Intertwined

Chapter Fourteen

Ruby had been calling the same number over and over again. Aside from her there was only one other person in the world she shared that video with. This moment was exactly the reason why she didn't have friends and didn't fuck with her family. Stuff like this was why instead of staying with family while she got herself together she chose to go to a shelter. 

"Ryanne I know you see me calling your phone non stop. Don't hide bitch face what you done." She hung up frustrated. She called Jerrod to see if he could come get the kids so she could go pay Ryanne a visit in person. He didn't answer her call. That just pissed her off completely. She started calling him back to back until he finally answered. "Hey Ruby are the kids okay?" he genuinely sounded concerned. It was almost cute. "The kids are fine I need to make a quick run the nanny is off today can you come pick them up?" She was already packing their bag.

"I can come pick them up Ruby but it wont be anytime soon. I'm in the hospital right now." Ruby felt her heart lurch. She still loved him. The thought that something may be wrong with him caused mild anxiety. "Rod are you okay? Do you need something? Do you need me to come up there and make sure them doctors are doing their job?" She was already stepping into her shoes.

"No Ruby. I'm okay. I'm here with Scar. She took ill this morning and we are just making sure everything is okay. She passed out." Ruby rolled her eyes at the phone. "Is she dying?" She asked rudely. "I doubt it." He answered shortly. "Okay so then why cant you come get your kids then?" Ruby demanded to know. "Are they dying?" he asked sarcastically. "You know what Jerrod I already see how this is about to go. Choosing that woman over your own damn kids. You should be ashamed of yourself." Ruby wanted him to feel bad. "You should be ashamed Ruby. Give the same courtesy you would want. The first thing I asked is if everything was okay. You said it was and you just wanted to make a run. I'm not going to leave my lady in the hospital sick so you can run errands. That doesn't even make sense." Ruby rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I'll find someone else." She waited for him to cave. "Okay. Have a blessed Sunday Ruby." Ruby almost screamed out loud like a banshee as she saw call ended on the screen of her phone.

Why was life kicking her in the ass. All she had done was be good to people. All she had done was love the wrong man. One step forward two steps back. Jerrod treating her like she cheated on him and got pregnant by someone else. All she wanted was to bust her twin Ryanne right in her fat ass mouth. There was quite a few people at that event that personally knew her and Jerrod. Everyone respected their privacy and didn't even mention that they were now divorced. All to have the ugly details played publicly. Whoever didn't know probably got the tea from one of the people who did now thanks to that video.

"Who is it?" she called more forceful than she intended. "It's Bryce." Ruby slapped her hand against her forehead. With all the stuff happening she completely forgot she invited him over to work on her glow up. She was surprised he wanted to even be associated with her after what just happened. She opened the door with an apologetic face. "I completely forgot about our meeting today." She welcomed him in. "Hey the show must go on. Now the best thing we can all do is optimize on something that was meant to break us." He stepped in and followed her to the kitchen.

"I'm getting a late start on the dinner part but I can walk and chew gum." They both laughed. Ruby moved around the kitchen putting dinner together while explaining to him the plans she had been developing for herself. "Those are great plans. I would personally go in a different direction. I don't want to know if the video was real or fake. We had our press people release a statement that it was a cruel hoax. Domestic violence is a great platform. You don't have to speak on your own experience but you can definitely start advocating for victims of domestic violence. You can write some books. Fiction or non fiction. I am sure they would sell. I personally know how many women suffer in silence and would love a light in the mist of the darkness covering their life. You can mentor to them and even start a non profit. Believe it or not there's money in non profits over time. You just have to do a lot of work on the front end of things."

Ruby nodded her head as she absorbed it all. "I start classes in a few months. Getting my degree is very important to me, even if I never use it. Is this something I can do as a student and mom?" she wanted to know how likely success would be with the few obstacles in her path. "Absolutely. All it takes is committing a few hours a day to the tasks before you. If you need help setting goals and schedules I can get some material for us to go over on how to accomplish that next Sunday. You don't have to rush. You don't have to stop living. Sometimes living is the biggest part. You gain so much experience." He paused and Ruby could sense his hesitation.

