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Sequel: We Come Out At Night 3 ›
We Come Out At Night 2
Chapter 5
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Ruby
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I woke up the next morning and stretched out my arms in the oversized bed. I could have stayed in the sea of blankets and pillows all day it was so comfortable. After sitting up in the bed and wiping the sleep out of my eyes, I moved the covers and hopped down.
I quietly walked to the door of the bedroom and stuck my head out, but I didn’t see any sign of Brian. When I walked through the door and out to the living room, I found him sitting on the couch watching television.
“Well, good morning, sleepy head.”
“Sorry, I slept so late.”
“Relax, I was teasing.” He got up off the couch and walked over to where I stood. “Want some coffee?”
Wow. With him standing so close, I could see his eyes were the color of black coffee. “No thanks. I don’t want to impose any more then I all ready have.”
He smiled an inviting smile at me and I nearly blushed. “It’s not an imposition. I enjoyed the company last night.”
“Yeah, some company I am, I fell asleep before the movie even ended!”
He nodded and put his hand on my shoulder. “Blame the bed; it has that effect on people.”
“Well, I really have to go.” I didn’t really have to go, but I didn’t want to make a fool of myself in front of him anymore than I already have.
“Ok” he nodded. “Well, anytime you feel like popcorn and a movie, you know where to find me.” This was going to be a good day. I smiled back at him and nodded before leaving and getting on to the elevator. When I got off on my, floor I found Izzy knocking on my door. I walked up to her and smiled “Hi.” She was holding quite a few books in her hands.
“Hi.” She smiled back and I opened the door to my room and let her in. She set the books down on my bed and turned back around to look at me.
“So, this is everything that you need to get your diploma.” I looked down at the pile of books on my bed and felt a little intimidated.
“I have to learn all of that?”
“I know it looks like a lot, but you have three years of high school to cover. You only have to pass five tests. Science, Social Studies, Math, Reading and Writing”
“Wow.” I sat down on the bed and picked up one of the books. “Thank you for helping me”
She sat down on the bed beside me and smiled. “It’s my pleasure, if there’s anything else I can do, just ask.”
“Well, there is one thing.” I was almost afraid to ask I hated rejection.
“What is it?”
I closed the book I was holding and set it back down on top of the pile. “I don’t have any girlfriends. Do you want to be my friend?”
Izzy put her arm around my shoulder and gave me a light squeeze. “I’d love to be your friend.”
“Thanks.” I nodded not sure how to react. It was nice to have someone to talk with that wasn’t a man who was pawing at me calling me baby.
“Well. I have rehearsal to get to, but Shadows wants to know if you are free to meet with him at lunch time?”
“Am I in trouble?” Why the hell else would he be asking to meet with me?
She laughed at my nervousness. “No, no. I promise you are not in trouble. I know he is big and he can be scary sometimes, but this is a good thing. I swear.”
“Ok.” I nodded. She said goodbye and left me there alone with my books. It was already ten o’clock so that left me two hours to get showered and dressed before going downstairs to meet with Shadows.
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2 Hours Later
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When I stepped off the elevator, I really didn’t know where I was supposed to be going. I assumed I was supposed to go to Shadows office, but after turning in that direction, The Rev walked up in front of me, spun me around and pointed to the black jack table.
“Oh, ok. Thanks.” I don’t know why I thanked him. He made me cry, but I tried to be polite to everyone. I straightened out my t-shirt and walked over to the table not knowing what to expect or why he asked to meet at a black jack table.
When I reached the table, he stood up and smiled at me. “Have a seat.”
I sat down cautiously and waited for him to say something. A waitress came over and brought us lunch. “I’m starving” he said and still I waited to find out what this was about. While we ate, Brian walked up to the table and sat down on the other side of me.
“Ok, now that we’re all here, we can start” Shadows spoke and I gave him my full attention. “So, last night, you pointed out a man who was counting cards. That’s some skill, Ruby.”
“It’s not a big deal, really.” I didn’t think it was anyway; it was just a trick I learned from working in the casinos so long.
“To us, it is a big deal. That man could have taken us for a lot more money if you hadn’t told us about it. How did you learn to count cards?”
