9. Nine
9
NINE
I ’d never felt so much rage before. Ryder had never been my favorite person—not by a long shot—but hearing Ruby’s voice when she ordered him out of her suite was enough to get my blood boiling.
I didn’t know why I’d followed her. She hadn’t been pushy on the casino floor. There had been something so sad about the way she regarded me, however, that I couldn’t let it go. I didn’t want her sad. I most certainly didn’t want Ryder abusing her—verbal or otherwise. Now, staring down at the man, my fists wanted to fly. It was as if they had minds of their own.
“I’m the one who got you this job,” Ryder snapped, his temper flashing. He wasn’t bigger than me physically. For years, he’d been the big boss, though. That had allowed him to feel more important than he really was.
“How frightening this must be for you,” I said out of the blue. “You went from being able to boss everybody around from your teeny tiny perch to being insignificant. That’s your worst nightmare.”
Ryder’s eyes were dangerous slits. “Did you really just call me insignificant?”
“I did,” I confirmed. “I stand by it, too.”
Ryder glared at me.
I scowled right back.
Ruby was the one who interrupted us. “I don’t know why you thought I would be the one who would listen to you,” she said to her father. “Maybe it’s because I’m the youngest girl.”
“No, you’ve always been the smartest one,” Ryder argued. “You’re smarter than your sisters and brother combined. You should be the one running the company. That was always my plan.”
He was lying. It was obvious. A quick look at Ruby told me she recognized that, which was a relief, because I didn’t want to be the one to explain it to her.
“I don’t want to be in charge,” Ruby replied. “I’m happy where I’m at. Well, other than the fact that you’re invading my personal space.”
“I’m your father.” Ryder puffed out his chest. “I can’t invade your personal space because it’s my space.”
“Yeah, you keep telling yourself that.” Ruby marched toward the door and pulled it open. “I think it’s time for you to leave.”
Ryder’s eyes narrowed to dangerous slits. “You can’t just kick me out of my own hotel.”
“It’s not your hotel.” Ruby was matter of fact. “It never was. You might have been in charge of Stone Group, but you were never quite the king you made yourself out to be.”
“I don’t think I like your attitude,” Ryder seethed.
Ruby merely shrugged. “You’ll live.” She waved the door. “Now, get out.”
“I’m not done here.”
He might not have been finished, but I was finished with him. I grabbed his arm—something I would’ve never envisioned myself doing a year before—and dragged him toward the exit. “You can go now.”
“Just who do you think you are?” Ryder was spitting mad. “I’m your boss.”
“Take it up with your wife. She’s actually my boss.” I wasn’t gentle when I threw him out of the room. “Don’t you come back here and threaten her.” I kept my voice low. “I’ll know if you do.”
He glared at me, open hostility practically seeping out of every pore. “The first thing I’m going to do when I’m back in power is fire you.”
“Yeah, have fun with that.” I turned on my heel and stalked back into Ruby’s room, letting the door fall shut behind me.
Silence engulfed us as we stared each other down. I was still deciding what I should say when she spoke.
“Thank you for racing to my rescue.” Her smile was genuine, unlike downstairs when it seemed she was putting on an act. She was so pretty when she smiled. Just … an absolute smoke show. Did she even realize it? “Did you follow him up here?”
That was enough to snap me out of my reverie. “What? I … no.” I shook my head. “I followed you. I was on a different elevator. I just happened to hear you kicking him out.”
“Oh.” A small smile lifted the corners of her lips. “Well … um … thank you. I could’ve handled him myself, though. I mean … he’s Ryder Stone. He’s not known for his athletic ability. I doubt he was going to rough me up.”
The mere thought of that set my teeth on edge. If Ryder ever touched her, I would destroy him. It would hurt, too. “Ruby,” I started.
“You don’t have to stay,” she assured me. “I’m fine. I doubt he’ll come back. If he does, I won’t open the door. He’s the last person I want to talk to.”
“I came up here for a reason, Ruby.” My voice was gravelly.
“Oh?” Curiosity had her tilting her head. “Do you need something?”
I didn’t know how to say what needed to be said. In the moment I’d watched her walk away from me downstairs, though, I’d realized that I didn’t need time to think. I already knew what I wanted. It wasn’t just that I wanted to do the right thing by her either. I just couldn’t walk away.
“I want to be a father.” It was simple and declarative. I suddenly felt weak at the knees when I said it.
“You do?” Ruby pursed her lips. “Are you sure? Because—and don’t take this personally—you’ve never really showed interest in being a father.”
I turned defensive. “You’ve never shown interest in being a mother either. Things change.”
“I know.” She held her hands out cautiously. “I’m not trying to pick a fight. I just want you to be sure. Maybe you should think about it longer.”
I made a face. “See, it sounds to me as if you’re trying to talk me out of being a father. Do you not want me involved?”
