Framed (31 page)

Maybe it was.

“A do over,” I whispered to myself.
That
was what we needed.

“For what?” he asked, confused yet again.

“Nothing, never mind.”

What he and I needed was to get back to that time and place of shameless flirting, comedic run-ins, and friendship. We needed to polish the tarnish off of our relationship and make it shiny and new again for it to have any shot at working. The question was
how
.

The question was apparently
exhausting
because I found myself barely able to keep my eyes open. At some point in the short drive, I succumbed to sleep. When I awoke, I found myself in a strange, dark, and unfamiliar room. Fight or flight kicked in automatically, and I shot up off of the couch I had been laying on, looking for the nearest exit.

“Relax, Ruby,” Sean said calmly. “It's okay. You're at
my
place.”

He wandered toward me from deep within the house, stopping in a band of light that shone in from windows high above the floor. I was trying to control my breathing and convince Scarlet that her services were not needed in that moment.

“
Your
place?” I wheezed between breaths. “I didn't think you actually had one. I thought you were a nomad.”

“When it suits, I am,” he said with the faintest of smiles.

“How long was I out for?”

“Not long. I didn't want to wake you, so I carried you up. I knew you would have protested being put in my bed, so the couch was the next best option. It happens to be the
only
other option.”

“Glad to see you chose wisely,” I chuckled, pushing up off of the sofa.

I looked around at his home once my eyes adapted enough to the darkness that permeated it. The place was enormous, but sparse. It appeared to be an old factory building with soaring ceilings and exposed duct work; there was brick on the interior walls. In that vast space, there was little furniture. One couch and one table defined the living room.

As I peered into the darker areas not touched by the light the moon provided, I saw little else. The kitchen was modern but small, with a single wall of cabinets and tiny island. The only non-original walls in the entire apartment belonged to the bathroom that divided the kitchen from the bedroom—if a bed was all that was necessary to constitute a bedroom. Wandering towards it, I saw that there were no personal effects anywhere in the space other than clothing. There were no pictures, no artwork, or anything else that made his home
his
. It looked a little like high end squatting.

As much as I wanted to know more about his mysterious apartment, I really had to pee.

"Do you mind if I use your bathroom?" I asked, heading in that direction.

"I prefer it to the alternative," he said with deadpan delivery. Only the slightest twinkle in his eye gave him away.

"I
am
housebroken, thank you very much," I replied jokingly. "I'm not so sure about Scarlet though..."

I quickly closed the bathroom door on whatever response he had conjured up.

It's rude to talk about someone when they're not around, you know.

"But you are
always
around," I whispered, not wanting Sean to overhear.

I suppose I am...you say that like it's a bad thing, but it's proven rather convenient for you recently, has it not?

"I would say so."

You would? You
should
. I would also think a thank you is in order...

"I
am
thankful for what you did for Ronnie," I said softly. "I didn't know what you were going to do when the Rev took off like that. I thought you were going to hunt him down."

Oh, Ruby...I
am
going to hunt him down. But that's not what I was getting at. You owe me an entirely different thank you.

"For what?" I asked, thoroughly confused.

Saving your ass yet again, of course.

"
You
almost got us killed."

Don't be so melodramatic. I did no such thing. In fact, I'm the one who put all the pieces of the puzzle together and bought us a way out of that little predicament.

"How did you know she did it?" I asked, having wondered that on the rooftop. It made complete sense after she settled into her interrogation, but I never would have seen that one coming.

I had my suspicions of her all along, as did you, but I chose to not give her the benefit of the doubt. Sophie is as ruthless as I am, she's just better at hiding it. I know my own kind when I see them, Ruby. While you felt her sorrow and desperation, I smelled motive. I tucked that tidbit away for later.

"Fine, but thinking she was up to something is a far cry from labeling her the mastermind behind the grand scheme."

You can actually thank Ares for that one. He put that piece of the puzzle together for me when he blathered on about women being the cause of war, destruction
—
whatever it he was grandstanding about. He was right...just not about the woman. Sex will make a man do just about anything. Especially a desperate man.

"So you didn't really
know
that you were right—it was a Hail Mary of sorts?”

Not exactly. But a good bluff relies heavily on the details, Ruby...something I pay great attention to. You tend to miss them, spending all your time worrying about situations that are
never
going to occur.

"Like what?"

Like resigning yourself to a death that was never going to occur. Do you think I was just going to sit back and let you walk into their crosshairs? You were never going to be executed. I would never have let that happen. You seem to constantly forget that your fate is intertwined with mine, and I have no intention of handing myself over to anyone to suffer their agenda.

"Are you telling me that you let me spend the last few days settling up with the idea that my ass was grass and never once thought to mention that you had a plan?"

It was hard to whisper and yell at the same time, but in all my creativity I found a way to do it.

Ruby. I have so little in the form of entertainment these days. I decided that watching you fall apart about the whole thing only to put you back together again was far too entertaining to pass up. The estate planning was really the tops though. Even I would never have thought you capable of such grace under pressure.

