Rule (2 page)

I bolted up in the seat so fast
that I smacked my head on the roof of the car.  I swore and rubbed the spot
that made my head throb anymore.  “What?  What do you mean he got hurt?”  Rome
was my older brother, he had three years on me and had been overseas for a good
portion of the last six, but we were still tight and even if he didn’t like all
the distance I put between me and my parents over the years if he was seriously
injured I would have heard about it from him.

“I’m not sure; Margot said
something happened to the convoy he was in when they were out on patrol.  He
was in a pretty bad accident I guess.  She said his arm was broken and he had a
few snapped ribs but she was pretty upset so I had a hard time understanding
her when she called.”

“Rome would have called.”

“Rome is doped up and spent the
last two days being debriefed, he asked your mom to call because you Archer
boys are nothing if not persistent.  Margot told him that you wouldn’t answer
but he kept telling her to try.”

My brother was hurt, but he was
home and I didn’t know about it.  I closed my eyes again and let my head drop
back against the headrest.  “Well hell, that’s good news I guess.”

“Are you going to go by and see
your mom?”  I didn’t have to look at her to know that she had stiffened even
more.  I could practically feel the tension rolling off of her in icy waves.

“No.”  She didn’t say more and I
didn’t expect her to.  The Archers might not have been the closest, warmest
bunch, but we didn’t have anything on the Landon’s.  Shaw’s family craped gold
and breathed money, they also cheated and lied, were divorced and remarried and
from what I had seen over the years had little need or interest in the
biological daughter that came from a union figured out on a tax form rather
than a bedroom.  I knew Shaw loved my house, loved my parents because it was
the only semblance of normalcy she had ever experienced and I didn’t begrudge
her that, in fact I appreciated the fact she took most of the heat off of me. 
If Shaw was doing good in school, dating an affluent undergrad, living the life
my parents had always wanted for their sons but had been denied they stayed off
my case and since Rome was usually a continent away I was the only one they
could get to so I took no shame in using Shaw as a buffer.

“Man I haven’t even talked to Rome
in three months.  It’ll be awesome to see him.  I wonder if I can convince him
to come spend some time in D-town with me and Nash.  He’s probably more than
ready for a little bit of fun.”

She sighed again and moved to turn
the radio back up a little bit.  “You’re twenty-two Rule, when are you going to
stop acting like an indulgent teenager?  Did you even ask this one her name? In
case you were wondering you smell like a mix between a distillery and a strip
club.”

I snorted and let my eyes drift
back shut.  “You’re nineteen, Shaw when are you going to stop living your life
by everyone else’s standards?  My eighty-two year old grandma has more of a
social calendar than you and I think she’s less uptight.”  I wasn’t going to
tell her what she smelled like because it was sweet and lovely and I had no
desire to be nice at the moment.

I could feel her glaring at me and
I hid a grin.  “I like Ethel.”  Her tone was surly.

“Everybody likes Ethel.  She’s
feisty and won’t take crap from anyone.  You could learn a thing or two from
her.”

“Oh maybe I should just dye my hair
pink, tattoo every visible surface of my body, shove a bunch of metal in my
face and sleep with everything that moves, isn’t that your philosophy on how to
live a rich and fulfilling life?”

That made me crank my eyes back
open and the marching band in my head decided to go for round two.

“At least I’m doing what I want.  I
know who and what I am Shaw, and I don’t make any apologies for it.  I hear
plenty of Margot Archer coming out of your pretty mouth right now.”

Her mouth twisted down into a
frown.  “Whatever, let’s just go back to ignoring each other, I just thought
you should know about Rome, the Archer boys have never been big on surprises.”

She was right.  In my experience
surprises were never a good thing, they usually resulted in someone getting
pissed and me ending up in some kind of fight.  I loved my brother but I had to
admit I was kind of irritated he hadn’t one, bothered to let me know he was
hurt, and two, was still trying to force me to play nice with my folks.  I
figured her plan to ignore each other the rest of the way was a winner so I
slumped down as far as the sporty little car would allow and started to doze
off.  I was only out for twenty minutes or so when her phone started singing
The Civil Wars and jarred me awake.  I blinked gritty eyes and rubbed a hand
over the scruff on my face.  If the hair didn’t piss mom off the fact I was too
busy to shave for her precious brunch might just send her into hysterics.

