Page 97 of Wicked Little Game
But I don’t. She made her decision and I’m sure she has her reasons for it.
Instead, I pick her up and her legs wrap around my body immediately. I walk towards the pool and sit down on one of the loungers while she’s still holding onto me.
I kiss her like it’s the last time. Because that’s exactly what it is.
And I can’t say things I’ll regret while kissing her, so it’s a double win. We do this until we get tired, well, until she gets tired. Until she falls asleep in my arms and I carry her up to her room.
The first rays of sunshine illuminate the living room as I walk past Rockwell, who’s already awake. I shake my head as he raises his eyebrows, making my way up the stairs.
Ruby is out cold as I tug her into her bed and I don’t think I’ve ever been this thankful for her almost comatose sleep.
Carefully, I take the bracelet with the R-charm off of her wrist. It looks ridiculous on me. She would love it, I think as I kiss the top of her head, brushing away a strand of hair that fell over her face.
I leave her room like a fucking bastard, without a proper goodbye. If she looks up at me with those big, brown eyes, just for one second, I won’t leave.
Stoically, I pack my things. I decide to leave the gun she gave me here. I can't bring myself to take something so expensive, especially not after leaving her like this.
In case the Bond girl needs something to defend herself with.
I put the note on the box, looking around the room one last time before I take my two bags and walk down the stairs.
All three men are awake, looking at me as if they expect meto say something.
“We’re leaving, come on,” Rockwell sighs, realizing that I am not capable of discussing anything right now.
“But we didn’t even say goodbye to Ruby,” Max says.
“And we won’t. Let her sleep. Car, now,” I snarl at him as I rush past him towards the car.
I know I’m doing the right thing, and still, I feel like shit. It’s like removing a bandaid, I try to tell myself. The quicker you get it over with, the better. Hurts for a second, but it will fade.
She’ll find someone. Someone that will make her smile, someone that will make this house feel like a home. Someone who’s able to give her what she needs. Just like I told her the day after she snuck out, I’m not the one to give it to her.
The problem seems to be getting this intomyhead. But maybe those are just pathetic excuses I tell myself to justify what I’m doing.
“You alright?” Rockwell asks as he gets in the car.
Logan and Max are dead silent in the backseat, and I’m pretty sure he threatened them with cleaning duties to keep them from asking questions.
“Yeah, let’s go home,” I say, as if I’m not leaving a place, or rather a person, who started to feel like home. “I’m fucking tired.”
The drive to the airport is silent, just like the boarding process. I don’t even have the energy to yell at Charlie, who waited for us back there.
He has to sit next to me on the flight, looking at me as if he expects me to rip his limbs off one by one at any second. But I’m too focused on getting the chaos in my head and my heart under control.
Every time I close my eyes, I see Ruby’s face. It’s a pretty face, the prettiest face I know, but I really don’t want to see it right now.
35
RUBY
“Sam?” I ask while rubbing my eyes, only to get no answer. There’s no Sam in my bed and not a single sound coming from anywhere in the house.
It’s quiet and empty and while I know that he and the guys are gone, I still walk through the entire house in case they hide somewhere to prank me.
It’s just wishful thinking and it shouldn’t surprise me, especially not after I straight up told Sam that I have no feelings for him.
But I had to do it. I was wrong to drag both of us into this mess. He was already hurt once, and I don’t want to use him to fill a hole. I dove headfirst into all of this and didn't give both of us the time to think about if we really wanted it.
