Chapter 16
16
MALICE
T he ride back to my place is done in silence until my stewing gets to me. I’m aware Rue ran with the wrong crowd when she was younger, but to see her inside Isaac the Punisher’s house and wrapped up in his arms?
“What is he to you?” I ask. “Not that I care,” I clarify.
She stares out the window and takes her time answering me. “A friend,” she finally answers.
“Since when?” Casual. Curious. No hint of jealousy in my voice, but the fucked-up emotion swirls in my core.
I had stopped by Isaac’s a few days ago, hoping to settle a score. Instead, I was roped into throwing my hat in the ring for a bag of money I had no use for. Imagine my surprise when I came by to drop off the cash, only to hear Rue’s voice on the other side of what I suspected was Isaac’s bedroom.
“Red has never mentioned you and Isaac’s name in the same sentence.”
“You’ve been keeping tabs on me?”
“Nah. Red likes to push my buttons, and one of them is running his mouth off about you. He knows I could give a shit about what’s going on in your life.”
“Nice, Malice. One minute, you’re saving my life from Red’s mufflers. And the next, you say words that take away all the niceness.”
Rue is right. What right do I have to treat her like she is my everything one moment, only to tell her she means nothing when I am pissed as all get-out?
Damn it, my actions and my words are not jiving. No wonder I have issues dealing with how often my parents are gone. That they are never there for me when I need them the most.
The defeat in her voice has me reaching for her. “I’m sorry, Rue, for making you feel like shit. How about we start over?”
“Sure,” she mumbles, her gaze never leaving the passing scenery.
I take a turn, taking us away from the road to my place.
“Where are we going?”
“Cemetery. It’s my great-grandmother’s birthday.”
“Happy birthday to her. Did you get flowers?”
“What for? She’s dead and has been for ten years.”
“It doesn’t matter. Stop at the market.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Fuck, she’s bossy. And I’m digging it.
We stop at the market and purchase a bouquet. I park the GT-R at the cemetery and, getting out, I instruct Rue to stay in the car. I’m a disappointment to my parents, but it doesn’t mean I ignore how they raised me.
I open the car door and extend my hand to her. She takes it, and I am in awe of how small her hand is in mine and how fragile her fingers and wrist bones are compared to my thick fingers and sizeable knuckles that can split someone’s lip open with one hard punch.
I take her hand. The air is chilly, but the sun is out, and there is a comfortable silence between us. Rue slips her hand out of mine, and, hugging my arm, she leans into me.
She doesn’t have a jacket on. I pull my hoodie over my head and put it on her. It’s so big that she’s swimming in it, but damn she is smoking hot wearing my favorite black hoodie.
She glances up at me and smiles. “Thank you.”
The sun shines through the gaps in the trees, bringing out the blue in her inky hair. Her brown eyes shine, reminding me of a drop of rain on a leaf changing colors in fall. Rue is beautiful.
This sense of peace settles over me. It's something I haven’t felt in a long time. I go with the flow and pull her into my arms. I bury my face in her hair and inhale. Rue smells good—sweet and airy. Jesus, I could stay like this for a lifetime.
“I’ve known Isaac since I was fourteen.”
What she said brings me back to reality and how little I know of the new Rue Lee. “Four years and you two are comfortable enough he has you in his bedroom with his arms around you? Did he give you that?” I gesture at the ring on her ring finger.
“No. He and I aren’t like that. We’re friends.”
“Like Red is your friend ?” I put her at arm’s length and glower. When will I be fine with her having guy friends? When will I trust her for her word? Yet, I am the one who asked for a do-over. I apologize for being a jerk.
“Apology accepted.” She smiles, and I smile back, liking this apologizing stuff I’m doing. I give her my arm. She loops her arm through mine again, and we start walking to my Nana’s gravesite.
“Isaac has treated me like I’m his little sister ever since I saved his life.”
“Hold up. He’s the one that owes you?”
“Yes.”
“What’d you do?”
“I went for a swim in the lake. Guys I’ve never seen in town were beating up on him. They threw him over the cliff and left. I saw him struggling and went in after him. He thought I was one of them and swung at me.” She shakes her head. “He only stopped when he realized his clothes weighed him down, and he would drown if we didn’t do something quickly. He had on this bulky jacket. I helped him out of it and the rest of his clothes and hauled his butt onto the bank.”
“As big as he is, that must’ve been tough.” I ignore the part about Isaac’s nakedness and that Rue saw another guy’s dick prior to seeing mine.
“It was,” she admitted. “But I couldn’t be a disappointment and let someone die. Not when I can swim in my sleep.”
“You’re good people, Rue.” We walk by several gravesites. We’re almost to my Nana’s.
“I’m not. It’s common decency to be there when someone is in need.”
Does that mean my parents aren’t decent people? Then neither is Rue’s mom. And who and where the hell is her father? Wherever my dad goes, at least he comes back. It hits me hard. My parents come back, but Rue’s haven’t.
“We’re here.” We stop at a headstone with an angel and a cross on either side of my Nana’s name. “She’s buried next to my great-grandfather.”
“How romantic.”
“It’s more tradition than romance.”
“Stop raining on my parade.” Rue pouts then smiles that lopsided smile of hers.
She’s adorable as fuck. I take her hand in mine and rub out the cold as best as I can while she’s holding onto the bouquet.
“She would have been one hundred.”
“She lived a long life.” Rue kneels and sets the flowers on the grave site. “You must have loved her a lot if you remembered her birthday. My mom’s missed my last three.”
There’s sadness in her voice, and I see red. Had Gina been around, I would have given her a piece of my mind.
“Yeah, I loved my Nana. She lived with my grandparents and was lucid until the end, when she died in her sleep. When I stayed over, she would bring out this world globe and point to the places she had wanted to visit. By the time she and my great-grandfather were done raising their six boys, he had passed, and she had horrible anxiety about leaving the house and her cats. Now look where she’s at.” I jerk my head at Nana’s grave. “Stuck in Cambridge forever.”
“You’re right. She’ll never leave, and you’ll always know where to find her.” Rue straightens and glances around. “The dead can be counted on to stick around their final resting place. They will never abandon you in your time of need.”
Like her parents had abandoned her. Like how my parents are never around. Rue and I are more alike than I thought; our similarities are a good enough reason to get over her as quickly as possible.
Already, she’s chipping away at my defenses, starting with all the apologizing I’ve been doing lately. I cannot let her get ahold of my heart again. Rue is a dead end, and I am not sticking around this deadbeat town for a girl who will drive a wedge between me and my cousins.