“Sure.” He gave a half smile. But it was enough to make those green eyes sparkle.
Ruby’s heart flipped. She was hooked. Again.
“I didn’t mean to upset you earlier when I compared you with my dad.” She held her breath, waiting for his response.
“Forget it.” He shrugged, again. “It was nothing you said. I’m on a short fuse these days, and I don’t like talking about stuff.”
It felt like she was talking to Blake. She only had to say one wrong word and he’d jump down her throat. And when she tried to talk about Reese and what had happened, he totally ignored her. It was ironic how similar Drew and Blake’s reactions were. And lucky her, she had found herself in the firing line of both of them, without having done anything.
“I understand.” The words were out of her mouth before she could check them, and she wondered if he’d get upset again.
“It’s hard enough dealing with this,” he replied, seeming to ignore her comment and holding out his arms so she could see the burns on his wrists and hands. “But they’re nothing compared with what happened to Reese.”
His eyes glazed over, and a pained expression crossed his face. Ruby perched on the edge of the bench opposite him. She leaned over and touched him lightly on the arm, causing him to jump.
“Drew, are you okay?” she asked, feeling guilty for taking him by surprise.
“What?” He frowned. It seemed like he had totally zoned out from everything.
“Are you in pain? Your face, it was all contorted and—”
“I’m fine,” he interrupted, drawing in a couple of deep breaths. “Fine.”
It was obvious to Ruby that he wasn’t. “Do you want to talk about it?” She couldn’t help asking, even though she suspected he’d say no. And Blake would probably disown her if he’d overheard her trying to help his sworn enemy.
“No. Thanks. But no.”
Ruby glanced across to the door as it opened and saw a group of girls walking in. “I’ve got to get back. Let me know if you change your mind.”
Drew didn’t reply, just acted like he hadn’t heard her.
While she served the newest customers, Ruby was hyper-aware of Drew as she moved around the café. She had started wiping down the counter when out of the corner of her eye she noticed him standing up. To her surprise, instead of heading out the door, he began making his way toward her.
She smiled at him, and he gave her that half smile in return. She was about to pop around to talk to him when the door opened and Blake walked in.
Panic washed over Ruby. She knew Blake would go mad if he saw her, but she didn’t want to cut Drew off, either. Not when he’d finally lost that haunted look he’d worn all day at school.
Blake strode over to the counter, his face set hard. Ruby risked a glance in Drew’s direction. Except he wasn’t there.
She looked up to see his retreating back as he pushed through the front door and left.
Chapter Three
Ruby sneaked a peek at Blake. His arms were rigid, and he’d wrapped his hands so tightly around the steering wheel that his knuckles protruded like tiny mountains. His mouth was stretched into a thin, angry line, the muscles in his face clearly defined by tension.
After seeing Drew, Blake had informed her that he would be taking her home, and he’d spent the rest of Ruby’s shift sitting in the corner glaring at her. She didn’t even know what had made him come to the café. They hadn’t arranged anything. The old Blake, the one who’d existed before the fire, would have popped in to see if she’d needed a ride, no question. New Blake, on the other hand, always seemed too wrapped up in himself to bother, so she had fully expected to have to take the bus home.
She’d wished the floor could’ve opened up and swallowed her whole when Blake had come into the café. If only he hadn’t seen her talking with Drew. She knew he wouldn’t understand. And she got that. After all, Drew had devastated his life.
But…Drew had clearly paid for what he had done. Was still paying.
“Blake,” she said tentatively, unable to bear the silence between them any longer.
They had always gotten on well together, even though Blake had withdrawn into himself since it all happened, and they had worked together to help their mom when they could. Blake especially had a bond with their father, and he would sometimes sit playing cards with him, more so in the past than recently, though.
“Blake,” she repeated.
Blake’s eyes remained facing forward; it was as if he hadn’t even acknowledged her presence.
“Blake. If you’re not going to answer then just listen. It’s not like you’ve got any choice seeing as you’re driving.” She paused a moment to stare at his profile. She witnessed a slight twitch under his eye and watched as he bit down onto his bottom lip. She had his attention. Whether he admitted it or not. “I had to speak to Drew. He protected me from a drunk guy in the café, and he—”
“I don’t want to know.” Blake tossed an angry glance in her direction. “He’s bad news. Keep away from him.”
If only it was that easy.
Ruby couldn’t explain it, but despite the thousands of reasons why she should do exactly as her brother said, something about Drew pulled her toward him. She didn’t know whether it was because she felt sorry for him on so many levels, or what. Not that she’d tell Blake that.
“But—” Ruby’s words stuck in her throat as she was thrown back in her seat when Blake suddenly swung the car to the side and pulled up to the curb, bringing them to a screeching halt. Her heart pounded in her rib cage.
“There is no ‘but’, Ruby.” Blake leaned across and locked eyes with her.
Ruby hated to see him this way. The day Reese died had changed him so much. Yet, Ruby knew that Blake and Reese weren’t even meant to be together. Their relationship had been constantly on-again, off-again, and they were always arguing. Blake had broken up with her many, many times, saying he’d found her too manipulative. In fact, he’d broken up with her again the day before the fire, so strictly speaking they weren’t together. But after she’d died—after sleeping with his best friend, mind you—it was like Blake had put her on a pedestal and had totally forgotten their split and all those things about her that he hadn’t liked.
Ruby had often wondered whether Blake would have reacted so badly if it had been another guy with Reese and not Drew. Maybe he was really grieving the loss of his friendship. Not that she’d have any way of finding out, because he refused to confide in her.
“I’ll try,” Ruby said, not wanting to upset him any more than he already was. She wasn’t prepared to commit to anything other than trying to keep away from Drew, because something inside of her wanted to help him if she could. There was a definite similarity between Drew and her father, who, after his accident, had grown self-obsessed to the detriment of everything else in his life. At the moment, Drew seemed headed down the same path. She couldn’t help but want to keep Drew from ending up like her dad.
She also wanted to make her brother happy, but Blake wasn’t exactly making that easy. Yes, he’d lost his on-again-off-again girlfriend, which was horrible. And yes, his best friend had betrayed him. But Blake still had his life ahead of him, with no disfigurement to deal with and no one’s accidental death sitting on his conscience.
She sighed, wishing that everything wasn’t so confusing.
“Good.” Blake broke into her thoughts, voicing his approval over her promise to try to stay away from Drew Scott.
The rest of the journey seemed to last forever. Tension hung ominously in the air like a thick cloud threatening to choke them both. Ruby deliberately kept her eyes focused on the houses they passed. Eventually, Blake pulled up outside the front of their house, and before Ruby had even undone her seat belt, he’d jumped out of the car and was walking down the path and through their front door. When Ruby finally got inside, she heard the door to his bedroom slam.