Ruby Revenge

“Nothing,” I muttered as I kept walking. “I need you to take me to the store later.”

He gripped my elbow, spinning me around. “What are you up to? You talk to me for the first time in weeks. The same day you want to come here. And now you want to go to the store. What the hell are you trying to do?”

“Tampons. I need tampons.” I tore my arm away as his suspicion dropped and his eyes grew big.

“Oh. Right.”

Enjoying the blush that was creeping up his face, I leaned against the wall and crossed my arms. “Unless you and Alex have female products at the house?”

“No, we don’t,” he mumbled. “You need to go now?”

Wanting to hide the keys I had on me before doing anything else, I shook my head. “No. But I’ll need to in the next few days.”

He nodded, and we headed out the front door. He locked up the house, and we got back in the truck. The ride was silent as sadness and nerves swarmed me. Going back to my house had brought up more emotions than I thought it would. But I got what I wanted.

“Thanks. For taking me,” I said, as we pulled up to the house.

“Sure,” he replied in a monotone voice. I wondered if his guilt was worse now that he’d been to our house and saw Lacey’s room. Maybe he’d have a change of heart about helping me if I needed it. Going into the house and going straight to my room, I pushed the door shut, only for it to swing back open.

“What—”

“Really, Sage? You think I’m that stupid?” Niko said quietly as he stood in the doorway.

“What are you talking about?”

“I felt bad. I gave you space. I heard you shuffling in your room when I got the backpack. I gave you the benefit of the doubt. Until we got back here, and you ran in here, trying to hide whatever you took.” He stepped into the room, and I stiffened.

“All I took was personal stuff. I came straight to the room so I didn’t have to be around you.”

“Give it to me.”

“I don’t have anything.”

He sighed. “Are you really going to make me frisk you?”

“You wouldn’t touch me now that I’m back with Alex.”

His jaw clenched. “Would you rather we waited for him to come home so you can explain that you took something?”

He waited for me to answer, his threat hanging in the air. My eyes widened, and fear heated my veins. Alex couldn’t know about this. He had to believe I was happy to stay here and be with him. Keeping my eyes on his, I dug Lacey’s truck key out of my pocket and threw it at him. After catching it, he held the key up.

“What car do these go to?”

“Lacey’s truck.”

He nodded and put them in his pocket.

“That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

I bit my tongue, not saying a word. The key in my shoe was pressed against my foot. At least I still had one of them. I stalked past him to leave the room when he grabbed my arm and pushed me into the wall.

“That was all I took,” I screamed as he got a hold of my wrists.

“You gave that up way too easy.”

“I didn’t want Alex to find out.” I struggled to twist my arm out of his grasp.

“Then you won’t mind if I just check the rest of your pockets?” he asked, holding my wrists with one hand.

“Not getting enough attention from other girls since you’ve been stuck here with me? Need to get off somehow, huh?” I snarled.

His grip tightened. I debated about using some defense tactics I had learned but thought better of it. No matter what I did to him, I was still stuck in this house. It would only get worse if he told Alex any of this. I could see him trying to calm himself down. A minute went by without a word being said.

Finally, he forced a grin. “It’s all right, Sage. Say whatever you want. I know you need to get it out. And you sure as hell can’t say what’s on your mind to my brother. You need him to be happy with you. It doesn’t matter what you say to me. I’m going to do what needs to be done anyway.”

He quickly patted down my pockets with his free hand as I writhed away from him. Satisfied I didn’t have anything, he released me.

“I only took the key.”