Page 50 of I Hate You More

“Jesus, Ruby. How on earth did you turn out to be such a normal, levelheaded person?”

She didn’t answer him for the primary reason that she hadn’t turned out the least bit normal or levelheaded. Those words didn’t apply to a woman who lied about her job, obsessed over a dog that wasn’t her own, and strove to win at all costs.

She knew the lie she was living wouldn’t last much longer—that she owed it to Spencer to admit the truth about her job and how little she’d accomplished with her education—but it was a lot harder than she’d expected. Mostly because she knew what would happen when she did. He’d stop looking at her with that light in his eyes—that one claiming her as his equal—and that would be the end of it. Ofthem.

As it turned out, she didn’t need to answer. Spencer watched through the window at where the three boys were taking turns petting one of the border collie puppies. Something about the scene must have affected him because he sighed and dropped his shoulders a good two inches.

“Gambling is and has always been Caleb’s vice. Poker, dice, horse racing, online gaming… It’s funny. I don’t think he likes any of it all that much, but he’s never been able to resist the spirit of competition.” He cast a wry glance over his shoulder at her. “Neither of us can, in case you couldn’t tell. But while I’ve learned to channel my energies into the West Coast Canine Classic, he’s always been more…adrift.”

Ruby understood the sentiment all too well.Adriftwas the exact word she’d use to describe herself. Finding a cause was easy for a man like Spencer, who was intelligent and driven and knew exactly what he wanted out of life. For people like Caleb—and people like her—there were fewer options.

“He got caught running an illegal gaming website. It was shut down and he was sentenced to six months of house arrest, provided he has supervision—which is me. He also attends a weekly Gamblers Anonymous meeting. That’s what the references to dry cleaning are. He can only leave to go to the parole offices or the church basement where the meetings are held.”

Ruby nodded. That sounded very similar to what Stepfather Un had undergone back when he and her mom had first gotten married. In fact, she was starting to feel stupid for not seeing it before. She’d been so caught up in the dog training and getting the better of Spencer that she hadn’t realized Caleb’s behavior was that of a manunableto go anywhere instead of oneunwillingto.

No wonder he flirted so outrageously with her whenever they were together. She was probably the only woman he’d seen in months.

“Poor Caleb,” she murmured. “It must be driving him up the walls to be stuck in one place. How much longer does he have?”

“A week.”

“Oh, that’s good!” She took note of the hard line of Spencer’s mouth and quelled her enthusiasm. “Isn’t that good?”

“Yes. No. I don’t know.” He ran a ragged hand through his hair. “I want him to have his freedom back, obviously, but at what cost? He’s still the same man he was when he got arrested. He always has been. Fun and charming andstuck.”

That word struck like a blow to Ruby’s heart.

“It’s eating my parents up inside, thinking he doesn’t want to see them, but what can I do? He made me promise not to tell them.” This was uttered with a note of bitterness, but Spencer followed it up with a sigh and a gesture at the boys in the opposite room. “It’s hard to believe, but we used to be a lot like that, once upon a time. We used to be friends.”

“You’re still friends.”

He shook his head. “No. Not really. Not anymore.”

She didn’t believe him. There was no denying that a rivalry existed between them, and the divided house was a strange way to go about living with a person you’d known all your life, but it made a certain kind of sense. Caleb probably didn’t have much else going on right now. One dog-training client wasn’t much to keep a person busy, and without any other outlet, he had to be mind-numbingly bored. This thing with his brother—this game of good-natured one-upmanship—was all he had to keep him sane.

As someone who didn’t have much else going on in her life, she knew. Trying to get the better of Spencer for the past month had done more to start her engines than anything else had for the past ten years. She wasn’t sure she’d managed to triumph over him yet or that she ever would, but that didn’t seem to matter.

Spencer Wilson was a man worth pursuing, a man whose respect was worth earning. Both she and Caleb knew it, even if Spencer didn’t.

“You’re too hard on yourself,” she said. “He looks up to you.”

Spencer snorted. “No, he doesn’t. He thinks I’m a stick-in-the-mud who doesn’t know how to loosen up or have fun. He’s right, too—that’s the worst part. I might have a job and a house and a dog show to call my own, but people have always preferred his company to mine.”

“Notallpeople,” she corrected him.

With those three simple words, Spencer’s shoulders came down and all the tension seemed to leave him. He turned toward her with a soft, intimate smile that snagged on every heartstring she possessed.

“Thank you,” he said.

She rolled her shoulder in a half shrug, flustered at how easy he made that sound. Like the kiss he’d offered simply because she’d asked for it, his gratitude justwas.

“And not just for saying that,” he added as she struggled to come up with a response. “But for listening. You have no idea how good it feels for someone else to know.”

Spencer’s dad waved in their general direction, his gesture indicating that it was Ruby’s turn to go inside and spend time with the puppies. She’d rather have stayed on this side of the window, but Spencer only nodded his encouragement.

Thatunsettled just as much as all the rest. She was enjoying her time with Spencer’s parents, yes, and it was nice to catch a glimpse of the place—and people—who had created such a worthwhile man, but this was a much more personal look at Spencer’s life than she’d been prepared for.

The truth was, Spencer Wilson was no longer just a brooding, annoying stranger who could command her impulses with a flutter of his eyelashes. He was a genuinely nice man who treated her like a human being, too.