49 I May Have Crossed A Line

She patted her pockets to be sure she had the car rental keys and her phone and peeked inside her purse to be sure she still had the blood pills and her wallet. Since Ash was playing the girl role right now, she handed him the purse and took control of the rolling suitcase herself.

They left the room card on the table with the intention of doing remote checkout later over the phone and headed down to the parking garage. Flint seemed to be giving up on searching the lobby and started walking straight toward them.

Ruby began to panic because Ash's face would be visible. He noticed the problem the same time she did and leaned forward and smashed his lips against hers instantly.

Her brain short-circuited for a moment. Not a single thought existed in her head beyond "!!!" until she realized he had only done it because he needed to hide his face. PDA tended to make people uncomfortable so it wasn't like Flint was going to be looking at two humans kissing.

But honestly! Was that the best thing he could think of?! Ash had been around a while so kissing probably wasn't a big deal to him but this had been her first. And probably her last.

She was hyper-aware of the way his fangs pressed against her lips and how rapidly her heart was beating. A few more seconds of this and Ruby was going to spontaneously combust. Thankfully he pulled away before that could happen, completely unfazed.

Ash scanned the room and when he saw there was no sign of Flint, dragged her out to the parking garage behind him because she was too stunned to move. He had to take care of things like unlocking the car and putting the suitcase into the trunk too.

She finally came to her senses when she saw the burlap sack about to spill over. "Don't—!"

It was too late. Gemstones had begun to slide traitorously out of the bag. Ash paid them no mind and stuck the suitcase in, pushing the sack deeper into the trunk. He…wasn't saying anything? Did he not see them?

Ruby started the car with her mind racing a million miles an hour. The impromptu kiss strategy and wondering whether or not he had seen the gems was driving her crazy.

She drove away from the Strip. Hotels might not be safe anymore. She needed to get somewhere far away from her uncle and come up with a plan. The car was completely silent as they headed out of town toward Mount Charleston and Ruby's eyes filled with tears. That had been so scary!

Learning from a young age to close herself off and not trust others, Ruby wasn't exactly capable of processing emotions in a healthy way. She was fairly certain she hadn't cried since her parents' deaths and that was decades ago.

The tears rolled down her cheeks silently as she bit back the sob that wanted to make its way up her throat. Ash didn't notice because he was looking out the window.

He spoke up out of the blue in a tone tinged with guilt. "I apologize for kissing you so suddenly. It was the only thing I could think of that would hide my face without bolting and that would have been suspicious. You did say to act like a human couple so I thought it would be okay but it seems that I may have crossed a line."

Ruby tried to say "it's fine" but the moment she tried to form words the sob made its way out. After the first one did, they wouldn't stop.

Ash turned to look at her, startled by the noise. Once he saw she was crying a stricken expression appeared on his face. "Ruby…"

"I'm fine!" she tried to insist. "It's not you. Really. I'm just—"

She wasn't able to finish because she was crying too hard. She wouldn't be able to explain herself if she tried anyway. If he hadn't seen the gemstones and she gave herself away unnecessarily it would be all over.

It might be all over anyway. If he wanted to take her power for himself she would have to run from him too and live a completely isolated life where she never so much as attempted partial trust again.

"Ruby, pull over," Ash said gently.

She did as he said; not wanting to leave this world the same way as her parents because she couldn't see very well anymore. Once the car was parked in the middle of nowhere not far from a freeway off-ramp she rested her head on the steering wheel and gave into the tears completely.

He exited the car and quietly opened the door for her, his cold hands reaching around to unbuckle the seatbelt for her.

He gingerly lifted her out of the car and carried her over his shoulder. Her tears soaked the top of his sundress until he set her down on top of a rock jutting out of the ground. She blinked up at him and saw nothing but concern reflected in his face.

He had removed his glamour with the sunhat so he stood before her now looking like a vampire in a sundress. It wasn't funny at all though. She was too upset to laugh.

"Ruby, can you tell me why you're crying?" Ash asked seriously.

It was hard to put into words. She was crying because of a lot of small things that had piled up over the course of her entire life.

Being different. Living in fear of discovery. Having those fears realized in the worst possible way and being forced to run from everything she ever knew. Finally making a friend only to possibly lose him now because of her own stupidity.

"Everything," she said in a shaky voice. "I'm crying because of everything."