Chapter 20 Ruby
TWENTY
RUBY
While the guys continued to stare at one another like they had no fucking clue what had just happened, I dashed after my brother.
I wasn’t going to be leaving things like this.
Not when he had just pulled a gun on Diego and shoved me so hard that I had cracked my damn head open.
The throbbing in my temples raged as I held my head, taking the stairs two-by-two just to catch up with him.
“Puck, wait up!” I exclaimed.
That only made him walk faster, though.
So, I picked up the pace. “I beat your ass in cross-country, so don’t think you can get away from me!”
“Trust me,” he called back as he started to jog, “you don’t want to deal with me right now.”
So, I started to sprint. “Get the hell back here! I might have a concussion because of you!”
He whipped around and grabbed my upper arms. “What the fuck were you thinking!?”
My eyes widened as I gripped his shirt. “I was thinking that Diego isn’t the person anyone here believes him to be.”
“And you know this?” he asked as he shook me. “You know he’s not going to pull a one-eighty and destroy all of us simply because he was able to get in your fucking panties?”
“Fuck you,” I hissed.
I broke free long enough to slap him across the face, and for a moment it stunned him. He stared at the wall before he brought his gaze back to mine, my handprint sitting directly against his cheek. I held my head high, waiting for him to realize just how idiotic he had become through all of this.
But instead, he put his finger in my face. “Even if you don’t see the mistake you’re making, I won’t allow it to happen.”
I slapped his hand out of my face. “Why the hell do you have to always be so fucking protective over me? I’m not someone you need to defend, Puck. I’m a grown-ass woman who learned how to protect herself from you. What? Do you not trust what you taught me?”
He got in my face and yelled. “You always make the wrong decisions! That’s why I had to teach you! So, can you for once just not fuck your entire life up because you want to ride the wrong cock!?”
My jaw hit the floor. “How dare you speak to me that way? My life is not for you to judge. You’re the one who deals weapons and kills people for a living! You don’t get to talk to me about life fucking choices right now!”
He tilted his head as his eyes grew wide with anger. “You forget so easily that I was there the night Blake died.”
I swallowed hard as the memories came crashing back.
“You forget that I saw the grief in you when you realized you weren’t strong enough to fix him.
You forget that I held you while you cried for months on end while you racked your brain as to how you could have saved him when you know damned well he was beyond saving.
And seeing you like that killed me, Ruby.
It changed me inside, permanently, and I promised myself that no matter what—no matter what you said or did—I promised myself that I’d never, ever let you experience something like that again.
Even if you hated me for the measures I had to take.
So, I fight you like this so you don’t end up with trash guys that always end up leaving you and hurting you in the end. ”
I chewed on the inside of my cheek. “So, you think Diego’s trash?”
He nodded. “I think he’s a dumpster fire that’s ready to burn this entire crew down just because Notch had a soft spot for someone in his family.”
I closed the distance between him and snarled.
“Sounds like a personal problem, then. Because Diego isn’t trash.
And you? You’re not the gatekeeper to my life.
You don’t get the choice of vetting who’s allowed in and who I’m not allowed to be around.
We aren’t twelve. This isn’t middle school.
And what that man did to protect Hayley and Stone was nothing short of miraculous and heroic.
He saved them today. He put his own life and reputation on the line to make sure they weren’t being tailed when he came back here because he knew what was here.
He knew what was at stake. And he wasn’t willing to compromise that. ”
He scoffed. “How the hell do you know what went on this afternoon?”
I shrugged as I took a step backward. “I have my ways. I know so much more than you want me to know, trust me. But when they left that hospital and they knew they were being tailed, he told Stone and Hayley to get their asses back here so he could deal with them before he came back, too.”
Puck blinked. “I didn’t know all of that.”
I folded my arms over his chest. “Now, does that sound like the actions of a man wanting to bury us alive?”
Notch’s voice sounded behind us. “I’m actually interested in that answer, too.”
Puck’s eyes danced between us before he snickered. “Whatever.”
I grinned. “Which is code for, you didn’t expect him to do something like that and now you’re eating your words. Right?”
My brother glared at me. “Something like that.”
I nodded and turned to Notch. “Can you take a look at the back of my head? When Puck shoved me, I went down against the corner of Diego’s nightstand.”
Notch peered over my shoulder. “You shoved your own damn sister, dude?”
I placed my hand on his shoulder. “Just focus, okay? We’ve had enough fighting to last for the rest of the damn week as far as I’m concerned.”
Then, Diego’s voice followed the next set of footsteps I heard. “Is she all right? Is she still bleeding, Notch?”
I furrowed my brow. “He sent you down here to check on me?”
Notch nodded. “He said he saw blood and was worried.”
I turned to stare at my brother. “That’s more than I can say for this one over here.”
Puck shook his head. “If you guys want to gang up on me, that’s fine. But that man isn’t good enough for you, Ruby, even if he did a good thing today.”
Diego clicked his tongue. “I was raised with the idea that any man who made a woman bleed by his own hand wasn’t good enough for anyone. And yet, I’ve never once made a woman bleed on my account.”
Puck glowered at him. “Come say that to my face.”
“Enough,” Notch growled.
Everyone fell silent as we all turned to face my brother and he rolled his eyes.
He shoved past everyone and paused just shy of Diego before their eyes locked.
I held my breath. I waited for my brother to slug the man and open the wound all over again.
But as the two of them stared off with one another, my brother did something I’d never seen him do in all my life.
He relented.
“What you did today was a good thing, but that doesn’t justify taking advantage of my sister because of it,” he hissed.
Well, he sort of relented.
Diego sighed. “I’m sorry you had to find out about us like this. That honestly wasn’t my intention.”
My brother’s face turned red with anger. “Fuck you and your intentions. If I ever catch you like that with my sister again, I don’t care what these other fuckers say. You’re dead. Got it?”
“Puck!” I shrieked.
He whipped around on me. “And as for you? You should know better. You’ve put yourself and me through enough of your idiotic man bullshit to last us two lifetimes. How about you start making better decisions and maybe I’ll stop having to clean up your goddamn messes.”
“Puck!” I yelled.
As he stormed off, leaving all of us in the hallway in silence, I watched Diego do the noble thing. I watched him turn to follow Puck, probably in the hopes of smoothing things over.
“Don’t,” I said softly.
I captured his hand with my own before he looked down at me. “I don’t want him to feel the way he’s feeling. It isn’t right.”
I nodded. “I know. But give him time. He just needs to blow off some steam.”
But in the back of my mind, I wasn’t sure there was enough steam in the world for Puck to blow off before he was okay with what he had just seen.
Which was the only thing about this situation that broke my heart.