Page 52 of Destroy (Deadly Hearts 2)

ChapterTwenty-Three

Ruby

Ifind him in my bedroom, hovering by the dresser, fiddling with the hairbrush.

“So where’s the flash car?” I ask as an icebreaker.

He looks up, his face grim. “Had to get rid of it,” he says shortly, replacing the brush.

“Oh?” I ask. “Trouble?”

“Something like that, but it can wait. I need to know what happened after I dropped you off at the cottage.”

“A lot,” I mutter, intrigued about his problem rather than my own which makes a refreshing change. “Can we talk about it now?”

“We are,” he says, giving me a quizzical look.

“No, the trouble,” I say, shaking my head.

He sighs. “Please, Ruby, I’ll get to that. What did the men say about what happened earlier?”

“I told them exactly what happened and they’re okay with it. They know it was for my benefit and the fact that you were a perfect gentleman goes a long way with them.”

“Even Declan?”

“Yeah, they’re all on board with whatever this is. But what is this? I can’t give you any guarantees that this will fall under the guidelines of a normal relationship.”

“I didn’t think so, and I wasn’t expecting it, love,” he says. “All I need to hear right now is that I have permission from you and all of the others to explore this connection that I can feel between us.”

“You do,” I say carefully. “But…”

“You don’t need to say another word, Ruby. I get it. All I want is the opportunity to know you and if things develop from there, then we’ll cross that bridge.”

“You didn’t let me finish,” I say with a small smile. “But your words are reassuring. Thank you. What I was going to say is, you live here, and I live in Manchester. I have no plans to move here. So…how will that work?”

“I’m glad you asked that because as it turns out, I’m free to make a move across to your city. In fact, it’s the preferable option,” he adds under his breath.

I pounce like a lioness in wait. “Why?” I say quickly. “What has happened?”

“Let’s just say, I seem to have pissed off the wrong people,” he replies with a soft smile.

“Who would that be then?”

“More person than people,” he amends. “And you don’t want to know him, believe me.”

“Try me,” I say quietly, moving forward and taking his hand. I pull him towards the bed, and we sit down.

He draws in a deep breath and shakes his head. “The less you know, the better. But as of half an hour ago, I’ve gone underground."

“Should you be here then?” I ask, licking my lips, in fear not for myself, but for his mom and sister.

“I wasn’t followed,” he says confidently. “I know how to shake a tail.”

“That’s why you ditched the Ferrari,” I murmur.

“Yep.”

“Declan said he’d be a couple more days. When he gets back, we’re going home.”

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