Ant
“You’re late,” his boss grumbled from behind the bar.
He slid him over a shot of whiskey, and he took it.
He really didn’t need this job now that he was working full-time for the FBI, but for some reason, he couldn’t seem to quit.
Knowing that he’d be leaving Ruby there alone to fend for herself just felt wrong to him.
Sure, she was capable as hell. He knew that much for sure, but knowing that and quitting weren’t exclusively mutual.
She wasn’t dressed the same as the others, but then again, she never did. She wasn’t overdone and didn’t look cheap. She was confident in a way that had nothing to do with the men watching her up on stage, and everything to do with who she was.
He couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her as she moved to the music. He had watched her dance countless times before, not really knowing who she was. Now that he knew her true identity, watching her felt almost wrong, but he couldn’t bring himself to look away from her.
The man scoffed. “Relax, man. I paid—”
Ant leaned in, voice dropping. “You paid to look. Not to touch.” Ruby slid smoothly off the man’s lap, stepping back without a word. She didn’t look at Ant. Not once. But he felt her anger like a live wire.
The guy tried to yank his arm free from Ant, which was a bad move. Ant twisted his arm just enough to remind him who was bigger, stronger, and in charge. “You want to stay?” Ant continued evenly. “You keep your hands where they belong, and you’ll be able to walk out of here on your own.”
The man swore under his breath but nodded, rubbing his wrist when Ant finally let go.
Ant didn’t bother to look back at the guy.
He couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her.
Ruby stood there for a heartbeat, breathing steadily with her chin lifted before turning away and disappearing behind the curtain like nothing had happened.
Like Ant hadn’t just butted into her business again, after promising that he wouldn’t.
The music picked back up, and the crowd moved on, seeming to forget the scene he had just made.
Ant stayed where he was, his heart pounding, and his thoughts colliding as he tried to decide what to do next.
One thing was perfectly clear to him now.
She hadn’t lied because she was ashamed of dancing on stage.
She’d lied because this world—his world—didn’t forgive women for doing what it took to survive.
Ant exhaled slowly, dragging a hand down his face. He searched for proof that he was right, and he found it. The worst part was that it didn’t make him want her any less. It made him want to protect her from every man in the room—including himself.
When the set ended, and she slipped past him toward the back hall, their eyes finally met. Just for a second. There was no denial, and no lies—just recognition. Her expression was unreadable, and he was sure that his was anything but.
She disappeared before he could stop her.
Ant stood there long after, his chest tight, knowing one thing, for sure—Valentine’s Day wasn’t about him being curious anymore.
It was about wanting to be with her, and he could see in her eyes that she felt the same way, even though she was angry.
And sooner or later, they were going to have to stop pretending that they didn’t want each other.
He didn’t plan on sticking around to wait for Ruby; it just happened.
That was what he was going to tell her if she caught him lingering in the back alley—not that he expected her to believe him.
Ant even found himself rehearsing what he was going to say to her as he waited in the alley behind the club, the bass still vibrating through the brick building.
Smoke curled from the end of a cigarette he wasn’t actually smoking.
He was just holding it, crushing it between his fingers until he damn near burned them.
He didn’t want to corner her. And he wasn’t there to interrogate her. Tonight, he wasn’t an FBI agent, or a bouncer—he was her friend, if she’d allow him to be that for her. He was here because, after tonight, pretending didn’t feel possible anymore—not with Ruby.
The back door creaked open, and he felt as though he was holding his breath waiting to see if it was her. Ruby stepped out, wrapped in a hoodie too big for her, with her hair still loose, and her face bare of stage paint. She was no longer Scarlet or Doctor Monroe. She was just Ruby.
She froze when she saw him. “Are you going to arrest me?” she sassed.
The question hit harder than it should have, given that she was joking. Ant straightened. “No.”
“Okay, then let me guess,” she said, “you’re here to report me to our boss for leading a double life, right?”
“No,” Ant breathed.
She studied his face like she was trying to find the trap that he had laid. “Then what are you doing here, Ant? The club is closed, and I don’t need your protection anymore.”
He swallowed. His voice came out rougher than he meant for it to. “I just want you to stop lying to me. I want us to be friends.” He wanted to be more than friends with Ruby, but they’d get to that at some point. Right now, he just needed her to forgive him, and then, they’d figure the rest out.
Silence stretched between them, thick and heavy. The alley light flickered overhead, casting shadows across her face. He saw exhaustion there. It was the kind that didn’t come from just one night going without sleep, but from years of holding herself together with grit and willpower alone.
“You already know the truth, Ant,” she reminded. “I thought that we covered all this back at Savage Hell. You stuck your nose in where it didn’t belong and pissed my friends and me off. Now, you want us to be friends? I don’t see that happening.”
“I know,” he said. “I was wrong to look into your story using my FBI resources, but you were lying to me. I can admit that I was wrong to stick my nose in your business, but I want to hear the truth from your own lips. You’ve never admitted the truth to me, Ruby, and I’d like to hear it from you.”
Ruby looked away, jaw tightening. The last thing he wanted to do was to give her more space to hide from him, so he took a few steps toward her, and she backed away from him. “I don’t dance because I want to,” she admitted.
