Rule (23 page)

“Go ahead I want to talk to the
guys for a second anyway.”  The grimness of his tone let me know he wanted to
fill them in on my situation with Gabe.  “I’ll be there in just a minute.”

I resisted the temptation to scroll
through his contacts and look at his text conversations and dialed Ayden.  I
didn’t know if she would answer since she wouldn’t recognize Rule’s number but
she ended up picking up on the third ring.

“Hello?”

“Hey it’s me.”

“What number is this?”

“I’m using Rule’s phone because I’m
a genius and threw mine against the wall.”

She snickered at me.  “It was
because I told you about the girl at the club wasn’t it?”

“Yep.”

“But now you have his phone so you
must have worked things out somewhere along the way.”

“He came to Brookside to apologize
and then he crashed my mother’s brunch and ended up being the star attraction. 
It was impossible not to forgive him.”

“Good for you.  Something tells me
that one comes with a whole truckload of drama you so might as well get used to
it.”

“Yeah well I’m not short on drama
of my own.”  I went into the bathroom and leaned against the sink.  The image
looking back at me in the mirror was startling.  I looked agitated and even
paler than usual.  “Gabe grabbed me and shoved me around.  He cornered me in my
room and threatened all kinds of crazy stuff.  I just don’t know what I’m going
to do about it.  Rule’s all set to get together an old fashioned lynching squad
and I don’t want him to get in trouble because of me.  It’s a mess.”

“That asshole put his hands on
you?”

I sighed.  “Yeah, I have bruises.”

“Then I say let Rule have at him. 
You better be looking into a restraining order.”

“I am, Rule has a client that used
to be a police officer he’s going to call him.  He also said he wants to stay
with me or have me stay here until the whole thing is resolved.”

“Sounds like your boy is getting serious.”

“He’s trying.”

“Well I guess that’s better than
nothing for now.  When are you going to get a new phone?”

“Probably tomorrow, Rule said he
would buy me a new one.”

“Man I like a fella that knows how
to apologize right.  I’ll see you tomorrow?”  The last was asked as a question.

“I think so, I’ll let you know for
sure.”

“Love ya girl.  Be safe, let Rule
take care of you for a minute you’ve earned it.  You took pretty great care of
him all this time now it can be his turn.”

“Isn’t a relationship supposed to
about taking care of each other equally?”

She laughed but it sounded bitter. 
“You’re asking the wrong person that honey, my track record isn’t anything to
brag about.”

“Ayden, do you want to talk about
something?  You seem, I dunno sharper than usual.”

“No.  I’m good, just worry about
you right now honey.  I missed you this weekend.

“Missed you too.”

I hung up the phone and set it on
the edge of the sink.  I pushed the sleeves of my sweater up and splashed cold
water on my face.  I took the tie out of my hair and unwound the tight braid so
that my hair fell down around my shoulders.  I took off the pearls and kicked
off my heels and started to feel a little bit more like myself.  I heard the
bedroom door open and close and Rule softly called my name.

“I’m in here.”

I heard some shuffling and some
swearing as he maneuvered through the stuff scattered on his floor.  The
bathroom door swung open and his eyes met mine in the mirror.  The chilly
depths of his were shadowed with concern as he crowded in behind me.  “You
okay?”

“Freaked out but other than that
okay.”

“Are you worried about your mom
ratting you out to your dad?”  He put a hand on either side of me, trapping me
between him and the basin.

“I can’t stop her so if she does
I’ll deal with it then.”

“What about school?  She said he
would stop paying if you didn’t do what she wanted.”

I leaned back so that I was pressed
against his chest.  “They both like to use that threat against me, it’s their
favorite extortion tool.  I figure they’re both actually more worried about
trying to explain to people why their daughter is working at Subway instead of
in medical school to actually stop paying tuition and if they do,” I raised a
shoulder and let it drop.  “Then I figure out a plan B.”

“Just like that?”

“Pretty much.”

“I never knew you were so
adaptable.”  I made a face that made him laugh and he moved his hands around so
that they rested on my stomach.  “The guys are going to order pizza and watch
the rest of the game I told them I would check and see what you were thinking
for the rest of the night.”

