Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
MICAH
Seeing Ruby in my clothes will never get old.
She’s wearing my old Army sweatshirt again, her legs tucked up beneath it as she sits on the couch, staring out at the sun rising over the skyline.
Her bare feet poke out at the bottom, small and delicate.
When she lifts her hand to push an unruly curl away from her forehead, the oversized sleeve slides to her elbow, revealing a slender, freckled arm.
As I watch her, a wave of protectiveness slams into me, more intense than it’s ever been.
Maybe it’s because we finally had sex.
Maybe it’s because I’m feeling anxious about the lack of progress on Ruby’s case. Without conclusive evidence proving Sylvia was responsible, we’re still stuck investigating dozens of possibilities.
After the incident at the station---which garnered Liam a misdemeanor charge and a restraining order, which I think is woefully insufficient---I really thought he could have done it.
But we still haven't found any proof. Same with Ruby's coworkers.
Her neighbors. Old friends from high school.
Even the jerk who fired her as his editor.
No matter how hard we look, nothing useful has come up on any of them.
And that’s assuming Ruby’s attacker is someone she actually knows.
If it’s some random guy who spotted her on the street and followed her home, staked out her building, waiting to see if she’d go out on her little fire escape slash balcony…
Shit. It could take us weeks or even months more to find the culprit.
If we lived in a small town, like some of my old Army buddies do, I think it would be easier to solve the case.
We’d have a community of people looking out for suspicious activity.
There wouldn’t be apartment buildings with hundreds of tenants and thousands of people traveling the same sidewalk every day.
Yes, I know Ruby’s safe here. She says she’s happy with poker nights and visits from friends. But I want this over for her. I want her to start living again.
Frustration makes my jaw set. As my teeth grind together, there’s a flare of pain.
There has to be something else we can do. At this point, I don’t care if it’s legal. All that matters is finding the piece of shit targeting Ruby.
I’ll talk to Rogue, I decide. Privately.
It won’t be F&F business. It’ll be just between us.
Because he’ll understand. When Sofia was in trouble, he would have done anything to protect her, legal or not.
Shit, he made a deal with the don of the Cosa Nostra to keep her safe, and I know he doesn’t regret it for a second.
“Good morning.” Ruby smiles as she turns to look at me. “Although I guess I already saw you this morning, didn’t I?”
Since we didn’t fall asleep until after midnight—after our second and equally amazing round of sex—she’s technically right. Crossing the room to join her, I reply, “That’s true. But you can tell me good morning as many times as you like.”
Ruby untucks her legs and moves over on the couch to make room for me. “Good morning again, then,” she says. Her gaze is soft as it meets mine. “Did you sleep all right?”
“Yeah.” I take a seat beside her and loop my arm around her waist. “I slept pretty well.” Then I tap her nose and give her a teasing smile. “Except for when your snoring woke me up.”
Ruby’s eyes go wide. “What? I was snoring?”
“Yup. Like a little chainsaw.” After a beat, I amend, “Maybe not a chainsaw. Quieter than that. A leaf blower. One of those rechargeable ones.”
“Micah! Was I really snoring? Or are you just making that up? No one’s ever told me I snored before.”
Nodding solemnly, I say, “Sorry. You were. But don’t worry, it wasn’t too loud. You only woke me up a few times.”
Pink rushes to her cheeks. “Oh, my gosh. Why didn’t you wake me up?
That’s so embarrassing. Should I get those nose strips?
Or…” Her forehead creases. “Grace uses a mouth guard to keep from snoring. She says it works. Although that’s not very sexy…
Crap. I’ll have to sleep in the other bedroom. I can’t be waking you up all night.”
Lifting Ruby onto my lap, I kiss her forehead. “I’m just teasing, Rue. You don’t snore. Other than making this cute little snuffling noise once in a while.”
Ruby narrows her eyes at me. “So I wasn’t snoring?”
“Nope.”
She gives my shoulder a little shove. “Micah. Why would you tell me that?”
“Just messing with you a little.” I look at her seriously. “I won’t if it bothers you.”
Her lips twitch. “No, it’s fine.” Leaning back against my chest, she adds, “My mom and dad liked to tease each other. It was never malicious. They were just having fun with each other.”
“Same with my parents,” I reply. “My dad loves to tease my mom about how she always forgets where things are. And she does. She’s an artist, and when she’s in the middle of creating a piece, she gets really distracted.
