Rule (18 page)

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Shaw
I spoke to your mother today.  She would like me to bring you to Brookside on
Saturday night for dinner at the club.  She would like you to stay the night
there and then we are doing a big gathering at her house on Sunday for brunch. 
My parents will be there along with several other influential people.

I groaned out loud and scrolled
down to the next message.

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I
know you are hesitant to spend time alone with me after my erratic behavior,
but assure my intentions are good.  All I’m offering is a ride.

I
most definitely didn’t want to be stuck in a car with Gabe for an hour and I
most certainly didn’t want to deal with my mother for an entire weekend plus Saturday
night had proven the one night I week I actually got to spend with Rule and I
absolutely didn’t want to give that up but I didn’t see where I had a choice. 
I bit my lip and replied that I would be there but that I would be driving
myself.  There was no way in hell I was going to Brookside without a way to
escape.  He texted back that that would be fine and asked if I would mind then
giving him a ride.  I wanted to say no but figured it wouldn’t hurt anything to
just take him and drop him off.  We arranged to meet at a bakery that was
between our two places on Saturday morning and I was just about to put the
phone away when Black Rebel Motorcycle Club trilled from my hand.  Rule’s
sneering face looked up at me from the display and I couldn’t hold in a smile.

Ayden
warned me every single day that I had to be careful.  I was in love with Rule;
Rule wasn’t in love with me.  We were having sex, really amazing, make the
world stop sex but he never, ever mentioned anything about a relationship or
how he felt and my roommate was sure I was standing on the cliff of an epic
heartbreak just waiting to fall over.  For now I was okay taking what he was
willing to give, I mean it was more than he had ever given to anybody else, but
in the back of my mind I knew it wouldn’t be enough forever and eventually
something between us was going to have to change or at the very least be
defined into clearer terms that I could live with.

“Hey
you, I thought you were working late tonight.”

“I
am.  I’m also starving and wondering if you’ve eaten yet.”

“No
I just got out of my study group and have to go work on a project for my
anatomy class.”

“Is
it something you can do here?”

I
tucked a piece of hair behind my ear and stepped gingerly across the icy
parking lot.  “At the shop?”
            “Yeah, we have Wi-Fi and its quiet, just me and my client.  You can
grab some food and then work here for a couple hours until I’m done.  We can go
back to my place later if you want.”

I
so totally did want.  I bit my lip and got into my car.  “Are you sure you can
work with me hanging around, I mean I don’t want to distract you or anything.”

He
gave a soft laugh that sent goose bumps running up and down my arms.

“While
you are quite a distraction Casper, my client is a fifty five year old retired
homicide detective that would gladly ring my neck if I screw his piece up.  It’s
a memorial tattoo in honor of his son that died in Afghanistan so feed me so
that I can do a good job and not get my ass kicked.”

I
laughed and clamped the phone between my shoulder and ear.  I hadn’t ever been
in Rule’s shop, that seemed like a line that our previous relationship didn’t
cross but I had to admit I was curious to see what the inside of a real tattoo
parlor looked like.  “What do you want me to bring you?”

“I
don’t care.  I’m not picky, just make sure there is a lot of whatever it is.”

“Alright
I’m still at the school so give me a half hour or so.”

“Cool.” 
He hung-up without saying goodbye, something that drove me nuts because he
always did it but I was learning that he had a lot of weird quirks that I never
noticed before.  There was a lot I was learning about him, things that
surprised me that I had missed over the years, like the fact that he was such a
good friend.  I had seen him interact with Rome and Remy so I knew he was
giving and loving to those he cared about but he was the same way with his
boys.  Nash and Rule were most definitely a team.  When one zigged the other
zagged instinctively, they lived in sync, worked in sync and it was clear to
see that they just got each other and as high maintenance and complicated as
Rule was I had to admit it was fascinating to watch.  They made each other
laugh and made each other mad, Rule was kind of a slob and Nash was a neat
freak.  They took care of each other in different ways, Nash tended to be
quieter, let things slide like the jerk from across the street taking his
parking spot even though it was snowy and cold, didn’t bother him enough to
make a fuss but Rule was a born fighter, a hot head that refused to let
anything ride.  The guy in Nash’s spot came out to find his car painted with an
elaborate scene of a big purple dinosaur getting head from what looked to be a
perverted Yoda on the hood done in washable paint.  Sure he was furious and
wanted to call the cops but Nash has talked him out of it by pointing out that
he could have had the car impounded which would cost more than a trip to the
car wash, showing how the boys just balanced each other out.

