18. Samuel
Ruby is already back in her room, judging by the tiny wet footprints all over the floor and the stairs. My phone is still lying face down on the table, and I’m surprised that she didn’t look who’s calling because she usually puts her little grabby hands on everything that’s none of her business.
It’s my work phone, so there’s only one person who could call me on it.
“Mr. Barron?” I say as I pick up the phone, trying hard not to think about the things that had just happened in the pool or the way Ruby’s tits had looked just before she rushed back into the house.
“Yes, hello, Mr. Mills,” he says, and his tone of voice makes it obvious that he isn’t happy about the fact that it took me a while to answer his call. “Is everything alright at home? What is Ruby doing?”
“She just went back to her room, spent the last few hours at the pool,” I truthfully tell him, just without mentioning that I too enjoyed the amenities of his house, and the lips of his daughter right on mine.
“Good, good,” he mumbles, and I hear people speaking in the background. I can’t make out a lot, but if I had to guess, I’d say that they speak Russian.
I mindlessly raise my free hand to rub my throbbing temples, because I already know that whatever he needs from me will be a fucking pain in the ass. But I have to keep the bodyguard facade up if I don’t want him to suspect anything, and I also have to act like a loyal employee unless I want him to fire me and ruin the mission.
As if fooling around with Ruby wasn’t bad enough already.
“I need you to bring Ruby to the Rosewood Hills Country Club tomorrow at 2 pm. It’s probably better if you don’t tell her where you are going or why, because she’ll meet the son of one of my business partners. Please, Mr. Mills, you seem to have her under control so far. Make sure that she behaves. She won’t be happy, but he’s a nice young gentleman and it would benefit my company greatly if they get along. I know she’s stubborn, but I fully trust you with this task.”
There’s more Russian yelling in the background, only interrupted by Mr. Barron yelling something back every once and then. Rockwell won’t like that he’s currently doing business there, and I know it should worry me too.
Nevertheless, I’m more worried about Ruby’s fucking date tomorrow. Lying to her is nothing new. I’ve been doing that for the past few weeks, but the sole thought of her spending time with another man causes something dangerous to stir deep inside of me.
I classify the feeling as general annoyance as I tell Mr. Barron that I’m going to take care of everything. He promises to send me the address and tells me where to find the keys to the Mercedes before he hangs up.
I feel like throwing my phone back out there in the pool. I don’t do it though. Instead, I walk over to the kitchen to fetch myself a bowl of vanilla ice cream topped with cream liquor. Ruby taught me that, and it admittedly feels less concerning than opening a bottle of whiskey when it’s not even evening.
And it was cherry. Of course, her lips taste like goddamn cherry. Cherry, with a hint of impending doom.
Ruby doesn’t leave her room for the next few hours, probably fell asleep after her shower. By now, I already know that she likes to sleep after, well, lying in the sun and dozing? I never met someone who sleeps so much, but me and my team also rarely get the opportunity to spend our days like that.
It is a good thing that I have most of the day to myself because it gives me the time to think about how I can coax her into driving to the country club with me.
I could do it the Logan way and just tie her up, pull a sack over her head, and haul her into the car. I don’t know if that would make a good impression, though.
The biggest problem also isn’t getting her there, since she always seems happy about any opportunity to leave the house, but to get her to behave towards the guy.
Ruby cannot behave. It’s like asking a dolphin to fly.
But I solved problems that were way above this in the last few years of my career, so I should be able to get the little brat to come with me and act the way I want her to.
Which should be approachable and polite towards the guy, maybe even flirt with him, and I really, really don’t like to think about that. Kissing her was a horrible mistake, one that my body wants to repeat as soon as possible, unfortunately.
I must have dozed off on the couch while coming up with a plan, because when I wake up, the sun is already down and Ruby is rummaging through the fridge with a lackluster impression on her face.
“Had a good nap?” She asks as she pulls out a piece of salmon from the fridge only to inspect it and put it back in. “Would you mind it if we order pizza tonight? I really don’t feel like cooking.”
“If you pay,” I say, yawning as I get up.
“How generous of you.” She throws a flyer over at me. “I already know what I want, tell me when you’re ready.”
It doesn’t take me long to decide and not even half an hour after she ordered, the delivery guy rings the doorbell. Since she paid, I agreed to go to the door, and to my surprise, the guy holds up three boxes.
I walk over to Ruby who’s already waiting on the couch and if this was my house, I wouldn’t allow her to eat on there but I’m not the one who has to call a professional cleaner if there are stains on the fabric.
Ruby ordered something that looks like a mountain of pepperoni and corn, and it’s glistening so much that it makes my tuna pizza look almost healthy. We eat in peace and watch her dating show in the background.
