Beautiful Broken Rules (Broken, Series #1)(119)

I tried to stay as busy as I possibly could this summer. I jumped on a plane back home with Cole and Jace immediately after Emerson’s plane took off. Quinn had spent the majority of her summer in Texas as well. Every time I went over to Cole’s to visit, Mrs. West, his mom, was treating Quinn like a princess and showering her in gifts. She looked like she was in heaven. I also noticed how Cole’s mom was teaching her how to make his favorite meals. I laughed at how she was already prepping Quinn to marry her son. It was always nice to see Quinn, but every time I did, I expected Emerson to come bouncing out of the room behind her. Sometimes I caught Quinn looking at me with a sad expression and knew she was thinking the same thing when I walked in.

On the plus side, the more Quinn enjoyed Texas, the easier it would be for Cole to get her to move out here after graduation, which would practically seal the deal for me getting Emerson to move out here. If she didn’t want Texas though, I’d go anywhere. Hell, send me to any shit hole as long as I’m by her side. I already had the rock that I would slide onto her finger one day. Although, I knew it would probably be at least another year until she was ready for something like that. In the meantime, I’ll be on pins and needles until I can get that on her gorgeous hand. Although, just in case the opportunity arose, I’d have it with me in California.

Jace helped me put a new roof and siding on the barn at mom’s this summer. She complained that we should just hire someone to do it. I knew we could afford it, but Jace and I had built this barn with dad when we were fourteen. If anyone was working on it, we were. It was tough work, and I admired my dad even more for dealing with the stress of building this thing from the ground up while having to teach two fourteen year-olds, who knew nothing about building and were more concerned with their raging hormones. Jace and I got into a couple of fistfights over this barn throughout the summer, but I think it brought us even closer.

When we finished fighting, mom would come out of the house with a tray of lemonade and look down at us, covered in dirt and lying on the ground panting. She would give each of us a glass, “You two done being idiots? Did you get it out of your systems? If not, feel free to keep at it, but make sure you make up afterward.” Then she would turn around and walk right back into the house, just like she did when we were eight years old.

After the first couple of fights, I noticed that Jace’s swings were getting weak. He used to be able to knock my damn lights out, although that never stopped me from f*cking with him on a daily basis. He was too easy to rile up. One day, I brought it up to him and he shrugged uncomfortably. Dad and Jace used to box almost every day. While working on the Camaro was our time, boxing with dad was Jace’s. After a couple of weeks, I finally got him back into some gloves and we were duking it out daily until after the sun went down. I could see how exhilarated he was; boxing made him happy. I’d have to remember to help him find a gym when we got back to California.

The day before we were flying back, I found Jace in the garage, polishing the Camaro one more time before we headed out for a couple more months. I tossed him the keys and he caught them in the air.

“Want to go for a ride or something?” he asked.

“Nah, I think I’m done with her.” I rubbed the hood. “You should take her now.”

“Take her where?” He was still confused.

“Wherever you want, she’s yours,” I smiled.

His eyes bugged out of his damn head and I couldn’t help but to laugh my ass off at him. “What are you talking about, Jax, this was you and dad’s thing.”

“Building it and fixing it up was our thing, but I’ve never appreciated it like you have,” I replied, thinking about that model car it took him all summer to make when he was sixteen.