Chapter 26

As much as she hated Lucas's behavior, Ruby couldn't hate Lucas. In fact, her feelings for him landed quite firmly on the opposite end of the emotive spectrum.

'I think I love him,' she thought.

She wanted to cry. To scream and wail and sob. As she looked over at Amber, she saw she wasn't the only one.

"What's wrong, Babes?" she asked.

Amber shook her head, staring straight ahead with glazed eyes. "I'm all good."

That had to be a lie. Something was definitely wrong with the girl. Her clothes were hanging off her and her face had broken out in a mixture of acne and eczema.

'Could it be drugs?' Ruby wondered. She wouldn't have the first clue how to deal with a situation like that. Luckily, she had an amazing Mum waiting in the wings to swoop in and help if she ever needed it.

"Do you see your Dad much these days?" Amber asked.

Ruby considered the question. She was aware Amber's Dad had been absent of late and didn't want to gloat.

"I see him a couple of times a month or so," she said.

"Do you feel like he loves you?" Amber asked.

'So, this is why you're upset,' Ruby realized and pulled her friend in for a hug.

"Some people aren't good at showing love, or show love in different ways," she said. It was the same speech her Mum had given to her when she'd asked why her grandparents never visited but always gave them expensive gifts.

Amber nodded, pulling up her sleeve to wipe at her face.

"Greg doesn't love me," she said.

Ruby wanted to argue, to say there was some hope for her strange little relationship, but she couldn't bring herself to lie.

"Greg is a horrible person, Amber. You'd be better off without him," Ruby said. She hated to admit it, but her stepbrother wasn't a nice person, and not just because he was standing between her and her love. He was cruel to the weird neighbor and Tom. She was also fairly certain he was blackmailing Miss Walters.

When she went downstairs to make a pot of tea her Mum and Ron were arguing in the living room. She couldn't help but overhear their heated discussion about Greg.

"Greg isn't capable of those things," Ron claimed. "He's a kind and generous boy. When Karen left me, he held me together. Helped me financially and gave me a shoulder to cry on. I wouldn't be here now if it weren’t for my son."

"Look, I understand he is nice to you," her mother argued. "But you haven't seen the way he's been treating that poor girl."

"So... he has some questionable tastes when it comes to... you know... the bedroom," Ron stammered, becoming flustered. "It doesn't make him evil."

"Just tell him to leave the neighbor alone. I'm sick of having to deal with him. Okay?" Mum said.

"Fine," Ron said and stormed into the kitchen.

"If you didn't encourage the little freak, he might not pop over so often," Ron muttered under his breath, not seeing Ruby by the kettle.

"Tea?" Ruby offered. "I just made a pot."

Ron looked up, surprised and a little embarrassed to be caught arguing and muttering but smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Ruby."

She poured an extra cup of tea for Ron and her Mum before taking the drinks up to her room. She always made her mother a tea if she made a pot, without fail. Her Mum drank so much of the stuff it was a surprise she didn't spend half the day peeing.

"Oh," Amber said as Ruby handed her the tea. "I can't drink it. It was milk and sugar."

"So?" Ruby frowned. "You aren't on a diet, are you?"

"Yes," Amber said.

Ruby looked her up and down, taking in her sallow skin and sunken chest. She was practically emaciated already.

"But you're so slim," Ruby cried.

"Yes, because I diet," Amber informed, her voice sarcastic as if suggesting it was obvious and shouldn't need pointing out.

'Is she developing anorexia?' Ruby worried.

She was wondering how to delicately broach the topic when Greg knocked on the bedroom door.

"You, my room, now," he grunted at Amber.

She rose from her position on the floor slowly, using the radiator to steady herself. This worried Ruby more than anything so far.

She pulled Greg back into the room as the pair left.

"Go easy on her, okay?" Ruby pleaded. "I think she may have an eating disorder."

Greg's reaction was as surprising as it was disgusting. He let out a burst of shrill sounding laughter.

"No. She doesn't," Greg sneered. "She's fasting."

"What?" Ruby asked. "Why?"

'And why did she lie about a diet?'

"Why does Amber do anything?" Greg asked cryptically.

Ruby thought about it for a second as he walked to his room. She heard the familiar click of the lock after he closed the door.

"No," she muttered. "He wouldn't"

When she went back to her room something caught her eye in the garden. A visitor.

