Resisting Ruby Rose (The Ruby Rose Series) (4 page)

CHAPTER 6

Liam knocked on the door of the bathroom. “Mind if I come in?”

“I’m only wearing a towel!” I said, wrinkling my nose at his boldness.

“It’s not like I haven’t seen you in a towel before.” Even from the other side of the door, I could feel his smile.

“Yeah, by accident,” I said, smiling back. “You almost broke my window. I had to see who the idiot was who couldn’t find a smaller rock to throw.” I peeked out the door so only my face showed.

“Are you going to let me in, or what?” he asked, his trademark devilish grin reaching in to tempt me. “
I’d
like to shower, too.”

“Can’t you wait until I come out?”

“I was sort of hoping you’d join me.” His eyes dipped down as if trying to see the rest of me behind the door.

“Are you serious?” I said, shocked.

“I saw the shower.” He pushed the door open wider. “It’s like another room. It’s got the steamers and everything.”

“I don’t kno
w . . .
” Admittedly, the idea sounded dangerously hot. And totally different than what I had in mind. But it was too much.

“What about if we wore these?” Liam held up my bikini and his board shorts. My shoulders released, and I let go of the breath
I’d
been holding for what felt like five minutes.

“Give me that thing.” I snatched my suit and shut the door behind me.

As soon as I had my black bikini on, I turned up the steam as high as it would go and walked back into the glass enclosure. The heavy air made it slightly hard to breathe but helped hide my near-nakedness. I wasn’t sure
I’d
ever get used to wearing a bikini again with this four-inch pink scar on my side, no matter how many times
I’d
done it this summer. The doctors said
I’d
be free to do some state-of-the-art laser scar removal in a few more months after it healed up better, but I seriously doubted
I’d
ever be free of it altogether. Even though Liam was good at working his hands around it, sort of pretending it wasn’t even there, I knew it was. And it always would be. My physical reminder of all the horrors w
e’d
been through.

I turned the water back on and called for Liam to come in.

His yellow board shorts hung low on his waist, and I couldn’t help but admire the way the boy moved as he made his way over to me. “Dang, this is like a five-star shower.” He examined the bench seating and the three showerheads with spray that converged in the middle.

I leaned against the wall in the corner, where the light was the dimmest. “I think this shower alone would cost $200 a night.”

“Good thing Chase and his uncle are around to fund all our dreams coming true,” Liam said as he sauntered toward me, trying to make me laugh.

“Good thing,” I repeated, smiling more than laughing.
Which dreams?

He put his forearms on the wall behind me and leaned down to kiss my neck. I gripped a nearby metal bar for support; my weak-knee syndrome around him was still causing me problems.

The steam dampened our skin, even though the streams of water didn’t touch us. When his lips moved to mine, they were warm and wet. The sweet chocolate cake from dessert on his breath didn’t hurt either.

His fingers moved down to my hips, narrowly avoiding the scar, before grabbing my hands and raising them above my head, pinning them to the wall. When his lips left mine, I thought
I’d
finally get a chance to breathe, but as his mouth trailed down my neck and dangerously close to my chest, I found myself stripped of air once more. I couldn’t see straight as he worked his way back up to my ear, moved my hands to encircle his shoulders, and whispered, “I have to tell you something.”

My heart raced. A long list of awful things he might need to tell me came to my mind. Did he know I was losing it? Did he sense that I imagined seeing the ghost of a man that I killed? That I fantasized about seeking revenge on Martinez? That I was toying with the idea of accepting Skryker and Quinn’s proposition, whatever it was? That I might go crazy if my mom didn’t pull through her devastating injuries? That I wasn’t the girl he thought I was at all?

I tightened.

“What’s the matter?” Liam said, pulling away.

“I don’t know. Nothing. What were you going to say?” I closed my eyes to regain my composure.

“I was going to sa
y . . .
” Liam paused, as if waiting for my eyes to open, but they didn’t. “Seriously, what’s the matter?”

“Nothing.” I finally looked at him.

“Ruby, did I do something wrong? Do you want me to stop?” He seemed so confused.

“No, I don’t want you to stop,” I said, and for a huge part of me, that was true. “I want to be with you.”

“We don’t have t
o . . .
you kno
w . . .
” Liam stutter-stopped.

I stared at his lips and his steamy blue eyes. We were on the precipice of making a claim to one another that we could never take back. He would be my first, and I would be his “true first”—as he called it. But underneath the radiating desire, he was still my best friend, and I needed him now in a way that felt clouded by the passion.

“I thought I saw Charlie LeMarq in the woods,” I blurted out. I knew I was ruining the moment in every way, but I couldn’t keep it in.

