J.S. Scott

I remembered a quote I’d read that was connected to Roosevelt: If you have reached the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.

“I didn’t mean to yell at you,” I said hesitantly. “Sometimes it takes me a few minutes to realize that I was dreaming. And I don’t usually like anyone touching me in any way. Well, except for you sometimes.”

I heard Jett’s sharp intake of breath before he replied, “I want to hunt your uncle down and make him regret every fucking time he touched you.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “Sometimes I have to wonder if your brain is completely functional.”

“I have an IQ of 155, so I’m technically a genius,” he said with mock defensiveness. “And I double majored in business and cybersecurity in college, but I was already a damn good hacker even before I went to school.”

“Okay, so maybe there’s just one tiny portion of your brain that’s dysfunctional,” I answered as I smiled.

He looked up from the laptop he was using at the kitchen table. “Exactly how many facts do you have in that head of yours?” he joked.

“About seventeen years of them,” I answered. “I started going to our local library in Ohio when I was five, and I never stopped.”

He stood up, but his emerald gaze was still pinning me to my chair with its intensity. “Because if something should happen to me, I have to know that you’ll be okay. Your days on the streets are done, Ruby. If I get hit by a truck tomorrow, you’ll still be okay.”

“I’m glad it’s over,” Ruby said in the same monotone voice she’d used all day.

She was actually starting to scare me.

She’d signed the paperwork involving her trust like it was just another task she had to complete, asking the necessary questions with very little emotion.

I gathered the broken woman into my arms as she did something I’d never seen before.

She started sobbing against my shoulder, crying like she’d never stop.

I held her against me, comforting her in her grief, recognizing Ruby Kent finally trusted me, even if she didn’t know it yet.

“Not tonight,” he said hoarsely, his eyes still glued to me. “I’m going to have the most beautiful woman in the world on my arm. I want to savor that.”

He was grinning at me. “My kitten has claws,” he drawled.

“I don’t like what she did to you,” I said firmly.

He leaned closer. “Are you trying to protect me, Ruby?”