I was hoping I wasn’t going to have to answer that question, I really didn’t like to talk about my past, but I knew they didn’t fully trust me yet and I wanted them to trust me.
“My first job in a casino was like, well, I don’t know what you would call it. I was hired to sit at the tables with the big spenders. I guess the best way to say it was I was arm candy. I got paid to sit there and look pretty while they played cards.”
I picked up my iced tea and took a sip before continuing. “It was kind of boring. I was only 17 and I really didn’t know anything about black jack, but I tried to pay attention so I could learn. After a while, it just came easy to me. I could call the games and when the owner of the casino figured it out; he put me behind the table and had me start dealing. Not long after, someone told the authorities that I was underage even though I didn’t look it and I was let go. That’s all really”
Brian looked at me and he seemed to be a little confused. “So, you taught yourself how to count cards?”
“Yes,” I nodded and hoped this wasn’t going to turn in to an interrogation.
“Wow.” he shook his head in disbelief. “You’re something else.”
I didn’t know what he meant by that, but I really hoped it was a good thing. He looked over at Shadows who was looking at me as if he were about to say something.
“We have a little proposition for you, but I’m going to let Gates fill you in. I want to go watch Izzy rehearse.” I nodded and watched as he got up and walked away.
“A proposition?” I asked nervously. My definition of proposition involved sex and I was hoping that this wasn’t headed in that direction. “What do you want?”
He must have known I was nervous because he gave my shoulder a light squeeze.
“Well, I need an assistant and Shadows thinks you’ve got something. So, he suggested I offer you the job first. What do you think?”
I was a little lost for words; I hadn’t expected to be offered a job just because I was good at Black Jack. “I can’t.” I shrugged and turned my gaze to my iced tea glass.
“Why not?”
“That’s a job for a respectable, smart girl. I’m just some brothel whore. The only skill I have is sex.”
Brian turned sideways in his stool so that he was facing me. “Hold out your hand”
“Why?”
His face was dead serious as he leaned forward so that his face was inches from mine. “Because I said so.”
I held out my hand with the palm facing up and he turned it so that my palm was now facing down. I looked at him curiously trying to figure out what he was up to. I wasn’t expecting him to slap my hand, but that is what he did and hard too.
“ow. I pouted and pulled my hand back so I could rub it.”
He reached for my hand and started to rub it himself and looked into my eyes. “From now on, every time you get down on yourself, I am going to slap your hand.”
I looked at him like he was the most horrible person in the world right now. “I don’t know how to be an assistant.”
“Something tells me, you are a fast learner.” And something told me he wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
“Would I still have to work in the brothel?”
“Nope.” He shook his head. “You’d still be a casino employee, but you would work directly for me and I pay very well.” I wouldn’t have to have sex for money anymore. This could be the best thing that’s ever happened to me, but why? What did he want in return? Nothing comes this easy.
“You’d have to move up to my floor of course, because you would have to be at my beck and call. Shadows is already taking care of that. You’ll share an office with me and you’ll have your own room.”
If it was already being taken care of? Then I really wasn’t being given a choice. “Would I still have time for my diploma stuff?”
He nodded. “You’d have even more free time now to learn everything you want to learn. It’s a demanding job, but there will be plenty of times when you’ll have nothing to do so you can study.”
“Alright. I’ll try.”
He smiled and let go of my hand. “Good. You can start tomorrow. Today we’ll just work on getting you settled in your new room.”
I nodded and followed him back to the elevator. We went up to his floor, which was now my floor too. He showed me where my room was and in keeping with the purple and black theme that seemed to be running throughout the whole floor, the bed was covered with lots of purple and black pillows and a purple comforter. All I could think about was running over and jumping on it.
The office was well, messy. It had two desks somewhere, but they were covered with stuff and I could hardly see the floor. I guess he really did need an assistant. He also gave me a cell phone that was for work purposes only, so when he wasn’t around, he could still reach me.
After taking everything in, I went back to my room and started to put my stuff away. I had more space now than I knew what to do with. When I was finished I grabbed all of my books and set them down on the bed. For each subject there was a book and another book of assignments that had to be completed along with a final exam at the end. I decided to start with science and get the hard one over with first. There were four parts, Earth Science, Chemistry, Astronomy and Physics. I hate Science.
