CHAPTER THREE
Ruby
I watch like a proud mother while Rufus and Smiley play with a tug rope in the fenced-in side lot, getting some exercise.
They were found wandering in a park. Collars on, but no tags, and they weren’t chipped.
Their stay hold ended a few days ago and we’ve already had several applications for the labrador mixes.
There’s a family coming by soon to meet them. My phone vibrates in my back pocket.
I move over to the corner of the lot to sit on the bench and check my messages.
Brookie: Bitch, guess what!?!
Me: No clue. What?
Brookie: Chicken butt.
I roll my eyes. She’s ridiculous.
Me: Ha. So funny.
Brookie: I know I am. It’s one of the million reasons you love me.
Me: Are you sure about that?
I glance over at the dogs as they chase each other’s tails.
Brookie: And if you truly love me, you’ll come out tonight. Drinks are on me.
I smile at her message. We both know she’s as broke as I am, which means one thing. We’re going to Enzo’s.
Me: I’ll meet you there after work.
The back entrance opens, and the family that is considering adopting Rufus and Smiley follows Zixuan Li under the back awning near the fence gate.
“You have a visitor at your desk,” he tells me as I approach him with the dogs now on their leashes.
I don’t have to ask who it is. I already know.
If filing for a restraining order would amount to something I’d do it in a heartbeat, but when your ex is the chief of police’s son no one cares to listen and they damn sure don’t believe you when you say he’s abusive and controlling. Abuse isn’t always physical. It has many forms.
“Thanks, Zixuan.” I hand him the ends of the leads.
“Outside,” I growl the word at Alex. He knows I hate him just showing up at my work any time he wants to. How he pretends like nothing has changed. Like he still has a claim on me.
“I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Do you want to stay at my place for a few days?” Alex holds his hands up in surrender as I cut him a gaze that is colder than the air this morning.
“I’ll stay with Rordin or my folks. A guy was murdered at your building. I worry about you being on your own.”
“Thank you for your concern, but we’ve talked about this. My safety is my concern. Not yours. We broke up six months ago. You can’t keep doing this.”
He nods like he gets it, but deep down we both know he will find another excuse to insert himself into my daily life.
If I were smart, I’d leave town and change my number.
But even then, he’d use his connections to find me.
Alex isn’t going to let me go. Not until he finds someone else to torture, and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.
Not even the floozies he cheated on me with.
When Alex is good, he’s great, but when he doesn’t get his way, you become a monster to him, and he will do anything to paint you the villain while victimizing himself.
Everyone here at my work thinks he’s this perfect man and they can’t understand why I won’t take him back. He puts on a show for the world, but in private I know the real him. How the charm quickly fades and morphs into trying to tell me who to talk to, what to eat, what to wear.
No, thank you. I fell under his spell for two years, then I woke up.
The veil slipped and I’m never going back.
If he truly loved me, he wouldn’t have been cheating on me.
I found his dating profiles. They were very active, and he would have continued to lie and cheat had I not caught him.
He’s not sorry he hurt me. He’s sorry I saw him for who he truly is.
He’s not worried about me. Deep down, he hates that he can’t control me.
At least I can say I never fucked him. In the beginning he said he understood that I was saving myself for marriage. He loved that I have never been intimate with anyone.
Sure, we fooled around some, but I guess that wasn’t enough for him.
“At least let me treat you to lunch.”
“It’s not even noon yet and I’m not hungry.”
“Come on, Ruby. Throw me a bone here. I’m trying. Really trying.”
“It’s too little, too late. Save the performance for your next victim.”
He stares at his boots. Used to, seeing him in his uniform would make me weak in the knees. Of course he’s still handsome in appearance, but I know the ugly in his heart.
“Ruby,” he murmurs my name, softly and touches my cheek. “I wish I could take it all back.”
I take his hand and remove it from my face while taking a step back from him.
The hurt that slices across his features doesn’t affect me like it would in the past. I don’t feel sorry for him.
I don’t want to accept his apology just to smooth things over in hopes he won’t argue with me or make the rest of my day miserable by giving me the silent treatment or being short and rude with his responses.
“Maybe you do mean what you say, but you’ve proven the opposite one time too many.
Now please stop checking up on me. Don’t stop by my job without asking. ”
“Go to lunch with me just this once and I swear to you on everything that I’ll leave you alone after today.”
I shake my head. He’s just using lunch as a way to weasel back into my life. “We both know that’s a lie.”
