Page 13 of Preacher Man

Picture her tellingthatto her next boyfriend, just what any relationship needed. She snorted, took another big gulp, the inexpensive wine tasted like paint but it had a forty percent alcohol, whatever got her drunk fastest for cheapest was a win in her frugal book.

Preacher man.

Why couldn't she stop thinking of that big lothario?

He fucked anything walking. So, it was no compliment he wanted to fuck her now. "Probably gone through every woman twice over." She rolled her eyes. And now she was tagged in.

Now there was a pervert.

I bet he'd give you anything sexual you wanted.A little-wicked voice whispered, the same dark voice that held all her secrets.

I just bet he would.

She bet he fucked the same way he kissed. With force and purpose, he’d sucked on her top lip until it was fat with blood. What did his climax taste like? How soft and demanding were his lips in the throes? Questions barraged her mind, all questions she had no fucking business thinking of, but there they were.

Preacher appeared to be the kind of man who would be down for anything.

She'd seen him screw a girl once, out in the parking lot between two cars, the girl moaning like a banshee in heat, Preacher had barely made a sound as Ruby halted by her car, transfixed by the motion of his hips pounding the girl from behind, his big hands resting on the top of someone's car as he'd given the woman a good seeing to.

It couldn't have lasted more than a few minutes, a fast fuck, and once he'd gone inside the bar, leaving the woman to drive off after telling him how good it was, Ruby was left dumbfounded, keys in hand, forgetting she had been about to go home, her breath chopped in and out, flushed, and ...fuck... she'd been so aroused.

Looking at Preacher after that hadn't been the same, she avoided serving him as much as possible, watched him secretly when he was unaware, her gaze hungry just for a glance even against her own logic, usually when he was sat at a table with his boys, saw more than once him going into the bathroom with one of the bar waitresses, the same result, the girl would come out all glassy eyed and smiles, a softness in her hips as she swayed for the rest of the evening. Ruby told herself it could be drugs they were sharing, but there was nothing narcotic about the guy as he walked out of the bathrooms, nope, he looked like he'd just got fucked, loose in the torso, his gait all sexual, he walked fluidly for a big guy.

He was such bad news and she needed to stay away from him.

She would. Draining the last dregs from the already empty box of wine she trudged off to bed. Even drunk she was responsible knowing she had to get up early tomorrow.

Dreams of kissing a hot possessive biker plagued her.

Several nights later Ruby woke to the sound of rain pattering against the window in her bedroom, she groaned and wished for more time, just an hour would do to catch up on much-needed sleep. No luck there.

Nor was the job front. She’d scoured every want ad in town, each one was a bust, she couldn’t even get a part-time job as a pot washer at Jake’s wine and dine. Now that was just depressing, too qualified to wash fucking dishes. Shoot her now.

She didn’t have fragile feelings, but that stung.

She could wash the hell out of those dishes. And for ten dollars an hour, they would have been sparkling. Bastards.

Another day and no closer to that extra pay check and rent was due, plus the direct payment she had set up with Rita’s bank would bounce if she didn’t replace the money in the next week.Sorry, sissy, I needed groceries, you know, those things to help me live.Rita wouldn’t understand. As much as she loved her baby half-sister she was about as entitled as they came, if she saw past the end of her own nose it would be a miracle. It came to a point you had to stop blaming your shitty upbringing for the self-centred human being you were and take responsibility for how you treated people. It was never Rita’s fault, rather than her environment, or her very long list of boyfriends who all treated her appallingly.

Both sisters were a product of their environment and yet it was only Ruby who gave a fuck about not trampling on her goddamn family in order to get her own way.

Burrowing her head into the warm pillow with a blustery sigh. She needed to see Sebastian. She could make things right in her mind if she could see him.

What with finding a new job, she had to push it down her list of things to do.

But Sebastian was never far from her mind. It was her reason for everything. It was why she tried so hard, pushed herself and placed her trust in people who didn’t deserve it.

Trust was a beautiful myth. You get fed enough lies to choke a horse it all becomes white noise along the way, the loch ness monster and the abominable snowman, something you raise a brow to but ultimately don't drink the Kool-Aid. Trust was a thing of the past for Ruby. Stupid people sucking her dry.I’ll pay you back, Ruby. I’m sorry it won’t happen again, Ruby. It’s the last time, Ruby. All fucking lies, and because she was a family pleaser, wanting to keep the peace, she let them walk their lies into her life even when it choked her.

Pander. Coddle. Enable.

And repeat.

She was a fricking pushover and knew it. But what could she do? Let her sister get kicked out of her place? See her starving in a shelter somewhere? If she didn’t help Rita, who would? Not that dumb freeloader boyfriend of hers. Dwayne was more interested in scoring weed that he was about putting food on the table. Why would he need to worry about that when idiot Ruby was always an open wallet? Rita called and cried for money, Ruby sent her it. Those two were onto a good thing.

But for all the lies forced down Ruby’s throat, her most lethal wereI love you. She was a person who needed to be needed, she wasn’t ashamed of that, it was just part of her makeup, her mother was the same way before the booze and drugs took over, she equated neediness with love. And her family took advantage of that. Rita, anyway.

Her brother not so much, but they had a weird relationship ever since the father they shared went to prison, she hadn’t been in contact in forever, her brother told Ruby a million times to scrape off the users once and for all. And when she hadn’t, well it was clear her brother had done some scraping of his own.Oh, well.

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