Off Limits (11 page)

Everything I thought about Paris being boring and overrated was forgotten when I spent time with Ruby there. During our time together we saw every sight, sampled every bit of local produce that we could find and bought tack souvenirs from every store.

"I studied French at high school," said Ruby, as she bought yet another model of the Eiffel Tower, "Souvenir means 'to remember'. It's a pretty good name, isn't it?"

I agreed with her.

Every night when we got back to the apartment we fucked. In her bedroom, in mine, in the bathroom, even on the living room floor. Neither of us ever asked what anything meant and we slept in our own beds every night. It was strange, but for those few days it worked. I couldn't help but wonder what would happen between us when we returned home. It still struck me as weird that I cared. After all, there were plenty of women in the world. There were certainly plenty of women who would be happy to sleep with a tattooed billionaire if they got the chance. I wasn't concerned about how I could get my dick wet if Ruby wasn't interested. No, for some odd reason I just found the girl fascinating.

She was crazy of course, utterly insane. One minute she was freaking out about us being 'related' and the next she was riding my dick like it was her favorite sport. She seemed to enjoy every tacky, touristy aspect of Paris but her favorite part of the trip was the cozy little family run cafes where we had breakfast every morning.

Ruby was talented too. She brought her sketchbook along and did a few quick drawings of passersby. I hadn't realized how amazing she was at art.

"Wow," I said when she showed me a drawing of an old man who had been feeding the birds across the street, "that's amazing. I can't believe you're not making more money out of this."

She rolled her eyes.

"Christ, not everything's about money. I do it cos I like it. If I make enough money to live, I'm happy," she said, looking over at the old man, "though I wish I had money to travel like you do. Everything is so different in Paris. Anything seems possible."

Her idealism was sweet. The two of us were practically the same age but I couldn't help but feel that we lived in different worlds. As soon as we stepped back on American soil I knew that things would be different. We picked up our suitcases and Ruby looked up at me, her eyes wide and earnest.

"You know we can't continue like we did in Paris, right? It just won't work here. It's not the same," she said. I sighed but agreed.

"If you're not comfortable with it then we won't do it," I said.

"So, what now?" she asked. I replied with the only thing I could think of.

"We move on."

Ruby

Trisha was waiting for me at the apartment when I got home. I was jet lagged from the flight and sore from all of the crazy sex I had been having with Nate, but she didn't show me any pity.

"There you are!" she said, "Where the hell were you? You know I've been over every day since you stopped answering my calls? What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Her eyes fell to my suitcase. Uh oh. Busted.

"You were on vacation? What the hell Ruby, you never go on vacation! I thought you were broke from all those doodles that you do instead of a real job," she said. I ignored the jab and unlocked my apartment door. I kind of wanted to slam the door in her face but I wasn't feeling that brave, so I let her in instead.

"So I took a little trip," I said, "No big deal. Drawing is a real job, by the way. But it doesn't matter."

"No, it really doesn't. Not when you left a perfectly good man in tears, broken hearted when he was willing to give up everything to be with you," she folded her arms and gave me a look reminiscent of my mother when I did something bad as a child, "What on earth is wrong with you, Ruby? Are you crazy? I'm trying to understand your point of view but I just can't."

In all our years of forced play dates and, in more recent times, forced double dates and terrible nights out, Trisha had never understood my point of view. This was the first time she had ever seemed interested in understanding, so I tried to explain to her how I felt.

"Jeff isn't right for me," I said, as gently as I could, "and I appreciate that you're worried about me, but honestly I'd rather be single forever than be in an unhappy marriage. That's just me."

Trisha bit her lip. I could see that she still didn't understand, though she really was trying.

"OK. Don't marry Jeff then, if that's what makes you happy," she said, "I just wish I understood you better. What will make you happy, Ruby?"

I didn't know.

Maybe I did know, and I didn't want to admit it. Neither answer was good enough so I chose to stay silent. Trisha gave a sigh of defeat and tossed me a cloth tote, filled to the brim with something.

"That's for you," she said. I looked inside.

"What is it?"

"All your gifts from the other night. You forgot them when you stormed out."

