Rule (16 page)

“We took a cab so as long as I make
sure Ayden is cool that can definitely be an option.”  Her voice had dropped to
an even huskier octave and I thought it was possible I had never heard anything
sexier.  I grunted in approval like the Neanderthal I was and let my hand fall
from her waist to the curve of her ass. 

The four of us chatted and had a
couple more rounds while we all suffered through the first and second band. 
The second one would have been alright if the lead singer had focused more on
trying to sing than looking a part but for the most part they just hollered and
jumped around for an hour and Ayden was ready to jump on stage and wrestle the
microphone from the poor girl.  I was surprised how fun it was to just hangout.
 Ayden was funny and sarcastic, she and Nash bounced barbs back and forth like
they had been friends for years and by the time enmity was setting up the
Patron was gone and the two of them were loaded.  Shaw was quieter, she was
watching everyone and everything around her, she asked questions and responded
when engaged in conversation but for the most part she just kept an eye on what
was going on rather than fully participating in it.  At one point I almost
started a brawl because I had gone to the bathroom and Nash had slipped out to
smoke, we were only gone for a minute and by the time I got back to the table
some sweaty metal head was trying to press up on Shaw.

I wasn’t the type that got jealous,
I mean I lived my entire life not being as good as my twin so I couldn’t
understand the murderous rage that was suddenly flowing through me, the sudden
need to claim something, do announce to the world that she was mine.  Luckily
Nash got to the table first and sent the guy on his way in no uncertain terms
because chances were I would have pulverized him and ended up spending the
night in jail.  Still when I got back to the table I had yanked Shaw up to the
tips of her fancy ass blue shoes and planted a kiss on her pretty, pink mouth
hard enough that my lip ring stung.  I thought maybe she would pull back, maybe
give me crap for acting like an idiot bit she just griped my shirt in her tiny
hands and let me do what I had to do.  When I finally set her back down her
eyes looked glassy and she was flushed.  She slicked her tongue over her bottom
lip and settled back into my side.

“Gotta tell you Rule, I’m a fan of
kissing with all that metal in your face.  I never thought that was something I
would be into, but you sure make it work.”

Oh man was that the hottest thing I
had ever heard, ever.  I hooked an arm around her shoulder.  “And you know
maybe next time you could just pee in a circle around me so that they know
you’ve already been there.”

I chuckled at her dry remark but
didn’t bother to deny what the overt action had been about.  We continued to
chat and have a great time but by the time the house lights went down and Jet
was ready to hit the stage I had had enough of friend time and wanted alone
time with just her, unfortunately Jet knew how to put on a good show and even
though Ayden claimed that the racket the band was making could in no way be
called music it only took two songs to have her dragging Shaw up to the front
of the stage with her.  The band was loud, aggressive and blazed from song to
song, but Jet was a good looking guy and knew how to work a crowd so it didn’t
surprise me when the girls had run off that there had been a drunkenly, interested
gleam in Ayden’s eyes.  Unfortunately it also left me alone to deal with my
plastered best friend.

“You gonna make it?”

Nash’s violet eyes were at
half-mast and I was pretty sure that if the table wasn’t available to hold him
up he would be face first down on the floor.  This is what I normally looked
like after a night of hard drinking, it was slightly startling to see it from
the other side.

“Huh?”  His words were mumbled and
unfocused and I saw visions of sexy time going up in smoke and replaced with
the reality that I was going to have to manhandle him back to the apartment and
get him in a bathroom like right now.

“Bro you better not yak in my
truck.  Let me go find the girls and let them know we have to go.”

“Smhhh…”  Okay it was mission
critical to get him out of here before the tequila came back up.  I sighed and
started toward the stage only to be intercepted before I got there by the blond
from earlier.  Now that Shaw was here and my head was in control not what was
in my pants I could clearly see there was no comparison between the two.  Shaw
was flawless and pretty in a way that didn’t require five pounds of makeup and
clothes that exposed more than they covered.  She was also charmingly unaware
of the affect she had on the opposite sex, where this girl was here to be seen
and appreciated.  She put a finger on the center of my chest and blinked
heavily lashed eyes at me.

