Don’t leave me in this darkness loving blind
I might leave, but I’ll always come back, girl
Sweetheart, doll, baby
Fuck ’em
Always come back to my Ruby Mine
Good-bye is not forever
Just a fleck of time
Everyone was looking at her. James was looking at her with an unreadable expression on his face. “He completely flaked off your preparty, Ruby. I like you too much not to warn you to be careful with that one.”
She turned away from him. The crowd blurred as she ran down the center aisle and pushed through the huge double doors. Images slammed into her head—of Mark, of all the things they’d done. A few weeks ago she’d known exactly what she wanted. Now confusion made her head spin, made her heart race as she burst outside and onto the sidewalk.
“Spare a quarter?”
A man sat on the cement, an upside-down hat next to him along with a small piece of cardboard, upon which was written in a messy scrawl, Change Appreciated.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I don’t have my purse.”
“Then how about a pretty smile.” He gave her a gap-toothed grin.
It was cold and she started to shiver. “Sorry,” she said, walking away.
She heard the door open, slam shut, and then, “Ruby.”
She stopped but didn’t turn around. “Just leave me alone, Mark.”
He was in front of her in an instant, standing close. Too close. She could smell him. His unique scent, his sweat. Leather.
When he grabbed her, his hand was warm and damp on her bare shoulder. “I’m leaving tomorrow, Ruby. Talk to me.”
“I know you’re leaving, trust me. That’s the one thing I do know.”
“What’s wrong? Why were you dancing with that dickwad in front of me?”
She jerked back. “You made a fool of me tonight.”
He truly looked confused. “You mean the song?”
“No! You didn’t show for the preparty.” Humiliatingly, she felt her eyes start to burn. “This is my career you’re fucking with.”
She saw his eyes flash with anger. At himself. “Oh, fuck.” He ran a hand over his face. “Oh, baby—I’m so sorry.”
“Sorry doesn’t help the twenty people who showed up tonight hoping to meet the Riders because I promised them it would happen!”
He reached for her, but she jerked away. “Just tell me why, Mark. What was so important you left me like that and couldn’t even bother to call?”
A few yards away, some guests were standing around, banned outside to smoke. Glancing at them, Mark said in a low voice, “Listen. I can explain. Let me take you somewhere private.”
“You mean you want to ditch the rest of your set? Typical!”
“Fine. Just promise me we’ll talk later so I can explain. Promise me.”
“When?” She slapped a tear from the corner of her eye. “You mean tomorrow? Oh, wait! You’ll be gone.”
“It doesn’t have to be like this. Just come inside and talk to me. We can work it out if you’ll just let me explain.” He took a step toward her. “Trust me.”
She jerked her chin up and ignored the plea she saw in his eyes. “I do trust you. With you, there’s something I can always trust you to do.”
His eyes went dark. “What’s that?”
“I can always trust you to leave.”
His jaw clenched, and she saw all the muscles in his arms bunch. For a second, she thought he might punch the brick wall behind them. He turned away, sucked in a breath, and then turned back to her. “Fine. I guess I’ll just say good-b—”
“Chihuahua!”
He looked baffled. “What?”
“Chihuahua. Isn’t that what I’m supposed to say when I can’t take it anymore?”
“Yeah, but this isn’t what I meant. That was for when you were in pain.”
“I am in pain!” She lifted her chin, wiped away some more damn tears. “At the very beginning, you wanted to know my limits. I told you no good-byes. You’re pushing me beyond my limits. So, Chihuahua.”
“Your limits are fucked up.”
“They may be, but they’re my limits. R-remember?” She was really shaking now; her teeth had started to chatter.
His brown eyes turned black as he stared at her. She could see the struggle going on in his mind, but, in the end, he finally took a step back. “Fine.”
“Fine.”
He looked ready to say more but finally just shook his head and walked away. She didn’t turn around until she heard the door to the theater slam shut.
Beside the door, the homeless man shook his head. “Don’t be scared.”