Triple Dare (Sterling Shore 7)

“Well, hell. ‘Bout time you came out with us,” Maverick says, his irritation forgotten as he grins at Jax Marshall.

Jax rolls his eyes as two of his friends move in on to two women that are eyeing Maverick. Maverick being Maverick winks at them, earning a scowl from Jax’s friends.

“That’s why I don’t hang with you asses outside of the gym,” Jax points out. “Or private shit.”

He shrugs while taking a long draw off his beer, while Maverick’s smile fades.

“Because you know the women want a Sterling?” Maverick asks, but that irritation is back in his voice when he remembers what the women are expecting now.

“If I go out with people on my level, women are like, ‘Oh! You own a gym?’” I can’t help but laugh at his excited Valley Girl impression. “Then I go out with you fuckers, and women are like, ‘Oh… You own a gym?’” His sour expression and mock, girly tone of disgust has Maverick and me both laughing harder.

Jax cocks an eyebrow, as if he’s daring us to argue. But then his eyes move over my shoulder, and a slow grin crawls across his face.

“I take that back. Maybe I should hang out with you tonight. Who’s the new girl?”

I turn around, immediately tensing when I see who he’s talking about. Fucking shit. Why is she wearing that?

Ruby is standing just below the VIP booth. Rain is talking to her, making her laugh about something. Dale is over there with them, shooting me a shit-eating grin that I don’t appreciate.

“I love a girl with ink,” Jax continues.

I don’t have to look; I know Maverick is cheesing like the dick he is. I’m trying to keep my jaw from dislocating or clenching it so tightly that I end up grinding my teeth to dust.

Ruby’s long, dark hair is down, carrying a few randomly placed curls in her otherwise board-straight strands. She’s wearing a shirt that shows off about three inches of her stomach, enough for everyone to see the diamond dangling from her belly piercing. Everyone can also see the Stay True tattoo that stretches across her skin just under her navel.

The shirt is sleeveless, red, and intended to draw attention. Her tits aren’t on display, but there’s enough fucking cleavage to draw in the wandering eye. The blue-jean skirt is hella short and frayed along the hem, showing off some of her upper thigh tattoos that I know travel up her sides.

She doesn’t seem to give a damn about the fact she’s caught everyone’s attention.

“Who is she?” Jax prompts again.

I crack my neck to the side, but before I can come up with something to say, Maverick is running his big mouth.

“That would be Ruby. Meet Corbin’s biggest weakness, even though he’s too big of a pussy to admit it aloud. And be careful; he bites.”

My eyes cut toward him, glaring… warning him. But it’s Maverick, so of course the cheeky bastard just grins like he’s enjoying the hell out of this.

“Of course,” Jax groans. “And again, this is why I don’t hang out with you fuckers.”

Maverick laughs, but I’m not too happy about the fact Jax is interested in her. Ruby is one of the few women in Sterling Shore who wouldn’t want the society shit that comes with my name.

She hates socialites. She hates the ritzy parties. She hates everything about what my name represents. It’s amazing she doesn’t hate me. Well, right now she sort of does hate me, but that’s temporary.

“Wait,” Jax says suddenly, his eyebrows drawing together. “Ruby? As in the same Ruby whose name is tattooed on your arm? The one you said was a triple dare?”

I turn around, shrugging like it’s no big deal. “It was a triple dare. And she’s wearing my name, too.”

My grin kicks up when I think of where that tattoo is. Jax frowns, not seeming to like that.

“Well, fuck. Figures. I need to get back to my friends. I’ll see you at the gym.”

He turns and walks off, but not before eyeing Ruby one last time, and drawing in a disappointed breath before shaking his head again. I’m moving before I realize it, heading straight to the girl who is wearing the color of her name.

I smirk when I press my front against her back, feeling her tense against me, and my arms go around her waist like she’s not secretly plotting my death. It took about a year after my royal fuck-up before she’d let me touch her like this again, but I touch her every chance I get now.

Rain sucks at suppressing her grin, but she never looks at me as she continues to tell Ruby about her travel plans.

Ruby, being the stubborn girl she is, doesn’t even acknowledge the fact that I’m holding her to me. But every other girl around notices. Fortunately, Ruby has learned to ignore the glares from women who see me as a conquest. It’s one of my favorite things about her.