Chapter 1: Sexy brit boy

The kiss on Ruby’s neck wasn’t as pleasurable as she’d hoped.

Another on the dip of her collarbone burned, but it wasn’t in the way it was supposed to.

If anything, it made her stiffen underneath the 180 pounds of a man who was trying not to crush her little frame. Thankfully it went unnoticed.

She swallowed.

Thank God.

One on her chest…

A couple more inching towards her breast…

…and Ruby had come to a mental conclusion that this probably wasn’t for her.

When would it ever be?

That was the exact question the man kissing his way through her body in another fruitless venture for sex would soon ask if she didn’t at least pretend like she was enjoying his advances.

So she did the first thing she could think of— she let out the one sound that would convince her… boyfriend? Could she even call Aiden that?— that she was indeed anticipating him going down on her—for the first time, and at such an unusual time for one to be having sex during the day.

Ruby performatively let what should have been a moan escape her lips. The noise, which is exactly what it turned out to be, was quite foreign from what she had intended.

It was supposed to be a moan but it came out in form of a disgruntled cry.

“Okay, that’s enough. This is all wrong.”

Aiden pushed Ruby off him, hands running through his hair in frustration as he stood towering over her form on the bed. “You clearly don’t want this as much as I do.”

“Aiden, wait! I never said that.” Ruby pushed herself into a sitting position. She clutched her breast through the shirt she had worn straight from her Resources Management recently concluded lectures to the apartment Aiden shared with his roommate.

“You didn’t need too! Your body’s doing all the talking.” He zipped his pants all the way up. “There’s only one of us naked in this room, Rubs, and it isn’t you.”

Ruby stared at him through glistening eyes, her chest rising and falling fast.

That wasn’t fair of him.

None of this was.

“Where are you going?” She asked as she watched him grab a favorite jacket of his.

“To cool off. I need some air at this point.”

Oh.

Had it gotten that bad?

Ruby guessed she too would need some form of space if she were in his shoes. Though her self-awareness didn’t stop embarrassment from burning her cheeks.

“Are we still getting lunch?” She pushed herself to ask despite Aiden’s visible turmoil. He did say he had something very important to tell her today and all day, she’d been on her toes to know what it was. Was he finally going to ask her to be his girlfriend? It looked like they were already in that stage, anyway, but only they knew better.

Aiden hadn’t exactly asked her out in their four years together. Despite what others might’ve thought.

But he obviously wasn’t going to be telling nor asking her anything now that she had ruined things.

So until lunch it had to be, then.

Aiden muttered “Yep,” under his breath and disappeared from her sight as he not so happily shut the door behind him.

Ruby sighed while still staring at the door. She guessed she might as well also ‘cool off’ right where she was before leaving Aiden’s shared apartment while hoping it would give his roommate time to leave so she could avoid her walk of shame for her and Aiden’s lack of sex yet again.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Two hours later, Ruby sat at café, patiently waiting on Aiden’s arrival for their lunch meeting. He had told her to be here on time, and she’d even arrived about 20 minutes earlier just so he wouldn’t be waiting too long for her.

Another 20 minutes after their appointed time, and Aiden still hadn’t shown up.

Ruby did everything to while away time. She looked through the menu even though she already knew what she was going to order by heart. Then she browsed through her class group chat to see what her first exam paper was going to be.

In the little time that went by, Ruby had done all that and more; browsed through some lecture notes, ordered a cup of water, read a module from a P*F. A couple of guys even nodded in her direction, to her surprise.

It made her feel good because they usually went for the option of avoiding her, a move that made her feel ugly sometimes. Like she wasn’t fit to be in the radar of some of the hottest boys she had known right from her freshman year.

What made Ruby content was the fact that Aiden of all people had his eyes set on her. It still surprised her till this day knowing that the college heartthrob always wanted her right from their first year.

Aiden Kings wasn’t your typical campus bad boy. He didn’t just have popularity but he was also one of the top students of their class, and was one of the three heirs of England Billionaire, Mathew Kings billion dollar Talent Management Empire.

Up until two years ago, Aiden was also a footballer. He had been playing in the Under-21 teams back in England. Two years later, Aiden wasn’t fully immersed in the sport like he wanted, but his time and experience there had fueled his popularity in their college in San Francisco.

But that wasn’t the icing on the cake. Aiden wasn’t the only sportsman in the family. So was his older brother and household name, Asher Kings, professional football player whose name had been on every football lover’s mouth over the past decade.

