Chapter 17

When Ruby arrived at the Springwood leisure center she looked around, trying her best to act casually. A couple of guys dribbled footballs around cones while another practiced taking shots at the goal. She didn't see Lucas anywhere.

'This is insane,' she realized. 'I'm literally stalking him.'

She was about to turn back and go home when she overheard Lucas shouting in the distance. Hiding behind the foliage, she poked her head up to see him leaving the building with a group of lads.

'So, he does have other friends,' Ruby thought.

Then he lifted his leg and kicked the lad beside him so hard that he went skidding face-first across the pavement.

As Lucas passed the lad he leaned down, made a fist, and laughed when the other boy flinched away. She was staring at him when he looked up and spotted her in the bushes.

"What the hell are you doing there?" he asked, looking both surprised and happy to see her.

"Am I being crazy?" Ruby asked him, deciding honesty was the best policy. "I just really wanted to see you."

"Aww," he cooed. His dimples showed as he smiled, leaning forward to ruffle her hair. "You crazy little bitch."

He took her hand in his, larger, warmer, and surprisingly soft hand and told her his brother was expecting him home, but she was welcome to tag along. Their arms swinging in time, the couple skipped across the pavement toward Lucas's house.

When they arrived, Ruby tried not to let her first impression of his house show on her face. The place was a total dump. Literally. There were old paint cans, bits of broken furniture and bags of rubbish piled up on the patchy lawn in front of the gate which hung limply from its hinges.

A white van sat in the driveway, and that with the paint cans suggested the older brother was a painter decorator. As she followed Lucas into the house, she saw the brother had not bothered to paint the walls of his own house. Some were half completed, while some walls had multiple holes.

A packet of polyfiller sat on the table beside tools, plates and a magazine that looked like a porno.

"Lucas, help me sort this shit hole," a male voice shouted. An older guy, presumably the brother, looked up and gave Ruby the once over.

"This is Ruby," Lucas introduced her. "My brother Dan."

"Hi," Ruby said, smiling at him.

He didn't smile back.

"It's poker night, man," he said. "Can she play poker or is she here to hand out the chips like some kinda Molly Bloom?"

"I can play," Ruby assured him with feigned confidence. She had played online, and was pretty decent, but had never been in a live game with real people.

"Okay," Dan said, nodding his head and looking her up and down. His eyes lingered on her breasts and legs for just a second before he turned away and began clearing the table.

Dan didn't look much like Lucas. He wasn't tall or well-built but had this strange air of violence with neck tattoos and a line of gold or missing teeth.

"Did you get into a fight after the game?" Dan asked Lucas, smirking.

"Na, we got into a fight during the game," Lucas said and laughed. "Didn't even get to the second half."

"Typical," Dan scoffed. He didn't seem concerned or shocked to hear this in the slightest. If anything, he seemed amused.

"So, you're some hotshot poker player, yeah?" Lucas asked her. "Gonna beat me?"

"I reckon so," Ruby said, employing her poker face.

"Yeah? Wanna make it interesting?" he asked.

Ruby coughed, feeling her face flush as her mind dove into the gutter at the suggestion. He could always mean money.

"If I win you have to do anything I say," Lucas said.

"Fucking pervert," Dan input, overhearing from the kitchen. "Don't do it, Chick."

"And if I beat you... same rules apply?" Ruby asked.

"Sure," Lucas said as his brother shook his head and tutted.

As a team, they cleaned up the living room, set up the table and got beers and snacks from the kitchen. When the players arrived, Ruby started to feel out of place.

Aside from being the only female, she was pretty sure most of these guys were criminals. One of them pulled the mirror from the wall to do a line of coke before the game and nobody batted an eyelid. When he offered it around Ruby tried not to look horrified as she shook her head.

She sipped her beer as Lucas shuffled the cards and dealt the first hand. She watched carefully, noticing that he dumped one card to the side before dealing the flop.

"Why'd you do that?" she whispered.

"What? Burn a card?" He frowned. "I thought you said you'd played poker before."

"I have. Online," Ruby said.

He chuckled.

"Oh, you are so going to lose to me," Lucas said. "I wonder what I'm going to make you do."

Ruby laughed, wondering what she would make him do if she won. In her mind's eye, he was bending her over the bed, giving it to her from behind. She was deep in the fantasy when it was her turn to deal.

She copied what Lucas had done, burning a card before laying out the flop. Somehow, she managed to get through it without accidentally dropping any cards or doing something equally stupid.