“Who?” Liam’s brows drew together in incomprehension.

“Charlie LeMarq. The first man on my list, the first man I ever killed—you know, that one,” I said dryly. “I thought I saw him.”

“How? He’s dead!” Liam backed away, quite obviously no longer in the mood to ravish my body.

“I know he’s dead. I killed him. But I swear, I thought I saw him in the woods today.” I sat down on the bench and leaned my head against the wall so the water didn’t hit my face. “There was this guy by the river, and he had a knife in one hand and blood all over the other. Not to mention a gun in his workbelt thing.”

“Shit, Ruby,” Liam said, beginning to pace. “Are you one hundred percent sure? I mean, could it have been someone who really looks like LeMarq, or you imagined it or something? Like post-traumatic stress or something induced by your mom’
s . . .
”

I huffed audibly at him. Obviously, Dr. T had also mentioned to him that this might happen. “No, I am
not
one hundred percent sure. That’s why I didn’t bring it up before. Yes, it could’ve totally been someone else. In fact, that’s probably the reality. Except that it seemed like he recognized me before I ran. And yes, I guess I could’ve imagined it altogether. In fact, that’s my
favorite
theory at the moment. I’m sure Dr. T will be able to prescribe me some happy pills as soon as I get back.”

“This isn’t funny, Ruby.” Liam glared at me.

“I know it’s not,” I said, sorry that I brought it up, sorry that I made him upset. But relieved to have gotten this LeMarq madness off my chest. I couldn’t just sit here, letting him believe this was going to be some romantic night, when there was no shaking that something was very wrong.

He opened the door of the shower, letting the steam escape, and put a towel around his waist without even attempting to dry off. Before I could say anything else, he was out of the bathroom and probably out of the master bedroom for a while.

I wondered if he thought I was making it up to avoid sleeping with him. That
I’d
come up with the most ridiculous and psychotic way of getting out of delaying my choice. After all, I never really said one way or the other whether or not I was going to do it. It was implied that I would, that I wanted to, that I loved him. But it was never communicated. I wasn’t a fan of the L-word, and he knew that.

I turned off the showers and the steam, quickly put on some non-lingerie PJs, and got in bed. I slipped into the cold sheets and let my whole body cool down, waiting for Liam to come back to me.

Sometime after
I’d
fallen asleep, I felt him slide in next to me and hold me like he had so many times before. In my semi-conscious state, I imagined nothing was wrong and we were contentedly enveloped in each other’s comfort.

But maybe that was a dream, because when I woke up in the morning, he wasn’t there.

CHAPTER 7

Sometime around sunrise, I got dressed and went downstairs for breakfast.

The only one around was Alana, who looked like she was trying to hide a pretty terrible hangover. I would know: Jack and Jane Rose tried to hide that kind of thing their whole lives. Gosh, I hoped
I’d
get to see my mom in the morning again soon, hungover or not.

“What did you do last night?” I asked in the tone of a disappointed Jane Rose.

“Stuff,” she responded, squinting at me like a guilty Ruby Rose.

“Alana,” I said, softening a bit. “What are you doing?”

“Having fun,” she said, sounding miserable.

“Right.” I turned to get some juice out of the fridge, trying to avoid a direct confrontation. I knew full well how sensitive this subject was for her. “Well, you know I love you no matter what, so don’t take this the wrong wa
y . . .
but you’re not
this
girl.”

“
This
girl?” she asked.

“Yeah, the one who sleeps with a boy just because he wants to and drinks so much that she feels like crap the next day.
That
girl.”

“How would you know what kind of girl I am? I don’t remember the last time you pretended to care what I’m doing with my life.” Alana stood up, angrier than I expected. “I don’t know if you remember this about me, but I’ve been sort of
in love
with Chase for years. You’re not the only one who’s entitled to true love. News break: the whole world doesn’t revolve around headlining Ruby Rose.”

Whoa. Something had to be really wrong for her to go off on me like this. And the use of the words
true love
?

“Alana, what’s really going on? Why are you so upset?” I asked, preparing myself for another string of insults.

She hung her head with fatigue. “Chase left our room in the middle of the night and hasn’t been back since. I’ve tried to call him a few times, but I don’t have any service right now. I tried to use the landline, but it doesn’t work at all.”

“Where do you think they went?” I asked, stunned that both Chase and Liam had left without so much as a word.

“Probably to go see that girl with the legs and the boob
s . . .
” she trailed off. “Wait, did you say ‘they’? Liam isn’t here either?”

“No, I’m pretty sure he’s mad at me. He wasn’t there when I woke up.” The open fridge started beeping, and I shut it without getting the orange juice out.

“Why would he be mad at you?” Alana asked. “He went out of his way to woo you last night. I thought for sure you’d be making sweet love all night long.”

