Page 33 of Derick

“Andrew asked to come too. He adores Hope, and she wants him to come and hang out with her friends. I mean, mentally he’s the same age.”

“Isn’t he the same age as me?” Ruby asked.

“Yeah, but trust me, his behavior is on par with a three, four year old, so he’ll totally fit in.”

She giggled and patted my chest. “I haven’t met either of them. This is a three-year-old’s party and she already has her teachers coming to it. This was more for her friends. Aren’t we doing the rest of your family on Saturday?”

“You’re right. We are seeing them all on Saturday, and if Jaxson and Andrew came, the rest of the family would want to come also.”

“This is a lot.” She eased off me and I hated it, but we couldn’t put this off any longer. “I love your parents, and Cassie.” She smiled. She’d become good friends with Dustan’s wife Cassie. “Your brothers and Jade too, but I’m terrified of meeting the rest of your family. So far, my experiences with people other than my father’s group have been positive and no one seems to have recognized me. Truthfully, I worry because your family has the most reason to hate me and not accept me because of what my father did to your family.” She sighed. “I know I’ve been puttingoff meeting them all, but I’m scared.” Her gaze caught my own. “I didn’t even go to school. Then there is this thing you said you have about soulmates and stuff, but if I let myself believe this, let myself completely fall and open myself up, I wouldn’t survive. I mean sure, I’d live, but I think I would crack if this was all just some cruel revenge or torture. I lo…” I almost stopped breathing when I was sure she was about to tell me what I craved to hear, that she loved me or was coming to.

The car had stopped. We were home, but I didn’t want to stop her while she was finally letting go.

“No one but my brother has looked after me as long as I can remember. What you and your family have done for me is beyond anything I could even dream to wish of. To have things that I had never even dreamed of having…” She took my hands, threading our fingers together. “You’ve been patient. You’ve been a gentleman, and I’d never met one of those before you.”

“Why did you stay?” I’d been dying to ask her that for weeks now and she seemed to be on a roll.

“Stay with you?” She raised her brow.

“No.” I shook my head. “You helped others leave. Why didn’t you?”

Ruby tried to take her hands back, but I wasn’t giving up touching her. “I…I don’t…Dr. Heather asked that too.” I hated that her stutter had come back, but I relaxed when she stopped. “Toby, well, my mother was…no.” She shook her head and stared into space for a moment. “I’m not sure. I was scared. Crap, I’m so sick of being scared all the time. I want to be normal.” She gave an exaggerated wink. “I’m trying to be normal.”

“Oh, precious.” I let go of her hands, undoing her seatbelt and gathering her to me. “You’re anything but normal, and you know what? Fuck normal. I don’t know anyone who is supposedly normal.” I kissed her forehead. “What is normal anyway? I sure as shit am not. You are one in a billion, Ruby.I want you to know that you deserve the world.” I hugged her to me. “I want to make this clear—we are a team. You are my family. You don’t have to worry about meeting the rest of my crazy family, because you’re already family.” I leaned back and tilted her chin so she saw how serious I was. “You are mine.”

I opened the car door, and we eased out. When we were standing, I circled her waist with my arm as we went inside, and I took her straight to our room.

“You know that your father’s friends are up to their old tricks again. I think you might have noticed the extra security, but they have been around. I didn’t want to worry you.” We sit on the lounge in our sitting room.

“I’ve seen them. I saw them at the park, and I’ve felt a bad kind of ‘watching’ feeling here and there. Thanks to you though, I feel safe at the same time. I’ve never been able to breathe easily. Ha, that sounds silly, but I also felt like I was on eggshells for the last eighteen years.” She winced. “Especially after I was ra…” She looked away from me and then whispered, “I don’t remember. I was there, but not. My body was there. I was always there. I learned to go somewhere safe in my head when I was younger. When they beat me, I…” She sighed and snuggled against me and clutched me tight. “He shouted and ordered others to beat and do things to me, but the only time he ever actually did it himself was the day SWAT came.” She rubbed her hand over her face. Tears slid down her cheeks, and I dashed them away. “I should have left sooner. I did get out, but they watched and I never…” She chewed on her lip. “Thank you for making me safe and letting me experience that feeling. Thank you for helping me to live.”

This woman had my heart breaking. I was going to make sure she had the best life I could ever provide.

I’d been feeling off since the park the other day, and the conversation I’d had with Derick yesterday put me even more on edge. Today though I’d been having the bad, tingling feeling of being watched a lot more, and not the feeling of being watched by bodyguards, but an almost sinister, oily feeling. It was a familiar one. I got it a lot with my father’s men. The sinking sensation in my stomach was growing, I usually only got that when my father’s gang was up to something really bad. My anxiety was high, and it was agitating me.

Currently, I was sitting next to Dexter on our lunch break at TAFE. Archer was directly across from me. Courtney and Lilly sat beside him, and Ash sat on my other side and Lisa was next to her. I was getting more comfortable with the men in the group I hang around with. I still didn’t like their touch, and this was the closest I’d been to them willingly. Usually I sat on the end of the table with one of my girlfriends next to me, but today I’d been so in my head I’d plonked down in the middle. I regretted it.

It had been two weeks since we all went out together, and Ash was trying to organize another night when we were all free. I had my daughter’s birthday on Friday, so I wasn’t leaving her, and my brother was due back today, and I hoped to see him tomorrow. I prayed he called and didn’t miss Hope’s birthday. I was worried, stressed, and my skin prickled unease.

I couldn’t shake the feeling something wasn’t right. I worried about Hope and Derick. That man had done so much for me.I hadn’t even told my therapist what I told Derick yesterday. I trusted him. I believed he was my soulmate. Crap, what had he done to me? He had me believing in his craziness. Now I just prayed to every god and the fates out there that he didn’t break my heart.

I didn’t want to be here. I was ready to go home. I missed Hope and was grateful it was at least a short day, not just for me, but for Derick too. I was eager to see him. I wanted to continue our exploring. I knew I was ready for more. I wanted to go all the way. I was comfortable with Derick. I knew who I was with and was always present with him. When Derick was close I never thought about how I didn’t like to be touched. I was getting used to more people being close to me. I still wasn’t keen on other men’s touch, just Derick’s and my brother’s.

Archer’s leg brushed mine, and I knew it was an accident, but Dexter kept brushing his leg against mine.

“Please ditch the family thing and come out Saturday?” Ash pleaded.

I wiggled closer to her and away from Dexter. “No. Not only is it Hope’s birthday weekend, but the family dinner is not just for her, it’s so I can meet the extended family. I’m looking forward to it.”

I was, but I was also dreading it. I wanted Derick’s family to like me and worried with who my father was that they might hold a grudge. Hope loved them all though. She’d met a bunch of Silverman family without me and told me all about them whenever she did. I knew she adored Derick’s cousin Andrew, but I hadn’t met him yet, and from what Hope had told me he was a character.

“Nooooo,” Ash moaned.

“What about next Saturday?” Lilly piped in.

“I can swap my shifts for next week better,” Lisa added.

Nodding, I smiled at my friends. “I’ll see if I can get a babysitter, but next Saturday sounds good.”

---