I put them aside and thanked Trisha for going to the trouble of bringing them to me. I hoped she might leave then, but it soon became apparent that she was going to be sticking around for a bit. I gave in and made her a cup of hot chocolate with extra marshmallows as she bitched about every single person who had attended our birthday dinner. Nate was the only exception to this. Trisha was still swooning about the bracelet that he had given her.

"He really does have amazing taste for a man. Especially with all those terrible tattoos he has, god," she said, waving her wrist around to make sure that I saw every sparkle, "Whatever girl he ends up with will be lucky, that's for sure."

I grunted in agreement, hoping she wouldn't pursue the topic. Thankfully, she didn't.

"So, where did you go on this fabulous vacation then?" she asked, glancing at my suitcase. For a moment, I considered lying. Of course that's what I should have done. After all, I didn't want to tell Trisha that I had just gone to Paris for a few days with my billionaire almost cousin, to see the sights and fuck every night. I should have said that I went to the next town over for an art seminar or something, but Paris had been so amazing that I couldn't quite contain myself.

"I went to Paris," I said, and Trisha's mouth opened in shock. She certainly wasn't short of funds but even she hadn't been to Paris.

"Paris? How the hell did you afford to go to Paris? Oh my god...you have a sugar daddy, don't you?" she exclaimed. The idea was so ridiculous that I couldn't help but laugh. Trisha took this as a sign of confirmation so I decided to roll with it. Why not? After all, if she was yelling at me for sleeping with old rich guys for money she surely wouldn't realized that I had actually been sleeping with a young rich guy, because I liked him. The fact that his stepmother and my mother were sisters was just a coincidence.

I allowed Trisha to lecture me for the rest of the afternoon. I even faked a tearful apology and promise to change my whoring ways in order to get her to just get off my couch and leave me alone already. It worked like a charm, though I was still promising Trisha that I would never sleep with a guy for his money ever again in my lifetime when I closed the door on her. I flopped down on the couch and fell into the deep sleep that I so dearly needed.

Nate

Moving on from Ruby seemed like a strange concept but I knew I had to do it. We hadn't even dated, I wasn't' really the dating type, but she seemed to have left a strange void in me that no other girl could fill. In the past I'd enjoyed variety. Meeting a different girl in every city was always exciting and they all did things so differently, it was fascinating. But every time I looked at a girl I couldn't help but compare her to Ruby.

"Damn, she has an amazing ass," one of my co-worked would say on a work night out. I'd look at the girl, who would of course be beautiful and shapely but feel nothing.

"It's pretty nice," I'd say, while thinking how much more I liked Ruby's nice round behind. It was the perfect mixture of soft and firm and I loved grabbing it. My friends could point out any girl in the world and I would have found ten reasons why Ruby was better if you asked me to. Even so, I knew I had to move on.

One of the waitresses at my restaurant at the beach had an obvious crush on me. Every time I came in to check up on things she would hover around me, constantly asking me if I needed a glass of water or a bowl of soup. She was objectively pretty, but in my current state she did nothing for me. I asked her out and she let out a squeal of joy before apologizing shyly. This would be more difficult than I had expected.

Ruby

People can hurt you so much and yet still be selfish enough to ask you forgiveness. That was my first thought when Amy, my former best friend who had stolen Jeff from under my nose, contacted me and asked if we could meet up. She didn't even bother to call me. Instead she sent a long email that I only skimmed. What I gathered was that she was very sorry for what she had done and wanted me back in her life. At the very least, she wanted to make her peace with me. It was ridiculous and I would have said no fucking way if she hadn't promised to buy me dinner at a nice restaurant in town. Since I had returned from the fresh bread of France my ramen noodles and microwavable oatmeal cups were even less appealing than they had been before. For a free dinner at a fancy restaurant I would listen to my mom and Auntie Sharon fight for an hour.

I made sure to look my best, hoping to look better than Amy. I put on my beautiful ruby necklace and a simple black wrap dress that I had bought in Paris. I let my hair flow out over my shoulders. When I looked in the mirror, I was happy. I wasn't the sad girl who had been cheated on anymore. I was successful (almost), confident, beautiful and sexy as hell. At least, that's what I told myself.

Amy was waiting outside the restaurant for me, looking nervous as hell. When she saw me she gave me an awkward wave, which I reciprocated. When I got closer she went to give me a hug but I shook my head.

"We're not there yet," I said. Amy nodded rapidly.

