22. Harry
22
HARRY
I step outside the clinic in Washington city center, and my hackles are raised. I stare across the wide street, at the glass storefronts reflecting the low winter sun, and scan for movement in my peripheral vision. There are too many pedestrians walking with their heads down and their collars turned up for me to notice anything out of the ordinary, but I can’t shake the same eerie sensation I had in Diablo Lake.
Someone is following me.
I turn left, and head back towards my hotel. Another dead end. Another false lead that built up my hopes of finding my sister and dashed them to pieces again. Enough, I tell myself. If Melanie wanted to be found, we’d have been reunited long ago, and I need to start looking forward instead of keeping one eye on the past.
I spot a chestnut-brown dress in the window of a vintage boutique and stop to admire it, thinking of Ruby. She would look stunning in it. Fitted in all the right places, it’s floor length with a fishtail and a row of neat ivory pearls around the neck.
I’m about to go inside and buy it for her, when my gut tells me to look left as a man wearing a long black overcoat steps inside a café a couple of doors along. I might be wrong. It might be someone meeting a friend or picking up a coffee to go, but I don’t waste a beat.
I hurry back the way I came, open the door, and scan the occupied booths. Three women are in the booth closest to me, cheeks rosy with the heat inside the café. Two older women are seated in the booth behind them, reading books in comfortable silence. There’s a family of four in another, two teenagers, and a couple who appear to be around my age, sitting close together, their smiles wide and their eyes bright.
I check out their coats draped across the back of their seats. None of them are black.
I go to the service area and scan the walls for the restroom sign, realizing that I’m now following a complete stranger, but I tell myself that if they’re washing their hands, I’ll turn around, go back to my hotel, and forget all about it. Chalk it up to being paranoid because I’m no closer to finding my sister.
Opening the door tentatively, I already know that the restroom is empty. Was I mistaken? Did they enter one of the stores on either side of the café?
But even as I think this, I know that they came here. I check out the narrow corridor leading past another door that says STAFF ONLY to the fire exit at the end. I’m about to open the external door when a woman comes out of the staffroom and falters when she spots me. “Are you lost?”
“Sorry.” I smile and back away from the door. “Have I gone the wrong way?”
I don’t wait around for her to respond.
Outside, I hail a cab back to the hotel and replay what I saw in my head. I wasn’t certain before, but now I am—someone has followed me from New York to Diablo Lake, and now they’re here in Washington. I don’t know who, or why, but I am going to find out.
I call Ruby from my hotel room and tell her that I’ve had no luck in Washington. I know from ‘Hello’ that something is wrong.
“Is it your dad? What’s happened?”
“No.” In the silence, I picture her chewing her bottom lip, my mind automatically flitting to the conclusion that if it isn’t her dad, there’s a problem with us. “It’s your dad.”
“My dad?”
“I called him earlier. I got his number from Lizzie, I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to worry you, and after what happened in New York, I wanted to get the situation resolved before we…” Pause. “Well, before we get married, and I think I’ve made things a hundred times worse than they already were, and I wish I’d left it alone.”
I know that I should focus on what she’s saying about my dad, but all I can hear are the words ‘before we get married’, playing through my head like ticker tape, and already I have a mental image of Ruby, barefoot, in a gauzy floral dress with flowers threaded through her hair.
“Ruby, you couldn’t possibly make things worse.”
She chuckles into the phone and sniffs back tears at the same time. “You don’t know what happened yet.”
I can imagine, but I wait for her to elaborate.
“He said you’re making a mistake marrying me.” The words hang between us as though waiting to choose sides. Will they, won’t they?
But, for me, there is no question to be answered. “We’ll be the ones laughing when we prove him wrong, Ruby.”
“But he’s your dad, Harry.”
“Yes, and you’re going to be my wife. You’re the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with, and if he doesn’t like it, he can make his own mistakes.”
“I don’t want to come between you.”
“Trust me, you won’t. You do trust me, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“I’m coming to Chicago. I’ll meet you at the hospital.”
Ruby is waiting for me outside the hospital when I arrive in a taxi directly from the airport. Before I climb out of the cab, she joins me in the back seat and kisses me on the lips, a peck, the kind of kiss friends would greet each other with.
My head is reeling from all the traveling I’ve done since Alessandro’s funeral, so I shift over without saying that I was hoping to visit her dad first. My brain is not so fuzzy that I’ve missed the intention—Ruby is keeping me away from the hospital. She’s keeping me at arm’s length, and it’s not how I envisioned this trip going.
I ask the driver to take us to the Drake Hotel and sit back, grateful for the espresso I picked up en route from the airport.
“How’s he doing?” My fingers instinctively cross the seat to entwine with hers.
Ruby pulls her hand away and rubs her face. “He’s tired. Like this stroke has sapped the lifeforce out of him.”
“He’ll need time to heal, but he’ll get there.”
“You don’t know that.” She turns her face to the window, but not before I spot the tears spilling down her face.
“Hey.” I tilt her chin back towards me and lean closer so that the driver doesn’t hear. “I’m not a doctor, but anyone can see that he lives for you, Ruby.” She closes her eyes, and I kiss her wet eyelashes. “We’re not getting married without him, I promise you.”