“No.” She fervently shook her head. “If you want to be involved, I want you to be involved. In fact, I can’t imagine doing it without you. I will, though, if you want it that way. I don’t want to be the person who derails your life. I know you have a specific plan for yourself.”
For some reason—and I would have to reflect on it later—I was bothered by her vision of me. “I don’t have a specific plan for myself. I just figured, eventually, I would settle down and have kids. I always wanted kids, though. I think I’ll be a good father.”
“I think you’ll be a great father,” Ruby agreed, not missing a beat. “That was never a concern for me.”
“What was a concern for you?”
“That you’re not ready to be a father yet. What happened that night … well … it took us both by surprise. We were drunk off our asses. It’s not as if either of us planned for this outcome.”
“And yet you knew right away how you wanted things to play out.”
“Not exactly.” She shook her head. “I panicked when I took the tests up here. I was convinced all four of them were errors.”
“Why did you take four of them?”
“You know. Just to be on the safe side.” She was sheepish. “I didn’t know which test to buy. There were a lot of options. I bought one of each. Come to find out—because I asked my doctor—those things are rarely wrong. There might be a false negative if you take it too early. There’s almost never a false positive though.”
“Huh.” That was interesting. Well, kind of. “When did you realize you were happy about it?”
She shrugged. “It wasn’t at the doctor’s office. I knew that I was keeping it right away. I mean … I’m thirty-five. I’m not going to have a lot of other chances.”
I frowned. “Thirty-five is still young.”
“Actually, when it comes to getting pregnant, thirty-five is considered geriatric.”
I was appalled. “Um … you’re still young and hot. Don’t let the doctor run that nonsense on you.”
She laughed, and it caused me to relax, if only marginally. “Thanks for that. Apparently, fertility flies off a cliff at thirty-five though. When I was a kid, I never considered not being a mother. When things with my father grew difficult, I kept pushing off the decision because I didn’t want to get married. He wouldn’t have allowed me to marry someone of my choice. He would’ve hounded me until I married someone he approved of, and I didn’t want that.”
I nodded. “Well, that’s not what happened.”
“It’s not,” she agreed. “I’m ready to be a mother. Or, well, I’ll be ready when it’s time.” She pointed toward the bag. “I’ve got books. I’ll take those birthing classes. I’ll read everything I can to get ready.
“The only thing I know absolutely is that I want to be a mother,” she continued. “If you’re not ready to be a father, though?—”
I cut her off with a shake of my head and sat on the couch without being prodded. This conversation wasn’t going to be quick. “It’s true that I didn’t think my life was going in this direction right now,” I started. “The thing is, I can’t not know my kid. I just … I’m not built that way.”
She nodded in understanding. “I get it.”
“This might not be the way I imagined it, but that’s still my kid. There’s no way I’m going to be able to go on with my life and know that I have a child out there being raised away from me.”
“Okay.” She sat in one of the chairs across from me. “As long as you’re certain.”
“I am.” I managed a smile. “I’m still scared beyond belief, but I figure I’ll have time to adjust. I already feel better now that I’ve said it. I think I knew right away but … I don’t know … I panicked.”
“We all panic when we hear the news,” she assured me.
“Yeah, well, I’m not proud. I should’ve immediately dove in and asked what I could do for you when you told me. I swear my mind wasn’t firing on all cylinders that day.” I was rueful. “Then, when Livvie came to give me an earful?—”
“I’m sorry about that.” Ruby frowned. “I told her to leave you alone. I wanted you to make the decision without outside influence.”
“Oh, Livvie was never going to leave me alone. That’s not how she’s built. The truth is, I already knew what I wanted to do then. Her bossing me around just made me dig my heels in to be as belligerent as possible. That’s always how it’s been between us.”
“I have siblings. I know how that goes.”
“I want to be involved in my child’s life.” I meant it. “I want to help you any way that I can. You’re going to have to tell me what that entails, though, because I’m absolutely clueless.”
She laughed. “As soon as I figure it out, I’ll let you know what you can do. I’m throwing darts into the void so far as well.”
“Yeah.” I blew out a sigh. “I guess we should get married.” I didn’t realize I’d said the exact wrong thing until she frowned. “I mean … it doesn’t have to be today or anything. You probably want to plan something with your mother and sisters.”
The look on her face was straight out of a horror movie. “Why would we get married?”
Was she kidding? “Because when you have a kid, most people get married.” Even in Vegas, that was still the case. Heck, in Vegas, more often than not, marriage was the answer to almost every question. The city had earned a reputation for drive-thru weddings for a reason.
“Um … we’re not getting married.” She said it in a flat tone.
“We’re not?” It wasn’t the response I was expecting. “Why wouldn’t we get married?”
“Because you don’t love me.” She said it as if she were explaining the alphabet for the fiftieth time to a first grader and she was exasperated that they weren’t getting it. “Love should be a prerequisite for marriage.”
