me, crushing my bones beneath his fingers and suddenly, I had the urge to make him suffer.
~RUBY But nothing happened! I opened my eyes and was about to start whining when Ethan suddenly gripped my waist, lifted me up and threw me on the bed. I gasped at the swift action as my body bounced on the bed. But I didn't get the chance to protest when he started tickling me. "Ethan! Stop! Stop tickling me," I squealed as laughter bubbled out of me. His eyes were shining with mischief and he didn't stop. "You cheater. I told you to kiss me," I was screaming now, laughing uncontrollably. "At least you're laughing now. Which is a very welcomed contrast to the look on your face when I walked in," he replied, as his hands assaulted my neck, my armpits, underneath my knees. He knew all my ticklish spots, and took unfair advantage of them. I squirmed as I laughing, trying to block his hands when— due to the way I was moving around— his hands landed on my breasts. The air in the room changed immediately. His blue eyes burned into mine, and the room felt hot. The
~RUBY I yawned as I opened my eyes, and realised a very warm body was plastered to mine. I smiled sleepily and leaned back to stare at my husband. He looked so perfect and angelic as he slept, and his hands wrapped around my waist felt perfectly comfortable. My husband. My Ethan. His skin was smooth and I raised a hand to touch his cheek. Soft, warm, human. Mine. His hair was rough and sexy, a result of what we did last night, I suppose. Thinking about last night...I couldn't stop my giggle as the memories flodded me. He had been so gentle and considerate and so different. And I think I prefer him this way. Now that I think about it, he was probably just shy. Which would explain why he ran away the first few times we made love. But now that he was getting comfortable with me, I realised how much I loved waking up in his arms. I threaded my fingers through his air and loved how silky and soft it was. His eyelids quivered beneath my touch, and I didn't w
~RUBY My heart pounded against my chest as the footsteps grew closer. Someone was in the house. The person who broke the handle and overturned the furniture was here, and I was alone with no means to defend myself. Fear overturned my insides. I had been foolish enough to think Ella was home and I had raced over without telling anyone where I was going. But…what if it was Ella? What if she had rushed home because something happened and overturned the house in search of something? What if she needed me right now and I was about to jump to conclusions and leave? I held my breath and listened again. The footsteps had stopped. The person was rummaging through something and I slowly crept towards the sound. The sound was coming from Ella’s bedroom. Hope blossomed, and I held a hand to my chest as I walked over to the door. I think Ella was the one in the room. I sincerely wanted it to be her. I knew she would have an explanation as to why the whole house was in dis
~ASH When I walked out of the kitchen with a glass of water, I was not entirely surprised. Of course, this was Ruby. She was the most impulsive person I had ever known and probably the most reckless too. I sighed, dropping the glass of water. Ethan had asked me to watch over her, but what was the point of watching over someone who did not want to be watched. “Well, let her go and do something stupid, as usual. I’m sure Ethan would be more than willing to clean up her mess,” I muttered to myself. I settled down on the couch, preparing to watch a football match, but I could not concentrate enough to turn on the TV. What if she went and did something dangerous? What if she went and hurt herself because her friend was nowhere to be found? What if she went and got into an accident? There would be no purpose to using her as a punishment to my brother if she accidentally ended up in a hospital, right? And besides, that was not the type of punishment I wanted for my brothe
~RUBY The police arrived in record time, and I watched numbly as the thief was taken away. We were standing outside now, and Ash had wrapped his arms around me. I was too tired to push him away, again. The tears had stopped, as well as the shaking. But I was still trembling lightly. "You alright?" Ash asked softly and I nodded. "Okay. They should be here any moment," he said, mostly to himself. "They? Who are you—" I started to ask but was cut short by the sound of the ambulance siren blasting noise as it entered the neighborhood. Ash must have called the ambulance, and I felt grateful that he was here, with me. I shuddered to even imagine what would have happened if he had been late, even for a minute. Or if he had not come at all. The medics came rushing down and started attending to me, taking care of my bruises and cuts. They asked no questions as they led me to the back of their van, and a female medic, who must have noticed my slight tremors wrapped me
~RUBY My heart stopped working. It literally stopped breathing, and I was surviving barely on anger. I wanted to do a lot of things, and on the top of the list was beating the officer up till he was unable to use that foul mouth of his again. The last thing I wanted to do was still bent on beating him up. Probably not to death but maybe to the point of incapacitation. Of course I'd destroy his mouth first. I was pretty sure he saw the murderous intent on my face because he chuckled as he leaned back on his chair. That was what did it for me. That damn chuckle made me fly up and I lost my temper. "You, Detective Cole or whatever you go by— you owe me an apology. I will not—" My voice came out too strong on the last word, and his eyes flared, but I was past caring. "I will not allow you, or anyone else defame my best friend. In fact, if not that it seemed like a waste of my precious time, I'd sue you to court for daring to say those...filthy words!" The
~RUBY Ethan and Ash rushed to my side immediately. My hands were trembling badly now, and I had turned as white as sheet. "What is it? What is in the goddamn document?" Ash asked, his words cold and impatient. I could not speak so I passed the document to him wordlessly. “These are records of business done in the black market! Human trafficking! Shit! They sell mostly girls!” Ethan exclaimed as he ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. “That's not even the worst part. It's a modeling agency called Amber. Ring a bell to you?” Ash asked. I gasped as it began to make sense. “Amber Homes,” I muttered. “Hold up, let me look it up on the internet,” Ethan said and I watched as he typed fast on his phone. Then he shook his head dejectedly after a few minutes. “Shit! This is huge!” Ash was now holding his phone too. “There were some complaints about about their dark business. A girl claimed the modeling agency was just a sham to cover up the real thing they did.