Rule (25 page)

“Sure.  I’ll go kick Nash and see
if wants to hit the gym with me while you’re gone.”

I glanced at Shaw.  “You’re going
to have Ayden take you to work after school, right?”  She nodded at me and
continued to eat her breakfast.  “Good.  I’ll come get you from the bar when
your shift is done.  Your car will be here so you can decide if you want to
stay or go to your place later.”

She lifted a shoulder and let it
fall.  “I don’t get out until two, its Monday night football so we’re busy. 
I’ll probably just stay here, besides you need to take me to get a phone
tomorrow.”

“Why does he owe you a phone?”  I
glared at my big brother but she answered before I could tell him to shut it.

“I broke mine on accident and Rule
offered to replace it.”

“He did?  That doesn’t sound like
my little brother.”  I know he was just trying to rile me up but awesome sex
and having Shaw close at hand with a plate of pancakes in front of me made that
an impossible task.  I smirked at him and leaned back in my chair to reach out
and put my arm across the back of Shaw’s.

“I’m turning over a new leaf.”

He snorted, eyes that were so
similar to mine gleamed with repressed humor.  “For you to be considering
someone else like that is more like turning over a whole freaking tree, not
just a leaf, but good for you.  Being considerate is a nice change for you.”

“Screw you.”  Shaw rolled her eyes
and let her fork clatter to her plate.

“You’re both ridiculous and I’m going
to be late so let’s go.”

I leaned over and kissed her on the
cheek.  “Let me grab shoes and we’ll head out.  Go grab your stuff.  Thanks for
breakfast.”

“Sure.”  She ran out of the room
and I pushed to my feet.  I glowered at my brother.

“I do know how to be nice.”

“Only when you want something.”

“True enough.  I want her.”

“Looks to me like you got her.”

“Now I just need to figure out how
to not screw it up.”

Rome got up as well.  “You won’t
Rule.  When it matters you never do, just remember that.  Hey what did your cop
buddy say?”

“That she needs to keep her eyes
open and he wants me to get her a Taser or mace.  He thinks the little punk is
pretty insulated because of his old man but he pretty much said if he tries
anything with me I can lay him out.  It sucks, he shouldn’t be allowed to put
his hands on her and live to tell about it.”

“We’ll keep her close and keep it
under control, you know we got your back in this lil bro.”

I made a face and lowered my voice
because I heard Shaw coming back down the hall.  “If anything happens to her
Rome I’m going to lose it, I mean I know I kind of went off the rails when Remy
died, but something tells me if that girl ends up hurt or worse there won’t be
any recovering from that for me.”

I think he was probably going to
answer something back but Shaw popped up at my elbow and none to subtlety
tugged on me to let me know she was ready to go.  She waved to Rome and hustled
me out to the truck.  It was cold out so I wrapped and arm around her and
tugged her close to my side.  She rubbed her cold nose on my neck and laughed
when I swore at her.

“You need a hat.”  My newly shorn
head was actually freezing but I was a tough guy so I just pulled the hood of
my sweatshirt up and raised the eyebrow with the hoops in it at her.

“Better?”

“Whatever macho man.  Thanks for
getting my car.”

“No problem, just make sure you keep
an eye out at school today.  I don’t want polo shirt way laying you on your way
to class or anything.”

“Polo shirt?”

“Davenport, he always has on a
stupid polo.”

She laughed so hard I had to hold
her upright and give her a boost into the truck, not that I minded because it
meant I got to cop a feel of her superb backside.

“That he does.  I’ll make sure I
walk to class with someone.  This girl Devlin is a bunch of the same classes as
me and we have a couple study groups together so I’ll just stick with her.  I
don’t think she’s a fan of Gabe either so that should make asking her easy.”

“Cool.  What kind of phone do you
want?  I don’t want you to have to wait until tomorrow to have one.  I’ll go on
my way back from Brookside and pick one up.”

