Chapter 16
SIXTEEN
RUBY
I shot up in bed after a particularly hard nap and scrambled to get my phone. I clicked the screen on and practically blinded myself as I unlocked it and pulled up my calendar. Then, a wave of relief washed over me.
Wonderful. No classes today.
I flopped back down into bed and felt my eyes closing again, but the time I caught on my phone screen made me feel guilty. It was almost lunchtime, and I hadn’t surfaced for the day, which meant Puck would come searching for me sooner rather than later.
And the last thing he needed to see were the hickies on my neck.
“All right,” I groaned as I sat up, “time to put on some makeup.”
After over an hour of finding the right combination to cover up the spots on my neck, I decided that a decorative scarf around my neck would also be a nice addition.
Thankfully, I was known to tie them around my neck whenever I wanted to dress a bit nicer, so I slipped into a cute little sundress, did my hair, and made it look like I was on a ‘doll-up spree,’ as Puck so wonderfully called it.
Then, I went in search of everyone, only to find them all jam-packed into the common room.
“Soooo…everything okay in here?”
All of the guys turned to look at me as Stone tucked something into his back pocket. “Yep, we’re good.”
My eyes fell to Diego. “You sure everything’s okay?”
Puck scoffed. “Why the fuck do you care?”
“Because he’s my patient until he’s fully healed,” I spat.
Diego nodded. “We’re good, you have my word.”
I drew in a deep, silent breath. “Okay, then. Is there any coffee left?”
Stone stood to his feet. “I’m going to go check on Hayley, her heartburn’s been killing her lately.”
“Hayley?” Diego asked.
I smiled. “Stone’s woman. She’s six months pregnant.”
Diego stood and patted Stone on the back. “Hey, congratulations. That’s a big thing, and a good thing.”
Stone nodded. “I appreciate that. We’ve been trying for a while, and it finally slapped us in the face at the beginning of the year.”
Diego smiled. “Do you know the gender yet? Or are you guys wanting to be surprised?”
Stone chuckled. “Surprised. At least, that’s what she wants. And you know what they say…”
Diego nodded. “Yep. Happy wife, happy life.”
For a split second, it looked like they were getting along. But once Stone’s face fell back into his hardened form, Diego took a couple of steps back. And as Stone passed by me, he leaned into my ear.
“You mind coming with me? I know you always help calm Hayley down.”
I peeked at him. “Is there a reason why she’s worked up?”
He sighed. “Just come with me?”
I nodded. “Sure, of course.”
I excused myself from the kitchen despite how hungry and needy I was for caffeine.
I followed Stone back into his room where Hayley was propped up with a small glass of milk and a sour look on her face.
She kept rubbing the middle of her chest as if that might do something for the tremendous heartburn she’d been battling since day one.
So, I walked over and perched on the edge of the bed. “Mind if I look you over?”
She slowly looked over at me. “You know I never do.”
I reached for her wrist. “Great. I’ll only be a few minutes.”
I checked her pulse and her pupil responses.
I asked about things like vomiting and if she had any sort of metallic taste in her mouth.
I took a quick diary of her meals the last few days to make sure she was staying the course with her low-acid diet, and as Freya slipped into the room, I decided to be the bull in the china shop.
“Hayley? How are you feeling about bringing a child into this world with everything currently going on?”
She looked at me with wide eyes as the entire room stilled. “I, well, I uh…”
I placed my hand on her knee. “Just talk to me, that’s all I’m asking. I’m sorry for the bluntness, but at this point we can’t afford to be anything but.”
“Why?” Stone asked. “Is something wrong?”
I looked pointedly at Hayley. “Is there something you want to tell me?”
She laughed nervously before groaning. “Look, I’m not the happiest about it but I’m coping the best way I know how.”
I nodded slowly. “Which is to eat things you’re not supposed to be eating.”
“Hayley, seriously? Is that what’s happening?” Stone asked.