“No, I told you I’m going to
Brookside and won’t be back until late.”  I looked across the car at her and
she must have felt my gaze because she looked at me quickly and I saw a little
bit of pink work its way into her high cheeks.  “No Gabe, I told you I don’t
have time and that I have a lab due.”  I couldn’t make out the words but whoever
was on the other end of the phone sounded angry at her brush off.  I saw her
fingers tighten on the phone.  “It’s none of your business; I have to go now,
so I’ll talk to you later.”  She swiped a finger across the screen and tossed
the fancy device into the cup holder by my knee.

“Trouble in paradise?” I didn’t
really care about Shaw and her richer than God, future ruler of the known
universe boyfriend, but it was polite to ask when someone was obviously upset. 
I hadn’t ever met Gabe, but from what I heard from mom when I bothered to
listen he was custom made to go with Shaw’s future doctor persona.  His family
was as loaded as hers, his dad was a judge, or lawyer, or some other political
nonsense I had no use for and I was sure beyond the shadow of a doubt the dude
had to wear pleated slacks and pink polo shirts with white loafers.  For a long
moment I didn’t think she was going to respond but she cleared her throat and
started tapping out a beat on the steering wheel with her obviously expensively
manicured fingers.

“Not really, we broke up but I
don’t think Gabe really gets it.”

“Really?” 

“Yeah, a couple weeks ago
actually.  I’ve been thinking about doing it for a while.  I’m just too busy
with school and work to have a boyfriend.”

“If it was the right guy you
wouldn’t feel that way.  You would make the time because you wanted to be with
him.”

She looked at me with both blond
brows raised up to her hair line.  “Are you, Mr. Manwhore of the Century
seriously trying to give me relationship advice?”

I rolled my eyes which made my head
scream in protest.  “Just because there hasn’t been one girl I wanted to hang
out with exclusively doesn’t mean I don’t know that difference between quality
and quantity.”

“Could have fooled me, besides Gabe
wanted more than I was willing to give and it’s going to be a pain because my
Mom and Dad both loved him.”

“True that, from what I’ve heard he
was pretty much custom made to make your folks happy.  What do you mean he
wanted to more than you were willing to give?  Did he try and put a rock on
your finger after only six months?”

She gave me a look and curled her
lip up in a sneer.  “Not even close, he just wanted things to be more serious
than I wanted them to be.”

I laughed a little and rubbed
between my eyebrows.  My headache had turned into a dull throb but was starting
to be manageable.  I needed to ask her to swing by a Starbucks or something if
I was going to get through this afternoon.

“Is that your prissy way of telling
me that he was trying to get in your pants and you weren’t having it?”

She narrowed her eyes at me and
pulled off on the exit that took us towards Brookside. 

“I need you to stop by Starbucks
before going to my parents’ house, and don’t think I didn’t notice you aren’t
answering my question?”

“If we stop we’re going to be late
and not every boy thinks with what’s in their pants.”

“The sky isn’t going to fall on us
if we show up five minutes behind Margot’s schedule, and you have got to be
kidding me, you strung that loser along for six months without giving it up,
what a joke.”

That made me flat-out laugh at
her.  I laughed so hard that I had to hold my head in both hands as my whisky
logged brain started to protest by screaming at me.  I gasped a little and
looked at her with watery eyes.  “If you really believe that you aren’t nearly
as smart as I always thought you were.  Every single dude under the age of
ninety is trying to get in your pants, Shaw, especially if he’s thinking that
he’s your boy.  I’m a guy, I know this shit.”

She bit her lip again conceding I
probably had a valid point and pulled the car into the coffee shop.  I
practically bolted out, eager to stretch my legs and get a little distance from
her typically haughty attitude.  There was a line when I got inside and I cast
a quick look around to see if I recognized anyone because Brookside was a
pretty small town and usually when I stopped by on the weekends I inevitably
ran into some I used to go to school with.  I hadn’t bothered to ask Shaw if
she wanted me to grab her anything because she was still being all uppity about
having to stop in the first place.  It was almost my turn to order when my
phone started blasting a Social Distortion song in my pocket.  I dug it out
after ordering a big ass black coffee and took a spot on the counter next to a
cute brunette that was trying her hardest not get caught checking me out.