She’ll leave her keys in the fridge, or she’ll make a sandwich and misplace it for days. ”
“Your mom’s an artist?” Ruby asks. Interest brightens her gaze. “What kind of art?”
“Paintings, mainly. Oil and acrylic. She has her work displayed in some Manhattan galleries. And in DC, she has her own gallery.”
“That’s really cool, Micah. Has she always been an artist?”
I nod. “Pretty much. She got her degree in art at Boston College, and got involved with the art scene out there. Then she met my dad, and he was working on getting his business up and running, so she helped him with that for a while. Once he was more established, she started painting full time.”
“So they met in Boston?”
“Yeah. My dad went to MIT, so he was in Cambridge the same time she was in Boston. They met through a friend of a friend, and they clicked right away. After my mom graduated, they got engaged. A year later, they were married. And they’ve been together ever since.”
Ruby regards me quietly for a few seconds. “That’s really nice, Micah. That they’ve been together so long.” A wistful expression moves across her face. “I think my parents would have still been together if my mom hadn’t died. They were really in love. Even as a kid, I could tell.”
Snuggling Ruby close in my arms, I kiss her gently. “I bet you’re right. Everything you’ve told me about your parents… they sound like they were really happy. And in love.”
She nods. “They were. I wish you could have met them.”
My heart tugs. “Me too.” After a brief pause, I add, “I’d love for you to meet my parents sometime. They come to the city a few times a year. Or we could make a trip to Potomac to visit them. I know they’d love to meet you.”
A smile brightens Ruby’s solemn expression. “You want me to meet your parents?”
“Of course. Unless you’d rather not.”
“Oh, no. I would love that. Your parents sound great. I mean, they must be to have raised a man like you.”
“They are,” I agree. “Although I didn’t always act that great.
I told you about how I was when I was in high school.
I didn’t really grow out of it until my early twenties.
But that wasn’t their fault. They had money, obviously, but they weren’t like a lot of people in their social circle.
They didn’t act like they were superior because of it. ”
“You were a kid,” Ruby says. “Kids rebel against their parents. They want the opposite thing, sometimes just on principle.”
“True.” I look out the window, watching the sun as it reflects off the gleaming skyscrapers. “It was partly that, I’m sure. Just natural rebellion. But it was the way people treated me, too.”
I take a moment to collect my thoughts. “It wasn’t just the kids at school who treated me differently,” I say. “It’s been my whole life. And I don’t want to make it out like, oh, poor Micah, it must be so hard to grow up rich. I’m not saying that at all.”
“I know.” She takes my hand, lacing her fingers between mine. “But when it’s all people see about you, that must be hard.”
“My friends don’t. Rogue and Jester and those guys. They never cared about my money. Neither do the people at F&F. But dating…”
I’m not eager to bring up the topic of dating with Ruby. Especially not on the heels of such an amazing night. But I want her to know how special she is to me. How serious my feelings are for her. And to do that, I need to tell her everything.
“What about dating?” Ruby flashes me a quick smile. “I know you’ve dated, Micah. It’s okay.”
“But I haven’t, really. Not in a very long time.” At her surprised look, I continue, “In my twenties I did. Not often, because I was so busy with work. But there were women.”
“That’s alright.” She strokes my hand with her thumb. A line forms between her brows. “Did something happen?”
“Nothing bad like you might imagine. It was just… as soon as they realized who I was, things changed. It was all about what I could give them. Expensive trips. Jewelry. Cars—”
“Cars?” Ruby’s voice pitches up. “Women asked you to buy them cars?”
“Sometimes, yes. Or apartments. Or houses. They would hint about their credit card debt. Or their student loans. If it had to do with money, I heard it.” Meeting her gaze, I add, “It’s not that I didn’t want to spend money on them.
But it got to the point where I felt like I was only a piggy bank.
Who I was wasn’t important. It was just how much money my family had. ”
Her expression turns sympathetic. “That sucks, Micah. I’m sorry.”
“When I moved here to work for Fox & Falcon, it got worse,” I explain. “Women would seek me out, but it was always with an ulterior motive.”
“Well, you are pretty handsome, too,” Ruby says lightly. “So I’d imagine that helped.”
I shake my head. “There was always something. A business venture or a trip to Tiffany’s or a week-long stay at a mansion in the Hamptons.
And when I’d say no, that’s when things got ugly.
I’d get accused of being stingy. Selfish.
Self-absorbed. But it wasn’t that. I just wanted someone to care about me, and not what I could give them. ”
“So you stopped dating?”