I
decided on Chinese because I could grab a decent variety of things and I loved
sesame chicken.  There was a line and I had to wait for what seemed like an
eternity to get it.  It was closer to an hour by the time I found the shop and
a place to park that wouldn’t take me an hour to walk to the shop.  Parking on
Capitol Hill was a nightmare and walking on the crowded sidewalk with bags full
of takeout and my laptop case proved to be an interesting challenge but I made
it and the glass door painted with an interesting mélange of old school sailor
tattoos swung open before I had to figure out what to juggle in my full hands
in order to pull it open.  Rule took the food from me, pressed a quick, hard
kiss on my startled mouth and ushered me into the tattoo parlor.  He flipped
the sign on the door to closed and guided me past a long, marble counter that
had a series of portfolios laid out across it and a massive high-tech computer
system propped up on top.

Each
of the work stations was divided by a waist high wall and a mounted flat screen
TV.   Everything was bright and shiny clean, there was a myriad of different
artwork plastering the walls and there were all kinds of interesting old school
tattoo designs for people to choose from spotting the available wall space.  It
was visually stimulating and there was old Bad Religion playing quietly on the
house sound system.  It was all very Rule, it was like he had found a place to
work and completely and totally embodied who he was as a person and that was
just really special to see.  He led me to a back room that had a table and couch
as well as a mini fridge and a bunch of different stations that had drafting
tables and special lights for artists to use.  Sitting at the table was a
middle aged man that could have easily been one of my father’s golf buddies ,except
for the fact that he had his shirt off and the entire center of his chest was
covered in not gray hair but a stark black outline of a bald eagle and an
American flag.

Rule
dumped the bags on the table and began digging through them.  “Shaw this is
Mark Bradley, Mark this is Shaw I hope you don’t mind if she sticks around for
a bit since she was nice enough to bring us dinner.”

He
started dishing stuff out onto plates that he pulled out of nowhere.  “Sure
thing, I didn’t know you went out and got yourself a girl, Rule, a pretty one
at that.”

He
winked at me over the guy’s head and handed me a loaded up plate that I
probably wouldn’t even put a small dent in.  “She sure is that.”

We
ate in compatible silence for a few minutes but I kept checking out the bold
outline on Marks chest.  It was huge and seemed like such a massive commitment
for someone in their fifties to be making

“That
piece is pretty impressive.”  He looked down at himself and then back up at
Rule.

“The
kid has real talent.  I looked all over town to find someone that would do what
I wanted justice.  Rule got it right away and it didn’t hurt that his brother
is enlisted so he understood the importance behind it all.”

“He
mentioned it was a memorial piece for your son.”

“Unfortunately. 
Roadside bomb a few years ago, he was my oldest and nothing seemed an
appropriate way to honor how proud I was to be his father.”

I
felt tears well in my eyes.  I was so used to parents being thoughtless or lost
in their own grief to really express their heartache in a healthy way.  I reached
out and squeezed the older man’s hand while blinking away the moisture gathered
in my eyes.

“I
think that is beautiful.”

“My
kid was a sucker for a good old school tattoo.  I gave him crap every time he
came home with something new.  It would tickle him pink that this was the way I
chose to keep his memory alive.”

“You’ll
be finished with it today?”  I asked Rule who was eating while standing up
watching the interplay between me and his client intently.

