Crap. My World History teacher taught us all about other countries and the major cities within them. I just didn’t pay a lot of attention, being that at sixteen I was more worried about making money so that I could pay off my mother for room and board than I was about high school. The alternative was allowing the parade of “stepdaddies” to continue to defile me, or worse, start in on my sister. I spent years protecting Opal from being abused more than she already had been. I wasn’t going to focus my attention on studying when the only way out of the nightly torture was paying off my junkie mother .
“No, I haven’t. The flight to Las Vegas was the first plane I’d ever been on,” I admitted, lifting my chin and standing as tall as I could. Feeling very thankful for the sky-high stiletto heels the stylist put me in. I may not have been on even ground in the smarts department, but with my natural height and heels, I stood nose to nose with the identical twins, daring them to say anything more.
“Well, we can’t go to London until after the meeting tomorrow with Madam Alana.” Noah approached his brother. He put an arm around his shoulders in a brotherly gesture that relaxed my own shoulders a bit.
“Such a waste of time.” Nile’s lips pursed as he lifted his arm and looked at his watch. “I have a call with a business associate in Tokyo that I must take in a couple hours. I’d planned on doing it from the plane.” He sighed. “Since we can’t leave, why don’t we retire for the evening. Allow Ms. Dawson to pack her things and prepare to depart for London after the meeting tomorrow.”
Noah clapped his brother on the back a few times. “Sounds like a plan. Ruby?”
I nodded. “Mmm-hmm. That works for me.”
I started to move to the door as Noah dashed over to it and held it open.
“After you, my lady.”
A gentlemanly gesture, but the Cheshire cat grin he wore highlighted a devilish side I knew he hid very near to the surface. I’d have to be careful with this one. I’d originally marked him off because he was the exact type of man I always fell for.
The Player.
The User.
The chew ’em up and spit ’em out type.
Maybe he was none of those things, or all of them. Time would tell.
“Thank y’all for choosing me. I won’t let ya down,” I said over my shoulder, and took my leave, swaying my hips as I made my way to the elevator, never looking back. I didn’t have to. I knew they were watching me.
Men loved to watch me leave. They just never wanted me to stay.
The second I got to my room, I raced over to my prepaid phone sitting on the charger. I dialed the only number I remembered by heart.
Opal answered on the first ring.
“Guess what, Ruby Roo!” she squealed into the phone.
Hearing her joy and excitement filled my heart up to bursting. “What, Opal Loo?” I teased back.
“I got an A-plus in my Archaeology II class! I’m so glad it’s over. Professor Swanson was such a bear too. He got angry because I knew about King Tut’s suspected assassin and that he had two stillborn children and a whole host of other information that he didn’t think was even relevant to share with the class. But it so is, Ruby. There’s more to King Tut than his discovery by Howard Carter in 1922.”
“Yikes. Sounds like you may have schooled him,” I shared, pride in my sister’s intelligence making me sit up straighter on the bed as I clutched the phone to my ear, hanging on her every word.
Opal groaned. “At least the classes at the school are making my transcript sparkle. I hope I can get a scholarship to transfer after I finish this year.”
“About that…” I smiled wide. “I’ve got the money. You can apply and go anywhere in the world you want to go now.” My heart pounded so fast that I stood up and paced th e hotel room.
“Ruby, what do you mean?”
“Remember The Marriage Auction I told you about?”
“Ruby, I honestly thought you were joking. Selling yourself at auction to the highest bidder and marrying that person! For money? No. Tell me you didn’t do that!”
Shame, white and hot, slithered through my veins for a few seconds until I shook it off, steeling my spine with grit and purpose.
“Opal, I told you that I would do what I had to in order to get us the life we want. The life you deserve.”
“We deserve. Not just me. I’m not a baby anymore, Ruby. You’ve been protecting me since I was six years old. And I’m grateful, more than grateful. You know that. This is why I’m using the money you’ve been sending for college and working my booty off. When I have a bachelor’s degree, I’ll be able to get a high-paying job. And that will help both of us. Then you can go to school if you want, stop strippin’ and giving those nasty lap dances you hate to crusty old men with no teeth and grabby hands. And who knows, maybe you could do something with your art.”
My art.
I laughed out loud. “I fiddle with pottery, Opal, when I have extra money. You’re the art expert. And now, you can be the museum curator you want to be. I have $500,000 in my account right now. I’m going to transfer most of it to yours.” A thrill of excitement skittered down my nerve endings at what I’d already achieved.
“Ruby…” she said in warning.
I shook my head as I paced. “You do not get to make me feel bad about this decision. It’s done. I have two men, identical twins, who are going to woo me for the next month. At the end of that month, I will pick one of them to marry. And after that, I’ll stay married for three years. By the end of it, my bank account will be at six million. Six million dollars, Opal! Tell me that isn’t life-changing money?”
Silence met me on the other end of the line.
“Exactly,” I said. “You can’t.”
“But, Ruby, I want more for you. A man you love who will love you back for all that is you. Not just because you have a gorgeous face and a body that won’t quit.”
I smiled, wishing I was sitting in front of her on the bed, like we used to back when we were kids. We’d sit on the lumpy surface, knee to knee, touching foreheads, holding hands, and whisper all the amazing things we were going to do when we were older. When we could get away from Momma, her trailer, and all the bad men she brought home.
“This is how I’m going to get more for my life. I’m not afraid. I’m not ashamed. And I’m not scared. I’m choosing this life, for me and for you. I only have to make it through three years, and I walk away a very rich woman. In the meantime, you can go to a college of your choosing, wherever you want to be in the world. Get your degree and then we’ll both be free. You’ll be a college-educated woman, the first in our family, and I’ll be your rich sister, ready to take on the world with you.”
“I don’t know…” Her voice sounded strained, as though she was about to cry.
“Opal, I’m okay. I’m more than okay. I’m excited, even. It’s the first day of my new life and I’ve got identical, smokin’ hot twins vying for my attention.”
“How’s that going to work? Two bachelors—brothers, no less—fighting for the same woman?”
Right as I was about to tell her all the details there was a loud knock on my door. “Hold on a sec. Someone’s here.”
I looked through the peephole. Noah’s rugged, charming face stared back.