Hers (Ruby Rose)

34| Defence

I SPENT AN hour doing my makeup but not on my face, on my chest to cover up the stupid tattoo. I was going back to work tonight, so there was no way Reece would let me walk around like that. In fact, he made it very clear that I would have to send it through him first before I made any drastic decisions regarding my body.

"Ellis, hurry up." I heard Ruby say as she passed my bedroom door.

I nearly dropped the makeup sponge in frustration. "Please," I said through gritted teeth, "give me a minute."

The tattoo now looked like a grey smudge, but it was incomprehensible. There was no way anyone would be able to make out the letters.

I fanned at the skin with my hands as I walked out of my room. My skin still felt like it was on fire and it looked like it too. It was not a pretty sight at all.

"That literally looks like someone punched you in the neck." Ruby said as soon as she saw me, but she was smiling in amusement.

"Don't you feel a bit bad for me? Just a tiny bit?"

"Not at all. You deserve it." She locked the apartment door from the outside.

I didn't say a word for the rest of the trip to Roves, mostly because I was ashamed with myself and knew that whatever I said would be put back on me.

The carpark was already full, so I knew it was going to be a very busy night. I silently prayed that no one would ask questions about my hideous chest piece, especially not Gia. Oh God, that would be absolutely shameful.

"Hey," Ruby said suddenly, right after turning the car's ignition off, "it looks fine."

For some reason, those three words touched my heart. Fine didn't exactly mean good, but from Ruby, it was great.

"Really?" I said, making her chuckle.

"Not really, no. It's pretty fucking awful."

I rolled my eyes. Damn, should have expected that by now.

"What are you going to say to people when they ask why you got a tattoo of my name on you?"

I shrugged. "I don't know." I had been thinking all night about what my excuse will be.

"Just say it's your Aunt's name or something." Hm, that's a decent idea. Ruby isn't a weird name, a lot of people are named Ruby. I'll just tell them that it was my favorite Aunt who died when I was little or something.

I accidentally glanced at her lips and the thought of kissing them sent chills down my spine. Fuck. It was an accident. I did not mean to look at her lips, but she caught me. Now she was looking at mine.

I pulled the car door, flustered. "I'll see you around." I told her before getting out of the car as quickly as I could and shutting the door.

My heels rapidly clicked against the concrete as I entered the back door to Roves that took me straight to the locker rooms.

It has been so long since I last worked, and I noticed that my uniform was a lot looser than I remembered.

I stared at my reflection, pulling at the hem of my shorts. It would have been a good thing if I had been trying to lose weight.

"Welcome back," a girl in the tiniest underwear I had ever seen said to me, briefly touching the back of my shoulder.

"Oh, thanks." I quickly said after her, having been caught off guard.

Wow. Did people actually notice I was missing?

The door to the locker room burst open and a fellow waitress walked in, obviously exhausted.