I must have been sitting there for hours reading the book and working on assignments. I never even noticed what time it was until someone knocked and broke my concentration. When I looked up, I saw Brian standing in the doorway.
“Sorry to interrupt, but you have to eat sometime.” He pulled a room service cart into my room and brought it over to the bed.
“I didn’t realize it was past dinner time already.” I folded the page back in the book I was reading and set it down on the bed. He sat down on the edge of the bed and handed me a plate with a burger and fires on it. He picked up the other plate and set it down on his lap. I guess I was having company for diner tonight.
“So, how’s it going?”
“It’s Science. I shrugged. “I don’t understand why it’s so important for me to know that a volcano eruption is the release of stored energy from below the surface of Earth, originating from radioactive decay and gravitational sorting in the Earth's core and mantle, and residual energy gained during the Earth’s formation. I mean, when am I ever going to use that in the real world?”
Brian was picking up his burger, but his hand stopped in mid air and his mouth just seemed to hand open while he stared at me. “You know what I mean?” for some reason he just shook his head and looked at me like I was crazy.
“Ruby, you learned all of that tonight?”
“Yeah,” I nodded and took a bite of my burger. “Do you have any ketchup?” He nodded and pulled a little bottle off the room service table and gave it to me. “Why are you staring at me?”
He set his burger down on his plate and put the plate back on the room service tray. “I think you’re smarter than anyone ever gave you credit for.”I don’t know what he meant, but he looked good saying it. He picked up my books from the bed and set them down on the floor. “I think you studied hard enough for tonight.”
“But, I’m not finished! What if I forget everything by tomorrow?” He laughed and sat beside me leaning back on the headboard.
“Something about you tells me you wont forget anything you read in that book. Ever. You want this too badly to forget it, but if you don’t take a break you’ll burn out.”
I ate another French fry and he nudged my shoulder. “Tell me something about you.”
“Like what?”
“Well, how’d you get here?”
“I took the elevator, silly.”
He leaned his head back and started laughing. “You are a little darling. You know that?” He looked at me like he was trying to control his laughter. “I meant how did you get to working in casinos?”
I don’t want to tell him the story. I really don’t, but I guess at some point he would have to know. “It’s a long story.”
“I’ve got all night,” he smiled at me. When ever he smiled, I felt butterflies in my stomach.
“Well, my parents threw me out of the house when I was a teenager and I just kind of fell into it I guess.”
“Why did they throw you out?”
I handed him my plate. I wasn’t hungry any more. “Because I was pregnant and that is unacceptable in my father’s household. They are holy rollers who don’t believe in sex before marriage.”
“So what happened after they threw you out?”
I had a feeling this was going to be a long night. So, I lay down and turned on my side and then looked up so I could see him. “I stayed in a few shelters here and there. It wasn’t so bad.”
He lay down and tuned on his side to face me and rested his hand on my hip. “What happened to the baby?”
I let out a deep sigh and looked into his eyes. “I had a baby girl. A stillborn. I didn’t have any insurance, so I had no medical attention through out the pregnancy. Some of the nurses at the hospital took up a collection so I could give the baby a proper burial and a headstone. After that, I went back to the shelter for a while and I met a girl there who told me I could make a lot of money turning tricks. I worked the streets til I was 17 and then one thing led to another and here I am.”
His thumb was tracing small circles on my side and I liked it, but it made me nervous at the same time. His eyes seemed to be searching mine for something. “How did you become Ruby Tuesday?”
“The first time I had sex for money, I was terrified. I kept trying to find something in the room to focus on and take my mind off it, but the only thing I could pay any sort of attention to was the song playing on the radio. Ruby Tuesday by the Rolling Stones. After that day, I just left myself behind and became Ruby Tuesday.”
Brian looked at me with a sad face. “What’s your name?”
“Kristina.”
He smiled at me again; I swear if he does that one more time I’m going to attack his face with my lips. “I like Kristina.”
