Page 73 of Velvet Chains
And if she didn’t want to answer my calls, then I had to go see her. It was as simple as that.
The street was quiet, lit only by the flicker of old Christmas lights sagging across porches. Ruby’s house sat at the end of the block, just past a hedge of holly and the mailbox Rosie had once painted with stars. It was stupid, coming here. Stupider still to think I could fix anything by showing up unannounced.
I knew Rosie would be at Julian’s. I’d already driven past Ruby’s house three times, circling like a coward, like a fucking idiot.
But now I was standing on her porch anyway.
I knocked once. Waited. Knocked again, harder.
For a long moment, nothing. Just the muffled sound of a TV inside, maybe the hum of the fridge. I started to think she wasn’t going to answer—and maybe she shouldn’t.
Then I heard footsteps. Slow. Reluctant.
The lock clicked.
The door swung open, and there she was—leggings, hoodie, no makeup. Hair pulled back in a rushed, careless twist. No warmth in her eyes. No relief.
Just exhaustion and ice.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
I held up the bottle in my hand. “I brought eggnog.”
Her arms crossed tight over her chest. “That doesn’t answer my question.”
“We need to talk.”
She scoffed. “You don’t know how to take a hint, do you?”
“I do, actually,” I said quietly. “I just can’t afford to listen to this one.”
“Go away or I’ll call the police.”
“Fine, do it–but I still need to talk to you,” I said, holding out the bottle of eggnog. “Look. Let’s spike this. We’ll need it.”
“For what? Get off my porch, Kieran.”
I didn’t move. “Is Rosie okay?”
She blinked. That was the only tell that something had happened. “What do you know about this?”
“Nothing,” I said. “I just…I saw you driving to school in the middle of the day. Thought something must have happened.”
“You were following me?”
“You can’t be surprised by that,” I told her. “Come on, Ruby…not with everything going on. I mean, what if I need to save your life again?”
She rolled her eyes. “I really wish you would leave.”
“It doesn’t look good for you to have a Callahan standing on your porch, right?”
She swallowed. “Right.”
“Then let me in and I won’t be.”
She glared at me like she wanted to throw the door back in my face.
But then—grudgingly—she stepped aside.
