Rule (15 page)

“Alright.”  I watched him walk out
of the coffee shop and it wasn’t lost on me that so did every other girl in the
place.  I stifled a sigh and ruefully shook my head.  I went to flip the top of
my computer back open when the girl sitting directly across from me caught my
eye.  She was a little bit older than me, had long dreadlocks that were a
startling ocean blue and she was staring at me in open envy.  I had to blink a
little bit because I was so used to being the one that looked at the girls
crawling out of his bed like that.  She gave me a sheepish grin.

“You’re going to have your hands
full with that one.”

Considering I wasn’t even a hundred
percent sure what we were doing I had no doubt she was right.  It wasn’t like
he asked me to be his girlfriend or even on an honest to God date, he just said
he wanted to hang out and spend time together, that wasn’t defined or clear and
I didn’t even know what that meant to him.  I appreciated that he told me he
was willing to keep it in his pants, that he was aware that whatever was
happening between us was important enough to try and figure out without the
complication of other girls involved, but I was acutely aware that old habits
tended to die hard and Rule was not known to practice restraint.  I huffed out
a breath.  “You’re telling me.”

The girl laughed a little.  “He
actually tattooed a giant lotus flower on my friend’s leg; she spent all three
sessions trying to get him to ask her out on a date.  I guess I can tell her he
has a girlfriend so it’ll make her feel better.”

I picked my coffee back up and
tried to get my head out of the Rule fog that it had descended into and tried
to move it back to good college student mode.

“I’m not his girlfriend.”

“Really?  It sure looked like it.”

“We’ve known each other a long
time, it’s complicated.”

She winked at me and gave me a
saucy grin.  “Oh honey when they look like that and exude that kind of do-me,
do-me it always will be.”

Well there it was.  If a perfect
stranger could plainly see after literally only five minutes of watching us
together that it was always going to be a battle to keep things with him on the
level what chance did I have of making anything between us work?  With that
depressing thought I went back to assisted suicide and tried to cheer myself
up.

Rule

The club was packed.  Enmity was a
pretty big local draw for metal heads and punk-rockers, plus Jet had been in
the scene since he was just a kid so he had a solid local following from just
being around for so long.  Some crappy wannabe Slayer band was opening up for
them and already doing their warm up, they were followed by an all-girl punk
band so the show was supposed to run late which was good because it was well
past eleven and I couldn’t stop looking at the display on my phone to check the
time.  Every time I did it Nash rolled his eyes and Jet laughed at me, granted
they were doing a bang up job of polishing off a bottle of Patron between the
two of them so I didn’t take it personally but I had sent Shaw a text over an
hour ago to verify she was going to be here and I hadn’t heard a thing back.

I was antsy and ill-tempered partly
because I was navigating uncharted territory and undeniably because this whole
monogamy thing was new to me.  I was used to scratching an itch when I felt it,
used to appealing to baser needs and letting my carnal instinct drive me,
behaving not because someone asked me to but because I wanted to was entirely
new to me and the side effects sucked.  I was horny and irritable, plus I was
sick of playing phone tag with her, I had no idea how busy Shaw’s life was. 
The girl was bouncing from class, to work, to volunteer stuff all day long. 
When I saw her before on the weekends I had just assumed she had free time and
was choosing to spend Sunday’s with my folks, clearly that wasn’t the case.  Every
minute of the girl’s day was planned and orchestrated, it made the fact that
she had sacrificed a lot by refusing to see them until they opened their eyes
more clear.

“Chill out.  If she said she was
coming than she’s coming.”  Nash shoved an elbow in my ribs making me jostle
the phone I was glaring holes into.  I shoved it back into my pocket and picked
up the beer I had been nursing for over an hour.  I caught the eye of a smoking
hot blond that had been scoping me out under the radar since we walked in the
bar and had to do a quick mental rundown of why I thought spending time with
Shaw and figuring out how she had got my head all twisted and turned was a good
idea when easy as pie was right in front of me.  The blond gave me a smile that
all but screamed “I want you to take my pants off with your teeth” and I almost
choked when beer went down the wrong tube.

