Ruby Ink (Clairmont Series Novel Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

to her repertoire.
    Aaron hadn’t eaten all day. He hadn’t eaten icing in seven years. He cut a thick slab off the corner, and along with a beer, headed up the back staircase. From near the top steps, a spot that offered a good overview, Aaron stared at the scene.
    Honor was caught up in a conversation with a man he didn’t recognize. He looked slick in a shiny suit—lawyer-ish or a sharp businessman. The guy was standing too close to Honor, and Aaron wondered if there was something between them. Admittedly, Aaron didn’t know much about his sister’s personal life. When she visited prison, talk had been generic. Filler rambling about her business, a few words about Troy, talk always ending on the hope that he’d come home soon.
    Alec was deep in conversation with a blonde woman, dark tan—Jess. Alec had introduced her briefly, said she was his roommate . Like that made sense. She was hot though she looked older. Well, shit, didn’t everybody? He didn’t see Troy, who hadn’t grunted more than hello before disappearing. Like male dogs in a den, they seemed to be giving each other space. Aaron took one last glance before taking the rest of the steps two at a time.

The upstairs was empty and familiar smells permeated. Downstairs there was food and drinks and people who affected the air Aaron associated with the house on Lakeshore Drive. Upstairs held the scent of home—a heady mist of lakefront breeze that rolled in on waves. The hall floor creaked in the spot he expected. Aaron thought that was wild, the way a floorboard made him relax, feel comfort. A few steps farther and Aaron knew he’d come up there for exactly that—comfort. He hadn’t looked for comfort in ages. He didn’t dare. But now… now the urge had surfaced—like tunneling from Chicago to China and finally coming up for air. It was quiet. He walked past Honor’s room. She’d taken over their parents’ bedroom long ago. Aaron peeked inside, seeing soft things, fluffy bed covers and a quilt. He kept going but stopped as a cat ran past him. They had a cat?
    Aaron glanced toward Troy’s room. The door was almost shut. He could see the tips of his brother’s sneakers on the end of the bed. He thought about going in. No, the kid didn’t have anything to say to him downstairs. There’d be plenty of naturally awkward moments to come. Besides, Aaron was just avoiding the unavoidable.
    At the end of the hall, cake and beer still in hand, he pushed open the door. His bedroom. Aaron exhaled a last prison breath. Well, at least Honor didn’t hang streamers from the ceiling. Item for item it didn’t look too different. Late-afternoon sun spilled in from the southwest windows. There was cat fur on the bed—a perfect circle where the sun, and he guessed the cat, spent the afternoon. He could see where there might be some territorial issues. The good news—a cat would be easier to negotiate than a new cellmate. The furniture was the same, maybe the bedspread was new. He couldn’t remember. He’d never made the bed anyway.
    But staring at the neatly made bed, another Ruby memory surfaced. The last time Aaron had left the room there was the impression of her body in a tumble of sheets. They smelled like her. On the chair, in the corner, there’d been a black athletic jacket. Ruby had kept forgetting to take it with her. The jacket was gone now. Had she come by for it after his arrest—some quick, tense exchange with Honor? More likely, Honor had given the jacket to Good Will. Ruby wouldn’t have wanted anything to do with Aaron or his family.
    That night, seven years before, Ruby started to dress as he lay in the bed—watching. Aaron had told her not to worry. Everything would be fine. Ruby didn’t argue. She had wanted to but she didn’t, slipping into frilly bikini panties—bright pink. Jesus, he remembered the color. Ruby wasn’t a lacy kind of girl, she didn’t need to be. He still remembered his favorite ensemble, the simple white