RubyFebruaryI'm nervous as I smooth the dress down my torso, examining the way it shows the bare patch of skin at my stomach. Caleb is supposed to be here to pick me up in an hour. Excitement bubbles up in my throat as I think about how he's going to play my body after our dinner reservation. I bought special lingerie for tonight, and I can't wait to show it to him.I'm finishing up my hair when my phone rings. Seeing his smiling face, my stomach immediately sinks. Foreboding hits me hard, and I know he's about to cancel."Hey," I answer, trying to sound much more positive than I feel."Red." The regret is deep in his voice, like he wants to tell me anything other than what he's about to."You have to cancel don't you?"He sighs heavily. "I do. There's been a bad wreck on sixty-five, and they've called everybody in. There's some fatalities, Ruby. Dad and I are both responding."Carefully I control my emotions, because I don't want him to know I'm upset. There's nothin
CruiseMarchIt's been a somewhat quiet night on shift, and I have less than an hour to go. I'm really looking forward to going home and crashing, this is my third twelve-hour night his week."We have a report of shots fired from a silver colored Impala, in the vicinity of Callahan and Miller."The info from dispatch makes my ears perk up, I'm two streets over from Callahan. "Dispatch, do we have plates?""The only thing anyone got was a possible W as in water, and a H as in Harry."Up ahead of me, a silver Impala turns into my line of vision. I accelerate, until I can see their license plate. There in the glow cast by my headlights is a W and an H. "Dispatch, can you run this plate? I believe I have the vehicle in sight."Giving them the plate number, I know this is the shooter in question. I can feel it in the way my body tenses, the way my hands grip the wheel, the acceleration of my heartbeat. It's an intuition everyone told me I would get once I'd been on the force l
RubyMay"Okay ladies and gents, you have five minutes before the bell rings, and that's all I have for the class. Talk amongst yourselves, but please keep it down," I tell the juniors that make up my history class.History isn't my first love. If given the choice, I would have taught English, but I can do both and there was a need for a History teacher, so here I am. Using my five minutes wisely, I go ahead and start in on next week's lesson plans, because I plan to spend as much of this weekend as I can with Caleb. A smile toys against my lips as I think about the guy who has so unexpectedly come into my life. We've been going strong for months now, definitely longer than any other relationship I've ever had. With other guys, I didn't stay at their places, they didn't stay at mine. I know part of that is growing up, not being in the dorms anymore, and not having to worry about roommates, but I feel adult in this with him. Like he and I could make a go of this, if we continue to
CruiseJune"Wow!" Her gaze falters on me as she hops into the Jeep and gets a good look at the shirt I'm wearing. "That shirt is bright.""Yeah, I know." I look down at the hot pink shirt covering my body. "The Hurricanes got to pick out their colors, and they decided on hot pink and black. I'm very well aware that I look like a goddamn highlighter. The perks of coaching and having to attend softball games."She laughs, covering her mouth with her hand. "Mason wears it too?""What can I say? Kels makes us do shit we never thought we'd do. Like wear hot pink and spend our weekends during the summer and fall with ten-year-old girls. But I'd rather them be with us than some tyrannical coach who doesn't give two shits. I did that enough in football. These girls are learning valuable lessons. Even if I do catch a few of their moms checking out my ass."Her blonde hair whips around. "I'm sorry? What? They're checking out your ass?""Well I mean, it's a nice ass." I give her a
CruiseFourth of July"Do you need my help?" I ask Tank as I sit around a patio table at his parent's house. The entire MTF and their families have descended upon their pool, and have taken over their bar-b-cue. Somehow all of us got the afternoon and night off. Many of us worked the early morning and previous overnight hours, so there's some tired faces but we're all extremely happy to be spending this holiday together."Nah, I got it." He closes the lid to the grill and heads back into the kitchen.I'm glancing around, half paying attention, with my arm around Ruby, when a conversation starts that gets my interest. Renegade and Whitney are talking about a teenage boy Renegade found stealing at a local department store."I don't doubt that," Ruby is saying at my side, in response to whatever is being discussed. My girl is fired up about whatever this is, because she's leaned forward in her seat, away from my arm around her shoulder. The tank top she wears pulls at the back,
RubyIt's a hot summer day, as I walk onto the practice field. Since school let out in early June, I've been catching up on sleep, taking a summer class, and spending as much time with the man in my life as I can. Neither Mason nor Caleb are here today. Both are on duty, so another parent has offered to help the girls practice. Karina is sick with a summer cold and me? I'm here, not sure what the hell I've gotten myself into. Kelsea and I are spending the afternoon together, beginning with me picking her up. So we'll see how this goes."Ruby!" I hear as I shield my eyes and look out along the field. Kelsea is running toward me, her backpack bouncing as she runs."Hey Kels," I greet her, a real smile on my face. She and I haven't had a ton of time with one another, but as Caleb and I have gotten closer, the same has been true for the two of us. "You ready?" I wave to today's coach as she walks beside me."I am, it's hot out here." She pushes her hair back from her forehead.Ta
CruiseI love the smile on Kelsea's face, love even more that I'm the one who put it there. "You excited Kels?" I grin into the rearview as we make the drive to Birmingham."So excited, like I knew you knew him." She bounces in her seat. "But I didn't really know!"Him references my college roommate Slater Harlow, known by everyone who watches professional baseball as Savage. He's a formidable force on the baseball diamond, having the best season of his career. We're not as close as we once were, because life took us two totally different directions, but we still hang out every once in a while. Typically I like to keep the fact I know him from just about everyone, because I know he values his privacy. Now though? Kels is old enough to go to a major league game, and I'm doing my best to impress Ruby."I've known him a long time." I think back to our college days, how both of us had been so damn homesick. Him more than me, since I could at least head home on the weekend. Slater w
CruiseThe July sun is beating down on the pavement as I make my drive around the streets that make up Laurel Springs. It's been a boring day, for the most part, but I'm not stupid enough to think it'll last. Lately it's been slow and I've been feeling a lot like the other shoe might drop. This nagging feeling hasn't let go for the last week, but I know eventually either that shoe will drop or I'll get over it.Rain came through over an hour ago, but it did nothing to cool the day down. It's now a sauna outside. In certain parts there's actually steam coming up off the road. Behind the sun that's moved in, you can see more clouds behind. A dark hazy threat looming in the background, more storms are moving in. The stillness of the day threatens to break wide open when they do.Because of the heat that's been baking the ground and asphalt for days, most people are inside this afternoon, enjoying the air conditioning and not wanting to have heatstroke. Probably one of the reasons th