The Bad Boy Next Door: A Red Hot Bad Boy Romance (14 page)

Ruby was rinsing her breakfast dishes when the knock came. She wiped her hands and opened the front door. “Amanda!” she exclaimed, stepping back so her friend could pass.

“Hi, Ruby. Still nothing from my errant nephew?” Amanda asked hopefully.

Ruby frowned and shook her head. “Not yet. I don’t really expect there to be at this point.”

Amanda set her things down. “We should go over there and knock on his door right now. Get his ass out of bed and find out what’s going on.”

“Okay. Let me get out of my jogging clothes and into something decent.” Ruby descended the stairs five minutes later wearing blue jeans and an Alicia Keyes t-shirt.

The two women walked across the lawn and up the steps to Isaac’s front door. Woodsmoke from the previous night’s bonfire still lingered in the air, reminding Ruby of a campsite the morning after s’mores. All of the curtains were closed, giving no indication as to the status of the occupant.

“Let’s do this,” Ruby said as she lifted her hand to knock.

*

Isaac sat at the desk in the corner of his room typing a letter to Genie. He had no idea what her address was, and would have to locate that information before he could send it to her. He had considered calling her, but wasn’t sure he could say what needed to be said over the phone or in person. Isaac felt he needed the buffer that a piece of paper could provide. He read what he had so far.

Genie,

You probably didn’t expect to hear from me ever again, but I need the closure. I have no idea why you did what you did. Did your mother put you up to it?

Did you even stop to think about the consequences of your actions when you decided to exploit your daughter for monetary gain?

I always wanted to believe in you, even when my parents said you and your mom were just digging for gold. I didn’t want to believe them then and I didn’t want to believe them now. I didn’t want to believe my aunt when she warned me away from you.

I wanted to believe that you had changed during the years we’ve been apart. But it is what it is.

Here’s where my closure comes in:

I forgive you. Regardless of your motives or your lack of moral judgment. I forgive you for what you tried to do to me. No doubt you had hoped to get the money and then take off in the middle of the night, never to be heard from again. It no longer matters.

I still have no wish to ever see or speak to you again. I wrote this letter for me, and not to reconcile any differences between us.

-I.R.

He sat back and bit his lower lip, thinking. The letter sounded almost passive aggressive, Isaac thought. It sounded like on one hand he was forgiving her, but on the other hand he was taking jabs at her. He saved the document and shut the computer off. He decided to think about it for a while and try again later, when he could hopefully keep the letter more focused on the issue at hand. As Isaac had typed out the letter, his mind had often been pulled back to thoughts of Ruby and their first interactions with each other.

He smiled as his memory played back the first time she had come storming into his house, hands on hips, demanding that he turn the music down. Sure, Isaac knew he had been in the wrong to have the stereo turned up so loud, but he hadn’t cared. His mind fast forwarded to the spark in her caramel eyes as he kissed her for the first time, and his body responded as it had then: shivers down his spine and a tightening in his pants. Isaac shook his head to clear it, but to no avail. Memories of that night in his bath tub after their first date flooded through him. He closed his eyes and could see, clear as day, the shape of Ruby’s breasts, her hips; could hear her moans again as he thrust himself inside of her. Isaac stood and stretched, forcing the lustful thoughts away, reminding himself that he would probably never feel her body tightening around his again.
Not after what I did.

The clock told him it was just after eleven. Isaac turned on his phone and discovered there were voice mails and text messages galore waiting for him. With a sigh, he turned the phone back off, ignoring the messages. He would have to deal with Ruby at some point today too, he knew. The weight of what he had done was like a stone around his neck. The devil’s advocate in him reminded him that he didn’t actually have sex with that girl at the party. They had only been making out when Ruby walked in on them. Isaac pushed the thought away. The fact was he
might
have had sex with her. Things were certainly headed in that direction.

The sound of someone knocking at Isaac’s front door drifted up the stairwell and into the master bedroom.
Shit, that’s probably Ruby,
he thought. He didn’t think he was ready to face her yet.
You could ignore the door,
the devil’s advocate in his head said. Isaac shook his head and went downstairs. He opened the front door and his jaw dropped.

“Aunt Mandy?”

Amanda shoved past her nephew like a storm to be reckoned with, Ruby following quietly in her wake. Once inside, Amanda turned on him, hands on hips, eyes glaring. “What the hell are you doing with your life, Isaac Nathaniel Ross?”

Isaac’s hands dropped to his sides, his mind still registering the surprise at seeing his aunt unexpectedly. “What are you doing here?” he asked lamely.

Amanda ignored the question. “Answer me, young man. You might be a twenty-something millionaire, but you are acting like a damned child.”

Isaac looked down at his feet, saying nothing. He knew better than to disrespect his aunt. Then he realized that Ruby was standing just behind her and he felt his face growing hot. His aunt knew how to make him feel like he was five years old and got caught pulling the neighbor girl’s pig tails. He moved past them and sat on the couch in the dining room.

“I’m sorry, Ruby,” he said finally. “Not that it makes a difference but I did not have sex with that woman you saw me with.”

Ruby said nothing, but she and Amanda walked into the dining room and sat on either side of him.

Isaac spoke again. “After what happened with Genie, I was devastated. I didn’t think I wanted kids; I was too busy having fun. Then when it looked like I might be a father, I actually started getting excited and looking forward to it.”

Amanda reached out a hand and rubbed Isaac’s back. Ruby remained silent, not wanting to interrupt Isaac’s train of thought.

“I didn’t want Aunt Mandy to be right about her. I didn’t want my parents to be right about her. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t want her back romantically, but I wanted to believe she was a better person than everyone thought.”