I was speechless. I stood in front of the bathroom mirror, staring at myself blankly, wishing the woman in the mirror was the red eyed sadist inhabiting my body. I wanted to punch her in the face.

"You are un-fucking-believable
.
What the fuck is wrong with you, exactly?"

She laughed.

There is positively nothing wrong with me Ruby. You are the one who can't seem to deal with your feelings
—
be who you are. I am, and always have been, exactly what I am
—
your darker half. If you don't like it, you'd better learn to live with it because I'm not going anywhere, and, whether you can see it or not, that's in your best interest.

"How was letting me suffer emotionally for days, worrying myself sick about the ones I love, in my best interest?" I asked the slovenly looking blonde before me.

It's simple, Ruby. It's called growth. You now have a much clearer picture of your boundaries, your priorities, and your relationships. Maybe next time life throws you a curveball, you won't be so ready to duck and hide from it. Maybe you'll fight.

"I've always fought! I fought in Utah...I fought Gregory!"

And you rolled over this time without any of that fight. Consider this your reminder to never do that again. Ronnie was right—it's never out of your hands Ruby...because your hands are mine, and I will never let them fail us. Don't fail
me
by giving up. Resignation isn't noble, it's for the weak.
You
are not weak.

I said nothing, only stared at myself in the mirror. Had Scarlet just taught me a lesson that nobody else could? Had she complimented me
—
backhandedly, of course
—
but still given me some strange nod of approval? It was almost more than my head could wrap around.

You are
,
however, becoming quite the drama queen. I swear, your flair for the dramatic is nearly as flamboyant as Cooper's. I think he's become a bad influence on you in that department.

I laughed
—
perhaps a little too hard. Had Scarlet just become the voice of reason in our duo? The implications were mind-blowing.

"Maybe you're right...," I sighed quietly as I washed my hands.

Of course, I'm right. And speaking of that, what in the hell have you got us wearing? I looked better naked and bloody...

Unfortunately for me, she had a point. Peyta's clothes were far too small for me, and I did look a tad ridiculous in her skin tight sweat pants that were far too short and a tee shirt that looked like it had been painted on. The crowning glory was clearly my cognac colored riding boots. It just perfected the look.

"I don't think removing them is really an option at the moment," I chuckled. Somehow she'd gone from being a horrid bitch to my morbid sidekick in an instant.

I think Sean might disagree with you.

My cheeks rosied at the thought; I didn't look in the mirror for confirmation. Instead, I made my way out to the living room to find Sean framed gloriously by the wall of windows that spanned the far wall. He watched me walk over to him with an intensity that made my hairs stand on end.

"Were you having a party in there?" he asked, unmoving. "Do you normally talk to yourself while you use the restroom?"

"Um, no. I don't make a habit of it," I explained, trying to make light of it. "Scarlet and I needed to have a little girl talk, that's all."

"Girl talk?" he asked with a hint of curiosity.

"We had a few things to iron out between us."

"And now?"

"And now, we're all set."

"Glad to hear that you are," he said, his voice dropping lower. "I'd like to iron out a few things with her as well. Soon"

I gulped slightly at his comment. I wasn't sure I was on board for them having a little chat session.

I strategically walked past him toward the massive windows along the far wall. He had the lower part of them covered with curtains, but an area four times as high remained uncovered, allowing the sky to become part of the space. I made my way back to the living room and parted those curtains, wanting to take in the view.

I was completely taken aback when I did.

The apartment looked out over downtown Portsmouth, over the ocean, and over my apartment. I was two streets over from it and three stories higher.

“Do I need to explain?” he asked from behind me.

I deeply considered the question before responding.

“Do I need a restraining order?” I asked, partially joking
—
mostly not. My initial reaction was one of violation, but I tried to keep from reacting until I knew there was something to react over. “Why didn't you tell me you lived here?”

“Would that have helped?” he asked quietly.

I sighed knowing full well it wouldn't have.
“How long have you lived here?”

“A while.”

I wheeled on him to see which Sean I was dealing with. The curl at the corner of his mouth was all the answer I needed.

The raising of my right eyebrow was all the prompting he needed.

“I've been keeping tabs on you since I left you in the hospital that day. When you purchased your building, I purchased this,” he said, sweeping an arm wide around him a la Vanna White. I'd known long ago that he'd been watching over me, but I never expected it to be such a literal situation.

“And exactly
how
much have you been keeping tabs on?”

He chuckled briefly.

“Unlike your favorite Dave Matthews song, Ruby,
I
don't believe in voyeurism,” he said, before reaching around me to pull the curtain back further, “Though one could get
quite
a show from here if one were inclined to do so.”

“
One
had better not be,” I threatened as I tried to center myself, avoiding the pull that Sean's proximity to me created.

“Indeed.”

He kept his hold on the curtain, his arm extended out past my shoulder, his body directly behind me. I wanted to close the two inch gap so badly I couldn't think straight. I ran away instead.

“Maybe I should head home. Apparently I can walk from your place. How convenient is that?” I asked jokingly.

He looked at me across the distance I'd put between us; it was a pained expression. I'd become particularly good at recognizing that one over the past months.