We’re on a different season by now. Apparently, I need to watch all the previous seasons and three other shows for context.
She’s weirdly calm tonight, and I don’t know if the pizza just slowed her system down or if it has to do with what happened in the pool. Still, I am thankful for it.
After putting a few leftover slices of her pizza in the fridge, she comes back with the third box I was wondering about.
“I can already feel my arteries clogging up just from looking at that thing,” I say as she opens the box and puts it on the couch between us. I didn’t know they made pizza with chocolate, more chocolate, and a tiny amount of fruits on it, but it looks heavenly.
“We can eat a salad tomorrow, and maybe some lighter stuff for the rest of the week,” she says with a laugh while taking a slice.
One bite is enough to make me realize what I’ve been missing out on for the last 30 years of my life and I have to beg Ruby to put the box away after a while.
She’s snuggled up on the couch, her head resting against my shoulder, fully immersed in the, as she put it, most important episode of the season. It’s just the entire cast, once again screaming at each other, but she’s the pro.
“You wanna go on a trip tomorrow?”
“Ohh, like, on a date?”
“No, not a date,” I lie. Or maybe it’s not even a lie, because technically, this trip is supposed to be a date, just not with me.
“Still fine. Where are we going?”
“Surprise.”
“Come on, tell me, please.”
“No, and stop asking or we won’t go.”
“Fine,” she says, huffing quietly into her blanket.
That was easier than expected. But it also wasn’t the hard part. I just hope that getting her to behave will be equally easy, even though I doubt it with every fiber of my being.
“Ruby.”I knock on her door the next day around 11am, knowing damn well that she’s probably still asleep.
“Huh?” A strangled groan comes from inside her room, and it sounds like I am right.
I knock again because I want her to come out, but it doesn’t seem like she’s moving an inch.
“God, Samuel, get the fuck in here if you need something at this ungodly hour,” she yells and I roll my eyes before I enter her garbage dump. The garbage dump that is surprisingly clean by her standards, I notice.
I looked up the address Mr. Barron sent me last night and the country club is a one-hour drive away, so I need to get Ruby in the car before 1pm. Maybe a little earlier in case she throws a tantrum when we arrive and she finds out that I lured her there, and a few more minutes to let her get her anger about her dad setting up a date for her out.
Which gives me barely two hours to get her awake and ready.
She turns around to face me, stretching out her body as she rolls on her back and lets her head dangle over the mattress. Fuck, how much I want to shove my cock down her throat. She holds her hands out to me, a tired smile on her face.
I sigh as I pull her up, and she stands up from the bed. At least she’s not naked, but her oversized shirt hitches up, exposing a tiny pink thong.
“You think you’re able to get ready in an hour?”
“Why?”
“Because we’re going on a trip? Or did you already forget that?”
“Ah, yes. I just didn’t think we were going this early,” she says with a yawn as she walks over to the bathroom, coming back with a toothbrush in her mouth a minute later.
“Put on something nice. Appropriate-nice, not Ruby-nice, understand?”
She mumbles something and I can’t make out a single word, but I hope it is “Yes, sir, I’m going to put on a decent outfit.”
I leave her room to let her get ready and continue to prepare the speech I’m going to give her once we arrive at the country club to convince her to be nice to the guy.
Not too nice though, I don’t want to kill someone.
Ten minutes pass, then thirty, and then almost an hour, and just when I want to stomp back up there to tell Ruby to get going, she comes out of her room. She’s wearing a short skirt that has me thinking about what I could do to her while she’s wearing that.
I don’t know much about fashion, or about the appropriate attire for a country club, but I guess her outfit is fitting. She definitely looks good in it, maybe a bit too good, but then again, that’s a general issue with Ruby.
“Oh, Sam, you look handsome,” she giggles as she puts her hand on my chest for a second before I start to gently shove her towards the stairs.
I get her into the car without a fight, even though Ruby repeatedly, and not very subtly, tried to convince me to let her drive. But this would mean telling her where we’re going, which would be a bad idea.
She talks for a while until I tell her to shut up or I’ll cancel our trip. A tiny, very tiny, part of me feels bad for letting her run right into this trap, but I can’t risk losing Mr. Barron”s trust. Not now. And she’s always so eager to leave the house either way.
I connected my headphones to my phone, so that Ruby doesn’t hear the driving instructions, but as we’re almost at the country club, she recognizes where we are.
She glares at me, and I immediately lock all the doors. I wouldn’t put it past her to jump out of a moving car just to prove a point.
“Sam, why are we driving to Rosewood Hills? Don’t tell me you want to go golfing with me.”
“Yeah, so, about this trip… Don’t freak out.”