Rebel (Renegades #2)(55)
Author: Skye Jordan

“Uh…please hold, Ms. Russo.”

The deeper the news sank, the angrier she grew.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Russo,” the secretary came back on the line. “He isn’t able to speak with you right now.”

That f**ker. “Did you tell him it was an emergency?”

“Yes, ma’am, I-”

“Tell him I’m in the hospital, dying.” Rubi was done. So f**king done with this man. She didn’t need this shit in her life. “Go on. Tell him.”

“Uh…hold on, please.”

She wished she was holding a regular phone. One she could slam down to disconnect. That was one major drawback to cell phones.

The line picked up again with a hesitant, “Ms. Russo? I’m so sorry. Is there something I can do for you? Your father can’t come to the phone.”

Her anger intensified until she couldn’t speak.

“Ms. Russo?”

She scraped in air. “Yes,” she rasped. “You can quit before he ruins your existence.”

Rubi stabbed the End button and stood there, one hand gripping the railing, one her phone. And for the millionth time in her life, a sense of complete, primal betrayal filled her.

“Hey.” Wes’s soft voice behind her made her squeeze her eyes closed.

“Sorry about that.” She turned but couldn’t meet his eyes. Instead she focused on the supple muscle of his pecs. “I have to go.”

“Where?”

“I have to straighten this out with Dolph.” She started past Wes toward the table. “I’m sorry,” she said again to everyone. “I didn’t mean to ruin dinner.”

Rubi picked up her purse. “Come on, Rodie.”

Rodie climbed to his feet where he lay beside Wes’s chair and trotted to her.

“Where are you going?” Lexi asked.

“His office. He can’t ignore me if I yank that phone from his hand and brain him with it.”“I’ll drive you.” Wes grabbed his T-shirt off the table.

“No.” No no no. He’d already witnessed enough of her bad side. A bad side he now knew was multifaceted. “Thank you, but no. That kind of exposure would tarnish all your shine.”

“You’re not driving this angry.” Wes’s statement was final, forceful. The demand rankled, and she shot him a glare. “I’ll drive you,” he repeated with a look so serious she knew she’d have a battle on her hands to get out of there alone. And she just didn’t have the energy. She needed to save it all for Dolph.

“Take my car,” Lexi told Wes. “Keys are on the kitchen counter. And grab something of mine from the dresser in the bedroom. Leave Rodie. He’ll be fine here.”

“You know I appreciate you guys, but this is my mess-”

Wes grabbed her hand. “Let’s go.”

She grumbled a, “Fine,” and changed into a pair of Lexi’s jeans and a long-sleeved V-necked shirt while Wes waited downstairs. When she met him at the front door, he’d pulled on jeans as well.

He stayed silent through the first ten minutes of the drive, which gave her time to get herself together after the jolt. Wes was either as patient as a saint or scared to ask her anything lest she bite off his head. But the longer Rubi had to think about Dolph’s latest betrayal, the further into her shell she curled. The more she second-guessed having men in her life at all. And after witnessing the mess she and Dolph called a relationship, Wes’s interest in her might just flatline, eliminating the problem of their developing relationship all together.

“I’ve never seen you angry.” Wes’s voice finally pierced the hum of road noise in a thoughtful, relaxed tone.

“Not pretty, right?”

“Oh, you’re always pretty. Just not exactly…your style. I mean, you’ve always been composed to the point of self-possession. Self-confident but flippant and easygoing. Which”-his voice dropped-“is one reason I think I enjoy watching you come apart with me.”

His sexual reference flooded her pelvis with heat, temporarily distracting her.

“Sure you’re not overreacting?” he asked.

A barb of annoyance prickled inside her. She didn’t need that pointed out. “Really? A real estate agent appears at my door at nine o’clock on a weekday night to show a house I didn’t know was for sale? A house I’ve offered to buy-from my father no less-and been ignored? I don’t know, Wes, am I overreacting?”

“I didn’t know you’d offered to buy it, but…maybe. A little.”

Traffic on the 405 was light tonight, and Wes kept Lexi’s car at the speed limit, probably to give Rubi a chance to change her mind. Wouldn’t happen. She was calling that f**ker on his blatant disregard. It might mean nothing to Dolph, but it meant something to Rubi. Confronting him was important for Rubi to do for herself.

“Maybe you should talk about it before we get there,” Wes suggested in his even tone. “You know…decompress a little.”

“This has been building for twenty-five years,” Rubi said, simmering with something that had developed into complete disgust. Occasionally bordering pure hatred-like now. “I won’t decompress in ten minutes.”

“Okay. What about giving me a little background so I know what we’re walking into.”

“It would be better if you stayed in the car.” She wasn’t trying to be bitchy, but she really worked better on her own. All this “help” only made her second-guess herself. Only made her more insecure.

“And let you strangle him with your bare hands?” he asked. “Sorry, baby, I wouldn’t survive living without you for fifteen to life.”

A huff of laughter escaped her throat, but no humor resided there. Only irony. And a twist of discomfort at his insinuation that he needed her. Or that they’d be together for the long-term. She couldn’t go there now. She was way too messed up to think about what she had going with Wes.

Rubi laid her head back on the seat and kept her gaze out the window. She hated admitting it, but she did feel better having Wes with her. Stronger. Safer. More grounded. More rational. Which was how she usually felt with Lexi’s support. And the fact that Wes had become an influence similar to Lexi in just two months… That really tweaked her. She’d never been good at depending on others. Had always felt safest operating under her own control. Depending on only herself.

Then when people left, she wasn’t stranded-emotionally or physically.