And I like Brian…
Ruby
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I woke up the next morning and stretched out my arms in the oversized bed. I could have stayed in the sea of blankets and pillows all day it was so comfortable. After sitting up in the bed and wiping the sleep out of my eyes, I moved the covers and hopped down.
I quietly walked to the door of the bedroom and stuck my head out, but I didn’t see any sign of Brian. When I walked through the door and out to the living room, I found him sitting on the couch watching television.
“Well, good morning, sleepy head.”
“Sorry, I slept so late.”
“Relax, I was teasing.” He got up off the couch and walked over to where I stood. “Want some coffee?”
Wow. With him standing so close, I could see his eyes were the color of black coffee. “No thanks. I don’t want to impose any more then I all ready have.”
He smiled an inviting smile at me and I nearly blushed. “It’s not an imposition. I enjoyed the company last night.”
“Yeah, some company I am, I fell asleep before the movie even ended!”
He nodded and put his hand on my shoulder. “Blame the bed; it has that effect on people.”
“Well, I really have to go.” I didn’t really have to go, but I didn’t want to make a fool of myself in front of him anymore than I already have.
“Ok” he nodded. “Well, anytime you feel like popcorn and a movie, you know where to find me.” This was going to be a good day. I smiled back at him and nodded before leaving and getting on to the elevator. When I got off on my, floor I found Izzy knocking on my door. I walked up to her and smiled “Hi.” She was holding quite a few books in her hands.
“Hi.” She smiled back and I opened the door to my room and let her in. She set the books down on my bed and turned back around to look at me.
“So, this is everything that you need to get your diploma.” I looked down at the pile of books on my bed and felt a little intimidated.
“I have to learn all of that?”
“I know it looks like a lot, but you have three years of high school to cover. You only have to pass five tests. Science, Social Studies, Math, Reading and Writing”
“Wow.” I sat down on the bed and picked up one of the books. “Thank you for helping me”
She sat down on the bed beside me and smiled. “It’s my pleasure, if there’s anything else I can do, just ask.”
“Well, there is one thing.” I was almost afraid to ask I hated rejection.
“What is it?”
I closed the book I was holding and set it back down on top of the pile. “I don’t have any girlfriends. Do you want to be my friend?”
Izzy put her arm around my shoulder and gave me a light squeeze. “I’d love to be your friend.”
“Thanks.” I nodded not sure how to react. It was nice to have someone to talk with that wasn’t a man who was pawing at me calling me baby.
“Well. I have rehearsal to get to, but Shadows wants to know if you are free to meet with him at lunch time?”
“Am I in trouble?” Why the hell else would he be asking to meet with me?
She laughed at my nervousness. “No, no. I promise you are not in trouble. I know he is big and he can be scary sometimes, but this is a good thing. I swear.”
“Ok.” I nodded. She said goodbye and left me there alone with my books. It was already ten o’clock so that left me two hours to get showered and dressed before going downstairs to meet with Shadows.
---------------------
2 Hours Later
---------------------
When I stepped off the elevator, I really didn’t know where I was supposed to be going. I assumed I was supposed to go to Shadows office, but after turning in that direction, The Rev walked up in front of me, spun me around and pointed to the black jack table.
“Oh, ok. Thanks.” I don’t know why I thanked him. He made me cry, but I tried to be polite to everyone. I straightened out my t-shirt and walked over to the table not knowing what to expect or why he asked to meet at a black jack table.
When I reached the table, he stood up and smiled at me. “Have a seat.”
I sat down cautiously and waited for him to say something. A waitress came over and brought us lunch. “I’m starving” he said and still I waited to find out what this was about. While we ate, Brian walked up to the table and sat down on the other side of me.
“Ok, now that we’re all here, we can start” Shadows spoke and I gave him my full attention. “So, last night, you pointed out a man who was counting cards. That’s some skill, Ruby.”
“It’s not a big deal, really.” I didn’t think it was anyway; it was just a trick I learned from working in the casinos so long.
“To us, it is a big deal. That man could have taken us for a lot more money if you hadn’t told us about it. How did you learn to count cards?”
I was hoping I wasn’t going to have to answer that question, I really didn’t like to talk about my past, but I knew they didn’t fully trust me yet and I wanted them to trust me.