Jet snickered and rubbed a hand
through his messy black hair.  The guy looked like a rock star; he was lanky
and had that permanent freshly-laid and outta bed look that made girls stupid
and dreamy eyed with zero effort.  He also had an awesome voice and could sing,
like really sing which made the fact he chose to be in a heavy metal band
ironic because most of his stuff with Enmity was screaming and loud, but the
guy was a consummate musician and could write a killer song as well as play pretty
much any instrument he picked up.  One night after a particularly nasty bout of
beer pong he had confessed that he liked metal because he couldn’t deal with
the fame and adulation of more popular styles of music.  They guy wanted to be
in a band but for reasons that only made sense to him, had no interest in being
a full blown rock star, even though he had the look and the chops to do it.

“I swear you pull more tail than me
and I’m in a freaking band.  All you have to do is blink and you have broads falling
all over themselves to have at it.”

I cleared my throat and set the
beer down on the table.  “Yeah, well I told you guys I need to cut that shit
out for a while.”

Jet looked over his shoulder at the
blond than back at me with a smirk.  “Good luck with that.”

Nash tossed back a shot and hissed
out a breath through his teeth.  “Cut him some slack dude, he’s got a good
thing working.”

“I’m just saying he doesn’t have to
even work at it.”

I pulled out my phone and checked
the time for the hundredth time.  “Something tells me that is about to be
completely untrue.”

Jet and Nash both did another shot
and Jet gave a howl.  “The first band is getting ready to start so I gotta go
make sure the guys are ready to kick some ass tonight.  We’re getting ready to
finish the album we’ve been working on so we need to kill it tonight.”  A round
of fists banging went back and forth and I sighed as the blond gave me another
pointed look.  I didn’t mean to keep looking in her direction but I guess old
habits died hard.

“This blows.”

“Seriously, chill.  Shaw is
awesome, she’s a total babe, she’s got enough balls to give you your shit right
back and she knows you and still is willing to give you a shot.  She’ll be here
so just calm down and tell your junk to freaking relax.”

My hair was still up in the crazy
mohawk so I couldn’t run my hands through it; instead I rubbed the back of my
neck and tapped my fingers on the edge of the table.

“Why do you think she wants to give
this a shot, I mean logically she knows I’m a bad bet, she knows what my
history is like and historically we don’t have anything in common.  I know I
can’t get her out of my head, but what do you think her reasons are for seeing
what this is all about are?”

“I think she’s a super bright chick
and whatever her motivation is she’s thought a lot about it.  I don’t think she
went to bed with you just because and I seriously doubt she agreed to kick it
with you simply because you asked.  I think if you can keep your head on
straight and your dick in your pants you’ll eventually find out why she’s doing
what she’s doing and I’m pretty sure the reasons will knock you on your ass.”

“I think I’m certifiable for even
thinking I’m going to be able to do this.”  I liked girls, liked no strings
attached sex, liked going where I wanted when I wanted and I liked not having
to answer to anyone but myself and hooking up with Shaw put all those things on
ice.  I sighed again and let my eyes wander back over to the blond.  She was
still looking at me only now her very pretty face was scrunched up into a
scowl.  Her mouth was pulled in like she had tasted something sour and I
couldn’t figure out what had changed in the minute since I had last caught her
eye until I heard Nash mutter “Damn,” and realized that every guy seated around
us had turned to watch Shaw and Ayden as they made their way past the bar and
towards where we were seated.

They made a striking pair.  By far
the classiest girls in the place, it was clear neither one had ventured down to
Cerberus before.  Shaw’s blond hair was loose and long, falling over shoulders
bared in a black halter top.  She had skinny jeans on that looked like they
would need to be surgically removed they were so tight and a pair of bright
blue heels that should look ridiculous at a show like this, but instead had
even old school head bangers drooling in their pints.  Ayden had her dark hair
spiked up and sexy, she was in a tiny little skirt and a billowy purple top
that completely fell off of one shoulder.  She was rocking a pair of black
cowboy boots that had clearly seen some better days but that didn’t stop the
two of them from turning every single head, male and female as they slid up on
our table.

