“Look, Dane and Dale are more suited for these types of conversations, considering I suck at advice,” I tell them. “Right now I have Ruby in my bedroom because she’s hiding. I’m going to pretend to sneak her out, you all are going to play oblivious and not mention this, and I’m going to go try to enjoy the second day of my own relationship.”
“You and Ruby?” Kode asks, sounding surprised.
“Yes. But she wants to keep it quiet, so this conversation never happened.”
Kode snorts. “Good luck with that. It was miserable keeping my shit with Tria hidden.”
“You sort of suck at a secret relationship if you’re blowing the whistle on day two,” Maverick points out.
“Well, I don’t want it to be a secret. She does. The only people I don’t want to tell is my mother and her father.”
“Why not her father? I thought he liked you,” Dale says, confused.
“He likes me as her friend. Not as her boyfriend. As obsessed as I am with Ruby, I still don’t want her name tattooed on my dick.”
They laugh behind me as I shut the patio doors, and I head back toward my bedroom. Ruby is fully dressed now, sitting on the edge of my bed. Her eyes jerk up to meet mine, and a slow smile spreads.
“Family meeting?”
I groan while jerking a shirt on and buttoning and zipping my pants.
“Let’s sneak out and go to your house,” I tell her, going with the stupid ruse.
She quickly grabs her purse, and I pretend as though we’re actually sneaking out. The guys let us leave, and Ruby giggles like she’s a little excited by the whole secret prospect of our relationship.
It almost makes me feel guilty. Almost.
I still want everyone to know she’s mine, so the guilt doesn’t last long.
As soon as we reach her house, I hear her giggling because of how fast I’m trying to rush us out of the car.
“You think this is funny?” I ask her, smiling as she laughs more.
“A little.”
“My cousins fucked up our morning, and there’s a list of things I want to do to you before you have to get ready for work.”
“Can we do some of those things in the shower?” she asks, and I trip like an idiot. Ruby makes me feel like a teenager all over again—awkward and inexperienced.
I groan before pulling her to me, kissing her as we stumble into her house. She holds onto my shoulders, and her purse crashes to the ground along with a few other things.
I can’t believe she’s finally mine.
She pushes my jeans down, leaving me standing in my boxers. I pick her up, shuffling my feet with my pants around my ankles, and lifting her onto the back of the couch, since it’s the first hard surface I can find. I kiss her harder until she jerks my shirt over my head. The second it’s gone, my lips are back on hers, and—
“So you two are finally together?”
Ruby squeals, and I jump, forgetting that Ruby is leaning against me. My jeans trip me when I forget about them, and I fall backwards, yelping and landing in a heap on my back.
Fuck, that hurts.
Ruby lands on her stomach, heaving out a breath of air, and we both turn to look at the girl who has just surprised the hell out of us.
I swear someone hates me, because I feel like a cartoon character right now. Unbelievable.
“Krysta?” Ruby asks, smiling as she takes in her sister’s smirking face.
I quickly scramble to pull my jeans up and button them, inwardly cursing because now I know damn well I’m going to have blue balls.
Ruby stands and Krysta rushes over to hug her, and I try not to pout like a selfish brat. I knew things were going too good for something shitty not to happen.
“What are you doing here?” Ruby asks her as she pulls back.
“If your invitation still stands, I’m ready to move in. Mom isn’t happy about it, but it’s too close to my birthday for her to do anything about it. I gave her an ultimatum, and she let me walk away.”
“What was the ultimatum?”
“I told her I’d stay if she told me who my father was. Apparently she didn’t want me to stay, because she wouldn’t tell me his name. Still. Eighteen years, and she still refuses to give me that.”
“I’ll see you later,” I tell Ruby as she turns to face me. Thumbing her chin, I press a quick kiss to her lips. It’s not like Krysta didn’t just see us about to fuck on the back of the couch, so there’s no since in pretending nothing is going on in front of her.
CHAPTER 26
RUBY
I want Corbin to stay, but I have to get ready for work, and I can’t just kick Krysta out. What a morning.