Page 31 of Nash
"I'm here now."
Her eyes search my face. "You're doing the thing."
"What thing?"
"The thing where you stand there like a statue and pretend you're not feeling anything. Your jaw is tight enough to crack walnuts."
I don't answer.
She reaches out, her hand moving toward my arm, stopping an inch away, hovering. The warmth of her skin radiates across the gap.
"You can tell me," she murmurs. "If something's wrong."
"Nothing's wrong."
"Then why won't you look at me?"
I look at her. Her eyes are wide, green, serious.
My hand moves, reaching for hers, stopping midair. My fingers curl, and I drop my hand to my side.
"Go to bed, Ruby."
"Make me."
The words hang between us, charged. My breath catches somewhere low in my gut. Ruby's eyes widen. Her cheeks flush. It slipped out.
I take a step forward. She holds her ground. The distance between us shrinks to inches.
"Go to bed," I say again, lower.
She looks up at me. Her breath hitches. "Or what?"
"Or I'll put you there."
Her lips part with a soft inhale. Her eyes drop to my mouth, then back up.
I hold her gaze and let her see what's behind it.
She takes a step back, then another, and turns toward the bed.
"Goodnight, Nash."
She climbs under the covers and pulls them up to her chin. I watch her settle, her copper hair fanning across the pillow, her eyes finding mine one more time in the dim light of the spare room.
I turn off the lightbox on the desk. Her breathing slows.
I step into the hallway and pull the door shut behind me.
Downstairs, the clubhouse is dark. I sit on the couch, grab the remote, and turn on the TV. The blue light fills the room. Some late-night rerun plays on the screen. I stare at it without seeing a single frame.
Her voice is still in my head.Make me.The flush on her cheeks. The way her eyes dropped to my mouth.
The TV plays. I don't sleep.
Chapter 9
Nash