"I'm not sensitive Bryce say what you gotta say. "I don't know the relationship you have with Scar but she could really be an asset. She is deep in domestic violence advocacy and she has mastered branding herself through social media. She would really make a great mentor." Ruby rolled her eyes as she stirred her greens. She was tired of Scarlet the Perfect. She turned smiling. "I can probably improve my relationship with her. It did get off to a rocky start tho." Ruby admitted.

"How?" Bryce laughed. "What's so funny?" Ruby wanted to know. "She's like Mother Teresa with a little Sista Soulja. How do you get off to a rocky start with her?" Ruby felt embarrassed. "I asked Jerrod to give us another try. I asked him to put his family back together. He said no. After all I went through in that marriage. All of the personal sacrifices I made for the greater good of us, he said no. He gave me a dozen excuses but the one that was true is her. She is the reason we aren't getting back together and its hard to smile and be nice with her." Ruby gave Bryce the honest truth.

Bryce stayed for dinner and waited while she got the kids settled in. "Is my man Stone doing right by the kids and right by you despite moving on?" Part of Ruby wanted to lie. She wanted that sympathy that women got when they had deadbeat exes. She also knew that he already knew the answer to that. He was the one who helped get her place. "That is the part that confuses me sometimes. He sent me flowers when I moved in. He got me the place, a car and a nanny. He is covering my bills. He sent me a bank card to an account with $10,000 in it when all I asked him for was a Macbook and a few miscellaneous items I thought would help me on the road to my success. He was coming around having dinner and putting the kids to bed. I thought he was doing all of these things because he wanted the same things I did. I surprise him butt naked all to get rejected." Ruby didn't attempt to hold back her tears. All she did was hold back tears. It was time to let them out.

Bryce hugged her and rubbed her back comforting her. It felt nice. In all that had happened nobody had comforted her. Her twin enjoyed watching her go through the pain and agony. They always had a weird relationship. Ruby always felt like Ryanne was only happy for her progress as long as she didn't progress more than her. They had the best relationship when Ryanne was doing better than Ruby. Ryanne was enjoying flaunting her project apartment and beat up car when all Ruby had was the shelter and MTA. Ever since Ruby moved into her place Ryanne had one excuse after the next on why she couldn't come around. Ruby was tired of being strong. She let all the years worth of pain out. Bryce held her together while she gave in to her desire to fall apart.

Ruby looked up into Bryce beautiful eyes and she wanted the comfort of a man. She kissed him. He pulled back a bit. She cried harder. "Please don't reject me right now Bryce. My soul cant take it. Please." She kissed him again. This time he kissed back. Soft gentle kisses became passion filled. Kissing turned to stripping. Within moments Ruby was on the soft carpet in front of her fireplace with Bryce deep in her pussy. She forgot how good sex could be. It only took moments for her to climax. Bryce kept going. He gave her everything she needed and more. She couldn't believe she was having sex with another man. In all of her life it had only been Jerrod. Man, was she missing out. She never had so many orgasms in one session. She definitely needed more of that.

They laid in silence just enjoying the comfort of each other. He kissed on her sweat covered skin as she rubbed his soft curly hair. She tried not to think about how good it felt. She knew she was vulnerable and feeling were a recipe to getting hurt. Bryce had someone, even if his someone was a home wrecking hoe. It was one thing to play around and something else to get her feelings involved. The sky started to lighten signaling that morning was coming.

"Bryce you have to get up. My kids will be waking up for school soon." She kissed his forehead. He kissed her chin. As much as the willingness to go another round was there Ruby didn't want her children waking up to her having sex on the living room floor with a man that wasn't there daddy. "Thank you for everything. It was very much appreciated." She just looked at him not sure what to do. He pulled her into a hug and kissed her softly. He whispered in her ear, "I've dreamed of this many times and never once have my dreams come close to the real thing." Ruby was left standing blushing.