NOT EDITED! *hide*
Ruby
I had almost confessed to him.
Sitting on the bed, I bended down and began to put on my black heels. His touches were still burning my skin, still lingering there like an unremovable tattoo. And each time I remember his ink black eyes that had been exotic and erotic, a heat will overwhelm my body. A smile would tug on the corner of my lip. A blush would make my cheeks rosy. The aching need to feel his hands on me again consumed me.
But the moment was broken before things lead to another direction. Almost broken. The intimacy we shared still lingered within us and the last look Oliver gave me, it ensured me that this wasn't over. I didn't want it to be over.
Exhaling softly and making sure I had my silver purse in my hand, I walked out of my room. Walking down the stairs with ease, I suddenly froze at the sight in front of me. Oliver was facing me, his phone beside his ear as he talked with a low voice. When he noticed me, his lips stopped moving and for a moment I could almost see the sharp inhale he took. His fingers clenched around his phone, making me worried that he will break it any second. His dark eyes trailed over the length of my body, slowly soaking in everything that I was showing him. I felt naked. I felt exposed even thought I was fully dressed. Yet, he looked at me like I was the only woman in his world. He made me feel beautiful, a feeling that I didn't experience much. For once, I wanted to dive in inside his mind and see his perspective of me.
Holding my breath, I continued to walk down the stairs until we were we stood only few inches apart. A sudden frown settled over his forehead which made me confused. He quickly murmured some words into the phone before he hanged up. He lifted his hand up, all while his eyes stayed on my face. A shiver swept over my skin when his rough fingers moved my hair over my shoulder, exposing more of my face.
More of my scar.
I froze.
An uncomfortable sensation caused nervousness to envelop me. My chin lowered and I wanted nothing but to escape from his eyes. From him. This sudden need to escape confused me. For the past weeks I haven't felt this urge to hide away from him, he never gave me the reason to, but being dressed in a beautiful gown, I was expecting him to see more of that than my scar. I felt insecure. Why was he focusing on the ugliness instead of prettiness?
"We have to-"
"Why are you hiding your scar?" he interrupted me, shocking me.
I shut my mouth and stared up at him again. "What?"
"You shouldn't hide it. I like when I can see it. It's...beautiful." He continued, struggling to say the word beautiful, like the word wasn't in his vocabulary.
I had pinned one side of my hair up, just behind and a little over my ear, and set a beautiful silver hair jewel to hide the bobby pins. On the other side, I had let my hair fall naturally down over my shoulder, letting my long softly curled bangs down to hide my scar and the length of it since the dress exposed my neck and collarbone. Hiding my scar has become second nature for me, I do it without dwelling on the thought. And Oliver...his views were always surprising. Eye-opening. Different.
Yet, his words didn't convince me. The scar was too painful. It held horrible memories. And they couldn't just vanish away in a blink of an eye.
"We should go." My voice was flat, probably harsh, but I didn't care. I wanted fresh air to clear my head. Not waiting for him to respond I moved toward the front door, already heading out and waited for him beside his car.
The whole drive was silent. Oliver had his usual emotionless mask on while I hid my face from him. We were back to square zero.
***
Hours later
The day carried on, turning into a beautiful night with love, laughter and happiness. It was beautiful to watch the love Liam and Vanessa had for each other. Whenever they looked at each other, the small touches they shared, the small whispers between them and the aura surrounding them, it bloomed stronger and wider with love. Nessa was his again, and he couldn't be happier. That happiness in his eyes wasn't there when we met for the first time, and all the years I had worked for him, not once had Liam showed a real smile. There was always something missing. And when I met Vanessa for the first time at a business dinner, did I notice what had been lost in Liam's life.
I sipped on my glass of wine, watching the ballroom slowly filling with couple slow dancing. I could tell, these people smelled of money – some money were dirtier than the others. Yet, they managed to pretend to be like any other human being on earth, sane not sinners. Being close to this environment made invisible claws to rip my skin off, always on my guard. But this was Liam's wedding, and I know these people were important to invite and I didn't question it.
"Well, if this isn't Ruby herself." A voice snapped me out of my thoughts and I felt my skin crawl with disgust.
Without my permission David invaded my personal space, his eyes didn't even look at mine as he ranked my body in disgust, his glance lingering longer on my scar. "Ah, the scar is still there. You didn't take up my suggestion for plastic surgery?"
His words stung hard.
I could almost break my glass and create more scars. Or I could smack my glass of wine on his face and imprint a scar on him. While am at it, I could knock my knee on his limp shaft and watch him fall in agony. The violent thought was unexpected, but strongly comforting. What has gotten into me?
I stayed silent, my face blank as I didn't want him to see the pain he caused. He had seen it once, it was enough. But my silence only feed his disgusting mouth to spill out more hurtful words. I held my breath and mentally counted to ten to block out his words. It didn't work, of course.
"How can you allow yourself to go out with that shit on your face? If I wasn't drunk that night, I would have never touched you, let alone" he leaned his face closer to mine, as a half smirk danced from the corner of his mouth. He knew he was hurting me deep. "...fuck you."