She shot him a death glare. “You don’t get to ‘seriously’ me.
You’re the one who spun us off in this direction.
You’re the one who ordered the lockdown.
And I’m supposed to do what, exactly? Act like nothing is happening?
Continue to eat like a rabbit when all I want to do is drown my stress in chocolate cake? Fuck you.”
Stone shrugged. “If it’ll help.”
After she threw a pillow at his head, Hayley’s stare came back to mine. “I’ve been eating like shit because I don’t know what else to do to mitigate the stress. That’s why the heartburn is back so badly. I told Stone there wasn’t a reason to get you because I know why this is happening.”
I looked at her pointedly. “Then, you do realize that your heartburn is what put you in the hospital the first time, right?”
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I know.”
I squeezed her knee. “What else is on your mind?”
Tears rushed her eyes. “I’ve been telling Stone for a while to get the club into more legitimate stuff so we’d never have to be put in this position again.
And I know he was making that effort until this guy showed up.
I mean, in the last three years alone this entire crew has cut back on their weapons sales and started moving more things into more legal places.
They were on the up-and-up until this shit went down. ”
Stone sighed. “Getting out of the weapons’ trade is hard, Hayley. We talked about this.”
She shot him a look. “No, we didn’t. We never once talked about this.
We never talk about anything club-related because God forbid you tell me shit you talk about in your little rat circles.
Well, I’m done with it. If you won’t go legit, then we’re going to have problems. Big ones.
Because I won’t raise a child in a warehouse. ”
Stone sat down and took her hand. “And you won’t. I promise that you won’t. Neither of us will.”
She pulled her hand away. “You better hope for our family’s sake that we won’t.”
I shook my head. “Let me explain to you what he isn’t: if they leave the weapons’ trade cold turkey, then another gang will simply slip in and take their place.
They’ll sell weapons to people that shouldn’t have them, and it will only make things worse for those living here.
But with the deals the guys are doing, they can always try to make sure that their contacts and buyers are vetted so that they aren’t selling to people who will turn around and harm the city. ”
She sank back against her pillows. “I know that. It just…it is what it is, you know? I never wanted to come in and change Stone completely and the way things worked. But I love this man and the life we have together and I’m just trying to find a way to make it work because I’m scared.”
Stone scooted into bed next to her. “Then, be scared with me. I can handle it. I love you, Hayley, and we are going to get through this. I won’t let you down in that regard, okay?”
Tears dripped down her cheeks. “I don’t want you to change. I just want our kid to be safe.”
He took her into his arms. “I know. I know you do, gorgeous. It’s why you’re going to be such a fantastic mom.”
I don’t want you to change.
Those words hung at the forefront of my mind as I eased my way out of their room.
I closed the door behind me and leaned against it, drawing in a deep breath through my nose.
Maybe Diego was like Stone. Maybe he was just a good man that got wrapped up into some bad shit and didn’t have to be fixed.
Or need to be fixed. Or want to be fixed.
Maybe Diego and I could really give this thing a go.
“Fancy meeting you here,” Diego said.
His voice ripped me from my trance. “Oh! Hey there.”
He grinned at me. “You going this way?”
I pushed away from the door and nodded. “I’m going anywhere you’re going.”
He offered me his arm. “Then, by all means, let me lead the way.”
My arm looped around his and my gut turned over at the feeling of his skin against my own. He smiled at me with those pearly whites of his and my heart skipped a beat. We walked down the hallway, talking and giggling to ourselves while we stole a few minutes away from the rest of the world.
But when we got to my bedroom door, I couldn’t help but pull him inside.
“There we go,” I said as I slammed my door closed.
Diego chuckled. “And what kind of trouble are you about to get yourself into?”
I tugged the scarf from my neck. “The kind that feels way too good to indulge only once.”
He stalked toward me and captured my wrists within his hands.
He pinned them above my head, gazing into my eyes as his knee pressed between my thighs.