I pushed my hair back let my head
fall onto his shoulder.  “I want to take a hot shower and then I think I want
to take a nap.  This week has sucked, I’ve been stressed out and burned out
from school.  I can’t remember the last time I got to just relax.”

His dark eyebrows went up.  “You
won’t mind if I kick it with them for a bit?”

I shook my head no.  “Seriously go
bro-out I’m good.”

He watched me for a solid minute,
waiting to see if I was just messing with him, to prove that I was fine with
him spending time with his boys I pressed a kiss to his jaw.  He pressed a kiss
to my hair and backed out of the bathroom.  “I’ll grab your bag for you.”

He set it on the toilet and gave me
a hard kiss before searching my face for signs of something.  I laughed and
physically shoved him out the door before closing it firmly in his face.  “Go,
be a guy.  I’ll be here when it’s over.”  I waited until I heard the outside
door shut and then stripped down and climbed in his shower.  If I never had to
suffer through one of my mother’s functions again it would be too soon.  I
scrubbed every inch of my body until it was pink and shiny, laughing
hysterically because I had to use Rule’s dude soap and I ended up smelling like
a seventeen year old boy that just discovered Axe body spray.  Even his shampoo
and conditioner was designed for male only use so instead of my normal coconut
and lime I ended up with hair that smelled like sandalwood and spice.  I finger
combed my wet hair and put on a pair of yoga pants and a t-shirt and fell into
his rumbled bed.  For the first time in a week I felt like I could take a real
breath.  I burrowed into his side of the bed and fell asleep within seconds
even with the hooting and hollering coming from the living room.

***

Hot hands were traveling under my
clothes in a lazy caress.  I woke up already turned on and squirming under
Rule’s seductive touch.  I blinked to get my eyes used to the darkness but
squeezed them shut again when his mouth landed high on my inner thigh.  It was
like the best dream ever, only now I was awake and wiggling in anticipation as
his breath blew across the most sensitive parts of me.  I reached for his head
and giggled a little as my fingers skimmed over the buzzed surface.  The
stubble tickled across my sensitive fingertips.

“I really do miss the mohawk.”

“It’ll grow back.”  I felt the slide
of his lip ring over damp skin and sucked in a gasp so hard that it made my
lungs hurt.  He laughed against my skin and his hands moved to hold me where he
wanted me.  “I missed this.  Nobody has ever been as sweet as you Shaw.”

I felt the press of the barbell in
his tongue as he moved in and around the part of me that had woken ready to
take what he had to give.  “I think the fact you’re comparing me to the legions
of girls that came before me should probably make me furious, but I think I’ll
choose to take it as a compliment.”  The last faded away on a tight moan as he
pulled my hips up and settled his mouth at burning point of my desire.  I had
heard tales from my coworkers and even from Ayden about how having a guy do
this for you was often the best part of sexy, naked time but I had always had
my doubts because it seemed invasive and too intimate, and I wasn’t wrong.  As
he kissed and licked and maneuvered around all my damp folds and aching flesh I
went a little crazy.  There was nowhere to hide how he was affecting me while
he was doing that and man did he know what he was doing.  At one point I wanted
to scream his name but at the last second remembered his brother was just
across the wall and shoved my fist in my mouth to stifle my reaction as the
world kaleidoscope into brilliant color in every direction.  I didn’t know how
it was with other guys, but as with everything else I experienced with Rule, he
just made it all so good.

I laid in a pile of worthless goo
as he rose up off the bed and began to haphazardly pull his clothes off.  The
show was a delight in itself so by the time he crawled in the bed beside me I
was ready to purr and curl up around him like the satisfied sex kitten he was
turning me into.

“That was certainly a nice way to
wake up.”  I curled my hands up around his shoulders as he rolled over me and
put his knee between my legs.

