Chapter 44
Ruby
Imute them again.
Jaxon is watching me with barely contained amusement.
“Friends?” he asks.
“Menaces,” I correct.
He leans in and kisses me once, soft, slow, morning-warm.
My chest tightens painfully.
I stand up, suddenly overwhelmed.
“I should… go. Get ready. Work. Life. Responsibilities.”
He sits up, expression softening.
“You don’t have to rush.”
“I do,” I whisper.
Because if I stay? If I linger in this world that feels too soft? I’ll fall in ways I’m not ready for.
He stands and comes to me, lifting my chin gently.
“Ruby.”
My breath freezes.
“You can take your time with this,” he says quietly. “With me.”
Something inside me breaks open.
And that scares me more than anything.
JAXON
She’s nervous.
Not because she regrets last night, her eyes told me everything I needed to know, but because she feels something she didn’t expect.
I step close and kiss her forehead.
She melts for half a second before pulling back.
A protective instinct rises in me, soft, not forceful, but strong enough I feel it in my chest.
“Let me drive you home,” I offer.
She shakes her head. “It’s okay. I can walk.”
“You wore heels,” I remind her gently.
She blushes. “I’ll survive.”
I want to argue. But I don’t.
Instead I say, “Text me when you get home.”
She hesitates.
“Jaxon..."
“Please,” I murmur.
She nods, cheeks pink.
“I will.”
Good.
Because I’m going to worry until she does.
EVAN
Ruby walks into the office two hours later.
He sees the dress. He sees the hair. He sees the glow.
And his stomach drops.
Again.
He forces a smile.
“Morning.”
She avoids his eyes.
“Hi.”
That’s it.
That’s all he gets.
He watches her sit down.
Sees her wince slightly.
And realizes, she’s gone.
Completely gone.
And nothing he does will bring her back.
RUBY
I sit at my desk and pretend to work.
I can still feel his mouth on my skin. I can still feel his hands on my hips. I can still feel the way he held me afterward like I mattered.
And that is what terrifies me.
Not the sex. Not the secrecy. Not the chaos.
It’s the way I’m starting to want him in the quiet moments.
It’s the way the morning felt like something real.
I open my phone.
A new message pops up.
Jaxon:
Thinking of you.
My whole body warms.
This isn’t slowing down.
This isn’t staying simple.
This is becoming something dangerously close to love.
And I don’t know if I can survive loving a man like him.
I avoid him.
Not in a dramatic, duck-behind-filing-cabinets way…
more like a “my soul fled my body and left a cardboard cutout in its place” way.
Every time I think about last night, my heart flips, my stomach drops, and my brain screams:
THIS IS REAL, RUN.
So I hide behind spreadsheets. I hide behind busywork. I even hide behind the vending machine at one point because I saw a glimpse of a navy suit and panicked.
I’m in full flight mode.
This is embarrassing.
By noon I’ve answered three emails, drunk four coffees, and accomplished absolutely nothing except developing a caffeine tremor.
Then I hear footsteps.
Slow, confident, expensive footsteps.
Oh god.
I look up.
He’s there.
Standing at the edge of my desk. Looking at me with that unreadable, dark-eyed gaze that could melt glaciers.
“Ruby,” he says softly.
I swallow hard. “Hi.”
“You’re avoiding me.”
I try to laugh. It comes out like a dying balloon.
“No! Who? Me? Never! Avoid you? I love… walking… near… you.”
He raises one eyebrow.
I am a disaster.
“We need to talk,” he says quietly.
My pulse sprints.
“O-okay,” I whisper.
He nods toward his office.
But before I can move, a voice cuts in.
“Hey, Ruby, got a second?”
It’s Evan.
Of course it’s Evan.
Jaxon goes very still beside me.
I look between them like a rabbit deciding which wolf will eat me slower.
“Actually,” Jaxon says calmly, “she’s coming with me.”
Heat ripples through my whole body.
But Evan steps forward, jaw tight. “She doesn’t belong to you.”
Silence.
People look over.
Jaxon’s expression doesn’t change, but the air does.
He turns his head slightly, leveling Evan with a slow, icy stare.
“Watch your tone,” he murmurs.
Evan bristles. “It’s not a tone. It’s the truth.”
Okay, I need an adult. A priest. A sedative.
I stand up quickly.
“It’s fine,” I choke out. “I…I’ll talk to Evan. It’s fine.”
Jaxon looks at me.
Just looks.
And the hurt under the control shreds me.
He nods once. It’s tiny. Quiet. Polite.
And absolutely devastating.
Then he turns and walks away.
I feel the break of it inside me.
EVAN
He didn’t mean to be harsh.
But seeing Cole at Ruby’s desk, acting like she’s his… it made something ugly and panicked twist inside him.
Ruby steps into the hallway with him.
She looks shaken.
He hates that.
“Are you okay?” he asks.
“I’m fine.”
“You don’t seem fine.”
She rubs her face. “I don’t know what I seem.”
He hesitates. Then: “You don’t have to let him pull you around.”
Her shoulders tense.
“Evan…”
“I just don’t want you to get hurt.” His voice breaks. “I’m trying to protect you.”
She closes her eyes, pained. “I don’t need protecting.”
“But he’s..."
“Stop.” Her voice is soft but firm. “I care about you. I do. But this… this isn’t your place.”
His chest tightens.
“You’re choosing him.”
“I’m choosing myself,” she whispers. “And that just… happens to include him.”
It feels like a punch.
She steps away.
He watches the distance grow between them.
And something cracks inside him.
JAXON
She chose him.
Not permanently. Not romantically.
But she chose to go talk to him.
Instead of me.
I shouldn’t feel jealous. I shouldn’t feel hurt.
But I do.
I’m not used to wanting someone this much. I’m not used to being uncertain of anything. And I’m definitely not used to feeling like the ground can shift under me.
I walk into my office and try to calm the rising, irrational possessiveness.
She’s allowed to have friends. She’s allowed to be unsure. She’s allowed to take space.
But she’s pulling away.
And that scares me more than I can admit.
I sit at my desk.
I look at my phone. At her number.
I don’t text.
I wait.
And waiting feels like torture.