“Hey.”

“Uh hi.”  I would just step around
her but the bar was packed and the band was making the crowd go crazy.  People
were jumping up and down and banging heads all around so unless I walked right
over her I wasn’t going to be able to get by.  Because I was so tall I had a
clear sight of one dark head and one light bouncing along to the music right up
front, while I was stoked Shaw seemed to be having fun, I was also bummed she
was practically impossible to get to.

“So I saw you earlier, you’re
friends with the band.”

“Yep.”  Normally this was the kind
of girl I sought out, easy, no strings, aware of where the night was going and
what the morning was going to hold.

“So do you maybe wanna get out of
here, go somewhere quieter where we can…talk?”

My eyebrows shot up.  When I was
drunk maybe that sounded smoother, but now that I was sober it just seemed kind
of sleazy and desperate.  “Thanks but I’m here with somebody.”

Her bright red mouth pulled into a
frown and she took a step back.  “Yeah I saw that, and I also saw that there is
no way that she’s with you for long.”

I was used to judgment, used to
hearing that I wasn’t up to par or good enough for whatever reason, but coming
from a boozed up bar fly that had just tried to talk me into taking her to bed
it made me reel back a little.

“Okay.”  I didn’t know what else to
say to that.

The girl snorted and flipped her
over processed hair over her shoulder.  “That girl has money and status written
all over her, you have ink and nothing but a good time spelled out bright and
clear all over you.  How long do you think she’s going to think you’ve got more
going on than that?”

I frowned and was done with social courtesy. 
I physically moved her out of my way and called over my shoulder, “I don’t
know, but I’d be an idiot not to stick around until she figures it out.” 
Sweaty bodies got nudged and prodded until I got to the girls.  Jet was right
in front of them both on his knees, his head was thrown back, his shirt was
torn off and the massive angel of death I had tattooed across his torso was in
full display.  He was wailing like a true rock god and while Shaw looked
fascinated, Ayden looked like she was about to melt into a pile of orgasmic
goo.  Looked like my buddy had turned the country mouse, rock for the night.  I
put a hand on Shaw’s hip and bent low to tell her, “I gotta get Nash out of
here, he’s done for.”  She looked at me with big eyes and nodded with no
argument.  She leaned over to holler something at Ayden who hollered something
back.  The brunette wiggled her fingers at me in a wave and the next thing I
knew Shaw’s tiny frame was pulling me back through the crowd.  Nash was now
almost fully draped over the table and I didn’t miss the bouncer giving him the
eye.

“What about Ayden, you said we
needed to make sure she got home okay?”

“She promised to call when she was
leaving.  She said she would just get a cab.”

“She’ll be alright here by
herself?”

“Yeah, she’s a big girl and can
take care of herself, plus I think she danced most of the booze out.  I think
she’s sticking around to tell your friend how much she enjoyed the show.”

“Jet has that effect on women.”

“I can see why.”  I wrestled Nash
up and marched him out of the bar with an arm around his waist.  He was solid
and maneuvering his sturdy bulk was difficult.

“You gonna change your mind and
drop me for a rock star?”

She snorted and took the keys I
tossed her to get the cab doors open so that I could shove Nash sideways across
the back seat.  “You better not get sick in here dude.”

There was no response so I helped
Shaw climb in and it occurred to me that she hadn’t even hesitated to leave
with me.  That made something in the center of my chest get all slippery and
warm.

“I’m just saying that he’s pretty
charismatic and even though I didn’t understand half of what he was singing it
was still pretty powerful.  He had that entire bar eating out of the palm of
his hand, that kind of draw is impressive.”

“Yeah, Jet was born to be a rock
star he just has a problem with the spotlight and recognition he always has.”

“You’ve known him a long time?”

“We used to go see him play when we
were kids, back when he was into punk.  Nash, Jet and Rowdy have been my inner
circle for a long time.  Rowdy we met later when he started working at the shop
but we all kick it like we are brothers from other mothers.”