“Not when there’s a kid involved.”
Her forehead furrowed. “When did you become that guy?”
“What guy?”
“The guy who thinks families are only one thing.”
“Um … I’m not that guy.” Was I? “It’s just … how are we going to do this if we don’t get married?”
“We’ll figure it out.” A soft smile took over her features as she shrugged. “We don’t have to be married to be good parents. In fact, we started out as friends. Have you forgotten that?”
“No, but … friends don’t normally have kids together.”
“Maybe they should. It’s not as if we’re divorcing and trying to raise a kid together. Hard feelings erupt out of situations like that. The only baggage that we’re carrying into this coparenting relationship is that neither one of us can hold our liquor.”
I glared at her. “I was doing the responsible thing and leaving when you insisted I dance with you.”
“Yes. I’m clearly Wonder Woman. How else could I force a guy who weighs a hundred pounds more than me to stay when he wanted to go?”
I rolled my eyes. “What about when the kid asks us why we’re not together?”
“That’s years down the line. We have plenty of time to come up with the right answers. The only thing that matters at the start is that we’re on good terms and we want to do right by our child. Is that what you want?”
“Well, it is now.” My forehead crinkled. “I can’t believe you turned me down.”
“That wasn’t exactly a proposal.” She seemed to be reading my mind because she was shaking her head. “Just for the record, I don’t want a proposal. You’re not in love with me. Friends can raise a child together. It will be fine.”
“So … how will it work? Will we come up with a schedule?”
“Absolutely.” She bobbed her head. “I do think, during the first couple of weeks, it’s going to be utter mayhem. We won’t have a clue what to do, so we should probably go into this knowing that keeping a schedule right at the start is going to be impossible.”
“So … be open to chaos,” I mused. “I think I can probably manage that.”
“You’re chief of security at one of the most popular casinos in Vegas,” she agreed. “Mayhem is your middle name.”
I smiled, and it was the first legitimate smile I’d managed since the conversation began. “I’m afraid.”
“I know.” Sympathy washed over her features. “I’m afraid too. The only thing I know—the only thing every movie has in common—is that it’s going to hurt.”
I hadn’t gotten that far yet. “You should definitely get the drugs.”
She laughed, and it caused the air in the room to catch fire. For a moment—just a split second really—I wanted more. More than just friends raising a baby. More than just acquaintances going through the motions and being on our best behavior. I wanted the whole enchilada.
I wanted to fight with her. I wanted to love with her. I wanted to move forward with her.
Then reality smacked me across the face. We were not in a place for that. She was right. We’d always been friends. If we even considered allowing true emotions to overtake us, we would end up in a bad place. It was better not to risk that.
“So … how do we do this?” I held out my hands. “Like … should I tell my parents?”
“I’m going to let you handle that.” Ruby’s smile was kind. “You should figure out how you want to do it. I just dropped a bomb during a family meeting, and it did not go over well. Of course, your parents are different. They’ll probably be excited.”
“What about Zach? Livvie hasn’t told him yet, but she won’t be able to hold out for much longer.”
“I’m going to let you tell him too. Zach has to love me. I’m his sister. He can’t be mad at me either. It’s not allowed to be angry with your pregnant sister. It’s a law or something. You, however, might get a punch to the face.”
I hadn’t considered that, but it made sense. “I might need a day to figure out how I’m going to tell him,” I hedged, suddenly worried.
“It’s okay.” Her smile was serene. “Just let me know before you do it so I can be prepared for when he comes to me.”
“Because he will go to you,” I realized. “He’s going to want to make sure that I didn’t take advantage of you.”
“Yeah. You guys have some complicated stuff to deal with. You can always use the fact that he was boning your sister and kept it a secret for weeks to your advantage. You took that much better than he expected, so it’s only fair that he take this just as well.”
Hope reared up and grabbed me by the throat. “Do you think it will really work out that way?”
“No, but you might luck out.” Her grin was lightning quick. “It’s going to be fine, Rex. Just … take tonight and figure out how you’re going to tell him. Alcohol might be a good idea. When you know how it’s going to play out, text me so I’m prepared. Because as soon as you tell him, the rest of my family is going to find out the truth.”
“You don’t want to tell them yourself?”
“Nah.” She shook her head. “I’ve had my fill of family time. This one is on you.”
“No pressure, though.”
She grinned. “It’s going to be okay. They’ll settle. Once they do, we’ll be able to figure out how all of this is going to work. I got a crash course on all the stuff a baby needs today. It’s a lot.”
“Well, I want to be there for all of it.” I was firm. “That includes future visits to the doctor.”
“Absolutely. We can work all of that out. Just get through the notifications, and we’ll go from there.”
“Yeah, I’m definitely feeling pressure.”
“Better you than me.”