I didn’t have answers, but I did have a source of information.
I went up to my room and called my brother’s cell.
“Hey, how’s paradise?” My brother, Chad, asks when he picks up.
Chad is the middle brother, sandwiched between my oldest brother Cameron and me. The lone non-surgeon in our family of doctors. A software developer, he leads a team at a firm in the Loop and recently got engaged to his girlfriend, Ruby.
Ruby is one of the most awesome people I’ve ever met. Chad once referred to her as a rebel snow white and it’s a perfect description. With shiny black hair, ridiculous blue eyes and full red lips, she’s gorgeous, fun, and there’s not one thing conventional about her. Until she came around, Chad had always dated nondescript blondes that worried my outspoken, feminist mother for their lack of challenge.
But my mom loved Ruby the second they met. We all had. She’s exactly right for my brother.
Ruby also happens to be friends with Ashley.
I clear my throat. “Interesting, I’ll give you that.”
Chad laughs. “How can a conference about cutting open people be interesting?”
I narrow my gaze. “Ashley’s here.”
Silence, before a speculative, “That is interesting. I know you took her home, did you decide to keep her for a bit?”
“Not exactly. It’s somewhat of a coincidence and not the point right now.” I pick up a scrap of paper lying on the nightstand and run my finger along the edge. “Is Ruby there?”
More silence before he sighs. “Hang on.”
I hear a bunch of rummaging and background noise and talking before my future sister-in-law comes on the line. “Hey, what’s up?”
I don’t mince words. “Ashley’s here.”
“Did she follow you?” The question is delivered without pause.
I don’t like the implication Ashley’s the kind of girl that would do something like that, and I want to ignore it, but denial isn’t in my nature. If Ashley is a nutcase, better to cut my losses, use the night to fill my fantasies, and call it a day. I crumple the paper. “Is she really the type that would do that?”
“I wouldn’t think so, but she’s had a tough go recently, so I don’t know.”
It brings me some relief, but it doesn’t dispel the niggling doubts. “I don’t think she did.”
“Why’s that?” Ruby’s, smoky singer’s voice is curious.
“Well, for one she wasn’t happy to see me and two, she wants nothing to do with me.” I run my hand through my hair. Processing through my answers makes me more sure. “That doesn’t strike me as stalkerish behavior.”
Ruby laughs. “Oh, I can tell you right now that is not how she’d act if she’d followed you. I’m not saying she’s above playing innocent, but if she followed you, she’d be all over you.”
The last of my doubts evaporate. “That’s what I thought. So I want you to tell me her story.”
Now Ruby falls silent, and I can practically hear her pondering through the cell. “Did you ask her the night of the party?”
We hadn’t talked about our pasts. We’d been too focused on other, more carnal things. I clear my throat. “All I know is what I learned from you. That she was on the rebound and I should stay away.”
“Since it doesn’t look like you’re going to stay away, why not ask her yourself?” Ruby sounds inquisitive, thoughtful.
“I can’t ask her if she won’t even talk to me.”
“All I’m willing to say is she was in love with a guy for a long time that didn’t love her in return. If you want more information, you’ll have to find a way to talk to her.” There’s more silence over the line, and I can practically feel Ruby thinking before she continues. “I’ve known Ashley since college, and while she’s not one of my best friends, she’s still my friend. She’s been hurt enough. Maybe you should leave her alone and let her find someone that can make her happy. She doesn’t need any more guys playing with her.”
I grit my teeth and my hand clenches into a fist, almost instinctively. “I’m not playing with her.”
“Is that why you took her into the closet?” Ruby’s tone is light, meant to sound like a quip instead of the rebuke it really is.
“How did you know about that?”
“It was kind of hard to miss, Chad and I had bets on if you were going to go at it right there in the corner.” She chuckles. “I won, but half the party saw you guys stumble into the closet and she”—Ruby clears her throat—“didn’t look the same when she returned.”
Okay, so in my drunken, horny state I didn’t exercise the discretion I thought I had. “What does that have to do with anything?”