The Bad Boy Next Door: A Red Hot Bad Boy Romance (13 page)

OMG! OMG! OMG!

“My thoughts exactly,” Ruby shrieked with happiness at the phone.

The day looked a little brighter then, and Ruby found herself looking forward to going out for a night on the town with her best friend.

Screw Isaac. He lost a good thing.

Chapter14

Julia arrived promptly at the appointed time, garment bags in hand. Ruby let her in and they went upstairs to get ready to head out on the town. While Ruby stripped to her blue lace bra and matching underwear, Julia started unzipping the garment bags and pulling clothing out of them. The first item she held up next to Ruby was a red sequined dress with a flared skirt and beaded accents along the hem line. The bodice had a sweetheart neckline accented with beads that matched the hemline and had spaghetti style straps. There was a gossamer, red silk shoulder wrap to go with it.

“Wow,” Ruby breathed. “That looks too fancy, doesn’t it? What kind of night club is this anyway?”

Julia stripped down to only her underwear, her full breasts swaying as she moved. She put on a sleeveless blue bandage dress and looked at herself in the full length mirror. The skirt swirled like gauze over the shimmering, solid fabric beneath it. “Well,” she said, “It’s called Sanguine, and the interior is done in simply luscious red and pink velvets. They have a slightly medieval theme, huge tapestries covering the walls and the like.”

Ruby raised an eye brow. “Sounds kind of dangerous.”

Julia laughed at her friend and said, “This from the woman who writes adrenaline junkie romance novels for a living.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Ruby tried on the red dress and twirled in front of the mirror. It set off her dark skin nicely, she thought, and wondered if she had any dressy sandals that would match. Her friend had thought of everything, though. Ruby saw her pull a pair of strappy red sandals out of the bottom of the garment bag.

“There, now you’ll be perfect,” Julia said.

Ruby slid the shoes on and then looked herself over once more. “I need to do something with my hair. I’m thinking a red headband?”

Julia nodded and motioned for Ruby to sit in front of her in the vanity chair. She ran her hands through Ruby’s hair and then grabbed a length of slender, red fabric. She intertwined it through Ruby’s hair and tied it off underneath.

“Beautiful,” she pronounced. “Let’s go.”

As she buckled her seatbelt, Ruby cast a glance in the direction of Isaac’s house. It was dark and the curtains were closed. She wondered briefly where he was and then forced the thought away as Julia pulled the vehicle out of Ruby’s drive way and headed for downtown Dallas.

At the club, the two of them go out of the vehicle and Julia handed the keys off to a valet. She and Ruby looped elbows and walked up to the bouncer who recognized Julia on sight and let then through the velvet rope.

“Thanks, Charlie,” Julia said with a wink to the large man. He smiled and nodded at her before replacing the rope.

Inside, the music was already pumping through the speakers and a throng of bodies was writhing on the dance floor. Julia led Ruby to the bar and ordered them drinks. She handed the bartender her credit card to start a tab and took the proffered cocktails. Ruby took a long drink of hers and watched the dancers on the floor. She found herself thinking about Isaac without meaning to. She took another drink of her cocktail and wished he were here with her, one strong arm around her, hand intimately resting at the small of her back.

Julia overheard Ruby sigh and cocked an eyebrow at her. “Missing him?” When Ruby nodded, Julia set both of their drinks on the bar and pulled her friend out to the dance floor.

Bodies were gyrating in time with the bass notes thrumming through the air like a maniacal heartbeat. The two women held hand, facing each other, and twisted back and forth in time with the music. The Disc Jockey was female, Ruby noticed. She was wearing a purple brocade bustier and a skirt that had been made by stitching together brightly colored bandannas in purple and blue tie-dyed pattern. Ruby liked the look and wondered if she could duplicate the skirt pattern at home. When the song ended, she and Julia went back to the bar for fresh drinks.

