Rule (Marked Men #1)(72)

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We were both quiet the next morning when we got up to go back to her car. We stopped at the corner coffee shop for breakfast and neither one of us seemed overly eager to rehash the events of the night before. After a solid night’s sleep and waking up to her peaceful and innocent face I had my head back on straight and was calling myself all kinds of fool for letting my usual hang-ups pull me in such a dark direction the night before. Pizza and quiet time on the couch was nothing compared to all the heavy shit I now had rattling around in my brain after she made me come clean. I was ashamed that she knew I had been trying to use her body to escape, to take something that was so different with her and on such another level and drag it down to where every other sexual encounter had begun and ended. If Shaw hadn’t called me on my shit and just let me go it would have been the end for I us. I knew it and I was pretty sure she knew it. Allowing me to put her in a box with all the rest was something she wouldn’t stand for and I was eternally grateful.

It had warmed up just a tad from last night so the icy spots on the sidewalks were now mushy puddles of dirty slush. We navigated around them while balancing hot coffee and trying to stay warm. She had parked her car off the street a couple blocks over from the shop in one of the neighborhoods. I was getting ready to ask her if she was alright, if everything was still cool between us but she came to a grinding halt and I almost ran into the back of her. I swore softly as the hot coffee splashed over my hand. “What the hell Shaw?”

She didn’t move and I had to jump back when her coffee slid out of a suddenly lifeless hand and clattered on the snowy ground. She lifted a shaking hand to her mouth and before I could ask again what was wrong a pickup truck that was waiting to make a left hand turn moved and I caught sight of her car.

All the windows were smashed out, the headlights and been shattered; all four tires were on the metal rim on the ground the slashed rubber sitting lifelessly around them like tattered material. The pristine black paint job was now marred with ugly red spray paint that had even uglier words blazed across the surface. The hood had the word ‘whore’ in huge letters and along each side of the car from front to trunk were variations on the same thing. It was bad and considering what kind of car she drove it was also going to be extremely costly to fix.

I could see that she was shaking so I put an arm around her shoulder and tugged her to my chest. At first she resisted, standing stone still, eyes locked on the senseless destruction but when I applied just a little more pressure she came willingly and I tucked her head up under my chin.

“We should probably call the cops.”

She shuddered against me and I felt her head move ‘no’ under against my throat. “No. What’s the point? His dad will just cover for him again and make it all go away. Besides it’s not like there is any proof he did it.”

I hated that she was probably right. “Do you want me to take you to school? I can get this taken care of for you while you’re there.”

“No. I need to call the insurance company and have it towed somewhere. Why can’t he just leave me alone?”

I ran a hand lightly from the crown of her head to the ends of her almost white hair. “Because you’re kind of impossible to get over.”

She sighed against my neck and just let me hold her until she stopped shaking. “I guess I need to go back to your place and get this taken care of.”

“Of course.” I handed her what was left of my coffee and made sure I kept her tucked in close to my side on the way back to the Victorian. We were both quiet, now for different reasons but I knew I needed to keep the rage that was practically choking me at bay until I got her somewhere safe and she felt secure. Having something destroyed like that must have been a violation like I couldn’t imagine and even though Gabe had been quiet the last few weeks it was clear now he had no intention of letting go of his obsession with my girl.

When we got back inside she immediately started calling around getting things in place for an adjuster to check out the damage and have the car towed to a body shop. She needed a rental in the meantime and wasted no time in setting that up as well. After about an hour or two where I just watched her like a hawk all the adrenaline finally wore her out and she mentioned that she wanted to take a shower and lay down. I sent her off to my room with gritted teeth and a kiss, hoping she couldn’t feel the fury that was burning in every cell of my body.

Nash came crawling in a few minutes after I heard the hot water turn on. He looked a little worse for the wear but he had a shit eating grin on his face and his shirt was on inside out so I assumed the date had served its purpose. He took one look at the way my jaw was clenched and the way I’m sure my eyes were flashing with platinum fire and asked,

“Bad night?”

“Bad morning. Shaw’s car got trashed last night.”

“You think it was polo shirt?”

“Who else would do something like that to her?”

“I dunno one of your legions of one night stands that’s pissed off you’re off the market? You both have some pretty heavy baggage floating around out there.”

I hadn’t even considered that I might be the cause of retaliation against her. That just made me even angrier. I inclined my head toward my bedroom.

“Can you keep an eye on her until I get back? She seemed okay but I could tell she was pretty shaken up.”