Fool Me

Contents Copyright Dedication Chapter One - Ruby Chapter Two - Ruby Chapter Three - Raphael Chapter Four - Ruby Chapter Five - Ruby Chapter Six - Raphael Chapter Seven - Ruby Chapter Eight - Raphael Chapter Nine - Raphael Chapter Ten - Jesse Chapter Eleven - Raphael Chapter Twelve - Ruby Chapter Thirteen - Raphael Chapter Fourteen - Raphael Chapter Fifteen - Ruby Chapter Sixteen - Raphael Chapter Seventeen - Ruby Chapter Eighteen - Ruby Chapter Nineteen - Ruby Chapter Twenty - Raphael Chapter Twenty-One - Ruby Chapter Twenty-Two - Ruby Chapter Twenty-Three - Raphael Chapter Twenty-Four - Ruby Chapter Twenty-Five - Raphael Chapter Twenty-Six - Ruby Sneak-Peek into Make Me Shine Acknowledgments About the Author Other Books & Upcoming Releases Copyright © 2023 by Elodie Colt All rights reserved. This book is a work of fiction. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without prior consent of the publisher, except in case of brief quotation embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial use permitted by copyright law. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people and things living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental. Cover Design: Cathy Sutton Cover Model Photography: Wander Aguiar Photography Editing: Ink It Out Interior Design: Elodie Colt To Ukraine and all the poor people who had to flee their homeland. My heart goes out to each of you. “My first wish is to see this plague of mankind—war—banished from the earth.”- George Washington CHAPTER ONE Ruby A WEIRD FEELING slithers in my gut. Subtle but still unpleasant, gradually rising while it’s creeping up my esophagus like a light case of heartburn. Jesse takes my hand, squeezing it reassuringly. He sends me a lighthearted wink from underneath a floppy strand of toffee-brown hair. I unveil a small smile, gripping his fingers tighter in response, but it feels different. His palms are more calloused, his skin temperature a few degrees higher, the pressure he’s using stronger. You’ve known this man for four years. Loved him every day. What could possibly make you think that he’s someone else? Our shoes crunch on the dried leaves as we amble through the forest. Monstrous pine trees stretch up to the sky, blocking most of today’s harsh sun, but the deeper we walk into the woods, the hotter the air becomes. Too humid, stifling almost, making it hard to breathe. I gulp, trying to dial down my jumpiness as all kinds of forest animals whiz by, rattling the leaves and upturning the moist soil. Instinctively, I edge closer to the man next to me, pressing my shoulder against his. Even his shoulder feels different. Bigger somehow, as if he gained another pound of muscles overnight. “Don’t worry. We’re almost there,” Jesse assures me in a gentle tone that is as pacifying as much as it is unnerving. I swear his vocals have dropped a halftone, hitting a slightly deeper tune that only adds to the needle-sharp poking in my veins, my skin, my heart. “Jesse, where are we…” I trail off when we reach a spot where the trees become so dense, they block out the sun like dark clouds, turning our surroundings into a night that shouldn’t have fallen yet. He stops, tugging me to a halt, and positions himself in front of me. Steel-blue eyes lock with mine, shimmering with his love for me that started to bloom the day we met. “Ruby, do you trust me?” He inches closer until our chests touch. I take a shaky breath, sucking in the scents of sweet cedar, rotting wood, and something exotic I can’t pinpoint. Dammit, now he’s smelling different too? “Ruby,” he repeats when I only give him a frown. He lifts his hands to cup either side of my jaw and locks my head in place. My gaze drops to his plump lower lip. I watch it form words while I try to figure out why it seems to be moving in a way that’s unfamiliar to me. “You know you can trust me, right?” My mouth opens to shape the letters he needs me to say, my tongue curling to push them out, but for some reason, they get stuck in my throat. Jesse watches my struggles with a hopeful glint in his eyes that diminishes the moment he realizes he won’t get to hear the words. His eyebrows squish together as he squints at me, his palms on my temples using more pressure, like a vise. “Ruby, say it. Tell me you trust me a hundred percent.” He uses more strength to keep my head in place until his touch fires a sting of pain through my skull. I want to grab his wrists and yank them down, but my hands don’t follow my will, hanging limply at my sides like two fleshy sticks without bones. “Jesse, I—” A shadow cascades over his eyes, filling them with a darkness that sends a shiver down my spine. The pressure increases as he uses more force until it feels as if he’s going to crush my skull. “Utterly clueless, huh? Wow. And I thought you were smart. What a great girlfriend you are. Doesn’t even realize she fucked someone who’s not the man she’s sharing her life with…” He utters a sardonic chuckle that gives me the creeps. “I’m not Jesse, Ruby. I’m—” *** “Ruby!” I flash my eyes open with a gasp, only to squeeze them shut again when the blinding light from the window sets my visual nerves on fire. I groan with a horribly dry throat, kicking with my feet underneath the blankets to shove them off me and let the air cool my heated skin. A chuckle vibrates over my face before a kiss is pressed onto my forehead. The hand on my temple glides down, but