A Dirty Game - Chapter Twelve (Part Three)

After his shower Braiden slid down the banister and landed on his feet, right in front of Lacey. She eyed what he was wearing, up to his face, and raised an eyebrow.
"Uh, hi" he smiled warily, hyper aware that he was wearing her estranged husband's clothes.
"Hello. Where's Ruby?" she asked, peering behind him and up the staircase. He shrugged.
"Dunno. She disappeared to kick some people awake" he grinned.
Lacey's skeptic expression dissolved and she laughed.
"So she had better. You better go and help her - ?" she looked at him expectantly.
"Oh! Braiden" he told her, extending his hand.
"Right. I'm Lacey, Ruby's mum. You can call me Lacey" she smiled and vanished into the living room. He puffed out his cheeks and started searching the house.

Ruby's house was amazing. Everything was super sized, and chosen with the utmost care. Fabrics, paints, ornaments; expensive and cleverly placed to give maximum effect. He tried to avoid knocking anything over and wondered how nothing had been destroyed yesterday. He came to the kitchen and got his answer.

Ruby was sitting on the counter with her feet under her. She was glaring at a man in blue overalls with black stitching who was brushing up some glass.
"I told you not to touch the cupboards! They don't need cleaning! You're supposed to clean the mess, not make MORE!" she shouted at him. The poor man was cringing at every word and trying to work as quickly as he could to get out of there.
Ruby's face was a faint red and a vein was throbbing in her neck. She was fierce, and definitely not a force to be reckoned with.
"Dammit! You guys can't do anything!" she muttered and turned her head to the door.
Braiden was watching her with a frown.
She smiled and opened up her arms for a hug which he was slow to give her.

"What's wrong?" Ruby asked, gesturing to his not so happy face.
"Why are you so rude to him? He's the one cleaning your house! I'm sure he'll pay for whatever he broke, and I'm also sure he apologized. So why not just let it go?" he shrugged.
Ruby rolled her eyes as if to say 'This boy...he doesn't know anything'.
"Look. You don't know these people. If you give them an inch, they take a mile."
"That's your philosophy is it?"
"Yeah it is" she smiled. The man on the floor emptied the pan into the black bag beside him, grabbed it and darted out the kitchen. Braiden scowled.

"Ruby."

She knew what was coming, and she anticipated it as much as she dreaded it. Braiden was a good person, inside and out, and he would never have spoken to anyone like she had just spoken to that man. She avoided his eyes, instead studying her nails with a faked interest. He gently pulled her face so that she was looking at him.

"You can't treat people like that" he whispered. She groaned in frustration and buried her face in his neck. He was standing between her legs and she found it easy to hide her burning cheeks. Jeez. No one had ever made her feel ashamed of herself before. He allowed her to say nothing for a while as she sorted out her response.
"You know I can't help it" was all she came up with. He laughed, amused at her innocent way of answering. And he did know that she couldn't help it. He dropped it, knowing that he couldn't make her a saint in one day. It would take time. Instead he titled her head back and kissed her.
"If that's your way of reprimanding me, I should do bad things every day" she smiled.

"Actually, I'd rather you go and sort out the mess by the pool" Lacey called out. Braiden pulled away from Ruby and turned around. She stood in the doorway, smirking at her daughter. Ruby started to protest but Lacey raised a hand and uttered one word.

"Allowance."

That was all she had to say and Ruby shot off the counter, dragging Braiden behind her to the pool. He loved that, even though Ruby was very wealthy, his mother made her work for her privileges. Just like everyone else had to. The pool side wasn't as bad, as say the living room, but it did need a major cleaning. The sun had decided to make an entrance today and already the sweat was pooling between Braiden's shoulder blades. Considering that he hadn't even started cleaning yet, he felt there was only thing to do.

Ruby surveyed the rubbish floating on the water and realized what she needed.
Without looking up, she called out to Braiden.
"Hey dude, is there a clutchy grabby thing over there somewhere?"

"I assume by 'clutchy grabby thing' you're referring to this?" he snorted as he held out the object. She turned around with a remark on her tongue, but didn't get a chance to speak. Braiden stood behind her, with an arm outstretched in all his Adonis glory. Her mouth fell open and she raised an eyebrow. The shirt she'd given him was now hanging out of his jean pocket, leaving his torso completely bare. The sun glistened off the muscles rippling over his chest, highlighting his abs. She couldn't look away. He caught her attention by bouncing a rubber football off her head.

"Would you like some popcorn with that?" he smirked.
She shook her head clear.
"Huh?"

Braiden laughed and watched as she grabbed the object from his hand, turning around quickly. He'd already seen the flush creeping up her neck. Three times in one day.
Nice, he grinned. Seeing that she wasn't going to speak, he carried on with his task. They worked in silence, Ruby peeking at him every few minutes, and Braiden cracking up whenever he caught her doing so. It was a productive half an hour, despite the distractions; they managed to get the pool in a respectable state.

Ruby wiped the sweat off her forehead and curled her lip.
"God, the snob in me wants to die for touching all that rubbish" she shuddered.
Braiden wiped his hands on his jeans and stood up straight, stretching his back. Ruby watched raptly as he did so, biting her lip.
"Well, you had fun while you did it" he winked at her.
She couldn't help but laugh because he was so right it was unbelievable.

"Why do you do this to me?" she asked playfully.
He approached her and picked up her hands.
"Because I can..." he murmured.