Back to Life (5 page)

“Oh,
nothing. Just happy to have you here,” and we linked arms and followed Marissa
out to her car.

“Wow,
you girls have an amazing view,” Brody said, staring out the large picture
windows that took up half of the living room wall. “I need to look for a view
like this when I go apartment hunting.”

“Well,
you just got here, don’t even worry about finding something yet,” I said,
smoothing out my shirt. We had all decided to freshen up before we headed out, and
even though I didn’t want to change, Marissa insisted I doll myself up. I ended
up wearing a tight black tube top with “I Heart New York” written out in silver
and red rhinestones, a tight pair of skinny jeans, and I wore my favorite pair
of black suede stilettos. Brian would be so proud. I had had my hair up in a
messy bun all day, and when I took it down it was soft and wavy. I had teased
my hair to make it full and added some large curls to it. My ears had small
gauges, so I took out my usual black ones and put in ones that had diamonds in
them. Brody was wearing dark wash jeans, the fitted ACDC tee I bought him last
Christmas, and a black leather jacket.

“Well,
I don’t want to get too comfortable here, I’m a guy. This place is all girly,
and I’ve got to get settled into my bachelor pad,” he said.

“Whatever.
Just take your time. You need to find the right place. Besides, Marissa and I
have missed you so much. We don’t want to let you go yet,” I said, and he
pulled me into a brotherly hug. Everything felt complete with him here. Even though
I had Marissa, my life had been, to be honest, depressing and lonely the last
four years without Mason. Having Brody here was making me feel better already.

At
that moment, Marissa came out into the living room, and I smiled as I caught
Brody’s expression. His mouth fell open slightly, and he quietly cleared his
throat. Marissa had straightened her usual wavy brown hair with a flat iron.
She was wearing a tight black mini skirt that showed off her toned legs, and a
black asymmetrical top with a lace back with a hot pink camisole under it, and
finished the look with black strappy heels. She usually dressed pretty tame
when we went out, opting for jeans and a fitted graphic tee or tank, but
tonight she looked like a total babe. She was obviously dressing for Brody’s
attention, and it seemed to be working. She was checking her makeup in her
compact mirror, not noticing Brody’s reaction to her. “Okay, you guys ready to
go?”

“Yeah,
ready,” I said, clapping Brody on the shoulder. “Are you hungry?”

“I
actually had a late lunch, so I’m not really hungry. What about you Brody? Do
you want to go eat? Because if you are hungry, we can go wherever you want.
It’s your night,” Marissa said, slightly blushing after her last statement. I
bet if he asked her, she’d roll over and play dead too, I thought.

He
looked at her, and then seemed to realize he was looking at her a little longer
than he should. Clearing his throat again, he said, “Uh, no, I’m not hungry.
But I definitely could use a drink. Why don’t we just go to a bar or a club?”

“That
sounds good to me,” I said. “Why don’t we take you to our favorite club,
Shadow? The drinks are nice and strong, not too expensive, and the music there
is pretty killer.”

Releasing
himself from my grip, he threw his arm around my shoulder and said, “That
sounds awesome. Let’s go,” he said, and we all headed out into the night.

Shadow
was really crowded tonight. A really hot local band was playing here, so it was
a little more crowded than usual. Marissa and I came here enough and were
friendly with the bouncers that we got in with no problems. Luckily we found an
empty table, and Brody offered to go get our first round of drinks. As we
walked to our table, I felt a tingle down my spine, like someone was watching
me. Weird. When we sat down, I took this as an opportune moment to talk to
Marissa. “Hey, girl, you doing okay?”

She
smiled at me, and fidgeted with her hands. “I’m fine.” When she looked at my
disbelieving look, she said, “Ugh, I can’t help it, Rory! He looks so God damned
sexy! I just need a couple of drinks to loosen me up a little.”

“That’s
the spirit. Just try not to over-do it and start telling him you want his
strong masculine hands all over your naked little body,” I laughed, and she
playfully shoved me.

“Rory,
will you keep it down? He might hear you, you know!”

“Who
might hear what?” asked Brody, setting down a bottle of Patron and three shot
glasses.