“Alana! I’m so sure. Do you even know me?” I hated that sickening phrase, “making love.”

“Actually, I don’t think I do.” She sounded sad. “And I really don’t think you know me either. Not anymore.”

“That’s not true. You’re my best friend. Always have been, always will be.”

“It’s not entirely your fault, though,” Alana continued, as if she hadn’t heard me. “With everything you’ve been throug
h . . .
it’s just hard. How could I ever bother you with details about how Chase and I have been secretly hooking up for weeks, even before he broke up with Meg, when your whole world keeps getting blown up?”

I didn’t know if the pun was intended, but it stung.

“Why would you do that to Meg?” I asked. “I thought you liked her.” If there was one thing that could have gotten under my skin more than the whole “making love” comment, it was an admission of guilt for cheating. Obviously, it was my mom’s cheating that had brought Martinez’s wrath on me in the first place.

“I didn’t mean to. When Chase would come over to see Liam at Dr. T’s place, we started talking. One thing led to another.” She put her head in her hands. “I didn’t mean for it to be cheating, but it happened. And now I’m worried that he’s always going to regret it, and he’ll break it off with me the first chance he gets.”

I wrapped my arms around her, sorry for judging her without knowing what was going on. I still didn’t like that she was sleeping with Chase, and certainly not that she liked to do it so loudly while I was nearby, or that it began based on dishonesty, but what
I’d
said was true—I loved her no matter what. Who was I to say that how she felt about Chase was wrong?

“I really love him, Ruby,” she said, wearing her feelings, tears, and snot on her sleeve. “I know that
love
isn’t a word in your vocabulary, but it is for me. And I’m not afraid to say it.”

I was about to inform her about my evolving emotional expression, to let her know that I was very close to telling Liam how much I loved him, when the boys came storming through the door. Liam looked a fright—messy hair, dirty clothes, even a few red marks and scratches on his face.

But that wasn’t the part that bothered me the most. It was the shotgun in Liam’s hand.

Liam paced in front of the living room windows. The whole south wall was glass, letting the morning light reflect on his distraught face. Chase just sat in a chair, trying to avoid Alana’s gaze.

“After you went to bed, I did a Google search for Charlie LeMarq,” Liam said. “I’m not sure why—I knew he was dead. But then I discovered an interview with his brother. His
twin
brother.” He stopped pacing to absorb my reaction.

“LeMarq had a twin?” I shook my head in disbelief. How did I not know that?

“
Has
a twin,” Liam corrected. “Who through some bullshit chain of events has come to be the caretaker of this place.”

“That’s freaky,” Alana said with a shiver.

“No, it’s not freaky,” Liam corrected again. He was way ahead of us, since we were asleep the whole time he was making these discoveries. “It’s another very carefully constructed setup by Martinez.”

“What? How?” I demanded.

“After I realized you saw LeMarq’s brother, and that you weren’t delusional or whatever”—
gee, thanks for the vote of encouragement
—“I remembered what you said about the knife and the blood on his hands. I wondered if he was like his brothe
r . . .
you know, a murderer. I figured he might come for us—for you, Ruby, since he saw you. I woke Chase up and went looking for him.”

I gasped. “No! Why would you do that? Why didn’t you wake me up?” I said, a very clear note of hysteria in my voice.

“I didn’t need you getting all worried.”

“But why put yourself in danger? We could have just left. Driven back home. Called Mathews’s men in.”

“We had the gun for protection. I wasn’t going to let him scare us away. Or hurt you.”

“So you went out looking for a gunfight?” I nearly screeched. I wasn’t sure yet where to direct all my frustration. This whole thing sounded so crazy. “What about Mathews’s men? You could’ve told them—”

“Ruby, just listen!” Liam said impatiently. “Of course I went out to find them, but they’re not here.”

He watched my face as the expression turned from outrage over his actions to fear for our lives. If this was a setup by Martinez, and Mathews’s men weren’t here, we were in real danger. Our safety net was gone.

“We obviously tried to use the phones to call for help—”

“But all the phones were dead, and there’s no service on our cells—” Chase added.

“So we looked through the visitors’ binder and found that the caretaker’s name was Ben LeMarq,” Liam continued.

“And that he lives in the smaller cabin a few hundred yards down the way—” Chase went on.

“That’s how we knew where to go,” Liam explained.

“But we ended up running into that hot girl, Sofia, on the way—”

“I knew it!” Alana interrupted. “You sorry son of a bitch, Chase Stratto
n . . .
”

“Everyone shut up!” I stood and cut them all off. I stared out the window, and bits of information came flooding into my head. The timing of Chase’s uncle’s house being free while my mom was incapacitated—while Mathews was bound by duty to work round the clock in Orange County. LeMarq’s brother on the property. Liam was right: it stank of a Martinez setup. All this time, I thought Martinez was off the grid, when he was really setting up to have another go at me.

