Ruby came while I was struggling to shut the suitcase. “It would help if you folded the clothes neatly,” she said and proceeded to dump all my clothes back on the bed.
“Do you know how long that took me?” I protested.
“Relax, Aunt Ruby is here.” She folded my clothes one by one and arranged them neatly in the suitcase.
Every so often, she stopped to admire one of my creations. “I don’t get why you refuse to design clothes for people? Everyone is always complimenting the dresses you design for me.”
I didn’t want to talk about my lofty dreams. It was one thing to design and sew dresses for myself and Ruby for free but to charge for my designs would be impossible. I felt relieved when Ruby didn’t wait for a response.
“So tell me more about this Greek god. Is he someone you can have a little more than a physical relationship?”
I frowned. “No. He’s totally out of my league. Anyway, after Stan—”
She stopped folding clothes and whirled around to face me. “Every man is not Stan. He was nasty and you’re right to be careful, but you can’t judge every man by his standard, Ella. It’s not right.”
I shrugged. I didn’t expect Ruby or anyone to understand. I’d been with Stan for over a year and for the last five months, he had abused me in one form or another. The burns on my thighs had been the last straw.
After therapy, I’d come to a conclusion... the biggest mistake I’d made was allowing myself to be vulnerable. He had manipulated me into a situation where I felt responsible for all his pain and hurt and he had a lot.
When he hit me, then sobbed and said he was sorry, it hurt him more than it hurt me—I made excuses for him. Always in places where no one would see the bruises. At the time, I didn’t see how calculated his cruelty was. I still believed the horrible stories he told me of how his father had abused him. Mentally and physically.
It took a long time on the psychiatrist couch to understand how he had his way of manipulating people. Making them excuse his inexcusable behavior. It made me understand the one time I met his father, he struck me as one of the nicest human beings I’d ever met.
The story with Stan didn’t even end with the restraining order. There were anonymous phone calls. All I would hear was him, breathing down the line. Sometimes, I’d felt sure I saw him following me from afar. Then one day, he stopped. I found out through a mutual friend he had been arrested for starting a fight and beating a man outside a bar. No doubt, he’d picked out a wimp, but he’d chosen the wrong guy. Turned out, the wimp’s father was a rich criminal lawyer who made sure Stan got a prison sentence.
Once he was gone, I’d been able to analyze my relationship with him and I came to a conclusion. The way to never to get manipulated like that again, was to simply not open my heart to anyone like him again. Sure, I loved sex like any other healthy female did, and I wouldn’t deny myself that pleasure.
But my heart was mine and mine alone.
I quickly changed the topic, knowing Ruby would never understand what it had been like to live with a psychopath. Ruby had been seeing her boyfriend for as long as I could remember. He proposed every six months and each time, Ruby said she wasn’t ready. I never understood this and she never gave me a straight answer about it either.
“You’re a genius,” I declared, when we closed the suitcase with room to spare.
“Yes, I know,” she agreed, nodding with satisfaction. She looked around us. “Are we all set to go?”
I could see she was excited about meeting Luke. So was I. My sex twitched at the thought of seeing him again. Maybe the second-time around wouldn’t be so intense. Perhaps I’d let nervousness and my imagination run away with me and he was just like any other man.
He wasn’t.
“Fuck!” Ruby exclaimed when Luke stepped out of the front door. “Is he real?”
“Told you,” I said with a little nervous laugh. My stomach was already in knots. No, it hadn’t been better than the first time. It was worse.
“I wouldn’t mind a taste of that,” she said.
“You have a boyfriend,” I reminded her.
“If I didn’t,” she said with a chuckle, as she released the latch to the trunk of her convertible.
I hopped out of the car just as Luke came down the steps. He smiled and my legs weakened. He was that delectable.
“I’ll take that,” he said, reaching inside the trunk for my suitcase.
“This is my friend, Ruby,” I said and stifled a laugh at the way she kept gawking at him.
“Hi there, I’m Luke,” he said and flashed her a smile. The man had gorgeous teeth. His parents must have spent a fortune on them.
“Nice to meet you,” Ruby said, and licked her lips cheekily.
“Stop it,” I mouthed from behind him.
She winked at me.
I knew he could see her doing this. Quickly, I grabbed the box with my sewing machine in it. “All right then. I’ll see you soon. Thanks for the ride,” I called out to Ruby brightly before she could embarrass the both of us further.
She put the car into gear and with a cheery wave… she was off.
“You should have told me you needed a ride,” Luke murmured as we walked up the steps. “I could have sent my driver to collect you.”
“Thanks, but it was great to catch up with Ruby,” I said. I followed him up the stairs and to my room.
He put the suitcase on the dresser top at the far side of the room.
I set down my sewing machine box and faced him.
“If you need anything, let me now.” He gave me a nod.
I