Seeing
Marissa’s face redden even in a dimly lit club, I said, “Oh, that guy over
there was checking Marissa out. I was just teasing her.”

Brody
looked around quickly. “What guy?”

“Relax,
I think he’s already moved on to some bar skank. Don’t worry,” I said, and
Marissa sighed deeply in relief.

“Good,
because no one better mess with either one of you, I’m serious,” he said,
wrapping an arm around Marissa and giving her a quick hug.

“Aw,
that’s so cute,” I joked, and he smirked at me.

“Not
to discredit your masculinity, but if any guys mess with us Rory usually knees
them in the balls,” Marissa laughed.

He
grinned at me and held out his fist. “Nice,” he said, and I fist bumped him
across the table. After releasing Marissa, Brody poured the three of us a shot,
and when he set the bottle down, we all raised our glasses. “So, what do we
toast to?”

I
held mine higher and said, “Here’s to the best looking guy in New York City, to
Brody Shaw!” I shouted, and we all clinked our glasses together and downed the
shot. Marissa coughed a little bit; Patron was always too strong for her. I was
going to have to watch her like a hawk to make sure she really didn’t say or do
anything she’d regret in the morning.

 Just
as Brody was about to pour another round of shots, someone called out from the
table behind us, “Did someone say Brody Shaw?”

We
all turned to see who was asking, and when Brody saw who it was, his face broke
into a huge grin. “Liam? Hey man,” he said, pulling the stranger into a quick
manly hug and saying, “What the hell are you doing here? I never expected to
see you in New York.”

When
they broke from their hug, I finally got a good look at his face, and my breath
caught. Holy shit, he was gorgeous. He probably knew it, too. He had blue eyes…maybe
the bluest I’d ever seen, sandy blonde hair that was messy and spiked up just
in the front, and a scruffy shadow of hair on his chin. He wore a tight CBGB’s
tee that clung to his chiseled torso, and his sculpted arms looked like they
were going to tear the shirt open. He had several large tattoos on both arms,
but with the lighting I couldn’t clearly see what they were. He looked like straight
sex on two legs. If I were a normal female on the prowl, this is the exact type
of guy I’d go for. But I wasn’t…I looked away for a moment and my eyes roamed
the room, and it seemed like every single women within a four table radius was staring
at our table. I rolled my eyes. Smiling, the stranger said, “I took a job in
the fifty-third precinct, so I came back here, family drama be damned. What
about you? You living here now?”

“Uh,
yeah, I just got hired on at New York Presbyterian.”

The
man smiled, saying, “You’re shitting me. Dude, that’s awesome, congratulations.”

Brody
grinned. “Thanks man. So, you living back in Manhattan? ”

“Hell
no. I got an apartment in the Village. Easier to dodge the old man that way,”
he said. So, the tattooed mystery man was a cop. That was kind of hot.
I bet
he had a big gun
, I thought, and immediately regretted it. Get a grip,
Rory!

At
that moment, a man who I now registered was sitting at the table with Mystery
Man nudged him on the arm. “What am I, invisible?” he joked.

The
mystery guy laughed and patted the other guy on the arm. “Sorry, man. This is
Nick Ramirez. He’s my partner in homicide.”

Brody
gave him a wave. “Nice to meet you, man.”

The
mystery man’s eyes were on me and he was staring intently. I tapped Brody on
the arm. “Um, hello! Aren’t you going to introduce us to your friend, dumbass?”

He
narrowed his eyes at me and smiled. “Sorry. Guys, this pretty girl right here
is Marissa O’Neal,” he said, sliding his arm around Marissa, and she politely
waved to them. “And, this smart mouthed pain in the ass is my little sister,
Rory Shaw,” he said, swatting me back on the arm. I smiled at him and gave him
the finger. “Girls, this is Liam and Nick. Liam and I went to IU together.” I
nodded and waved at both of them.

They
both smiled at us, and then, suddenly, Liam turned to me and some unknown
realization crept across his handsome face. He ran his hand through his already
messy hair, and sighed. “Rory Shaw?”