“What up?”

I could hear the music in the shop
blaring behind Nash when he asked, “How did this morning go?”

Nash knew my faults and bad habits
better than anyone and the reason we had maintained our friendship as long as
we had was because he never judged me based on those factors.

“Sucked.  I’m hung-over, grumpy and
about to sit through yet another forced family function, plus Shaw is rare form
today.”

“How was the chick from last
night?”

“No clue.  I don’t even remember
getting home from the bar but apparently I did a huge piece on her side so she
was a little pissed I didn’t remember who she was, so ouch.”

He chuckled on the other end of the
line.  “She told you that like six times last night, she even tried to pull her
top off to show you and I drove your dumb ass home last drunko.  I tried to get
you to leave at like midnight but you weren’t having any of it as usual.”

I snorted and reached for the
coffee when the guy behind the counter called my name.  I noticed the
brunette’s eyes follow the hand that wrapped around the cardboard cup.  It was
the one that had the flared head of a king cobra on it.  The rest of the snake
wound its way up my forearm and around my elbow, the extended forked tongue
made the “L” on my ring finger in the tattoo of my name that was inked across
the four knuckles of the same hand.  Her mouth made a little O of surprise so I
flashed her a wink and walked back to the BMW.

“Sorry dude.  How did your appointment
go?”

Nash’s Uncle Phil had opened the
shop years ago on Capitol Hill when it mainly catered to gangbangers and
bikers, now with the influx of young urbanites and hipsters’ populating the
area ‘The Marked’ was one of the busiest tattoo parlors in town.  Nash and I
met in fifth grade in art class and had been inseparable since, in fact it had
been his plan since we were about twelve that we would eventually move to the
city and work for Phil.  We both had mad skills and the personality to make the
shop bump with business so Phil had no qualms apprenticing us and putting us to
work before we were both in our twenties.  It was killer to have a friend in
the same field; I had a plethora of ink on my skin that ranged from great to
not so great that chronicled Nash getting better and better at his craft and he
could state the exact same thing.

“Finished that back piece that I’ve
been working on since July, it turned out better than I thought and the dude is
talking about doing the front so I’ll take it because he’s a fat tipper.”

“Nice”, I was juggling the phone
and the coffee and trying to open the door to the car when a female voice
stopped me in my tracks.

“Hey,” I looked over my shoulder
and the brunette was standing a car over with a smile on her face.  “I really
like your tattoos.”

I smiled back at her and jumped
back narrowly missing spilling scalding coffee all down my crotch as Shaw
shoved the door open from the inside.

“Thanks.”  If we were closer to
home and Shaw wasn’t already putting the car in reverse I probably would have
taken a second to ask the girl for her number.  Shaw shot me a look of contempt
that I promptly ignored and went back to my conversation with Nash.  “Rome is
home, apparently he got in an accident and Shaw said he’s got a few weeks of
R&R coming to him.  I guess that’s why mom was blowing my phone up all
week.”

“Kick ass.  Ask him if he wants to
roll with us for a few days, I miss that surly bastard.”

I sipped on the coffee and my head
finally started to calm down.  “That’s the plan.  I’ll hit you up on my way
home and let you know what the story is.”

I flicked my thumb across the
screen to end the call and settled back into the seat.  Shaw glowered at me and
I swore her eyes glowed at me in her anger.  Really I had never seen anything
that green anywhere else in nature and when she was mad they were just
otherworldly.

“Your mom called while you were
busy flirting.  She’s mad we’re late.”

I sucked on more of the black
nectar of the Gods and started tapping out a beat on my knee with my free
hand.  I was always kind of a fidgety guy and the closer we got to my parent’s
house the worse it usually got.  Brunch was always stilted and forced, I
couldn’t figure out why they insisted on going through with it every single
week, couldn’t figure out why Shaw enabled the farce, but I went every week
even when I knew nothing would ever change.