She shrugged and messed around with
my I-Pod until the smoky sound of Lucero filled the cab.  “I don’t care.  The
same as my old one is fine.  I need my contacts switched over though.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

She grinned at me and scooted over
so that she could put her hand on my knee.  Her fingers tapped out the rhythm
of the country tinged rock as we made our way across town to the university. 
It took about twenty minutes in light traffic, but it was getting ready to snow
and I could see having to push my first appointment back because of weather
since I was driving out of town.  She wanted me to just park on the street and
drop her off, but I wanted to keep her in sight as long as possible so I parked
the truck at a meter and told her I was walking her to her first class.  She
rolled her eyes but didn’t argue when I opened her door and helped her hop
down.

I tucked her back in the curve of
my body and walked across the campus with her, thinking this was the only time
I had been on a college campus for a reason other than a party.  Several people
called out a greeting to her or waved hi, she replied in kind and I didn’t miss
the speculative looks we got since I’m sure we made an odd pair and her
classmates probably weren’t used to seeing her out of her normal rich girl
gear.  We stopped outside an impressive looking building and she tilted her
head back so she was looking up at me.  Her green eyes were bright, her hair
was in a sexy tangle from me and from the brisk Colorado air and her nose was a
charming shade of pink and I don’t think I had ever seen anything cuter.

“Drive safe.  I agree with your
brother I think you should try and see your parents while you’re there.”

I didn’t want to argue with her so
I just kissed her hard and fierce with enough tongue and enough force to let
her know she would be on my mind throughout the day.  I thought maybe she would
freak out about the public display of affection but it only took between one
heartbeat and the next for her cold hands to climb up my chest and wrap around
my neck.  She kissed me back with just as much fervor and when she fell back to
her feet she was breathing hard and had a pretty flush under her pale cheeks.

“You be safe too.  I’ll see you
later.  I’ll bring your phone by the bar after work.  Remember don’t be alone
whenever you can avoid it.  And Shaw,” she met my gaze with humor lighting up
her own.  “I like you going to school in my clothes, that’s totally hot.”

She stood back on her tip toes and
kissed the end of my chilly nose.  “Agreed, and you suck for changing the
subject but I can take a hint so I’ll see you later.”

I watched her walk up the stairs of
the building, she paused at the top where a girl was seemingly waiting for
her.  She smiled at the girl and told her hello.  I heard the other girl ask
her in a surprised voice that was loud enough to carry down to where I was
waiting, “Who was that?”  I was curious as to what her answer would be
considering that wasn’t something we had ever really talked about. 

Her laugh carried sharp and clear
through the winter air.  “That’s Rule.”

“I didn’t know you had a new
boyfriend.”

“Well he isn’t exactly new, but
yeah.”

I was her boyfriend.  She was my
girlfriend.  How weird was that?  I hadn’t had any girl in my life long enough
in twenty two years to call a girlfriend I didn’t even have friends that were
girls really, Shaw was the closest thing that had ever come to filling that
role as well.  I was her boyfriend and that made me want to dance a jig and
pump my fist in the air.  Instead I winked at her when she turned back to look
at me and laughed when she in turn stuck her tongue out at me.  Why hadn’t I
realized before that letting someone in would make me happy, that she made me
happy.  I couldn’t remember the last time I had laughed so much and even in bed
she made it fun.  She made things better and I knew I wanted to do the same for
her.

I sent Rome a text that I was on my
way and he replied back he and Nash were just finishing up at the gym so he
should be ready to go when I got home.  I changed the music to the Bloody
Hollies and rocked out on the way back to the Victorian.  I ran in to grab her
phone out of her bag and collect my brother and in no time we were on the highway
headed to Brookside.  The first few flurries of snow started to pelt the
windshield when we were just entering the interstate and I swore knowing what
it was going to do to the commute and my schedule for the rest of the day.  In
fact before we even got to Brookside Nash called and told me both my noon and
two o’clock appointments wanted to reschedule because of the weather so I no
longer had the work excuse as a reason to bolt home without trying to see my
folks.

Rome not being stupid blatantly listened
in on the call and looked across the cab of the truck expectantly.  “It won’t
kill you to stop by and just say hi for a minute.  We can even go there first
so they don’t ask why we have Shaw’s car with us.”