I didn’t know what to do so I just
stared at Shaw while she stared back.  I was pretty sure all the blood in my
brain had been diverted south so I just blinked at her like an idiot while Nash
chuckled and told both of them hello.

“Hey.  Sorry we’re late we had a
bachelor party run over and it took us longer to get out of there than we
thought it would.”

“I sent you a couple of texts to
see what was going on.”  I should be asking her if she wanted a drink, doing
something to let her know I was happy she was here but instead I was being
surly and weird.

She frowned.  “My phone is off.”

Ayden propped her elbows on the
table and took the shot Nash offered her up.  She glared at Shaw and pointed a
finger at her.  “Tell him why it’s off.”  There was accusation there and I saw,
even in the dim light of the bar the way she flushed.

I put a hand on her lower back and
bent down so that my lips were touching her ear.  I felt her tense but she
leaned her hip into mine.  “Why is your phone off Casper?”

She shifted her weight from foot to
foot.  “Because Gabe is blowing it up.  Mt mom invited his parents to Brookside
Country Club for dinner next weekend and they expect us both to be there.  He
has it in his head that we should ride up there together and won’t leave me
alone about it so I turned my phone off because he’s making me crazy and I
don’t even want to go in the first place.”

A cocktail waitress chose that
moment to walk by so the girls ordered drinks and I got another beer.  I
pressed Shaw closer to my side and turned so that we were facing each other.

“So what are you going to do about
it?”

She flattened a palm on the center
of my chest right over my heart and looked up at me with sad, green eyes.  “I
don’t know.  I have to go or my mom will make my life hell, but I don’t want to
be anywhere near Gabe.  I’m trying to just ignore the entire thing.”

“That’s not going to work for
long.”  I liked the way she fit next to me, like she was custom made to be
right there.

“I know.”  The waitress dropped off
drinks and Ayden grimaced as the first band started.  I laughed and poured her
another shot.

“Just power through the first two,
I promise Jet’s band is really good.’

She made a face.  “I like stuff
with a little more twang and a lot more banjo.”

We all laughed a little.  “Just
help Nash finish the tequila, that’ll get you through and if it gets too bad I
bet Jet has ear plugs we can go snag for ya.”  She said something I didn’t
catch but made Nash laugh hysterically so I turned back to Shaw.  I gave an
internal shiver when I noticed she was having some kind of girly stare down
with the other blond from earlier.  I curled my hand all the way around her
waist and yanked until she was pressed full body against me.

“Hey, don’t.”

“It’s not like she has to be so
obvious about it.”

“Shaw look around.  There are at
least ten guys sitting no less than five feet away I can actually see
undressing you with their eyes, it’s cool.  I’m hanging with you, not her and
you’re here because of me not them, that’s what matters, right?”

She made a face at me which made me
want to suck on her bottom lip.  I reached up and tucked a piece of her hair
behind her ear.  It felt like satin and immediately slipped back out.  “I’ve
never waited around for a week to spend time with a girl I’m into before,
frankly it blows, and I want to spend time with you.”

“I really am sorry we ran late.  I
had to do some work to get Ayden to agree to come.  This really isn’t her
scene, mine either for that matter, but I’m glad we’re here.”

She ran her index finger over the
tattoo of the phoenix that was sticking out of the sleeve of my t-shirt on my
bicep.  “I want to spend time with you too, Rule.  I’m sorry my life is so
hectic.”

“Don’t worry about it.”  I slid my
hand under the heavy fall of her hair and leaned down to whisper in her ear, “So
are you going to come home with me tonight or what?”  If she said no there was
a good chance I was going to have to take a cold shower before I could get my
jeans off.  Her green eyes were brilliant as they gazed back up at me, never
had a girl, especially a girl I had known for so long been able to keep me
guessing as to what she was thinking.  Shaw was a hard one to read, her eyes
just seemed to be reflecting back what I was feeling instead.