Rule (Marked Men #1)(15)

Polo shirt got red in the face at her blatant rejection. He was about to lean even farther into her, about to put his other hand on her when I reached out and grabbed her wrist and tugged her free. Polo shirt was a good four inches shorter than me so I tucked Shaw’s small frame under my arm and glared at him over the top of her head.

“Sorry I’m late Casper.” Without missing a beat she put an arm around my waist and practically collapsed into my side. I had used the nickname to tease her when we were younger because her hair was almost white and knew she hated it, now it sounded intimate and personal like we had some kind of secret polo shirt wasn’t in on.

“No problem. I’ve got an hour or so left of my shift can you hangout until I’m off?” Her eyes were pleading with me to play along but I was too busy wondering why my side felt like it was on fire where we touched.

“No problem, who’s your friend?”

Polo shirt was glaring at me and turning an alarming shade of red. He didn’t even give Shaw a chance to respond.

“I’m her boyfriend, Gabe Davenport. Who are you?”

Shaw went stiff next to me and I felt her fingers clutch the back of my shirt.

“Gabe this is Rule Archer, Rule that’s Gabe my EX boyfriend, only he’s having a hard time getting the ex-part down.”

“Shaw, get away from him. What are you thinking? You can’t possibly think anyone is going to believe you would go from me to someone like him, can you? Just look at him, he’s a mess.”

I was immune to the someone like him tactic, I heard it all the time but apparently Shaw wasn’t. She bristled like a wet cat and made a move like she was going to poke the guy in the chest but I wrapped her back up against my side and subtly tried to calm her down by rubbing a hand up and down her bare arm.

“I’ve known Rule most of my life, Gabe. I could care less what he looks like because he isn’t anybody’s puppet and the same thing cannot be said about you. Don’t think you can stand there and judge him or judge me, not when you’re practically stalking me and trying to bully me into a relationship by manipulating my parents because you know they like you. Ayden is here and you can bet your ass if she saw you she’s going to go get Lou. Lou doesn’t like to see his girls upset so unless you want a scene that I’m sure you’ll never live down go away and don’t come back. You can call my mom, talk to my dad all you want, I don’t want to be with you and nothing is going to change that.”

He looked like he was gearing up to keep fighting but there was a sudden surge towards the bar knocking Shaw even further into my embrace and I took full advantage by pulling her small frame completely in line with mine. The girl was rocking some serious curves and I wondered what in the hell I had been smoking to miss it right up until then.

“We got a problem bro?” She pulled away from me slightly with a scowl and put her hands in the center of my chest to get a little space.

“Yeah, bro we do, but now isn’t the time or the place and I don’t have time to mess around with a peon like you. Shaw I’ll see you later, this isn’t done.”

He shoulder checked me and sent us a double glare as he pushed around us. I gave Shaw a squeeze and let her take a step back but kept my hands loosely at her waist. I was watching polo shirt walk away and trying to catch Nash’s eye over her head. She let out a breath that fluttered against my throat and sent a chill running across my skin.

“Thanks.”

“No problem. That guy needs to get a clue.” Nash finally looked up and I jerked my head toward the door where polo shirt had just exited. He gave me a slight nod and said something to Rowdy and Jet which had the two of them climbing to their feet as well. I saw Shaw’s dark haired roommate hanging by the door with a mountain of a man. She gave my friends an odd look as they filed out the door but didn’t say anything. I dug my AMX out of my wallet and put it in Shaw’s hand. Her luminous eyes were watching me curiously.

“Close our tab out on that, will ya? I’ll be back in just a second.”

She took the card and fell back a step. I tried not to notice what it did to her chest when she crossed her arms over her br**sts.

“Where are you going?”

“To run an errand.”

“Leave Gabe alone, Rule. He isn’t like you and Rome. He was born to be a politician. Threats and intimidation don’t mean anything to a guy like that, just forget about him. The idea that I would leave him for a guy with tattoos and purple hair is enough of a blow to his ego to get him to leave me alone for a while, trust me. Besides I’ll talk to Lou the bouncer, if I tell him that Gabe is harassing me they’ll 86 him for good.”

“Look Rome would kick my ass to Nebraska if he found out some douche bag was giving you trouble and I didn’t say something, plus I hate guys that think they can just do whatever they want to a girl because he has an in with the parents. I’ll be back in a second, just close our tab and hold on to the card in case you have to bail one or all of us out of jail.”

I thought it was funny but she didn’t even crack a smile. She was just looking at me like I had suddenly grown another head and I needed to get a move on it before the asshat left.

“It’ll be fine, Shaw. Seriously, I got this.”

I set her fully away from me and moved around her to follow the guys out the front door. The pretty roommate caught my eye and lifted a brow. “Maybe you have redeeming qualities after all, Archer.”