Page 66 of Ruining Her (McKinley Ranch Duet 1)

“I used to watch you eat in the school cafeteria. I’d watch as you’d suck on your spoon or fork and imagine that it was my cock you were wrapping your lips around.” I shrug. I leave her with her mouth hanging open as I go back inside.

* * *

“I don’t thinkI could eat another bite. Where on earth did you learn to cook like this?” Emmy says around the last forkful of food from her plate.

“I took classes. I find keeping busy helps.”

“Helps with what?”

“The noise in my mind.” I debate over how much to actually tell her. She knows I’m different, unhinged. But she doesn’t know the extent of it. She doesn’t really know how my mind works. I’m afraid if she did, she’d be running for the hills, not that I’d let her get far before I brought her back.

“Well, what else do you do to keep busy?”

I guess she’s skipping the whole noise in my mind thing. She’s the only person I’ve met that doesn’t look at me like I’m crazy, or like they’re scared I’m going to rip their hearts out.

“I ride?” I shrug.

“What, like horses? Bikes?”

“Horses, dirt bikes, road bikes, you.” I smirk at her and watch the blush creep up her neck and face.

“We should go riding together someday. I haven’t ridden for years.”

“Well, you can ride me any day, babe. But I’m sure I can rustle up a couple of Quarterbacks for us tomorrow if you want.”

“Really? Yes!”

“I’d like to think your excitement is about the riding me option. But I’m pretty sure it’s more for the horses.”

Emily laughs, and I fucking love it. “Well, can I pick both options?”

“Emmy, you can have whatever you want. All you have to do is ask.”

“Did you become a genie? What do I have to rub to get my three wishes?”

“I’ve got something you can rub.” I raise my eyebrows at her. “You don’t have to do anything, Em, and your wishes are boundless—there is no limit to what I would do for you, give you.”

“Mmm, okay. So how does this work? I just ask for something and you make it appear?” She laughs like it’s a big joke.

“Sure, try it. What’s something you’ve always wanted but never thought you could have?”

Emily thinks about it for a minute, then looks me in the eye as she says, “You.”

“Well, that’s an easy one, because you’ve always had me. You just didn’t know it. What else?”

“Um, well, I’ve always wanted the Beauty and the Beast library. When I was a little girl, I used to pretend that I was Belle and I could go and save my daddy from the bad guys he was fighting. Then he died anyway. I very quickly learnt that fairy tales don’t exist.”

“I’m not too sure they don’t exist, Emmy. Looks to me like you found your beast, because you sure as fuck are my beauty.”

“Yeah, but you’re not a beast. You’re the nicest person I’ve ever met.”

Okay, now it’s my turn to laugh. Shit, how the fuck am I the nicest person she’s met? “I’m pretty sure literally every other fucking person would lock you up in a nut house for that sentence.”

“Okay, so you’re an absolute asshole, a jerk, to everyone else. But to me, you’re not—well, not anymore. And that’s what matters to me.”

“Wait, what do you mean not anymore? When have I been an asshole to you?”

“We don’t have enough time to rehash high school. But for one, June, year ten, science class. You made sure we were lab partners for that assignment. But then you disappeared, and I had to do the whole thing on my own.”

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