“My first job in a casino was like, well, I don’t know what you would call it. I was hired to sit at the tables with the big spenders. I guess the best way to say it was I was arm candy. I got paid to sit there and look pretty while they played cards.”
I picked up my iced tea and took a sip before continuing. “It was kind of boring. I was only 17 and I really didn’t know anything about black jack, but I tried to pay attention so I could learn. After a while, it just came easy to me. I could call the games and when the owner of the casino figured it out; he put me behind the table and had me start dealing. Not long after, someone told the authorities that I was underage even though I didn’t look it and I was let go. That’s all really”
Brian looked at me and he seemed to be a little confused. “So, you taught yourself how to count cards?”
“Yes,” I nodded and hoped this wasn’t going to turn in to an interrogation.
“Wow.” he shook his head in disbelief. “You’re something else.”
I didn’t know what he meant by that, but I really hoped it was a good thing. He looked over at Shadows who was looking at me as if he were about to say something.
“We have a little proposition for you, but I’m going to let Gates fill you in. I want to go watch Izzy rehearse.” I nodded and watched as he got up and walked away.
“A proposition?” I asked nervously. My definition of proposition involved sex and I was hoping that this wasn’t headed in that direction. “What do you want?”
He must have known I was nervous because he gave my shoulder a light squeeze.
“Well, I need an assistant and Shadows thinks you’ve got something. So, he suggested I offer you the job first. What do you think?”
I was a little lost for words; I hadn’t expected to be offered a job just because I was good at Black Jack. “I can’t.” I shrugged and turned my gaze to my iced tea glass.
“Why not?”
“That’s a job for a respectable, smart girl. I’m just some brothel whore. The only skill I have is sex.”
Brian turned sideways in his stool so that he was facing me. “Hold out your hand”
“Why?”
His face was dead serious as he leaned forward so that his face was inches from mine. “Because I said so.”
I held out my hand with the palm facing up and he turned it so that my palm was now facing down. I looked at him curiously trying to figure out what he was up to. I wasn’t expecting him to slap my hand, but that is what he did and hard too.
“ow. I pouted and pulled my hand back so I could rub it.”
He reached for my hand and started to rub it himself and looked into my eyes. “From now on, every time you get down on yourself, I am going to slap your hand.”
I looked at him like he was the most horrible person in the world right now. “I don’t know how to be an assistant.”
“Something tells me, you are a fast learner.” And something told me he wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
“Would I still have to work in the brothel?”
“Nope.” He shook his head. “You’d still be a casino employee, but you would work directly for me and I pay very well.” I wouldn’t have to have sex for money anymore. This could be the best thing that’s ever happened to me, but why? What did he want in return? Nothing comes this easy.
“You’d have to move up to my floor of course, because you would have to be at my beck and call. Shadows is already taking care of that. You’ll share an office with me and you’ll have your own room.”
If it was already being taken care of? Then I really wasn’t being given a choice. “Would I still have time for my diploma stuff?”
He nodded. “You’d have even more free time now to learn everything you want to learn. It’s a demanding job, but there will be plenty of times when you’ll have nothing to do so you can study.”
“Alright. I’ll try.”
He smiled and let go of my hand. “Good. You can start tomorrow. Today we’ll just work on getting you settled in your new room.”
I nodded and followed him back to the elevator. We went up to his floor, which was now my floor too. He showed me where my room was and in keeping with the purple and black theme that seemed to be running throughout the whole floor, the bed was covered with lots of purple and black pillows and a purple comforter. All I could think about was running over and jumping on it.
The office was well, messy. It had two desks somewhere, but they were covered with stuff and I could hardly see the floor. I guess he really did need an assistant. He also gave me a cell phone that was for work purposes only, so when he wasn’t around, he could still reach me.
After taking everything in, I went back to my room and started to put my stuff away. I had more space now than I knew what to do with. When I was finished I grabbed all of my books and set them down on the bed. For each subject there was a book and another book of assignments that had to be completed along with a final exam at the end. I decided to start with science and get the hard one over with first. There were four parts, Earth Science, Chemistry, Astronomy and Physics. I hate Science.
