I wake up alone. Rolling over, my hand reaches out, but Alaric isn't there. Sitting up, I look around, confused, and grab my phone.Your locks are changed. Don't give my son a key. Stay safe, Ruby. A xI want to believe this wasn't the end, but something tells me it was. Standing, I walk down and see Ivy and Bex in the kitchen. Sitting on a chair, Bex hands me a coffee."Fun night?" She smirks at me."You two were home, right?" I didn't even consider that. Which says a lot, as with Jake I did, every thought was there making me worried and paranoid."Oh, we were..." Bex grins. "Jake wasn't happy. He let himself in, heard you, called your name, and tried to open the door. Then, he left swearing about how he would win you back."Win me back? "He didn't give in?" He should have realised that was the moment to give up."Nope." Ivy stands and places flowers on the table."Where did these come from?""Jake, after your friend changed the locks this morning. Jake came by and was pissed off he
"Ruby, can we talk?" My head falls forward, hearing Jake. "Please. I've no one else to speak to."Nodding, I look towards Bex and Ivy, watching as they walk away. Jake sits opposite me."Now what, Jake?""Can we..." My hand goes up."Don't! Do not ask me if we can try again or try to fix things. I'm not going back, Jake. We're done. Nothing can change that."He looks at me, defeated. "I'm sorry. I guess now, without the money, I realise just who fucking cares about me. No one." His words are loud."People care about you, Jake." His dad, for one."No, they don't. Do you know how much I have spent on others? How much I have given away? Nights out drinking where I paid. Now, it's nowhere to be seen. Not a single one of them will even buy me a damn drink."My head nods. "You used money to gain friends. They weren't ever your friends, Jake. They were there for your money, and now that it's gone, they have moved on to the next fool.""I know that." He looks around us. "I realised the one pe
Studying sucks. I've lost nearly a week in papers and work. After the conversation with Jake and the time spent with Alaric, I'm beginning to rethink this whole thing."Come on, Ruby, for a week you have stared at it, decide.""If I do this, I'm essentially cutting all ties to my parents," I think. They won't forgive me."Right, you wouldn't be there if it wasn't for your parents. Your life would be entirely different if you had chosen for yourself." She sits in front of me."How bad will it be?" I laugh at her words. "I mean it, they already ignore you and see you as unworthy of their time. Why are you still doing this shit to make them happy?" She pushes all my work on the floor.Groaning, I move, and she stops me. "This was what they wanted. This is what they expected. You spent the week doing the work while staring at that brochure. If you want to dance, dance, screw studying.""It's not that simple.""Explain it to me.""I loved dancing. I did it every day after school. They had
Ordering a drink, we sit and talk."Right, so the plan?" She looks at me."Tonight is a meet-and-greet, so we'll walk around and talk to people. You might find a friend."She laughs. "Unlikely, I scare my friends away." She's not wrong; she does scare men away, but I'm hopeful she will find someone who doesn't run so quickly.We walk around and talk to people, and as I thought, Bex is now alone with a guy talking and laughing. So, I stay by the bar. It's a safety thing, I feel safe here."Ruby, right?" I turn and smile."It is. Well done for remembering. You're Kian, right?" He nods and laughs."I am. How are you finding this place so far?" He sits and holds his drink while looking at me."It's amazing." I have no words to explain it."I'm surprised to see you here alone, without Mr Hendrix?"Nodding, I smile. "He was helping me.""Oh, I thought that you two were together." His head tilts."No. I spoke to him here and realised I knew very little about the world. He helped me understan
Standing, we walk to the desk. I watch the woman take the form."Welcome to the business, Bex; you can use the services now." Yeah, totally damn different, we walk away and I look back at the woman."Okay, what? Explain." Bex chuckles."She took my forms and said, 'Ah, Ruby, welcome.' Then she said sorry and that I was registered.""Maybe Alaric had a feeling you would join, so told her to watch out for you?""Maybe, who is your friend? He hasn't stopped watching you for the past half an hour, and all you were doing was ticking boxes." I smile at her."His name is Lucas, he's hot."I laugh. "After an hour of talking, you have his name and that he's hot?" She should have more than that."He didn't run and isn't scared of me. He's five years older than me and has a daughter." I still hearing her words. "She's young, two to be exact.""And her mum?" I don't know why but red flags just floated in my mind."Don't, a woman was talking to him. He's not lying. The mum died, so no, he isn't ch
When I reach Kian, he smiles at me."Everything okay?""Yeah, he was checking that I had actually done research before coming back.""Based on how you spoke to me about it, you have." He laughs, and I nod. "This way." He picks up the key, and I follow him."Ruby, stop." I stop on the stairs and turn to look at Alaric. "Come with me.""Alaric." We're not meant to be doing this."Now, Ruby!" God, the way he said that makes me want to kneel and agree."It's fine, see you around." Kian smiles and walks back down the stairs and away."We're not meant to be doing this." I look at Alaric. His hand reaches for mine, and he guides me through the building, I watch as he scans his hand, and steps into a hall. Soon after, he stops at a door and scans his hand again.Opening the door, he walks in with me right behind him."Alaric, you..." My words are stopped as he kisses me. Pushing him back, I fought to remember what I was going to say. "We agreed this couldn't happen.""This is different." I la
"You're shaking." His voice comes from behind me, and I nod. I am, excitement is building up, and he has done nothing. The feel of his fingers running down my back makes me moan.I can feel him circling him, his finger stroking along the exposed skin as he does. Slowly, his mouth begins to kiss the areas of my body that are exposed. Each circle of me he does, his fingers and mouth touch my body.The feel of leather stroking my body begins, and he continues to circle me. As he reaches my back, it lifts from my body and swings, hitting my ass. Moaning, I push forward as he keeps going, each time the flogger drags across my body before swinging over my ass.He stops in front of me, his hand unzipping the dress. I feel it drop from my body, his mouth teasing my breasts as his hands grasp my ass. He continues the sweet torture, kissing, biting and sucking against my breasts and neck, and my body shakes within his hold.Moving, he goes back to dragging the flogger around my body, swinging
We walk through the hall. I don't even need to turn to know his eyes are fixed on my ass. I do, though, his eyes raise, and he smirks."You need to stop wearing things like this here.""Would you rather I was nude?" He pulls me to him."Don't tempt me to say yes."Smirking I nod, and turn back, opening the door I can't help but smile."Ruby." I freeze, seeing Jake, and hear the door close behind me. I don't move. I have no idea if Alaric is still there, but the door has a glass panel. I turn and look behind, unable to see him. "Ruby."Turning, I look at Jake. "What?" My word is quiet. "Why are you here?""You avoided me all week. You said you were busy, but come here?" He stands, looking around the room."Jake, you need to stop following me.""If you had answered, I wouldn't need to.""I don't have my phone with me, Jake." I left it at home so I could avoid his calls. "How did you find out I was here?""Ivy said you were with Bex but wouldn't say where. I rang Lucy, and she told me wh