“I just don’t see the point.”

“The point is that no matter how you
feel they’re still our parents and you don’t just get to give up on them.”

“Why not?  They gave up on me the
minute the good twin was pronounced DOA.”

“Stop it and grow a pair.  You can
tough out a five minute visit with mom and dad if only to say at least you
tried.  It’ll make Shaw happy to know you made a minimal effort at least. 
Remember their more like her parent’s than her real parent’s so if the two of
you are going to do what you’re doing for the long term you’re going to have to
show her that even if mom isn’t going to budge that at least you tried.”

He was right and it totally made my
stomach turn over.  Right now Shaw was all about building a bridge and forcing
my mom’s hand when it came to dealing with me and accepting me but after seeing
how awful her biological mother treated her I had no doubt the divide between
her and my parents wouldn’t be longstanding which meant I had to figure out how
I fit into that puzzle.  Trying wouldn’t kill me but it was sure as hell going
to be awkward and uncomfortable, for all of us I was sure.

“Fine we can stop by but don’t get
your hopes up.  I haven’t heard from either one of them since I left brunch
that day.”

“Archer pride is a dangerous
thing.  If we aren’t careful it’s going to destroy our entire family.”

I just grunted in response and
tried to tell myself that doing this was not only going to make Shaw happy but
clearly it meant something to Rome as well and if there was anyone in the world
that I would do anything for it was my brother.  Rome never asked me for
anything and had given me his support and his approval endlessly even when it
put him at odds with the rest of the family and I owed him at least the
opportunity to try and mend what was fractured.  We drove the rest of the way
to their house in silence; I could see Rome giving me surreptitious looks out
of the corner of his eye the entire way.  I think he was waiting for me to
drive past the exit or freak out and change my mind but I kept telling myself
that I didn’t need my parents to look at me the same way they looked at him to
go home and be okay.  Before that tore me apart and made me act like a troubled
adolescent with a chip on his shoulder, now I knew I was going home to a kick
ass job, a rock star brother, a smoking hot girl that happened to be totally
into me issues and all and to a solid group of friends that were willing to put
up with me and have my back no matter what and while the hole that Remy’s death
left would never really be filled, I was living a good life and they should be
proud of me and if they weren’t they could just piss off.

Both my folk’s cars were in the
driveway when we pulled onto their street.  I hissed a breath out between my
teeth and tried not to flinch when Rome clapped me on the shoulder and gave me
a little shove.  “Come on, we’ll be quick.”

I jumped out of the truck and my
boots sent little tufts of snow scattering.  I could see my breath in the air
indicating the weather was going to get worse before we headed home which was
kind of how I felt about my situation here.  I knew Rome had a key but since I
was with him he stopped at the front door and knocked relegating himself to
stranger status just like me.  I heard shuffling around and it took a few
minutes for my dad to come to the door.  He peered out at us in surprise and I
had to admit I was secretly pleased he looked equally surprised to see Rome as
he was to see me.

“Boys?  What are you doing here?”

He pushed open the screen door and
motioned us into the warm house.  I was rubbing my hands together to warm them
up so he didn’t even try to give me a hug after he embraced Rome which was fine
by me because I wasn’t sure we were at the hugging phase of our relationship anymore.

“Rule had to run an errand before
work out this way so I thought we would stop by and say hi.  You guys aren’t
busy are you?”

“No your mom is upstairs.”  His
gaze settled on me.  “I’m surprised to see you son.”

I wanted to throw out something
flippant but in the vein of trying to make peace I gave a lopsided grin and answered,
“Yeah I bet.  Rome thought it would be cool.”

“Rule this is your home, you are
always welcome here.”

I wanted to say I hadn’t felt
welcome in well over three years but I just nodded and said, “Thanks for that
dad.”

“What kind of errand did you have
to do an hour away in the snow?”

I rubbed a hand over my head and
looked at Rome sideways.  “Uh I actually told Shaw I would come get her car for
her.  She left it here when she was visiting her folks.”