***

Isaac sat on the couch which was still in the dining room, staring into the darkness that surrounded him. The strippers had packed up the portable dancing poles and after checking every nook and cranny of the room and couch for spare dollar bills and loose change, they had disappeared without a backward glance. The house looked like New Orleans the day after Mardi Gras ended. Not wanting to deal with the mess and unable to stomach the sight of the place post-party, Isaac had shut all of the lights in the house off and closed all of the curtains to shut out the moonlight as well.

He had screwed up big time, and he knew it. Isaac had known from the second he sent that first party invite out on his social media page, that he was being reckless and making a huge mistake. But he somehow convinced himself that life should be lived without limits, without abandon, and that it had been wrong for him to try and confine himself to the role of boyfriend and father. Isaac found himself wishing that Genie Randles had never found his aunt’s phone number, that she had stayed gone when she moved to Nevada, that they had never met in high school. His arms were wrapped around himself, and tears coursed down his unshaven face as he replayed the party form the night before in his mind.

I never should have started flirting with Priscilla. I knew it was going to end badly the second I looked at her in those tight leather pants and that skimpy red halter top and asked her to dance.

Isaac told himself in the moment that it was just fun, dancing at a party, but somewhere inside, his conscious was screaming a warning.
It won’t just be a dance though and you know it.
Isaac didn’t listen to the intelligent half of his brain, choosing instead to impress Priscilla by doing a keg stand. He had been tipsy afterward, to say the least. Then Priscilla surprised him by doing a keg stand of her own. Isaac recalled the way her red halter top, which was already a midriff baring garment, had slid down, exposing a see-through red mesh bra underneath. The party turned into a whirlwind for them then, dancing and drinking cocktails. Somehow, they had managed to amble up the stairs and into the master bedroom where Isaac’s inner warning bells were screaming like air raid sirens. They were muted however by the copious amounts of booze he had ingested, paired with his general apathy towards making intelligent decisions.

Isaac pulled himself back to the present and the darkened house. He laid down on the couch and tried to remember what made him turn his back on Ruby. Not only her, but Aunt Amanda. He had all but thrown her luggage out the upstairs window, when all of the fault for what had happened lay with Genie Randles. Isaac knew his aunt was only looking out for him, and Ruby too for that matter had only been trying to look out for his best interests.

Not that I deserve any of that now,
he thought bitterly. The tears flowed again, but he didn’t care. He needed to purge himself of the bad feelings and negativity so that he could move on and see if things could be repaired with Aunt Amanda and Ruby. No, any bitterness and anger Isaac felt, he now directed at Genie. Genie and her mother, Judith. Judith had probably put her daughter up to the whole thing, Isaac decided. Judith had always been the money-grubbing one, and if that’s the only environment Genie grew up in then who would be surprised that she had followed in the unfortunate footsteps of her mother? At least she isn’t an alcoholic, Isaac thought.

Should he reach out to Genie and forgive her, at least find that little bit of closure? He didn’t really want to, if he was being honest with himself. He didn’t want anything to do with that woman ever again if he could help it. After thinking it over for a while, he decided he would write her a letter and send it to her. He would get everything off his chest and then wash his hands of it and move on with his life. Isaac stood up in the darkness and stretched, wondering vaguely what time it was. The face of the clock on the microwave told him it was after ten.

Isaac looked out the window and saw that Ruby’s house was dark. “Can’t start there then,” he said to himself. He rummaged around the house, opening curtains as he went, fumbling through the half light of the moon, looking for his phone. He finally found it upstairs under the bed in one of the guest rooms. Isaac pulled up his aunt’s phone number and dialed it. It went to voice mail so he left a message telling her he was sorry he had acted like an asshole and would she please call him when she got the message so he could grovel in person? Then he dialed Ruby’s phone. No answer there either and it went to voice mail after two rings. Another message left; basically the same one he left for Amanda.

***

Ruby felt her phone vibrating and pulled it out of her hand bag. “It’s Isaac,” she half-shouted to Julia.

Julia frowned and took the phone from her before hitting the button that would send the call to voice mail. Then she handed it back after turning it off and shook her head at Ruby. “Not tonight. Tonight he doesn’t exist.” Then Julia excused herself for a little bit saying that since she had organized this grand opening, she needed to go give some face time to the more important guests.

