Read The Creative Fire: 1 (Ruby's Song) for Free Online

ankle, squinting at the approaching vehicle.
    The silver cart’s surface was big and flat, meant for cargo. A driver stood at the back of the cart, balancing and holding on to a steering column in front of him, glancing around as if he expected to be attacked. He wore blue like Fox’s, with a red cap stuck down on his head.
    “Dayn,” Fox called out, smiling, looking relieved. He waved him forward.
    Onor had stopped a few feet away, watching the approaching cart and driver as well as Ruby and Fox. He looked far more uncertain than Ruby had ever seen him. He could wait. It was Fox she was losing.
    She took Fox’s elbow, helping to support him on his hurt foot. She walked with him toward the edge of the path. “How will I know you’re okay?” she whispered, the approaching driver giving her words speed.
    “I’ll be fine.”
    Fox sounded distracted, as if he’d already left her.
    Damn him.
    She reached up and grabbed the back of his neck with her left hand, holding him still with her right hand on his waist, his weight off balance and leaning in because of his foot. “I will remember you,” she said. He would leave and she wouldn’t have another chance. “I need you to remember me. Find me.”
    He swallowed, his gaze filled with the desire she usually hated men for. But she needed it in Fox, needed him to want her. It was instinct, something that rose all the way from her belly and arced up her back and spine. Warm. Raw.
    “Find me,” she repeated.
    Dayn had stopped, too, looking almost as confused as Onor.
    “I’ll remember you,” Fox said.
    He would. Ruby pulled him against her, hard, and kissed him. His lips resisted, cold and thin. She touched them with her tongue, opening them, touching his tongue, which pushed back at her. She gave herself into it, a lick inside him while she pressed him to her. She’d never done this, not so boldly, and it was as if a pillar of fire ran up her belly and her chest and skewered her heart.
    Surely he felt it as well. He trembled.
    Then his hands clamped down on her arms and he pushed a tiny bit. Reluctantly, she gave in, stepping away from him but taking one of his hands in hers “Do. Do remember me. Ruby.”
    He nodded, his voice thick. “Thanks for being here.”
    He meant it. If only she had more time, if only Onor hadn’t come right now.
    “Fox,” Dayn said. “Leave off your flirting. We have to go. Now.” Dayn gave Ruby a close gaze. She noted curiosity and surprise, like she wasn’t what he expected to find. Or maybe it had been the kiss. She hadn’t expected that, either. Now that it was done, she was surprised at herself. He spoke to both Ruby and Onor. “You two better get, run if you can. You’ve got to evacuate. Get to the train.”
    “What?” Ruby asked.
    “The train. Before they space the air.”
    “I know.” Onor finally spoke, his face red. He looked hard at Ruby. “We have to go.”
    Dayn took Fox’s weight, and Ruby let go of Fox completely, her skin suddenly cold. She went and stood by Onor. Neither of them said anything as Dayn helped Fox onto the cart and made sure he had a good grip on the low rail that ran along the side by the driver’s stand.
    The cart hissed back the way it had come, still low to the ground, as if its driver expected to lose grav at any time.
     
    After Dayn and Fox had gone, Onor pulled her to him, his body and arm stiffer than she expected. “What was that?”
    “Do we have a few minutes?”
    “Maybe two.”
    She pointed up at the rent in the roof of the sky, at the torn fabric of the ceiling and the loose wires and broken pipes that dangled above them.
    His mouth fell open.
    “We were right. That’s where they came from. Both of them, I’m sure. The hurt man—Fox—he fell from there. There’s shiny robots, shinier than ours, and more, and there were more people, but they all got away to someplace safe. It’s empty now, but it wasn’t.”
    Onor licked his lips and stared up. “Did you have to kiss