Confused,
I answered, “Uh, yeah.”

“Are
you by any chance a hairstylist in Manhattan?”

My
brows furrowed, and I answered, “Yes. Do I know you?”

He
smiled a sexy crooked smile, and said, “No, but I’m sure you have heard all
about me.” Still puzzled, I stared at him until he finally answered, “Vivian
Tanner is my mother.”

My
mouth fell slack. Vivian Tanner was this guy’s
mother
? No freaking way. At
that moment, I put my hand to my forehead and rolled my eyes. “You have
got
to be kidding me. Relentless woman,” I laughed.

Shaking
his head, he offered his hand to me. “Well it’s nice to finally put a name to a
face.” I reached my hand out to shake his. When he took my small hand in his
much larger one, I felt hot white heat radiate from my hand up my arm and
shiver down my back. “Liam Tanner. It’s nice to finally meet you Rory.”

“You
too,” I said, my heart pounding. I tried to play off my reaction to his touch,
so I shook my head as if I were annoyed by out meeting.

Brody
and Marissa looked at each other, confused. “What is going on? How do you two
know each other?” she asked. His friend Nick just sat there with his mouth
hanging open.

“Oh,
we don’t, but I probably know more about him than I care to,” I said,
chuckling. “Liam’s mother is a good client of mine, and she has spent the last
three years trying to hook me up with this guy.”

Nick
reached over and shoved his arm. “
That’s
the woman Viv’s been trying to
hook you up with? Dude, I didn’t know you were gay,” he laughed, and Liam shot
him a dirty look.

Brody
smiled at us. “Wait…so your mom’s been trying to hook you up with my sister?
Small world, huh?”

“I
should have known she was up to something when she insisted I come here tonight.
‘I hear the music’s good there’, she said.”        

“Oh
man, she’s sneaky. I accidently let it slip that we were coming here tonight
when I was checking her out this afternoon. I thought I was just making polite
conversation. Damn it, she’s good,” I said, and Liam flashed a crooked smile at
me. Just then, I felt a little jolt in my chest and my heart rate picked back
up again.

“So,
are you two flying solo tonight?” Brody asked him.

“Yeah,
it’s just us,” Liam said.

“Well,
why don’t you hang with us then? We can catch up and you can have a story to
tell your mom to make her happy,” Brody suggested.

I
put my hand on the table. “No, no, no Brody, you don’t understand. This woman
is a force to be reckoned with. If she finds out we met at the club tonight,
she will go into full overdrive on us both,” I said, and Liam and Nick laughed.
“The wedding invitations will be mailed out next week.”

Marissa
smirked at me. “Oh please Rory, she can’t be all that bad.”

“Seriously,
this is a level five disaster! Tell them, Liam!”

“I
won’t tell if you won’t. Deal?” he asked, gazing at me with those blue eyes. I
swear they could see right to my soul.

I
rolled my eyes, and irritatingly said, “Deal. Weren’t you about to pour me another
shot?” I said to Brody. Liam walked around the table and set his drink down
next to mine, and Nick took the other seat next to me. I sighed and slammed
back the shot Brody offered to me. All I wanted tonight was to hang out with my
best friend and my brother, and now I was flanked on either side by two burly
cops, one who happened to be one of the sexiest men I’d ever seen. I needed
another drink.

After
about an hour, I was actually having fun. Nick and I were shooting jokes back
and forth while Brody and Liam were catching up. I had been having a good time
with these guys. Of what little conversation I had with Liam so far, he seemed
like a really nice guy. I still couldn’t get over someone as classy and
sophisticated as Vivian Tanner could be his mother. He was all dark, tattooed,
and sexy and acted nothing like he grew up with money. Nick, on the other hand,
was a complete smart ass and a jokester…and I loved it. For every dirty joke or
crappy come on he threw at me, I had an equally acid laced barb to shoot back
at him, and he laughed every time. I was still laughing from one of Nick’s
comebacks when I looked to Marissa, who looked bored. Brody noticed too, so he
stood up and took Marissa’s hand. “What’s wrong, Minnie? You look bored,” he
said.