“You were out for most of the
afternoon.  I kept waiting for you to peek your head out and join us but in
never happened.”  He dropped his head so that his nose rubbed against the side
of my face.  “I checked in on you and you just looked so perfect all sleepy and
pretty in my bed I couldn’t help myself.”  He laid a soft trail of kisses from
behind my ear to the sensitive hallow of my throat.  His fingers skimmed down
my arm and lightly encircled my bruised wrist.  Gabe had left a ring of black
and blue marks that stood out in stark relief against my pale skin so I
couldn’t help the emotion that clogged my throat when Rule lightly stroked the
damaged flesh and lifted it up to press butterfly kisses around the
circumference.

“This should have never happened,
I’m so sorry.”

I trailed a hand down over his
flank and let my fingers spread out across the colorful surface of his ribs. 
“I shouldn’t have gone in the first place.  I need to learn to set boundaries
with my parents and stick with them.  It’s not worth sacrificing things that
matter to me in order to try and make them happy.”

He took the hand he was holding and
pinned it to the bed above my head, his pale eyes blazed into mine with a
mixture of want and compassion.  “Shaw I’m the one that feels the need to burn
the house down when the faucet springs a leak, I know I tend to go the extreme
and I need to back off.  However if you think I’m ever going to stand by and
watch you purposely put yourself in danger with that asshole again be prepared
for us to do battle.”

I didn’t get a chance to reply because
he kissed me, really kissed me, kissed me with an edge so that there was no
mistaking he was serious and that I needed to pay attention to what was
happening between us.  There was a bite of teeth and the press of metal and all
the goodness that was just Rule as tongues slid together and hands began to
roam.  He caught my free hand and pinned it above my head with the other one so
that I was stretched out and prone beneath him.  His eyes glittered with pure
wicked intent as he leered down at me.

“I think I like you like this.” 
His free hand twisted and wandered over sensitive skin and moist creases.  I
whimpered a little because it felt so good and because I wanted to move but he
held me still with the press of his much bigger body into mine.  “I like having
you at my mercy.  I can do whatever I want to you.”  He proved his point by
taking the top of one breast in his mouth and sucking until it almost hurt. 
He’d left a hickey the first time we did this too but this one seemed
different, more like a territorial marking, a claiming of sorts.

“Good thing for you I like all the
things you want to do to me.”  He pulled a leg up and hooked it around his lean
hips.  I felt the hot press of him ready at my entrance and tried to shift so
that he came inside.  He pulled back and grinned down at me. 

“Always so impatient.”   I tugged
at my trapped hands.

“You have no idea.”

He chuckled again as he kissed me. 
“So tell me.”

I tried to pull him inside with the
sheer for of will alone but he kept moving just out of range with a taunting
smirk.  “Seriously Shaw tell me.”

I squeezed my eyes shut because
there was only so much truth I was ready to hand over to him in one day.  He
moved my other leg and pressed in just a millimeter or two making me start to
quiver.  “Tell me why we all thought you and Remy had a serious thing going one
but I’m the one that was your first.  Tell me why Rome seems to think you’ve
had a thing for me for a while now.  Tell me why when we do this it’s so much
different than whenever I’ve done it before.”

I wanted him to move, wanted him to
let me move but when I pried my eyes open he was watching me closely, clearly
in control enough to wait me out.  I met his pointed stare for a heartbeat
before whispering, “Because it’s always been you even when I didn’t want it to
be, even when it broke my heart over and over again.  It’s just always been
you.”

My words changed something in him,
his eyes flashed with a frozen spark and suddenly he was in and moving and the
rest of the world just stopped and faded away.  All that mattered was what was
happening between us in that moment and it mattered to him just as much as it
mattered to me.  His tempo changed with each thrust, he was always a little
wild, a little uninhibited in bed but it was like my words had broken something
loose inside him and this was the real Rule, the guy that used crazy hair and a
body full of ink to deflect anyone getting too close.  I gasped and moaned,
finally calling his name out in a shaky voice as we raced towards the end together. 
It felt different like he said, more powerful, more intense and when he finally
dropped his forehead down to touch mine it felt complete.

I sighed in contentment and wrapped
my arms around him.  He pulled me over him and rolled so that I wasn’t getting
crushed.  I closed my eyes and was about to go back into a very satisfied sleep
when the entire length of his long body went board straight underneath me.  My
eyes popped open as I felt his hands tense in the ends of my hair and I forced
my head up to look down at him.