After a few hands, Ruby realized live poker was easier than online poker. The guys were easy to read, didn't seem to have a good grasp of mathematical probability and bet big out of bravado when they had awful cards. She ended up winning hand after hand, much to the annoyance of the guys.

By the time she won the game, the guys were praising her as a prodigy and a genius. They probably didn't want to admit they were all plain bad at the game. It might hurt their fragile male egos.

"I'm gonna bring my Mrs. next time," one of the guys said. "Now I know we can bring girlfriends."

"Sure," Dan said. "Kayleigh's always welcome."

As Lucas and Ruby said bye to the others, she realized she had to give him a forfeit.

'Oh shit, what should I ask for?' she wondered. If she asked for something too sexual and he wasn't actually interested, it would be weird. On the other hand, if she didn't ask for something sexual, he might assume she didn't want him.

And she definitely wanted him.

He beckoned for her to come up to his room, leading her up the stairs to his bed, where he sat and waited.

"Well?" he said, a faint smile on his lips.

"What were you going to ask for if you won?" she asked.

"Oh, no," he said, shaking his head. "You'll never know now."

"Okay, since I won, I want you to tell me what you were going to ask for. That's the forfeit," she said.

He made an annoyed scoffing sound and rolled his eyes. "That's dumb."

"No," Ruby argued. "Because if I like the sound of it, I'll do it."

This got his attention. He looked her up and down as if he were deciding on something she might agree to.

"Make a choice right now," he said. "You can agree to do anything I say for the next hour—and there's a good chance you'll enjoy it—or you can go home."

Ruby hadn't been expecting this. She figured he'd ask for a kiss or maybe something a little more. This sounded like it was going to escalate to full sex.

She remembered Greg's words. The speech he'd given about how Lucas bedded girls then ripped out their hearts.

'Is it a risk I'm willing to take?' she wondered.

Dwelling on it for a moment more, she decided it made no difference if she slept with him or not, the situation was still the same.

'Schrodinger's relationship,' she thought.

"I'm up for it," she said, trying to look and sound cool.

"Okay, take off your panties," he said without pause.

Ruby pulled her underwear down and stepped out of them, giving a triumphant smile.

"Good. Now sit on the floor, spread your legs, and play with yourself," he said.

This order made her uncomfortable. She'd played with herself plenty, but never with an audience. The idea made her feel vulnerable and shy.

'But he wants me to do it,' she thought.

"Erm, okay," she mumbled. Dropping to the floor and displaying herself to him, she felt ridiculous and gross, like a spatchcocked chicken.

Looking up at him and seeing the excitement on his face, she felt better about her body. She tentatively pushed her fingers inside herself, not playing with herself as she did in bed alone, but rather putting on a show she thought he would enjoy.

As he sat on the bed, watching with a half-smile, he reached into his pants and began to play with his dick in slow, lazy strokes.

"Now crawl over here and get my dick in your mouth," he said.

Ruby trawled through a sea of empty food wrappers and dirty socks to get to him. She looked up, maintaining eye contact and licked her lips before wrapping her hand over his and sucking on the end of his dick.

After a couple of seconds, he grabbed her and pulled her into his lap. She assisted him as he repositioned himself, moaning as he entered her and used his grip on her hips to move her in rhythm with his body.

Ruby pressed her forehead against his, staring into his eyes and feeling his breath in time with hers as they both reached climate. A pink bloom spread to his cheeks and lips, making him look even more gorgeous... if that were possible. She wondered if she also looked beautiful to him with her post-orgasm glow.

As she slid from his still hard cock, Lucas flopped back onto the bed and rolled over, wrapping himself up in the duvet like a sausage roll.

"I'm tired," he mumbled. "Can you turn off the lights?"

"Erm, okay," Ruby muttered as she found her pants in the floor trash and pulled them up. "I'll see you—"

"Night," he said and rolled over.

"Okay," Ruby muttered to herself as she switched off the light and closed the door behind her.

'Was Greg right?' she wondered.

"Hey, wait!" Lucas cried. When Ruby crept back into the room he rolled over, making the bed creak under his weight.

"You didn't kiss me goodbye," he complained.

Ruby smiled, breathing a sigh of relief.

His lips were soft and gentle, unlike the sex. He smiled at her as she pulled away.

"I'm really glad you stalked me today," he said with the faintest hint of a grin.

"Yeah." Ruby chuckled. "Me too."