“I miss you. So fucking much. I can’t sleep. Can’t eat.”
And here comes the manipulation tactics.
Except this time I'm not falling for any of it.
I take another step back, and as I do, my gaze meets that of a man walking down the street.
Not just any man. The man from last night.
The guy in the alley with the knife. Those steely eyes once again hold me hostage, even though every cell in my body is screaming for me to run.
“Fine. Lunch. I need to talk to you about something, anyway,” I blurt out as the man passes us by. He smiles that sinister smirk at me. A warning.
My heart leaps to my throat and I go weak in the knees.
I can smell him. He’s so close we nearly touch.
He smells like sin.
Dark and spicy.
Intoxicating.
Dangerous.
Sexy.
I swallow hard as I soak in every inch of him I can, forgetting that Alex is watching me do it. He has a scar on his right cheek under his eye that’s zigzagged and I wonder how he got it.
“You’re not going to regret this. I swear, Ruby.” He grabs my hand, jerking my attention back to him.
Putting on a fake smile, I tell him, “Just let me tell Haven that I’m taking an early lunch.”
“I’ll pull my cruiser around.”
“No,” I shout a little too sharply. The last thing I need after this dude saw me talking to a cop is for him to see me getting into a cop car with the same officer. He’s going to think I’m ratting him out. “I’ll meet you at Finnigan’s. Order my usual.”
“I’ll wait for you. We can order together like old times.” He smiles all smug, thinking he’s getting his way.
I just need time to think. “Sure.” I dart back inside the shelter, wondering how that guy knew where to find me.
Does he know my name? Where I live? Is he following me?
The last one isn’t really a question. He’s obviously following me and, like an idiot, I was seen with a cop, but maybe seeing me with Alex will scare him off.
I shouldn’t be curious about him, but I am.
I’m an idiot and a glutton for punishment.
“Hey, Haven.” I grab my purse from my desk drawer. “I’m going to take my lunch if that’s okay.”
She smirks at me like she knows something, but she has no idea. “Take your time.”
“I won’t be long.”
“It’s a slow day,” she lies.
It’s never a slow day when you work at an animal shelter. It’s anything but. “I’m only going to try and sweet-talk him into adopting Petey.”
“I know.” She grins bigger, and I want to wipe that smirk off her face. Alex may have her fooled, but nothing has changed. He hasn’t changed.
The doorbell chimes.
“Can I help you?” Haven questions the patron as I maneuver past them.
“I’m here to adopt a pussy…cat,” a gravelly voice sounds.
I don’t know how I know it’s him, but I do. I dare to glance at the owner of the voice.
My heart once again is in my throat. All the blood in my body drains to my feet as those steely eyes meet mine.
Not only is he dangerously good looking he has a voice that sends a shiver down my spine in a good way. Not in the scary way that it should.
“I’ve got this one,” I find the words rolling off my tongue before they register with my brain.
“Weren’t you…” she trails off as I cut her a sharp look.
I stick my purse behind the counter. “Have you filled out an application?”
He shoots me a menacing smile. “No.”
“Well, we have a process. What did you say your name was?”
“I didn’t.”
“You’ll need to fill out the application.”
“Isn’t the point to adopt them out?”
“The point is to find them a safe and loving home.”
“Are you saying I’m not safe?”
“I-I wouldn’t know, sir.”
“Sir,” he smiles that jokeresque grin.
“Fill out the paperwork. Are there any other animals in the home?”
“Why?”
“Because a home visit may be necessary.”
“Seems pretty invasive.”
“If there are other animals in the home, we need to make sure the adoption will be a good fit.” I smile sweetly at him.
“Fine,” he snatches the clipboard from me. I fold my arms across my chest.
My cell phone chirps from inside my purse. Shoot. It’s probably Alex offering me a ride again.
I pull my phone out and fire off a text.
Me: Raincheck on lunch. Something came up at work.
Alex: Dinner?
Me: Can’t have plans tonight.
Alex: Lunch tomorrow? I really want to talk.
Ugh. Talking with Alex is a terrible idea, but I do want him to help me find a home for Petey.
Me: I can meet you after work, but I can’t stay long.
Alex: Text me when you’re off.
By the time I'm done texting with Alex, my stalker is done with the form.
I pick it up from the counter and glance at his name. Theo Bolero.
Bolero. Why do I know that name?
He lives on the East Side in those fancy apartments.
“Belinda will need to make a copy of your driver’s license.”
“Lot of trouble for a pussycat.”