Asher had just been 18 years old when he’d been scouted from England’s U-21 team before making it to senior international football. 10 years later, and his name was even bigger than his family’s which was saying a lot.

No one needed to wonder why Aiden walked with the kind of pride he did. When his last name held that much value and was recognized even in America, it unarguably held sentiment. Plus his brother had been in the states for the past eighteen month after leaving the English football Premier League for America’s MLS- Major League Soccer.

No one could be faulted for wanting to be in Aiden’s good books. It would be a bummer if Asher somehow landed in Roseville and no one could get an autograph or have direct access to him simply because they had offended the youngest Kings brother.

Aiden literally lived off the attention of his older brother even though the two seemed to be at loggerheads more often than not. Though she knew it was wrong, the thought alone secretly brought some sort of satisfaction to Ruby. She just couldn’t help it.

Ruby was on her second glass of water when voices in the café gradually started getting louder from quiet cheering.

Aiden was here.

She hadn’t even seen him yet, but she knew he was the one. And when he eventually came into view, she got her confirmation. Guys clapped the back of his England varsity jacket in admiration as he walked over to her table and the girls swooned in his direction. Some occasionally ate Ruby up with their mean stares as they probably wondered ‘Why her and not me?’

“Hey, Rubs,” Aiden pulled a chair and sat opposite from her. “I didn’t make you wait too long, did I?”

He did. She had been here for almost an hour now, alone and starving, but she couldn’t bring herself to say that to him so she smiled it off and waved her hand in disregard.

“It’s fine. I’m glad you’re here now.” She pushed her glass cup aside so she could get a full view of his symmetrical, handsome face. His mood seemed much lighter than after their previous encounter. “You seem happy.”

“Yeah, I was with the boys. Cooling off and all. I, uh… I want to apologize about the way I walked out on you earlier.” Aiden’s smooth English accent rolled out his tongue, making Ruby’s core clench.

Before Aiden, she would’ve never known she could harbor a thing for guys with accents. Or maybe it was just that of the Birmingham boy seated across from her.

His dimples flashed as he grinned at her and that one action was her undoing as it always was when it came to Aiden. She instantly found herself forgiving him.

Aiden waved a waitress over and they placed their orders while talking about everything they couldn’t talk about earlier this afternoon. Despite the conversations they were having, Ruby mentally went through the details of their conversation to know if anything important enough for Aiden to have invited her here today had been said.

She most definitely hadn’t heard the ‘Girlfriend’ statement, so, no, it didn’t seem like it.

Usually, Ruby was the one who invited him out. He hardly ever took initiative until now. That fact gave her a bit of hope that the question was on its way.

She bit into her pancake first and took a sip of water. “Aiden, you said you wanted to tell me something today?”

Aiden stopped eating and wiped his mouth.

“Two things actually, babe.”

“Okay…” Her heart flipped with joy in her ribcage. Ruby could hardly contain her smile.

But something nervous also stirred within her when something occurred to her. Aiden only called her ‘babe’ when he wanted her to do something for him. Either that or when he didn’t want her going anywhere with guys who approached her behind his back.

“You know my brother right?”

“The oldest one?” Ruby tried to think about why Aiden suddenly wanted to talk about his family to her. She didn’t know his eldest brother nor could she even remember what his name was— she didn’t personally know any of his brother’s if she was being honest. Okay, Asher, maybe. But that was only because they’d had a not so friendly encounter when she’d met him in her freshman year. But the oldest brother, not so much. “Why?”

Aiden impatiently shook his head. “Asher, I mean. My immediate older.”

“Oh. Of course I know…him,” She couldn’t bring herself to mention the name out loud. The arrogant man wasn’t exactly a favorite of hers. “Everyone does.”

Ruby noticed a brief change in Aiden’s face immediately she’d said that last statement. He quickly replaced it with a cocky grin.

“You only do because I introduced you both years ago, by the way. You never really were into football, remember?”

Ruby wanted to spew that she still wasn’t into the sport and the go ahead to correct Aiden’s term of using the word ‘football’ instead of ‘soccer’ as it was popularly referred in the United States, but she bit back her words. He somehow already seemed riled up and she didn’t want to add to his sudden uneasiness even if he tried to play it cool.

“And?”

“And Asher’s going to be on Campus for the next couple of days, babe. You know how he can be. I don’t want you anywhere near him so after tonight, I’ll be coming over to you instead, okay? Up until after graduation.”

Asher was back in their city?

Ruby could fill her nervousness stir even more. It was probably from anger.

Well damn. That wasn’t good news at all.