“I figured,” he breathed. He took a step closer to her, and Ruby backed away until she was standing against the brick wall of the club.
She had nowhere else to retreat to, and Ant knew it, but he didn’t back down.
Even when he saw the fear in her eyes, he could not seem to bring himself to step back from her.
“I stayed clean in here,” she admitted. “Hell, I never did drugs. I didn’t sell myself to earn extra money, like some of the girls have had to.
I didn’t let men touch me unless the rules allowed it.
” Her voice trembled now, but she didn’t stop.
“I danced because med school was expensive and scholarships don’t cover everything.
I danced because I refused to quit, and I wanted to become a doctor more than I’ve ever wanted anything else in my life. ”
Ant felt something inside his chest loosen, and he couldn’t stop himself from reaching for her.
He took her hand into his own, shocked that she allowed it.
“I was Scarlet at night,” she continued.
“And Ruby during the day. I memorized anatomy textbooks during the day, while my feet ached from dancing at night. I studied between sets. I stitched my own injuries in the dressing room so no one would ask questions if I had gone to the hospital.” She finally looked at him again; her eyes bright, defiant, and if he was reading her correctly, a little bit terrified.
“I became a doctor because of that club. Not despite it. Dancing made me who I am, and I’m proud to be a doctor,” she said. Ant exhaled slowly, like he’d been holding his breath since the moment he first recognized her eyes.
“You think I’d judge you for surviving?” he asked quietly. “You did what you had to do.”
“You already judged me, Ant,” she shot back. “You kept pushing me for the truth. You watched me, practically stalking me. You hung around Savage Hell, waiting for me to slip up.”
He nodded. “Yeah. I did do all those things. Because secrets get people hurt, and I didn’t want that for you, Ruby.”
“And telling the truth gets women like me ruined,” she said flatly.
“Especially if they find out down at the hospital how I got through medical school.” That stopped him cold.
He hadn’t thought about the repercussions she’d have to face at work if they found out that she was still dancing to pay off her student loans.
She hugged the hoodie she was wearing tighter around herself. “If the hospital finds out, I lose credibility. Patients trust doctors who fit a mold. And if the board finds out, I won’t just lose my job. I lose everything I worked for.”
Ant stepped closer, bracing one hand on the brick wall beside her face, still holding her other hand in his. He leaned into her, and she smelled like some kind of citrus perfume he wasn’t expecting. “I won’t say a word,” he whispered. “Not to the FBI. Not to the hospital. Not to anyone.”
She scoffed. “Why should I believe you? You already spilled the beans to Banshee and Rebel at the clubhouse. How can I believe that you won’t tell anyone else?”
“Because if I wanted leverage, I’d already have it.
” His voice dropped. “And because when I watched that guy put his hands on you tonight, the only thing I wanted was to rip his arms off.” Her breath hitched, and he took that as a good sign.
“That scared me,” he admitted. “Because it wasn’t about proving anything anymore.
It was about you getting hurt here at the club, on my watch. ”
Ruby stared at him as though she was searching for the lie, but she didn’t find one. “He was just drunk,” she whispered. “He didn’t want to hurt me. But I appreciate you stepping in. He was a bit handsy.”
“Yeah,” he said simply. “I could tell.”
Her shoulders sagged then, the fight draining out of her like someone finally set a heavy weight down.
“I hate this place,” she said softly, hitting the brick wall with the palm of her free hand.
“But it paid my way through med school. And I never thought anyone would figure out who I really was. Before you, the only person to know my secret was Banshee. We just decided to tell Rebel because she’s married to your new partner. ”
Ant leaned in closer and hesitated, letting his hand fall back to his side. “I’m sorry that I dredged all of this into the light for you. That wasn’t my intention. I just wanted to know you, and I fucked everything up by going behind your back to dig up information about your life.”
She nodded, eyes wet. “I just didn’t want anyone to look at me like I’m dirty, once they know the truth.”
He met her gaze, steady and unflinching. “I don’t see you as dirty, honey. I see your strength.” The words landed between them—raw and real.
“Oh,” she breathed.
He sighed, knowing that what he was about to ask her next might have her running for the hills, but he had to ask. “Can we just start over?” he asked.
“You mean, wipe the slate clean, and pretend that none of this even happened?” she questioned.
He knew that was asking a lot of her, but he wanted a fresh start with Ruby more than he wanted his next breath.
She nodded, “I think that I’d like to start over with you, Ant.
Who knows, maybe we can be friends eventually. ”
Valentine’s Day loomed unspoken between them, and he had to take a chance in asking her one more time to be his date for the night. “How about we start our relationship over on Valentine’s Day?” he asked, sounding more hopeful than he was hoping he’d sound.
She smiled up at him, taking his breath away. “I’d like that,” she admitted. For a moment, they just stood there in the alley—doctor and bouncer, past and present, truth finally out in the open with a fresh start in front of them.
And Ant knew, with certainty, that scared the hell out of him. This wasn’t the end of her secret. It was the beginning of something far more dangerous—a fresh start with Ruby.