“Thanks for coming with me. I appreciate the advice and things you gave me.” I said to Ruby, as we waited for my dress – the store one had fit so perfectly, it didn’t even need resizing. A rather nice bit of luck.
“Thanks for invitin’ me – I love shoppin’, especially for weddin’ stuff.” Ruby eyed the shop up a little dreamily as her fingertips trailed over a variety of crowns and shiny things. “I feel like a kid playin’ dress up or somethin’.”
There was a wishful look in her big green eyes that made me far too curious, considering it was not my business. But never mind – it was fun letting my curiosity go wild sometimes.
“You ever fancy getting married?” I asked casually. “Beau told me you date Aiden now and I wonder perhaps you could see yourself getting married in the future?”
Look. Did I have any idea if Beau and Ruby were dating each other, and not just the same guy, no. But did a part of me think that there was something between them that could turn into that? Yeah.
Beau didn’t like women. He refused to deal with them as often as he could, and though he had never been outwardly nasty to one, I remembered all the times he had passed things over to my daddy or me to deal with so he could avoid dealing with women in our business or otherwise. Obviously it wasn’t until now that I understood why he had behaved in such a way, but even without that knowledge a part of me was still… curious, maybe. Or simply being hopeful.
Beau was kind to Ruby. He bought her things, spoke to her with less venom than usual, and I knew for a fact he had taken a bunch of bad men to one of our torture cabins in the woods to pull apart. Bad men who had done something to Ruby. And that wasn’t something Beau did. So yeah. It wasn’t my business, but at the same time I had noticed the things going on around me and felt it was only right to ask questions.
He was my uncle - or daddy - after all. If anyone had the right to be nosy about his dating partners, I guessed it was me.
Ruby sighed. “I used to, when I was little. Like, I always wanted a beach weddin’ somewhere nice and hot, with a big ass party and a whole sea theme like a water princess.”
Her dreams sounded like an awful lot of fun, and though I had never pictured my own wedding, the idea of doing it how Ruby described seemed like it would be a boatload of entertainment.
“But now?” I asked.
She shrugged. “Now I don’t know. I’ve only just managed to like a man enough to let him call me his girlfriend. I think anymore might be pushin’ it. At least for a while. But I’m open to changin’ my mind if Aiden or whoever asks me at some point and I’m in a better headspace.”
Despite her semi-no response, I could see that look still in her eyes. The one that promised the dreams she’d had as a little girl wasn’t all gone. Perhaps a small piece of them remained in her heart, locked away behind steel walls that I hoped would one day be opened if the right person, and right time, came along and surprised her. But that was a thought for another day because the assistant came back and handed over my new purchase, right before I went to show her just how much I enjoyed being petty, and why bad attitudes were never polite.
“How would you like to pay today?” She asked, as I took my gun from my purse and went to lift it up.
Ruby gently grabbed my arm, stopping me in my tracks. “May I?”
“Sure.” I inclined my head.
She pulled the gun for me, holding it steady and sure as I tried not to find too much amusement in the saleswoman’s fear-filled eyes that locked onto the weapon being put in her face.
“I think we won’t be payin’ at all.” Ruby grinned fiercely. “We’re gonna walk on out of here, and you are gonna be nice about it. If not, then one of my lovely friends are gonna show you exactly why you shouldn’t be such a bitch to strangers.” By friends, she meant the handful of Raya’s Cartel gangsters that had come inside to escort us to the cars, saving my Red Diamonds the hassle of following me so closely.
It was even better for us that they had followed, because their faces were so well known in the area that it took a single glance for the saleswoman to nod her head and accept defeat.
“Of course.” Her jaw ticked, eyes flaring with the rage she had no choice but to lock up tight. “No problem. Have a nice day.”
Ruby reached over and patted her arm, condescending as hell. “Thanks darlin’. I hope you have the day you deserve.”
With that, we headed outside, going straight for the cars we’d come in so we could grab some food before heading home. The other girls had all climbed into the front car, so it was just Ruby and I in the backseat of the car at the back, plus the driver.
Mohammed was an older guy – late sixties – and had been my daddy’s driver for as long as I could remember. He was sweet and had always been kind to me on the odd times I’d needed a ride and hadn’t been old enough to drive. But I’d never really spoken to him much beyond the basics, like how are you and the family sort of vibe, before now. Now I asked him everything each time I saw him – I wanted to know who he was, what he had liked about working for my daddy and what he hated. I wanted to hear about his family and all the adventures he’d been on whilst serving in the military years ago, before he left and joined my gang.
I wanted to know everyone who had been willing to follow me and believed in me as a leader, even when they had no reason to and had been outright told by Beau not to bother, when hewas still pretending to hate me. The people who had defied his orders deserved respect, and my people deserved more than being nameless faces that helped me. I would get to know every single one, to make sure they had whatever they needed in life, and knew that I appreciated them more than I could explain.
They had come to help me when they had been outright told that doing so would result in death, and I would forever be grateful for that.
“Hi, Mo.” He’d insisted I shorten his name more than once and had almost had a fit when I’d called him by his surname on account of it ‘making him feel old’.
“Miss Montana.” He inclined his head as I settled into my chair, and grabbed a bottle of Champagne from the cooler in the back, carefully opening it and forgoing glasses like the classy woman I was. “Miss Ruby. How was your trip?”
It wasn’t funny that Ruby didn’t have a surname, but at the same time it was kinda fun to hear the way she snickered whenever one of the Red Diamonds had referred to her as Miss Ruby. She’d said it made her feel like a grandma or something that baked cookies and yelled at mischievous school kids.
“All good, thanks. We got Sapphire a real pretty dress, and it was free!” Ruby laughed harder before she explained what had happened and how she had been so sure of herself with the gun, despite not usually using one.
“Do you know how to shoot?” I wondered – if she didn’t, I would teach her. It seemed useful for her to know.