“No. 
Something that big takes a few sessions.  Today we’ll hammer in the rest of the
solid black and the gray, get some of the highlights and all the shading done,
his next sitting will only be an hour or so and I’ll get the color in it.  It’s
going to be classic when it’s all done.”

We
finished eating and I offered to clean up the mess while Rule went out to set
up for Mark.  I was pulling out my computer and books to set up in the back
room when he poked his head into the room and crooked his finger at me.  “Come
out here and post up in one of the empty stations.”

“I
don’t want to be in the way.”

“Come
on Casper, you make the view better.”

I
rolled my eyes at him and moved to set up across from him.  I settled into the
surprisingly comfy chair and propped my computer on my lap.  The music switched
to The Gaslight Anthem and I hummed along.

“What
are you studying?”

I
glanced up at Mark who was making an interesting face as Rule bent over him,
the constant buzz of the tattoo machine surprisingly lulling and comforting.

“I
want to be a doctor.  I would eventually like to work in emergency medicine.”

“That’s
a pretty big goal.  Why emergency medicine?”

I
pulled my hair up into a sloppy knot on the top of my head.  “I’ve always
wanted to be a doctor, my dad is a heart surgeon but I lost a really close friend
a few years ago in a horrific car accident and I guess I felt like maybe if he
had had better care when he got to ER he would have made it.  I want to make a
difference when it matters most.”

Rule
looked up and we stared at each other for a long moment before he put his head
down and went back to what he was doing.  Mark grunted.  “That’s a pretty
special girl you got there kid  You better be doing right by her.”

He
muttered something I didn’t hear and I turned my attention to the project I
still had a bunch of work left to do on.  I typed away and the machine buzzed
for a solid two hours.  We didn’t really talk much, me because I was working
and subvertly watching Rule, Mark because as time went on it was clear he was
hurting and Rule because when he worked he was focused solely on what he was
doing and it was extraordinary to watch.  He was actually putting a little bit
of himself into what he was leaving on Mark and he wouldn’t settle for less
than a perfect end product.  I think watching him work, watching him diligently
change this man’s body forever made me fall just a little bit harder for him.

Mark
had to take a couple breaks and each time he got up Rule made his way over to
me.  The first time he dropped a kiss in the top of my head, the second he pulled
me into a full body make out session that had me readjusting my shirt when Mark
came back inside from smoking a cigarette.  All in all it was a pretty nice way
to spend an evening and I got plenty of work done.  Four hours later Rule was
wiping smears of black ink off of Mark’s angry red skin and the image he had on
his chest was a beautifully etched tattoo that was an honorable tribute to his
fallen son.  I told him again how beautiful I thought it was and that I would
love to see it when it was all done, he gave me a hug like a real dad would and
told me to take care of myself.  He also paid Rule which made me balk.  I had
no idea how much getting tattooed cost and then he left him a gigantic tip on
top of it.

Rule
told me to pack up and then went about cleaning up his station and shutting the
shop down for the night.  It took us another hour to finally leave and by then
I was yawing and getting sleepy.  My car was close enough that I decided to
just leave it and not try for a spot closer to their apartment and Rule
promised to get up early in the morning and take me to it if I wanted.  The
walk was fast because it was cold, it helped that he pulled me close the entire
way.  We said hi to Nash, I thought maybe he wanted to sit for a second and
chat but he dropped my stuff on the coffee table, grabbed a couple beers out of
the fridge and hauled me into his room.

We
didn’t talk, didn’t seem to need to.  By now I was getting the hang of how the
whole sex thing, or rather the whole sex with Rule thing worked.  He was very
tactile, very hands on and I benefited from all of it.  After rolling around
not once but twice I was quite happily sprawled across his naked chest randomly
tracing the scales of the snake on the arm next to my face.  He was propped up
on a pillow and drinking one of the beers and messing around on his phone while
drawing some kind of pattern on my back with his finger.  I was sated and
almost asleep when his voice rattled through my head.