'Lucas,' she thought, her heart fluttering at the sight of him. He pushed his light brown hair from his face as he knocked at the door and smiled as Ron let him in.

Unable to stop her legs from moving, Ruby ran to meet him on the stairs. His eyes widened in shock for a moment before he flashed her a sad little smile and went to pass her.

"Why do you do it?" she asked.

"Do what?"

"Beat people to a bloody pulp and then piss on them?" she confirmed.

He looked confused for a minute then shook his head.

"I'm not allowed to talk to you. I'm here to see Greg," he said, trying once again to pass her.

She took a few steps back, blocking his path.

"He's busy with Amber so you may as well talk to me," Ruby insisted.

He looked down and rubbed his face with his palm, sighing heavily.

"Come on," she urged him. "Do you have to obey his every word?"

"Yes, I do," he shouted. His eyes shifted toward Greg's room and he lowered his voice, repeating, "Yes, I do. I do have to."

Taking a stand, Ruby pulled on his arm, forcing him into her bedroom. She both needed and deserved an explanation.

He sat on her bed, looking at his hands folded in his lap. After a moment or so, he began to speak.

"It was about four years ago," Lucas said. "I was just chilling when I noticed someone was in my room. It freaked me out. He was just standing in the corner of the room like some horror movie phantom. I was frozen in my chair when he stepped forward, handcuffed me in place and poured petrol into my lap."

Lucas fell silent for a moment, biting down on his top lip as he glanced out of the window and looked around the room, looking at anything but Ruby.

"I remember the smell was so strong it burned my nose, and how it stung my skin. Then he pulled out a lighter and played with it, staring at me with this smug look upon his face. I thought he was going to set me on fire, but he just sat there with the lighter, torturing me with the knowledge he could do it."

"Why?" Ruby cried. "Why would he do that to you?"

"I used to tease him at school," Lucas said. "Not badly. I never hurt him physically."

"Sorry, continue the story," Ruby said, regretting her interruption.

"Well, he didn't set me on fire, but he made me promise to be his bitch, as he put it. I thought it was weird that he knew where I lived and how to get into my house... until I found out he'd been stalking me for a while. He'd gathered all this evidence about my brother's illegal activities, so I had no choice but to go along with whatever he wanted."

Ruby didn't want to ask about the illegal activities but guessed it was something to do with drug dealing after meeting his friends at the poker night.

"At first he made me do stuff to myself. Hurt myself with burns or cuts. Then he realized I was good at fighting and had me beat up anyone he didn't like. That guy from the video, the one I pissed on, used to bully Greg when he was in primary school," Lucas went on.

"I sort of got to like beating people up, because it made Greg so happy with me and he'd stop hurting me," Lucas admitted. "I'm a coward."

"You are not," Ruby cried, grabbing his shoulders, and shaking him until he stared into her eyes. "Greg did this to you. It isn't your fault."

She couldn't stand the thought of Lucas being hurt. It made her blood boil. Her hands were shaking with rage as she let go of him.

"You need to cut ties with him," she said. "He's toxic."

"And risk him reporting my brother? Or releasing all the tapes he made of me beating people nearly to death?" Lucas said and shook his head. "I'm his bitch. That's just the way it is."

"It's not fair," Ruby said, feeling hopeless.

"We can't see each other anymore," Lucas said. "I like you. I like you so much I think I might even—"

Lucas sighed.

"I wish I could be with you," he said, taking her hand in his and giving it a quick squeeze before releasing her.

Ruby wanted to tell him she loved him, but what good would that do?

Overhearing muffled screams, Ruby cocked her head, wondering if it was coming from inside the house.

"Is that your mate?" Lucas asked, head cocked in a similar pose.

Ruby gritted her teeth.

"What is that evil prick doing to her now?" she asked.

She was about to get up and investigate when Lucas grabbed her arm.

"He won't like you interfering," he said. "Trust me... it's best not to piss him off."

"So, he just gets to hurt whoever he likes, and we all have to bow down and let him?" Ruby asked.

Lucas nodded. "Pretty much."

"It's not fair," Ruby moaned as she let Lucas pull her back onto the bed. Sitting beside him, all she wanted to do was kiss him, rip his clothes off, jump on his dick...

"It's just not fair."