“I know, honey,” Amanda said. “What we’re having trouble with is the degree to which you apparently lost your mind after Genie left. You completely reverted to living the party life, kicked me out of your house, and totally shut out your girlfriend who has only ever had your best interests at heart.”

Isaac nodded. “I don’t know. I was angry and felt hurt and betrayed and just wanted to be alone.”

“But then you threw a huge party three nights in a row,” Ruby pointed out quietly.

“After being alone for a few hours, I decided I wanted to get drunk. I invited a friend over who said he was going to bring a six pack. When he showed up, he had a six-pack and five other people in tow and taxis were dropping more people off, and then it just sort of turned into a party. He said I needed cheering up, so they came back the next two nights too. I don’t know why I didn’t tell them to get the hell out.” Isaac leaned against his aunt, like a lost child.

Ruby finally spoke up, saying firmly, “Okay, let’s put all of that aside for now. Do you or do you not want to be with me? Think about this real hard before you answer. If you say yes then I expect you to do whatever needs to be done to get over this slump and get on with your life. I’m willing to help any way I can, but I won’t stick around for what I witnessed the other night.

“And if your answer is no then that’s fine too. I’ll get over it and move on, but I expect you to at least be a decent and considerate neighbor and keep the damn noise level down over here.” Ruby’s voice trembled as she spoke the last sentence.

Isaac sat up and grabbed Ruby’s hand, pressing his lips to the back of it. “I do want to be with you. In fact, all night last night and this morning I have been trying to figure out how to approach you. Part of me wanted to come over last night and beg for forgiveness. Another part of my brain had me convinced you would slam the door in my face, or worse, and that I should just forget about you.” Isaac’s chest felt heavy. He had never been one to share emotions so openly and now he was doing so with regards to a very sensitive subject, and in front of not one, but two people.

He went on. “I love you, Ruby. This morning, I was trying to write a letter to Genie for my own peace of mind and closure; to tell her that I forgive her. But I kept thinking about you. The first time we met, our first date, all of that.” Isaac told himself to shut up then or he’d start babbling like an idiot.

Ruby felt her anger and annoyance at his actions melting away around the edges. Truth be told, Ruby wanted Isaac to say they had a shot at making this work, but she didn’t want to cut him any slack and leave an opening for a repeat of the recent drama. She looked at him, down at their hands which fit so well together that it was as if they’d been created from two matching halves of the same mold. She looked back up, into his stormy green eyes and spoke.

“I love you too, Isaac. I would love to see where this relationship can take us both. But I need you to grow up and find a way to move past your grief. If not past it then at least a non-destructive way of dealing with it. I will help you however you can and so will Aunt Amanda, but it’s on you to make it happen. I need you to be a productive, mature adult. And I don’t care where that productivity comes from, but sitting here in this house all by yourself every day is not healthy and it’s leading you down a path that I refuse to follow.”

Isaac nodded, but Ruby held up a hand before he could speak. “I have a career, Isaac. I’m not willing to sacrifice it for anything. I need you to understand that as well.”

He pulled her into a hug then, fierce and full of all of the emotions they both felt, but had dammed up inside themselves. Aunt Amanda sniffled and sandwiched her nephew between herself and the woman she had come to think of as her niece. “You two, dammit,” she said through more sniffles. “I just know you two are meant to be together, so stop screwing it up already.”

Ruby stood and fanned her face. It was flushed and tears were streaming even as she tried to hold them back. There was a lump in her throat that was making it hard to breathe. “I’m going back home now,” she said. “I need some time to process all of this, and there are too many emotions flying around right now. You and Aunt Amanda should spend some time together resolving your problems.” She leaned down and kissed Isaac on the cheek. “Call me later if you want to get together and we can go out to dinner or something.”

Isaac promised to do just that and he walked Ruby to the door, kissing her before she left. “Thank you,” he whispered.

She smiled through the tears of happiness and went home to process her emotions in private.

***

Isaac sat back down on the couch with his aunt. He felt like a weight had been lifted from his chest. Dealing with what had happened with his aunt would be a thousand times easier than what he had just faced with Ruby. Even if Amanda was mad at him for a while, she was family and eventually he would find a way to make it up to her. As it turned out, he needn’t have worried. When he sat down, Amanda pulled him into a fierce bear hug.

“You and I are all that’s left,” she said softly. “I think of you as if you’re my son. I always have, even when you were a baby. I knew I’d never have children of my own, but I was fulfilled in getting to be such a large part of your life when you were growing up.”

“I know, Aunt Mandy,” Isaac said, hugging her back. “I’m sorry I was such an asshole to you. I am so sorry. I’ve been in this downward spiral since my parents died, and until I met Ruby I didn’t care where my life was headed. I had no desire to pull myself back from that dark place. It isn’t like my parents and I were so tight knit, it’s just that without them and without any direction in life, I had no idea what to do with myself.”

“Getting into trouble is always easier than staying out of it,” Amanda laughed, recalling some of her own shenanigans from her youth.

“Still. Since meeting Ruby I’ve found that I
want
to be more mature and responsible. I want to do something with my life. I have all this money and really, nothing to do with it. Though Ruby had me thinking about a non-profit organization of some type. I just never got around to talking to my financial advisers about it.”

“I think that’s a great idea, Isaac. What kind of organization were you thinking?”

“Well, I was thinking about a place where children and adults from poverty-stricken neighborhoods could learn to read and write. Sometimes kids don’t get the individual attention in school, and if their home life isn’t very good then they just keep falling behind.” Isaac remembered hearing similar stories from kids in his own school growing up.

“That is an amazing idea. I fully support it,” Amanda exclaimed. “In fact, I may be able to find you some donors if you want to put together some kind of benefit to raise funds. That way it doesn’t all have to come out of your pocket.”