“You never know when one of them might want me for a project,” she said into Ruby’s ear.

Ruby sat on her bar stool, sipping ice water with lemon slices floating in it. Her feet tapped rhythmically and she found herself head-bopping along to the music. Normally she wouldn’t consider herself a fan of the electronica and techno genres, but she was realizing that even they had their place. Like here in a club, she thought, where all people are looking for in their music is something they can dance to. It doesn’t need to be high art, it just has to have good bass lines. She turned back to the bar and ordered another lemon water. The bartender winked at her and obliged.

Julia came back shortly thereafter with a smile on her face and three new business cards. “The fishing expedition was a success.”

“Did you land a whale, then?” Ruby asked.

“Might as well have. One of those men is Price Willoughby Ainsbury,” Julia responded, excitement in her voice.

Ruby half smiled. “Wow. Now that is probably the most hoity-toity, aristocratic name I’ve ever heard.” Then Ruby lifted her nose in the air and cocked her pinkie as she picked up the glass of water. “But not just
any
Ainsburys. He’s from the Hamptons Ainsburys.”

Julia couldn’t help but giggle. “Yeah, he might as well be an aristocrat. The man is a loaded land developer. He’s building a casino in Carson City and he wants me,
me!
to organize the grand opening for it!”

Ruby almost choked on her water. She set the glass down and started flapping her hands. Julia started flapping her hands in response. Finally Ruby managed to choke out her words. “That is the
best
news ever! You are practically going to be a celebrity! Your name is already moving in the upper circles. I’m so happy for you!”

“Me too. It’s not a done deal yet, but I gave him a brochure of my services and the names of three other upper-end clients who were happy with my services. As a sort of testimonial you see.”

“Wow. This is cause for celebration. We should find a restaurant.”

Julia laughed and put a hand on her friend’s arm. “I think you’re tipsy and we should go home.”

“Noooo. I wanna go have a big ole Belgian Waffle with strawberries on it.” Ruby rubbed her stomach, her speech slightly slurred.

“Come on,” Julia looped her arm through Ruby’s and led her friend out the front doors of the club. She handed her ticket to the valet who immediately jogged off to retrieve her vehicle.

Julia dropped a sleepy Ruby off in front of her house soon after. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Let me call you instead,” Ruby countered. “Amanda is coming back tomorrow and it would be easier if I call you after the ordeal is done.”

Julia agreed and watched to make sure her friend made it through the front door before she pulled away. As she rolled past Isaac’s house, she noticed that a light was on in the living room now. She was half tempted go to the gas station and pick up a carton of eggs. Or toilet paper. She decided against it however on the grounds that she was a grown-ass woman who didn’t have to act like a teenager to get revenge on someone for her friend.
But if Ruby even hints that she wants to egg his house I’m in.

***

Ruby stumbled into her house and locked the door behind herself. She had closed all of the blinds and curtains before leaving for the club, so she slipped off the borrowed sandals, followed by the borrowed dress. It all landed in a puddle around her feet, and then she laid down on the couch, too tired and unsteady to try to go upstairs. Soon she was fast asleep. She promised herself she’d deal with life tomorrow, if only she could sleep for a few hours first.

***

Amanda pulled into Ruby’s driveway the next morning just before eleven. She sat in her car looking at her nephew’s house. The curtains were closed and there was no movement behind them.
He must still be sleeping it off,
she thought with disappointment. Amanda felt as if she had somehow failed her dead sister. True, Isaac was already an adult when his parents died, but Amanda had had visions of stepping in to fill the role of mother figure, to guide and support Isaac through his grief and to help him make the transition to the other side of it so he could be a productive member of society. It hadn’t gone that way at all, she recalled with an edge of bitterness. And now Isaac had messed up what might be the best thing that ever happened to him: a beautiful young woman with brains, beauty, and who didn’t care a whit about Isaac’s millions. With a sigh, she stepped out of the vehicle and grabbed her large shoulder bag and weekend traveler out of the back seat. She trudged up the steps to Ruby’s front door and gave a firm knock.