83 Your Voice Of Reason (1/2)

Ruby supposed she deserved this lecture. She had worried him after all. She couldn't look at him when she answered because it was a bit embarrassing. ”…I was defending you. He didn't like that.”

He went silent for a moment. When he did speak again it was with great resignation. ”You really are something else, aren't you? Not the slightest bit of care for your own safety. I suppose I'll have to be your voice of reason from now on.”

She was slightly offended by the insinuation that she couldn't take care of herself but was able to acknowledge that he did have a point. He had been forced to resuscitate her because of her recklessness after all.

The thought of Ash administering CPR still made her blush so she tried not to think about it. He had done it to save her life; there were no ulterior motives. She shouldn't be embarrassed.

”Thank you though,” he said suddenly. ”For defending me. It's nice to know you care.”

”Of course I care,” Ruby mumbled.

Her actions of late didn't exactly indicate that between running away without telling him and nearly making him lose his mind with worry but she did care. A lot. More than she wanted to.

A half-smile appeared on Ash's face but he said nothing and returned to staring out the window. With the conversation stopped, Ruby figured she should try to push all of her confusing thoughts out of her head and go to sleep, uncomfortable wing position and all. She was exhausted.

===

When they finally made it back to the castle Ruby was hit with an overwhelming feeling of relief. Home. She would be safe here.

It was early morning and she hadn't slept much so she ended up crashing on the bed first thing. Flora (who hadn't managed to sleep through the night either) joined her. A few hours later when they woke up for real, she found Ash lying flat on his back right next to her, his fingers entwined with hers.

Ruby sighed. What was she going to do with him? They really ought to get furniture for another one of these bedrooms now that there were three of them here.

Technically they did all fit on the bed but that wasn't the problem. The problem was that she was getting very odd signals from Ash and didn't want her heart to misunderstand his intentions.

At least Flora was too little to think anything of the connotations of a shared bed between males and females. That was one thing she didn't have to worry about.

She headed down to the kitchen and made toaster waffles for both of them before heading into town to hopefully retrieve her car and talk to Blair. Flora had never been to the witch coven before so she was excited to see them.