Before I could react, and let his words cut me deeper, a dark figure loomed over David from behind. My eyes widen. Oliver's eyes were murderess, dark and needy for death. It should scare me away, but I only felt relief consume me once I felt his presence next to mine. His hand reached out and grabbed a solid grip on the back of David's neck. His fingers dug graves where it hit a painful nerve which led to David letting out a painful growl, following with a curse word.
His scream satisfied my heart.
It didn't make me panic. It made me want to smile.
The shock in my eyes still hadn't calmed down when Oliver dipped his head and hissed dangerously close to David's ear, loud enough for me to hear. "I suggest you to keep your mouth shut or I'll be more than delightful to cut your tongue out."
"Fuck...Oliver, what the hell man?"
Oliver's grip tightened, his voice became deadlier.
"Now I want you to apologize to her or you won't have hands nor legs by the end of this night." From the savage expression on Oliver's face, it seemed like he wouldn't mind actually doing that. Tonight.
I was aware of David's pleading eyes on me but I couldn't take my eyes off of Oliver.
His blood was boiling with anger and protectiveness. And it was all for me. He was yet again hurting someone who was hurting me. And he didn't look sorry at all.
David shivered in fear and quickly spilled his apology to me, waiting to get freed from Oliver. "I'm sorry for disrespecting you and calling you ugly..." he winced in pain when fingers dug deeper holes into his neck, "p-please forgive me."
Oliver glare could kill someone on the spot, but his demeanor managed to simmer down as he tore his eyes from David to me. His voice that had been low with rough harshness and deadly suddenly shifted to a soft edge of roughness. "Do you accept his apology miss Ruby?"
Miss Ruby? We're back to it? Did I deliver the wrong intention with my cold behavior earlier on? A sense of guilt made a lump grow on my throat. My talking became a stuttering. I wanted David to go away and resolve my situation with Oliver. "Y-yes, I accept it. P-please let him go."
As soon as the words slipped passed my lips, Oliver immediately obeyed my command and let David free from his grip. David sprinted away like a coward. Composing himself, Oliver went ahead to stand beside me, his hands behind his back and his blank face faced forward. Even thought I might have hurt him, he still came to my rescue and defended me. Before I could help it, a ghost looking smile laced upon my lips.
Oliver
I am fucking pissed.
Pissed at her.
Pissed at him.
Pissed at myself.
You shouldn't hide it. I like when I can see it. It's...beautiful.
Words like that never manage to come out of me very often. Never. But they did, for her. Yet, she was oblivious to the weight of the words. I'm a man who doesn't speak, but when I do, I mean every fucking shit of it. Ruby's scar held plenty of horrific memories that came alive strongly in her nightmares at night, and to change her perspective was impossible. I understood that with her blank stare and flat words. Maybe words won't affect her. Maybe action will. Perhaps if we could replace the memories with good ones.
I wanted to snarl. Who was I anymore? Liam had only ordered me to protect her physically not mentally. Things shouldn't have gone this far, I was only here to protect her and not build a relationship with her. Emotions shouldn't be involved. But it was too late, I have unknowing let Ruby into my head and now she was in every corner and edge. Tempting me and bewitching me to come even closer. To let someone else, other than myself and my duty as a third in command, in my life.
I need air.
My eyes shifted to Ruby seeing as her eyes was on the dancefloor, watching people dance ridiculously slow and close to each other. What kind of dance was that? But the little glimmer on Ruby's eyes told me one thing. She wanted that as well. Do that ridiculous dance. And like possessed man I am, I immediately wanted to fulfill her want. Make her happy and make that tiny glimmer in her eyes to glow even wider. As she could feel my glance at her, Ruby shifted her eyes to me, a small smile resting over her bold red lips. I stared at them a little too long.
"Do you want to dance?" she asked, with shyness and braveness. Her fingers held her glass a little tighter, as she was nervous.
But I hated public.
I wanted privacy. To do that.
"We should leave." I said.
A shadow of sadness crossed her feature, but she quickly blinked away and nodded. Her fake smile told me she was hurt. "Um...okay, if you want to. Let me grab my purse at the table and say goodbye to Liam and Vanessa."
She set her empty glass on the tray that a waiter held as he walked by. She quickly walked to our table that we shared and took hold of her purse. She went to Liam and Vanessa, shared a few words, that earned her a generous smile from Liam and a hug from Vanessa. Liam's eyes met mine, he nodded at me which earned him one back. It held two messages. Congratulation Boss. And everything is under control.
If only he knew.
***
Ruby was silent. I was silent.
From the corner of my eye I could see her lips opening and then closing, like she wanted to say something but something held her back.
My knuckles clenched around the steeling wheal, and when my eyes caught the perfect parking on the side of the round that also was created for a small rest, I roughly turned the wheal and stopped the car.
"Why did we stop?" Ruby frowned, glancing toward me.
I took a sharp breath, collecting the strange words inside my head before laying them before us in the air. "Do you want to dance?"