He stared me down with lust filling those gorgeous orbs of his, and I ground down against his knee to seek out the friction I so desperately wanted as his lips caressed my collarbone.
“Oh my God,” I whispered.
He kissed my skin ever-so-softly. “I love your whispered words.”
His head popped up and he captured my lips, causing my knees to tremble with weakness.
His tongue dominated my mouth, raking across the roof of it and sending me into a spiraling frenzy.
I felt my panties drenching with my juices, his cock growing against my pelvis.
And just as he let go of my wrists, he pulled me away from the door and shoved me onto the bed.
Before he fell to his knees.
“Spread those legs for me, beautiful.”
I gripped the bedsheets. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuuuuuck.”
He slipped my shoes off before his lips kissed up my smooth leg.
He paused at the crook of my knee and nibbled it softly, causing me to giggle as electricity shot through my body.
He bit and sucked his way up to my upper thigh, his tongue playing with the dollop of fat I had sitting on my thigh just beyond my panties.
But a groan left my mouth as he moved to the other leg.
“Diego,” I whimpered.
He kissed my ankle. “Can’t let this leg feel neglected, beautiful.”
“Oh shit,” I whispered.
The door rattled with three solid knocks. “Ruby, you in there?”
My eyes widened as Puck’s voice filtered through the door.
Knock! Knock! “Ruby, I really need to talk to you for a second.”
Diego scrambled off the floor as I sat up in bed. I silently pointed around as he shoved my shoes underneath my bed and tossed me my scarf. I fluffed my hair as Puck stood outside and I quickly tied the scarf back around me as Diego lunged for my closet.
Then, Puck pounded on the door with his fist. “Open the goddamn door!”
And after Diego was completely concealed, I ripped it open. “Are you fucking insane or something?”
He barged into my room. “We really need to talk.”
I quickly glanced over at the closet before I cleared my throat. “What is it? Is something wrong?”
He pinched the bridge of his nose as he perched against the edge of my bed. “It’s just…I have this feeling in my gut that I can’t kick.”
I closed my door and leaned against it. “What kind of feeling?”
He hung his head. “The kind that doesn't end well.”
I walked over and sat beside him. “Do you want to talk about it? Or are you just looking for someone to sit with?”
He clasped his hands around his neck. “Can I just sit here and breathe for a few seconds?”
I rubbed his back. “Of course, you can.”
Those seconds felt like ages, and while I couldn’t get him to talk to me, I did finally get him out of my room.
The second I closed the door, I flipped the lock again and Diego stumbled out of my closet.
He plucked a sock out of his hair and shook off another one of my scarves that had clung to his shirt with static.
But when his gaze met my stare, the two of us laughed.
“Holy shit, that was so close,” I said through my giggling.
He cupped his hand over his mouth. “We almost bit the dust there.”
I threw my head back. “Damn it, he would’ve killed us both!”
He bent forward and pressed his hands into his knees. “Jesus, I almost pissed myself.”
And after we were done laughing away our nervousness, he walked over to me.
“I think I should go ahead and get back to the loft, though. If someone comes looking for me and I’m not there, this entire place might go into lockdown.”
I rolled my eyes. “They’re so damn dramatic.”
He grinned. “Right?”
I giggled softly before my hand fell against his chest. “Make sure to have someone change your dressing when you get back.”
He brought my hand to his lips to kiss. “I will, don’t you worry.”
I nodded and reveled in the heat of his kiss, afraid that if I said anything else I might actually start crying.
“But,” he said as he took a step toward me, “when this is all said and done? I hope to take you out on a proper date. Dinner, a movie, and a nice walk after.”
Butterflies took flight in my stomach. “I’d like that a lot.”
And after he captured my lips in one last searing kiss, he slipped out into the hallway to make his way back to the loft.
Leaving me with weakened knees, a fluttering heart, and a soul that hoped for more to come.