It’s the wrong thing to say, tiredness clouding my brain and allowing me to spew promises that are beyond my control like I’m some kind of superhero or demi-god. Way to go, Harry. But I want to protect Ruby with every fiber of my being; I want to make life perfect for her.
She attempts a smile that doesn’t fully materialize. “At this rate, he might be the only guest there.”
“You can leave my father to me. He’ll calm down and see sense in time.”
“I don’t think he will, Harry. I don’t know what happened thirteen years ago, but it feels like America’s most guarded secret. No one wants to talk about it.”
I recall the times I’ve tried talking to my dad about Melanie over the years, and the way he shut me down, made me feel guilty for mentioning it like it was my fault she disappeared. My dad has always been a closed shop, barriers in place and secured with a padlock. He isn’t going to change now, for anyone, and if this were only about me, I’d leave him to wallow in his own misery, but I know how much it means to Ruby to get his blessing for the wedding.
“I thought it would be good to organize a meal and invite my mom and your dad.” Ruby’s face glows intermittently with the streetlamps as we make our way through the city, highlighting the dark circles under her eyes. “But now…” She shakes her head.
I pull her against my chest and hug her close. “Let’s do it. If they won’t speak to us, or each other about what happened, there isn’t much we can do, but at least we’ll have tried.”
She nods against my chest. “How long are you staying?”
“A couple of days… Unless I happen to get snowed in, or the airlines stop flying between here and New York, or someone makes it worth my while to stay longer.”
“Someone?” She tilts her head backwards, her breath warming my cheek. “You mean a business associate?”
“Hmm I’m open to suggestions.”
“How open?” Her tongue finds my earlobe, and jeez, I never knew such a tiny part of the body could cause so many shivers to pulse through me.
“Wide, wide open.” I slide her hand onto my lap, and she smiles when she feels my erection.
“Challenge accepted.”
We don’t speak the rest of the journey.
I follow Ruby’s expression as we enter the hotel, through the grand entrance, up the plush carpeted staircase to the main lobby, where the chandeliers are the size of trees, and there’s a kind of library hush that accompanies the wide-eyed admiration of the guests. I check us in as Mr. and Mrs. Weiss, trying it out and liking the way it sounds, and we take the elevator up to the Executive Suite.
It’s airy and spacious, the heavy gold curtains pulled wide to reveal the view from the lounge area across the city. I’ve lived in New York all my life and hardly notice the skyline when I’m in my apartment, but now, with Ruby’s eager smile, I feel as though I’m experiencing the excitement of blinking lights and glowing towers for the first time.
“Why don’t you jump in the shower?” Ruby nudges me in the direction of the bathroom. “I’ll order room service.”
I’d planned on dining out with Ruby, our first date, which seems utterly crazy since we’ve flown to the UK and back again together and she’s wearing the heart-shaped diamond on her finger. But now that I’m not in a moving vehicle with the hum of an engine beneath me, the tiredness feels like trying to battle my way, blindfolded, out of a giant spider web.
In the bathroom, I step into the walk-in shower and stand under the hot water with my eyes closed, waiting for it to cleanse the disappointment of my trip to Washington State from me. I lose track of time, my brain sliding back and forth between constantly being one step behind my sister and trying to figure out who is having me followed. During the flight, I’d made up my mind not to mention this to Ruby, but now that I’m here, I don’t want to go any further with secrets between us.
Clean, I blast cold water over me, trying to shake the fug from my brain. It helps a little. When I emerge from the bathroom in a cloud of steam, Ruby has created a picnic on the rug in front of the floor-to-ceiling window and is waiting for me, cross-legged, a robe wrapped around her, and her hair loose over her shoulders.
“Something smells good.” I fasten my fluffy white robe around my waist and sit opposite her, eying up the food. “Pizza?” I can’t help smiling at Ruby’s menu choice.
“Comfort food.” She picks up a slice of pepperoni pizza, strands of melted mozzarella sticking to her chin and trailing down her neck as she tilts her head back to catch them on her tongue and misses.
There are sticky chicken wings, spicy fries, sweet chili and garlic mayo dips, apple pie and cream, all to be washed down with a couple of cold beers. I help myself to a slice of pizza, realizing that it’s exactly what I needed. “Heaven on a plate.”
“Or a takeout box.” Ruby pops open her can of beer and taps it against mine. “Thought we’d do Chicago my way.”
“I’m glad we did.”
“You’re not disappointed I didn’t order champagne?”
I dip my pizza in mayo and take a huge bite, the spicy meat and fragrant tomato sauce exploding on my tongue. “It’s an acquired taste.”
“Like oysters.”
I can’t help grinning at her. “Never could get to grips with oysters.”
She chooses a chicken wing and licks sauce from her fingers and wrist. “Have you noticed how sauce gets literally everywhere even though you only move your hand from the plate directly to your mouth?”
“The manufacturers are in cahoots with the laundry detergent companies.”
She laughs. “Favorite pizza? And please don’t say Hawaiian.”
