Ruby
It wasn’t paranoia. Paranoia was loud and frantic.
This was quiet and measured. The sound of boots that didn’t quite match her pace but never fell behind.
The prickle at the base of her neck she’d learned to trust years ago, back when she had to walk to her car alone more nights than she wanted to remember, was back.
She drove home, looking out of her rearview mirror every few seconds. It felt like her ten-minute drive took hours. And when she got back to her crappy little apartment, she practically bolted for the front door of the building as she tightened her grip on her keys.
The parking lot behind her apartment complex was dim, one flickering light buzzing like it might give up at any second.
Her bike sat near the end of the row, shadowed between two cars.
She never drove it to the club, not wanting her lives to collide in any way.
Home was ten steps away, and her heart felt as though it might beat out of her chest.
“You followed me,” she said, keeping her voice steady.
He scoffed. “You owe me.”
Her fingers closed tighter around her keys. “I don’t owe you anything.”
He stepped closer, invading her space. “I paid for a lap dance, and I didn’t get what I paid for. That’s theft, sweetheart.” Her skin crawled at the word.
“That’s not how it works,” she said. “You broke the rules. You touched me.”
“So?” he snapped. “That’s what I paid for.”
“No,” she said sharply. “You paid to look. And you crossed a line.”
His mouth twisted. “You embarrassed me, and your bouncer embarrassed me.”
“He did his job,” Ruby said. “Now you need to leave.”
The man laughed, low and ugly. “Nah. I think you and I can settle this privately. Right now. You give me what I paid for, and we’re even.” Her heart slammed against her ribs. This wasn’t the club. There were no cameras. No stage lights. No security standing ten feet away. She was in real danger.
Ruby took a step back, angling her body toward her bike, toward the building, toward anywhere she could run if she had to. “Get away from me,” she said. “Right now.”
He reached out—caught a handful of her jacket, and Ruby’s instincts took over. Ruby slammed her keys between her fingers and drove her elbow back hard into his ribs. He grunted, stumbling back a step, shock flashing across his face.
“Don’t touch me,” she warned, her breath coming fast now. “You have no idea who you’re messing with.”
He recovered quickly, eyes darkening. “You think you’re better than me now? You’re just a dancer, and you owe me a lap dance still.” The words sliced deep, feeling too close to the truth. She tried to take a step back from him, and he grabbed her arm.
“I said no,” she snapped, trying to tug her arm free from his grasp.
“And no means no.” He grabbed her other wrist, and she panicked.
Fear surged through her, but so did fury.
She twisted, using her weight as leverage.
It was something that she learned in self-defense classes, the Harlots insisted she take.
His grip loosened just enough for her to break free.
“You’re making a mistake,” he snarled.
Ruby backed away, voice shaking but strong. “So are you.”
“You think that you can stop me, but you can’t. I’m going to get my lap dance from you, one way or another,” the guy spat.
A voice cut through the night—low and dangerous. “Let her go.”
Ant stepped out from between two parked cars, and Ruby couldn’t help but gasp. He wasn’t wearing his cut and didn’t flash his FBI badge. He was just a solid, coiled threat in human form, and she had never been so happy to see someone in her life.
The man froze, as though reading Ant as a threat. Ant’s eyes flicked to Ruby—quick and assessing. “You okay?”
Ruby nodded, even though her hands were shaking. “He followed me home.”
Ant’s jaw tightened. He turned his full attention to the man. “You need to leave, now,” he ordered.
The guy scoffed, bravado crumbling at the edges. “She owes me—”
Ant moved faster than Ruby could blink. One second, he was standing there; the next, his hand was wrapped in the man’s collar, slamming him back against a car hard enough to rattle the doors.
“You paid for a fantasy,” Ant growled, voice deadly calm. “You don’t get ownership.”
The man’s face went pale. Ant leaned in close.
“You follow her again, speak to her again, or even think about her—and I promise you, the consequences won’t come from a bouncer.
” He released him with a shove. The man was smart enough not to argue with Ant.
He didn’t look back at them as he ran back to his car.
Ant waited until the guy pulled off, heading back to the highway, before he turned to face her.
Silence fell heavily over the parking lot, and Ruby’s knees nearly gave out.