She inhaled, and I finally looked at her. She looked surprised. Confused, like she wanted to figure me out. Then I saw happiness. And it did something to my heart. It skipped a beat with relief.
"I would love to, Oliver."
I kept the car lights on for us and stepped out of my seat. It wasn't until I opened Ruby's door and had her stand before did I realize my one mistake.
I didn't know how to dance.
Fuck. This was a bad idea.
Ruby
I saw doubt in his eyes. He was nervous, questioning his own decision. He seemed to be stuck in his own stubborn head, letting thoughts weight him down to the ground. Bur before he could sink deeper down, I lifted my hand up and palmed his hand. It was cold, big and rough.
Oliver snapped out form whatever shadow that had loomed over him and glanced down at our joined hands. Slowly I began to interwind our fingers together. His fingers slipped between mine, his skin was a shade darker next to my pale one. Yet, they looked perfect.
"Dance with me." I whispered into the night, and began to walk backwards, pulling him with me.
The parking spot was big enough to give us space to dance. We were nearly on the top of the hill, a beautiful view of the city was before us, the city lights on the dark silent night set a relaxing and heavy romantic aura in the air.
With our eyes connecting to their deepest souls, I guided his palm to my back as my one hand slid upwards, the rigid muscles beneath his suit jacket made a shiver to consume my body, before I let it rest on his shoulder. I lifted our already joined hands halfway up and then we held our breath.
Ever so softly, we began to move. Small little movements, but so sensual, deep and heavy. We didn't need music. Every breath he took was a note. Every beat my heart made was a note. And together they created the perfect rhythm for us. So peaceful.
"I'm sorry about earlier..."I began, gulping the guilt that came like waves over my heart, "It's a sensitive topic for me, Oliver but I shouldn't have replied with that harshness."
He stayed quite for a while before he murmured. "I meant what I said."
I sucked in a harsh breath. The second time he admitted it.
"...Thank you." I whispered, I felt a blush slowly crawling its way up my face.
Oliver's hand on my back managed to pull me closer to him as he now snaked his arm around my waist. I stared wide eyed. Our bodies were close, not an inch separated us. His body heat warmed me to my core. I was no longer covered with shivers. Oliver made a wave of sensation to sink deep into my skin, warming me until he was the only thing I could feel.
"Listen to me. Only. Not David or any other fuckers. I'll make you admire your scar just as much as I admire it. It's your strength, it tells a story of a survivor and every fucking human on earth should be jealous that they don't carry the same strength." Oliver nearly growled every word, his hot breath on my face spoke volumes and passion.
My eyes became blurry from the salty tears. This isn't something I hear every day and hearing it for the first time from a man that has somehow crawled close and deep inside my heart, made me feel so...loved, treasured and cherished. It was overwhelming. It made me speechless.
His fingers slipped from mine and brought them up to pull my hair behind my ear. My scar was bare to him. He shifted his eyes to it, an unreadable expression crossed his face but when his face neared closer to mine, I thought he would kiss me.
But instead his rough lips met my scar. I felt a soft kiss. My eyes closed and I felt a tear rushing down from the corner of my eye. "Oliver..." I breathed.
He continued to kiss. Following the length of it. My hand that had been on his shoulder softly reached to the nape of his neck and held tighter into him. I arched my neck back giving him more access to the length of it. My dress was slowly riding up from the fabric Oliver was gathering from behind. When I could feel cool air against my bare leg, Oliver didn't waste time to palm my thigh and lifted it around his hip. My other leg followed behind, wrapping itself around Oliver's strong hip. My arms laced around his neck as our foreheads touched.
He took me to the front of the car and sat my arse on it. "Oliver..."
I blinked my eyes open, gazing into his black irises that held so much emotions. When I murmured his name again, his gaze dropped to my lips. Staring at them, imprinting their curve and edge into his memory. As I did to his lips. They looked rough...but would they feel soft?
"I have never kissed a woman, Ruby."
It took a second or two until I fully let his words sink in. I stared shockingly at him.
"Never?"
He shook his head, he was still continuing staring at my lips. Like he was compelled. "Never. It's too intimate. I always preferred lips between a woman's thighs." He gazed back to me and shook his head slowly. "But with you...your lips...they are tempting me. To taste them."
"I wish you were my first kiss. My first...everything."
Oliver didn't reply to that...but he did kiss me.
The touch between our lips was almost feather-like, barely pressing with pressure. Our eyes were still open. The world stood still. The air vanished. The sounds downed far away. What was left was us. Oliver and me.
When his big and warm hands palmed my cheeks, I let my eyes close and let myself free.
But this moment only lasted for a small minute.
Because the next thing I felt was a grunt coming from Oliver. I snapped my eyes open, already feeling a horrible ache on my heart as I felt Oliver's arms around me weakened. And just like that, before my eyes, I saw my powerful man fall down in front of me.
A small arrow was on the back of his neck, just a little bit above to where my arms had been.
***
Ah damn, it started soo good, right? 😫
...😈
Until next time, Vivvi 🌹