“What happens if I say Hawaiian?” I swallow a mouthful of beer. The pizza and shower combined have reenergized me, the blood pumping around my body and reminding me how good it will feel to be inside Ruby Jackson.
She peers at me mischievously over the top of a chicken wing and licks her lips. “I might have to think of a suitable punishment. Pineapple on pizza is just wrong.”
I get up, stroll casually to the bedside table, and pick up the phone. “Hello?” I pretend to call room service. “Can I get a large Hawaiian pizza with extra pineapple?”
Laughing, Ruby waits for me to sit down before she tosses a pizza crust at me. It bounces off my nose and lands inside the mayo dip like it was a trick shot she perfected while I was showering.
“You are not the man I thought you were, Mr. Weiss. I might just have to call the whole wedding thing off.”
“Shucks. And here I was hoping we could set the date.”
Ruby stuffs some fries into her mouth and chews, still watching me with that playful glint in her eye. “What date did you have in mind, Mr. Weiss?”
Now that I’ve sowed the seed, what the hell have I got to lose? This has nothing to do with anyone else apart from me and Ruby, and I want to marry her now more than ever.
“Six weeks’ time.”
She almost chokes on a mouthful of beer, liquid spluttering from her mouth, her eyes watering. She swallows. “For a moment there, I thought you said six weeks’ time.”
“I did.”
“Why? I mean, why six weeks?”
“Why not?”
She licks her fingers and wipes her hands on a napkin. She’s stalling, and my gut churns with the awful premonition that she has changed her mind. I’ve gotten caught up in the moment, the swanky hotel room, the Chicago skyline, the pizza, and pushed her too far.
A smile dances from her lips to her eyes. “Right now, I can’t think of a reason why not.”
I blink, processing her words. “Does that mean yes?”
She sucks her bottom lip. “I think it does.”
I clean my hands, wipe my mouth on a napkin, and crawl across the floor to her. Ruby lays back on the rug and pulls me on top of her. “In six weeks, you’ll be a married man. You know what that means?”
“What does that mean?”
“You’ll suddenly get boring in bed.”
It takes a couple of beats for me to realize that she’s joking. “Is that right? Best we screw like rabbits while we still can.”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
I kiss Ruby slow and deep, my tongue exploring her mouth, the Chicago lights blinking in the background. She’s warm and soft beneath me, and when she parts my robe, sliding her hand between us and tracking a line down to my cock, I’m already throbbing.
We roll over together, our minds and bodies thinking alike, and Ruby straddles me, shrugging the robe over her shoulders, leaving her naked. I cup her breasts with both hands, and tease her nipples towards my mouth, squeezing them together, flicking both nipples with my tongue. She leans closer, ass thrust upwards, and rubs her pussy up and down my cock, her wetness staying on me.
She waits for me to close my eyes before she climbs off me and takes my cock in her hand. Gripping it loosely, she takes the end in her mouth, licking all around the rim, tasting and teasing, inserting the tip of her tongue in the slit of my cock.
I groan out loud. “Suck me, Ruby.”
Ruby does as she’s told and starts sucking, gently at first, gradually growing more insistent, more demanding, her grip tightening. I feel my pre-ejaculation rising, my cock twitching in her hand.
“Ruby, I’m going to come.” I’m panting, trying hard to hold it back, but she feels so damned good…
Ruby stops sucking. Before she can move, I grab her hands and pull her towards me.
She shuffles forward along my body, straddling me, her knees over my shoulders, her pussy in my face. I lick her slowly, dragging my tongue back and forth, watching her watching me as she grows wetter. Her legs start to tremble, and she arches her back, tipping her head so that she’s staring at the stars outside the window.
I open her up with my fingers, force my tongue in as far as it will go, finding the spot and licking her hard. Her body writhes, torn between wanting to reach orgasm and wanting to prolong it, so I push harder. Further.
“Tell me when you’re ready to come, Ruby.”
I can tell by the way her legs tremble that she’s close.
“Ruby?” I withdraw my tongue, holding her to ransom.
“I’m ready,” she gasps.
“How ready?” I slide two fingers inside her. She’s dripping.
“Ready … as I’ll ever be.”
“I’m coming for you, Ruby.” I open her wider.
She instinctively leans forward, supporting her upper body with both hands and lowering her pussy onto my tongue. Three licks, and she explodes in my mouth, her body convulsing, her face twisted away from me.
But I’m only just finding my rhythm. Gripping her upper thighs, I keep right on licking, bringing her to orgasm again. And again. Until she’s practically lying on my face. Then I hold her hips and slide her down my body.
Ruby kisses me slowly as if waking from a deep slumber and lowers herself onto me, leaning forward, her upper body pinning me down. We kiss as she rides me, her movements slow, measured, feeling my length gliding fully in and out until I squeeze her butt and hold her on me, my hips thrusting against her, needing to fill her up when I come.
It doesn’t take long. My cock and I have missed her.
We stay like that for a while, Ruby lying next to me on the rug, our faces pressed together, breathing each other’s oxygen. Completely at peace.
Finally, she rests her chin on my chest and peers into my eyes. “So, what is your favorite pizza?”
I smile at her, my fingers entwined in her hair. “Hawaiian.”