I must have been sitting there for hours reading the book and working on assignments. I never even noticed what time it was until someone knocked and broke my concentration. When I looked up, I saw Brian standing in the doorway.
“Sorry to interrupt, but you have to eat sometime.” He pulled a room service cart into my room and brought it over to the bed.
“I didn’t realize it was past dinner time already.” I folded the page back in the book I was reading and set it down on the bed. He sat down on the edge of the bed and handed me a plate with a burger and fires on it. He picked up the other plate and set it down on his lap. I guess I was having company for diner tonight.
“So, how’s it going?”
“It’s Science. I shrugged. “I don’t understand why it’s so important for me to know that a volcano eruption is the release of stored energy from below the surface of Earth, originating from radioactive decay and gravitational sorting in the Earth's core and mantle, and residual energy gained during the Earth’s formation. I mean, when am I ever going to use that in the real world?”
Brian was picking up his burger, but his hand stopped in mid air and his mouth just seemed to hand open while he stared at me. “You know what I mean?” for some reason he just shook his head and looked at me like I was crazy.
“Ruby, you learned all of that tonight?”
“Yeah,” I nodded and took a bite of my burger. “Do you have any ketchup?” He nodded and pulled a little bottle off the room service table and gave it to me. “Why are you staring at me?”
He set his burger down on his plate and put the plate back on the room service tray. “I think you’re smarter than anyone ever gave you credit for.”I don’t know what he meant, but he looked good saying it. He picked up my books from the bed and set them down on the floor. “I think you studied hard enough for tonight.”
“But, I’m not finished! What if I forget everything by tomorrow?” He laughed and sat beside me leaning back on the headboard.
“Something about you tells me you wont forget anything you read in that book. Ever. You want this too badly to forget it, but if you don’t take a break you’ll burn out.”
I ate another French fry and he nudged my shoulder. “Tell me something about you.”
“Like what?”
“Well, how’d you get here?”
“I took the elevator, silly.”
He leaned his head back and started laughing. “You are a little darling. You know that?” He looked at me like he was trying to control his laughter. “I meant how did you get to working in casinos?”
I don’t want to tell him the story. I really don’t, but I guess at some point he would have to know. “It’s a long story.”
“I’ve got all night,” he smiled at me. When ever he smiled, I felt butterflies in my stomach.
“Well, my parents threw me out of the house when I was a teenager and I just kind of fell into it I guess.”
“Why did they throw you out?”
I handed him my plate. I wasn’t hungry any more. “Because I was pregnant and that is unacceptable in my father’s household. They are holy rollers who don’t believe in sex before marriage.”
“So what happened after they threw you out?”
I had a feeling this was going to be a long night. So, I lay down and turned on my side and then looked up so I could see him. “I stayed in a few shelters here and there. It wasn’t so bad.”
He lay down and tuned on his side to face me and rested his hand on my hip. “What happened to the baby?”
I let out a deep sigh and looked into his eyes. “I had a baby girl. A stillborn. I didn’t have any insurance, so I had no medical attention through out the pregnancy. Some of the nurses at the hospital took up a collection so I could give the baby a proper burial and a headstone. After that, I went back to the shelter for a while and I met a girl there who told me I could make a lot of money turning tricks. I worked the streets til I was 17 and then one thing led to another and here I am.”
His thumb was tracing small circles on my side and I liked it, but it made me nervous at the same time. His eyes seemed to be searching mine for something. “How did you become Ruby Tuesday?”
“The first time I had sex for money, I was terrified. I kept trying to find something in the room to focus on and take my mind off it, but the only thing I could pay any sort of attention to was the song playing on the radio. Ruby Tuesday by the Rolling Stones. After that day, I just left myself behind and became Ruby Tuesday.”
Brian looked at me with a sad face. “What’s your name?”
“Kristina.”
He smiled at me again; I swear if he does that one more time I’m going to attack his face with my lips. “I like Kristina.”
And I like Brian…
♠ ♠ ♠
Boring, but had to let out some info about Ruby. Marco will be here soon...but don't worry, you'll never see him coming :)