I still had questions, though. “How would Martinez have even gotten us here? To Chase’s uncle’s house?”

Chase rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Yeah, s
o . . .
about that. I looked back at the emails from him and realized they hadn’t come from his usual address. I didn’t notice at the time.”

“So it wasn’t your uncle who offered you this place?” I said, a shiver shooting down my spine. “Or who hired LeMarq as caretaker?”

“Nope. Martinez,” Liam confirmed.

“My uncle rents the place out,” Chase said. “That Martinez guy must’ve rented it from him. And forged the emails.”

“How could you not have noticed it wasn’t your uncle’s right email address?” Alana said, sounding shrill. “And once we’re here, you take off after some other chick?”

“Liam, can we talk alone for a minute?” I asked, unconcerned with the girl drama Alana was causing Chase. Something bad had happened to Liam, and I needed to know exactly what.

“Sure.” Liam nodded at Chase and followed me back up to the master bedroom, where we had some privacy.

“What happened to your face?” I asked point-blank as I sat down on the bed.

He blew out an exhausted breath and hung his head. No careful shake of his hair was going to cover the dried blood on his cheek.

“When we ran into that girl Sofia, she was crying. She said sh
e’d
had a fight with her boyfriend and was walking back over to our cabin to see if she could stay with us. Chase wanted to help her. She was really upset. So I let Chase stay with her and talk to her while I took a gun and went to see the other LeMarq.”

“Oh, great,” I said, sensing the blow coming.

“He was waiting outside his house behind a woodpile, like he was expecting someone to show up. He kept going on about being set up, that he should have known the job offer was too good to be true. He said h
e’d
gotten some bullshit note that afternoon that said something like ‘I look forward to reuniting you and your brother. Regards, Ruby Rose.
’
 ” Liam gulped like the words tasted bad in his mouth. “He had a gun and a knife, just like you said. I tried to talk him down, but he was panicked. Took a couple shots at me. I got cover behind a tree, luckily.”

I stood, flabbergasted. While I was sleeping, Liam was in a death match?

“I took a few shots at him, then I was able to flank him and knock the gun out of his hand. I managed to subdue him after going a few rounds. When I pinned him down, he was frantically going on about how he didn’t deserve to die. He was ‘only gutting a fish at the river
’ . . .
I don’t know. So then I started thinking that he was more scared than dangerous—that he was another Martinez pawn. I didn’t know what to do, so I figured
I’d
trust him and leave him there. But when I got up to leave, I turned my back on him and he pulled another knife. We got in another scuffle, or whatever, and the knife got turned around and I stabbed him.”

No. This couldn’t be happening. “What do you mean? Did you hurt-stab him or kill-stab him?”

He ran his hands through his hair and clenched at the roots. “I’m not sure.”

“Not sure? Uh-uh, you either killed him or you didn’t.” I walked over to face him. “When you left him, was he alive?”

“I don’t know!” Liam snapped. “I didn’t stay to check his pulse, OK? But if I had to guess, I’m pretty sure he didn’t survive. How could he? There are no phones to call for help!”

I took a deep breath and a cautious step toward him. He was too worked up, perhaps in shock. I was, too. “Liam, I know how you feel. Remember when I came back from stabbing Father Ronn at that harbor? It wasn’t my fault. It was self-defense.”

“I remember, Ruby,” he growled, still refusing to meet my eyes. “Of course I remember. But this was different.”

“Well, he came at you, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And he was trying to kill you?”

“Yes,” Liam said, lifting his shirt to reveal a bloody scratch across his beautiful bronze side.

“Oh, Liam,” I said, reaching out to touch the tender skin. “See, you were defending yourself. You didn’t shoot him in the back. You fought for your life.”

“Come on, Ruby.” He lowered his shirt and leveled his eyes at me. “You of all people should know that’s a flimsy case at best! The dude was on his own property, defending himself
from me
. Don’t act like you hadn’t already thought of that.”

I tilted my head, trying to understand his attitude. “First of all, I have no idea why you’re treating me like some opposing party. I’m on your side. I will always be on your side. And second, I hadn’t thought of that at all. You’ve barely given me the chance to catch up to what you were off doing
without
me.”

He blinked over and over again for an unnatural amount of time. “I know. You’re right, I’m sorry.” He reached out to me and took my hands in his. “It’s jus
t . . .
I’ve never been on this side of the line. It’s always been me comforting you when yo
u . . .
you know.”