Shacking Up (Shacking Up (Shacking Up 1)

“I can’t help you.”

Something is really off here. “You can’t help me or you won’t?” At her silence I sigh. “Do you know where she is?”

“I’m not answering that.”

“I got in this afternoon and her room is empty, all of her things are gone.”

“What a surprise.”

What the fuck did I do to deserve this treatment? “Is she okay? Is she safe? Can you tell me that?”

“She’s as okay as she can be.”

“What does that mean?”

“She’s safe.”

Well, that puts my mind at ease a little. “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to tell me where I might find her?”

“Probably asleep. In her bed. Or someone else’s if she’s taken my advice.”

“What? I—” Dead air follows before I can get another word out.

What the hell is going on? What could’ve happened in the days between Ruby ending up in my bed and now that she’s up and vanished?

Based on the time of day, she’s likely already at the club. Which is exactly where I’m going. I don’t bother to change out of my wrinkled suit. I drive my truck instead of Ubering, so I don’t have to deal with waiting. A woman I recognize as one of the ladies who was in my living room, scuffing up my hardwood with her heels, greets me at the door of the club.

She props a fist on her hip. “If you’re looking for Ruby, she’s not here.”

She always works on Saturday night, and she’s usually here by now. “Is she coming in later?”

She gives me a funny look. “She doesn’t work here anymore. I need to get ready. We have a new girl and she’s just as clueless as Ruby Tuesday was when I trained her.”

She closes the door in my face.

What the fuck is going on? Did she get fired? I’m sure Amalie will have the answer to that. If she wasn’t going to be at dinner I would bail simply to avoid Brittany. Now I don’t seem to have a choice but to go so I can find out what has happened to change things so drastically in the time I’ve been gone.

As it is, I arrive nearly half an hour late. My mother is irate. I can tell by the tic in her left eye.

“Bancroft. You’re late,” she hisses as I bend down to receive a kiss on the cheek.

“Sorry, Mimi, traffic.”

“Everyone else managed to avoid traffic.”

“I must’ve come a different way.”

I’m in too bad a mood to be able to placate my mother, and of course I’m assaulted by Brittany the moment I enter the sitting room. She’s standing conveniently close to the foyer, so as soon as I cross the threshold she rushes over and throws her arms around my neck.

“Banny!” Her shrill voice makes a shiver run down my spine. She kisses my cheek, then backs up, giggling as she wipes away the lipstick residue. “I’m so glad you could make it. Mimi said your plane landed just a few hours ago. You’re such a trooper.”

“I got here as quickly as I could,” I lie. I take her by the shoulders and step away in an attempt to make it appear as though I’m appreciating her dress. “You look lovely, as always.” This is untrue. Much like the other time I was forced into entertaining her, she was dressed like she was ready for a night at the club. And this time her parents are here to witness it.

I feel a prickle at the back of my neck and look up to find Amalie glaring at me from over the rim of her martini glass.

When I’m finally able to make it over to her side of the room, she gives me a tight smile.

“I need to talk to you,” I say quietly.

“You have nothing to say that I want to hear,” she replies through a plastered on smile and gritted teeth.

My mother calls us to the table. Of course Brittany manages to snag the seat beside me. Lexington takes the seat next to her. It’s unfortunate my mother didn’t try to set Brittany up with him. I have a feeling he might actually enjoy dealing with her. Or at least what she promises to provide later in the night.

I have to move Brittany’s hand off my thigh four times during dinner. She thinks she’s being cute. I think she’s being annoying. Now, if it was Ruby trying to feel me up under the table, it would be a different story.

At one point she excuses herself to the bathroom. She gives me a less-than-covert wink as she leaves the table. I assume it’s an invitation of some kind. I ignore it. At some point she must realize I’m not coming after her because she returns to the table, pouting.

Amalie is stiff during the entire meal and I keep catching her glaring at me. She pushes her food around her plate, hardly touching a thing. At the end of the meal she excuses herself. I give her two minutes’ lead time before I do the same.

I wait outside the powder room, which would be creepy if the situation was different. She has information I need right now. I also want to set her straight about Brittany, because it’s clear she thinks I’m in on this date business.

As soon as the bathroom door opens I step forward, making an escape impossible. “I need to talk to you.”

She snorts and crosses her arms over her chest. “I will kick you in the family jewels if you do not get out of my way.”

“You know, I might even let you do that if you tell me what the hell is going on.”

She stops trying to get around me. Her brow furrows and she gives me a strange look. “You would let me kick you in the balls?”

“If it means that you’ll tell me why Ruby hasn’t contacted me in a week and why she’s not working at that club anymore, I might.” I glance down at her feet. “But not while you’re wearing those shoes. They’re dangerous.” She’s wearing the same kind of shoes Ruby was wearing when she performed that song on stage. In fact, they look like they might just be the same ones.

I drag my eyes back up to her face. Man, her pissed-off face scares me, maybe because she’s usually such a soft, warm person. She’s never been sassy with me like Ruby always is. Jesus, I miss her.

Amalie steps in close, eyes alight with a fire I’ve never seen before. “Ruby told me all about the message you left her and the one Brittany left for you. What kind of person are you, trying to pay her off. It’s disgusting.”

“Pay her off? For what?”

“For the sex.” She says it like I’m the stupidest person on the face of the earth. Because clearly I am.

“Whoa, whoa. Hold on here. Why the hell would she think I was paying her off?”

“Because you left her five thousand dollars and a message about how your arrangement changed, you asshole. And all the while you’re setting up dates with whoreface Brittany. Ruby doesn’t just sleep with anyone, you know. She really liked you and then you had to go and do this. And you just up and disappear for a week. What kind of jerkoff are you?”

Oh shit. Now this is all starting to make sense. “Okay, first things first, I wasn’t trying to pay Ruby for sex. I had no idea how long I was going to be gone and I needed to leave money because I didn’t have time to get supplies for Francesca and Tiny. Secondly, I’ve known Brittany since I was a kid and she’s here because my mother wants me to date her, not because I do. Why wouldn’t Ruby call me before she went and moved all her stuff out? And she’s not working at the club anymore. Please tell me she didn’t go back to Rhode Island.” I hadn’t even considered that possibility until now. It amps up the panic.