Cody made Ruby a cup of tea before leaving her in the kitchen.
Instead of heading upstairs to change his shirt, he went back out the front door and into the garage to the side of the house.
As he entered, his dad jumped off the makeshift bed.
“What the fuck happened to your face? Don’t tell me—she got away.”
“Calm down, Dad. She’s in the kitchen having a cup of tea. I thought you might like to meet her—but leave the foul language out here, please.”
“Why didn’t you stick to the plan? And you still didn’t tell me what happened.”
“Some dick’ead decided to rearrange my face at the pub. But he did me a favour, to be honest. Ruby didn’t mind us coming up here afterwards, so she’s none the wiser.”
“Good.”
“There is one problem, though,” Cody said.
“What?” he screwed his eyes up and rubbed his temples.
“She told her mum where she was and who she was with.”
“Fucking hell, lad. How’re we gonna deal with that?”
“Don’t worry, I have a plan. Trust me.”
“Come on then. Let’s get this over and done with.”
They found Ruby sitting at the kitchen table sipping her tea.
“Ruby, this is my dad, Steve, Dad meet Ruby.” Cody watched the older man’s eyes light up.
“I’ll leave you guys chatting while I grab a clean shirt,” Cody said.
Ruby nodded, smiling.
Thudding music sounded out from another part of the house and in response to Ruby’s confused expression Cody’s dad said, “My son, Kyle. Sorry, he has awful taste in music.”
“Oh, Kylie?” Ruby asked.
Cody froze half in, half out of the door.
“Yeah, Cody told me about it,” she added.
“Oh, did he? Yes, Kylie,” his dad said.
With a sigh, Cody ran up to his bedroom to change, certain the drugs he’d slipped into her tea should start working soon.
Half-way down the stairs, he heard a clatter. Heart racing, he jumped the remaining steps and ran into the kitchen.
Dad sat on the floor piling several baking trays and cake tins that had been strewn across the floor.
“What the...?” Cody said.
“That bloody brother of yours, that’s what. He’s getting worse. This is the second time today I’ve had the entire contents of a cupboard throw themselves at me.”
Cody turned to Ruby and smiled. “Kyle enjoys playing pranks on Dad. But Dad makes it so easy, wouldn’t you say?”
Ruby smiled as she touched her temple. “I don’t feel well. Can you take me home, Cody, please?”
Cody jumped forward and caught Ruby as she slid from the chair.