Ant caught her before she went down, concern etched deep on his handsome face.
“Thank you,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around him.
“I thought someone was following me, but I wasn’t sure until he cornered me here.
God, I’m such an idiot. I should have been more careful. ”
“You shouldn’t have been alone,” Ant insisted. “You should have come back to the club to tell me about your suspicions.”
“I didn’t know you were still nearby,” she whispered. “I thought that you had left.”
“Then you should have called me,” he insisted.
“How did you know that he was going to follow me?” she asked.
“I didn’t,” he admitted. “I had a bad feeling, so I doubled back.”
“Wait, how did you know where I live?” she asked.
He gave a sheepish grin, “Um, I’m FBI, remember? My little background search on you gave me your address.”
She let out a shaky breath. “Thank you,” she breathed.
“I should be mad at you for that, but I’m not.
I’m just thankful that you showed up when you did.
That guy gave me the creeps. He told me that he won’t stop until he gets what he wants from me.
Apparently, he feels slighted that I didn’t give him his full lap dance. ”
“Shit,” Ant growled. “I’m walking you inside.
” Ruby didn’t argue with him because she didn’t want to be alone right now.
As they moved toward the building, Ruby realized something terrifying and undeniable—her past wasn’t just knocking at her door anymore.
It was following her home. And the line between Scarlet and Ruby had never felt so blurred.
Ruby felt bone tired. Maybe that’s why having Ant in her space didn’t feel so foreign to her.
Having him there felt comfortable to her—safe even.
He had gotten her into her apartment and checked the place to make sure that nothing was wrong.
All she could do was sit on the sofa and watch him clear her space.
She couldn’t stop shaking. Why couldn’t she stop shaking?
This wasn’t the first time that a guy had gotten handsy with her.
Heck, she had been groped more times than she would admit, but she never felt this way in the past. When she looked into the guy’s eyes, she saw the sheer determination there, and that was all she needed to know that he wasn’t going anywhere.
He told her that he wasn’t going to stop until he got what he had paid for, and Ruby believed him.
“Does your place have any security?” Ant asked, sitting down next to her on the couch. He was moving around her as though he was afraid that any sudden movement might spook her.
“Um, no,” she breathed. “This place is a shithole,” she said, looking around her apartment. “Heck, most of the streetlights in the parking lot are out.”
“Yeah, I noticed that,” he said. “Do you by chance know that guy?” he asked. “I mean, have you danced for him before?”
“Privately, no,” she said. “But I have seen him around the club. He’s there on the weekends a lot. I guess he’s a regular.”
“Have any of the other women had issues with him?” he asked.
“I have no idea,” she breathed. “I don’t really hang out with the other girls. I show up, work my shift, and leave. The less time I spend there, the better. Plus, I’m not really looking to make friends with the other women there.”
“Understood,” he breathed. He stood from the sofa and crossed the small living room to look out the window.
Her apartment overlooked the parking lot, and she had a feeling that he was trying to see if there were any security cameras on the property.
She hated to tell him, but he was going to be disappointed because there were none.
“You’re asking a lot of questions,” she said. “I’m starting to feel as though I did something wrong. Is there a reason why I’m being questioned about the asshole who followed me home?”
He nodded to the window and looked back at her. “I’m asking a bunch of questions because I’m trying to figure out who your new stalker is.”
“He’s not a stalker,” she insisted, “he just followed me home.”
“Look for yourself,” he said, “your new stalker is sitting in the parking lot. I’m assuming that he’s waiting for me to leave so he can finish what he started.”
Ruby quickly crossed the room to look out the window.
She saw the car before she registered the fear.
It was parked crooked at the far end of the lot, engine off, lights dark—but she knew it was him.
She knew it in the same way she’d known she was being followed tonight.
Some instincts never went away. They just learned to whisper instead of screaming.
Her chest tightened. “That’s his car,” she said softly.
Ant’s body seemed to change instantly. He squared his shoulders, his weight shifting from foot to foot, as his attention locked onto the dark sedan like it was a target instead of just a vehicle. “You sure?” he asked.
Ruby nodded. “Same car. Same plates.” The memory of the man’s hand on her wrist flashed through her mind. The way he looked at her as though she was something he owned—something purchased.