"Of course we're not. I'm sorry, I just haven't seen you in so long. I really missed you, Rubes," she said.

"Let's save it for when we're inside, will we?"

Amy and I were seated at a two person table in the middle of the busy restaurant. It had some beautiful decor and a nice atmosphere, the kind of place that would be perfect for a first date. But this was not a first date.

It took approximately three seconds for Amy to start babbling. It turned out that I didn't need to read the email she had sent me, as she repeated it all verbatim now. She was lonely, she said. She saw how happy I was with Jeff and she got jealous.

"I never thought anyone could love me like he loved you, Rubes," she said sadly. It made me want to vomit.

"Oh god, please don't call me Rubes. And he didn't love me," I was about to say something else when my attention was captured. A couple walked in, both of them dressed beautifully. The girl was nervous and slightly awkward, but beautiful nonetheless in her clingy red dress. The man was instantly recognizable. It was Nate, with another woman. My stomach dropped as Amy continued to go on and on about nothing at all.

Nate

Katie, the waitress, turned out to be a nice enough girl. She was a dance major, working in the restaurant in an attempt to pay off her college loans. She was a perfectly nice girl but giggled at everything I said and point blank refused to get on my motorcycle.

"Those things are death traps!" she giggled. It was only the start of the date but I already knew that it wasn't going to work. Still, I had promised her dinner and I was a man of his word. What I hadn't banked on was seeing the one girl I couldn't get off of my mind. Her face fell the moment Katie and I entered the restaurant, though I pretended that I didn't notice. I gave Ruby a quick wave as Katie and I were seated. Katie looked at Ruby with suspicion.

"Do you know her?" she asked.

"She's an old friend," I said. We were friends now, after all. It wasn't really a lie.

"She's pretty," said Katie, "but kind of odd."

I couldn't disagree. The next hour was only marginally better that Chinese water torture. Katie talked a lot, and I laughed at the right times though I wasn't really listening. She was so wrapped up in campus life and her sorority and all that stuff. It just wasn't interesting to me in the slightest. It didn't help that Ruby kept looking over at us. I felt bad for the girl that she was having dinner with, as Ruby clearly had no interest in her. All she cared about was me. Admittedly, I did look bad. I didn't generally take my business partners out to fancy candlelit dinners in the evening. But she must know that Katie meant nothing to me. Just as our desserts arrived Ruby and her companion stood up to leave. I had a strong urge to go after them, to say something. I realized that I had no idea what to say and that it would be rude to leave Katie alone, though she had obviously grown tired of me. What was wrong with me? I was Nate Watson. Women were always like putty in my hands. It felt strange to think that this one girl had thrown off my mojo so much. Insane, really.

Katie frowned at me.

"You're looking at that girl again," she said, "You've been looking at her all night. It's kind of annoying, actually."

I hadn't realized that I was being that obvious. I tore my eyes away from Ruby as she left the restaurant and forced myself to meet Katie's gaze.

"Yeah, sorry. I didn't realize. How's your ice cream?" I asked, but Katie was scowling now. The last thing she wanted to talk about was how good her sundae tasted. She threw done her napkin.

"I decided that I'm not hungry," she said, picking up her handbag, "I think I'll call a cab and go home. I'm pretty tired."

Her words were sharp and cold. I had clearly offended her somehow.

"You've got to be kidding me. At least let me call the car for you," I said, but Katie shook her head and stood up.

"No, I'm fine. I don't need your help, Nate," she said, "And, just a word of advice for the next first date you go on. Most girls don't like it when you spend the entire date staring at someone else!" She barged out of the restaurant, leaving me alone.

Ruby

Amy and I didn't settle anything over dinner. She talked and talked and talked about herself, about how heartbroken she was, about how she was lonely and Jeff just happened to be around. Yadda yadda yadda, blah blah blah. It was the kind of crap I had expected, but it was even more excruciating to listen to than I had anticipated. Even the delicious food didn't make up for it as my appetite quickly disappeared when I saw Nate and his beautiful date. She was young, elegant, pretty and slender. The kind of girl you see in magazines and wish you looked like. He had obviously upgraded from me. That thought made my heart sink. My stomach suddenly felt woozy and I couldn't quite understand what Amy was saying, though I heard every single word. All I could do was look over at Nate and the girl.