She settled in the leather seat and
I adjusted the heat when I noticed she was rubbing goose bumps on her arms. 
“It must be nice to have a lot of good friends.  I was never like that.”

I looked out of the corner of my
eye at her.  “What do you mean?”

“I’m shy and awkward.  I never know
how to just make friends like that.  I was picked on a lot in high school.  Remy
was my only real friend and now really only Ayden.  I have a hard time letting
people in, I guess because I’ve seen how painful it is when it’s the people
that are the closest to you are the ones constantly disappointing you.”

“What about me and Rome?”

“What about you?”

Nash groaned from the back and I
looked over my shoulder apprehensively.  He didn’t sound good.  “What about us,
we were there too, weren’t we your friends?”

She made a little humming noise
that immediately made vital parts of my anatomy take notice.

“Rome has always been like a big
brother, he looked out for me, he picks on me, he tries to keep things that hurt
me and cause me pain at bay.  You, well you were always something else, not a
friend, not a brother just something else.”

“Is that bad, the something else?”

I felt rather than saw her shrug. 
“It has been, and then sometimes it’s not.”  I didn’t know what to make of that
so I let the subject drop.  I drove the rest of the way keeping one eye on the
road and one eye on Nash who was making increasingly loud noises of distress in
the back.  When we got to the apartment I looked across the cab at her but she
was bent over the back of the seat rubbing Nash’s bald head and uttering
soothing words to him.

“Hey I don’t know how long it’ll take
to get him squared away, you can just hangout and if you want me to run you
home or whatever I will.”

She looked at me over her shoulder
and raised a pale brow.  “Rule its fine.  It’s not like I don’t know how you
end up in the state you’re normally in on Sunday morning.  Like I told you I
just have to be to work on Sunday around ten as long as you make that happen
we’re good.”

At a loss for words I just stared
at her for a moment before Nash’s gurgling made me move.  “Have you always been
this awesome?”

She shut all the doors behind us
and helped me haul Nash up the steps.  I noticed she didn’t answer my question,
but she did get Nash a huge glass of water and fished around in my bathroom
until she found some pain killers.  She left both on the bathroom sink in the
hall that Nash used and gave me a pointed look.  “Come find me when you’re
done.”

I swore in a long litany under my
breath as I helped Nash battle his thermal and jeans off.  I was contemplating
shoving his ass in a cold shower when the tequila started to take its revenge. 
The tattooed head disappeared inside the toilet and I spent the next hour
making sure he didn’t pass out and alternately cramming liquids down his throat
and jumping out of the way as they came back up.  When I was finally sure he
wasn’t going to get sick anymore I hauled him to his bed and made sure he was
face down before I did a quick cleanup of the bathroom and myself and then went
to find Shaw.

The door to my room was cracked
open and she had my TV on.  I wasn’t sure what I was going to find, the dirtier
part of my imagination had all kinds of interesting scenarios laid out but wait
awaited me wasn’t one of them.  She had my California king stripped to the
mattress pad and was making short work of changing all the bedding.  Her crazy
blue shoes were in the center of the floor looking totally out of place next to
my discarded t-shirts and jeans and as I propped myself up in the doorway all I
could do was watch her.  She seemed to be having some kind of conversation with
herself but she was muttering too low for me to hear what she was saying.  I
waited a full five minutes for her to look up at me or notice my watching her
but she never did, so I asked, “What are you doing?” which made her jump about
a foot in the air.

She put a hand on her chest and had
the good grace to look a little bit guilty.

“Changing your sheets.”

“Why?”

“Uhh…Why?”

“Yes, Shaw why are you changing my
sheets at nearly three o’clock in the morning?”

She was saved from answering when a
Garth Brooks song rang from her pocket.  I was starting to see she liked to
pick songs for ring tones that fit the person calling.  She had a brief
conversation with who I assumed was Ayden and left the phone on the night stand
next to the bed.  She picked up the edge of my comforter and started to smooth
it back over the big bed.