Page 5 of Swerve (Boosted Hearts 1)

I spun on her. “You’re not coming with me.”

“My boss, says otherwise,” she fired back.

“Hunter has nothing to do with this. When it comes to you, he has not one fucking say. When it means putting you in danger, I decide. No one else.”

She stilled, then blinked. Something moved over her face, something that made my fucking gut coil tight.

“No.” She shook her head, eyes shooting fire. “I fucking decide. It has nothing to do with you. It’s none of your damned business.”

I growled, like a goddamn animal, probably because that’s how I felt. “Do not fucking push me today, Ruby. I mean it.” I crowded her. An asshole move, but I was on the edge. My shitty day had just gotten a whole lot shittier. The lack of sleep sure as hell wasn’t helping. She backed up, until her back met the wall behind her. “You are my business . . . whether I like it or not,” I damn near snarled.

She flinched, then scowled.

I couldn’t stop though, on a roll. “You’ve made sure you’re my business time and time again. Every time you call me for help, every time you get yourself into shit and I bail you out, you made yourself my business.” She was breathing heavily now, chest rising and falling. Her sweet handful-sized tits grazing my abs. My hips rolled forward, like they had a life of their own. It took everything I had not to press my aching cock against the softness of her belly. “I’m only giving you what you want, babe.”

“What I want, is for you to back the fuck up and stop being an asshole,” she fired back.

I gritted my teeth. “Jesus. Like always, I’m wasting my damn breath with you.” I stepped back. “I don’t have time for one of your tantrums today.”

That made her flinch again, and it made me a giant asshole. I hated it. But I needed this thing between us over. I needed to not want her anymore. Despising me, hating me wasn’t enough, not when under that anger I saw the heat. The kind of heat that could burn you alive and keep you coming back no matter how many scars each encounter left. Only the scars wouldn’t be mine, they’d be Ruby’s. And I’d cut off my own arms before I unleashed the full extent of the ugly inside me on her.

I took another step back and met her wide-eyed stare. “Don’t be there tonight. I mean it.” Then I turned away, bypassing the elevator, and took the stairs, getting the hell out of there.

* * *

Ruby

I pulled up a few houses down from the address Hunter had given me and hunkered down. Not that I needed to. It was dark out and the Explorer windows were tinted enough no one would get a good look at me. My nerves had been playing havoc all day. This would have been a pretty awesome way to celebrate my birthday, on my first job. I’d been harassing Van to let me do this almost since I started. But the excitement was doused by worry over how Neco would react to me showing up. He’d made it blatantly clear that he didn’t want me here tonight. The stubborn bastard would rather go in blind than let me help. I can’t deny it stung, knowing that he didn’t trust me to take his back. I may do stupid shit from time to time, but when it came to the important things, I was one hundred percent focused.

What was his damn problem?

He’d spent the last nine years driving home just how much he didn’t want me. And okay, it had taken a while, but I’d finally gotten the message loud and clear. Now I needed him to back the hell up and let me live my life.

Right?

I sighed and dropped my head back against the seat. That wouldn’t happen, though, would it? And it wasn’t just his fault. I was as much to blame. To say my and Neco’s relationship was complicated was a huge understatement. Complicated would be one thing. I craved the man’s attention in a way I didn’t fully understand, or could even begin to describe. My feelings were at constant war with themselves. Common sense tangling horns with some pretty crazy, wild lust. But it wasn’t just that. Wanting him so bad I ached was only a portion of the way I felt for the man. As much as I hated it, inside me there was still a scared six-year-old girl that relied on him to make her world a safer place. That part of me still needed a connection with him, no matter how much time passed, or how strong and independent a woman I’d become. That little girl was holding me back from living my life.

God, not having Neco around was not something I could bear to think about, though. But what we had now was . . . shit, it was toxic, and the longer I played my games, the more poisonous it became. I’d polluted what we had a long time ago. I’d asked for more. And nothing had been the same since . . .

Bang. Bang. Bang.

I squawked and jumped, spinning to the side window. Neco stood there, scowling through the tinted glass at me. Shit.

Here comes the lecture. I plastered a smile on my face and hit the button for the window, dropping it two inches. Pale green eyes that looked so striking against his brown skin met mine through the gap. And, shocker, he wasn’t happy. “Hey.”

“Hey?” Those unusual eyes narrowed.

I grabbed an earpiece from the passenger seat and handed it to Neco through the window gap. “You need this, right?”

“What are you doing here, Ruby?” he gritted out, ignoring my fingers poking through the gap.

“My job,” I said back through clenched teeth, waving the earpiece at him. I may want to violently tear the man’s clothes off like a horny rabid beast and eat him all up, but good God he brought out my surly side. I’d never wanted to slap anyone silly like I did him . . . and not in a sexy way.

“Your job is to answer phones, file shit, make Hunter fucking coffee . . .”

I dropped the earpiece and he caught it on reflex, then I hit the button and the window slid up, cutting him off. Asshole.

My skin flushed hot, mainly from anger. I hated that he saw me as someone so idiotic and pointless. It probably didn’t help that I confirmed that opinion every time I acted like an idiot to get his attention.