Page 72 of Taming Her Temptations

“Thanks,” I say, suddenly feeling not as excited to be free.

“Good luck, Ms. Rivers. Start a new life for yourself. You deserve it.”

I take a deep breath. Well, I’m certainly going to try.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Ruby

“What the fuck were you thinking?” Dean is pacing around the entrance of their home.

I’m seated on the bottom step of their grand staircase wearing one of their t-shirts and sweatpants, which they brought when they picked me up at police headquarters.

I thought the worst of my night was over, but walking through the doors with them at Rosewood Manor has felt like I’ve entered a version of hell where everything just keeps getting reset, and I have to start a horrible scenario even worse than the last.

“I don’t understand why you guys are making such a big deal out of this. I was trying to do the right thing.” I grit out.

I’ve explained to them what Steven asked of me.

Okay, yes. I was completely bamboozled but how was I supposed to know that? I’m just ready to put it in the past. Steven and Madison are long gone, probably sipping cold drinks by a pool somewhere with all the money they’ve stolen which I’m sure we will learn is a lot more than we could have ever imagined.

“That wasn’t the right thing,” Levi says darkly. His simmering quiet anger is unnerving. “That was a self-sacrifice and a damn unnecessary one. You could have come to us and we would have figured it out.”

“There’s nothing you could have done,” I say angrily. “Maybe you wouldn’t have let me do it. Then they would have dragged Madison in as the most likely suspect, and that would have put her pregnancy in danger.”

“Oh, and him dragging her halfway across the world to hide out doesn’t do that?” Levi yells.

That part I can understand why he might be mad. By not telling him what happened, I unintentionally put his sister and nephew in even more danger.

“I didn’t know that would happen.” My voice is a whisper now, guilt settling in my stomach.

“You chose him,” Asher says low. He doesn’t sound angry. He just sounds disappointed and I think that might be the worst of all.

“I didn’t choose him!” I stand up off the steps. “I know what death is and I know that Madison could have lost that baby. I couldn’t live with myself.”

“It had nothing to do with you,” Levi yells. “That’s their life. They made those choices. We’re building our life.” He stops, taking a deep breath to calm himself down. “Or at least I thought we were. You could have gone to jail, Ruby. For years. Hell, you still could. And what about our life together?”

I swallow hard. I hear the fear in his voice, and it shakes me to my core.

“That should have been a decision we made together. You lied to us,” he says in a lower, more defeated tone.

After all the boundaries I’ve set up to make sure they never lied to me, it turns out that I’m the liar. I did the exact thing they were afraid of.

“I know you worked as a team with Steven for a really long time,” Asher starts. “I think you need more time away from him.”

I feel like I’ve been punched in the gut.

I stay silent, afraid to speak. Because suddenly it feels like an unspoken agreement that this is our crossroads. Depending on what happens in the next few minutes, we could go up those stairs like the jolly foursome we are or I walk out that door forever.

“More time?” I finally choke out.

Just the thought of leaving makes me sick to my stomach. But I know walking up those stairs isn’t right either right now.

“He’s right, Ruby.” Dean shakes his head. “We can’t be your damn rebounds.”

“Rebounds?” I raise my voice now. Now it’s my damn turn to get angry. “Yes, I fucked up. But you bolt this quickly for one damn mistake? Do you know what I think…” I pace around the room, looking each of them in their eyes. “This is your first good excuse. You had fun playing house for a little and now you’re ready to move on.”

“Playing house?” Dean’s voice rumbles across the stone floor.

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