Page 74 of Taming Her Temptations

“She probably couldn’t sleep either,” Levi nods.

And how fucking wrong we are.

“What do you mean she left to California to meet an internet friend?” Levi’s voice is barely hanging by a thread and I’m just grateful he can even speak right now when I feel like doubling over and puking in the bushes.

“She knew that if she didn’t leave right away, it would only be a matter of time until you ran into each other again. And I said I would beat your asses on her behalf while she soaks up some sunshine in California.” Mr. Rivers looks at us with scowling eyes.

“Where in California?” Asher ignores the threat of physical violence.

“Do you really think I would tell you that?” He raises judgemental eyebrows at us.

“We fu-” I stop myself, adjusting my language. I need any sliver of goodwill I can get from this man. “We really messed up. We thought we were doing what was right, but it was an emotional conversation.”

He shakes his head. “Listen, I don’t know everything that was done or said, but I do know one thing. Ruby is meant to shine. And she hasn’t had her chance. And now she does. I’m still going to be mean to you three, but I can’t say I’m sorry to see her go out on her own for the first time.”

Mr. Rivers is a good man. And I fucking hate that he sees us as the enemy now. But I don’t blame him. Not one damn bit.

And he’s right. As hard as that conversation was last night, there was a sliver of truth to it. Spending all night questioning myself made me forget that. Ruby needs to learn things on her own. She needs to know for sure her value has nothing to do with Steven’s family name or how obsessed we are with her. It might be unfair of us to be the ones to decide that, but it’s the only way I can see our relationship really being at its best. Because that decision to help Steven was for the good of Steven, Madison, and Levi. But what about her? Why wasn’t she looking out for herself?

“Will you just let us know she’s doing okay?” Levi’s voice is desperate.

Mr. Rivers shrugs. “Maybe, or maybe I’ll let you suffer.”

Fair enough.

“Now I’m going to get back to my cup of coffee because frankly, you’re not worth a cold cup of coffee to me right now.”

We nod, and he goes to close the door.

“Wait,” I stop him. “Just one last thing.”

He does his best version of an annoyed face, but this man is too nice to know how to make that kind of face very well.

“We think she deserves to shine, too. Maybe you don’t believe us right now. But we love her.”

“We’ll see about that then, won’t we?” He says with a shrug and closes the door.

And we walk back to our huge fucking empty house that doesn’t have a damn thing of value in it without her.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Ruby

If I take my dad’s advice, then I should look for the silver lining. The silver lining in this situation is that my life keeps sinking to new lows in the past months that I didn’t even know were possible. If that doesn’t teach me resilience, then I’m not sure what will.

The latest low involves lugging my suitcase under an underpass to meet an internet stranger who could be a catfish that’s ready to lock me in their basement. Oh, and I’m on basically no sleep, so my chance of survival is thin.

I was supposed to meet YourInternetBestie88 tomorrow at a café, where I would have likely enjoyed the climate-controlled comfort of a cab to get there. Except that was before my wallet got stolen at the airport, so I have approximately nothing to my name. They weren’t able to use the credit card I used to put a deposit on the booking at the hotel because I had already put a fraud alert on all my cards.

So basically I’m completely helpless in a completely strange city. I thought about calling my dad and brother, but I couldn’t handle the idea of freaking them out when there’s not much they could do anyway.

Instead, I messaged YourInternetBestie88 telling her what happened and she insisted I stay at her place until I figure it all out. I figured I could take a bus with the five dollars of cash I had in coins at the bottom of my purse but now I’m completely lost with no clue if I’m walking toward my own kidnapping by a catfish or if someone will snatch me up from the side of the road before I get to that part.

I finally get out of the underpass and suddenly the streets have gone from highway blandness to gated mansions. This really must not be the right way.

I drag my suitcase upright and pull up my phone for the thousandth time. My heart races seeing my phone at ten percent. I just need to focus. Surely I can read a damn map on my own?

According to the directions, her house should be just up the road. I say a silent prayer that this is right and lug my suitcase forward.

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