Beautiful Broken Rules (Broken, Series #1)(14)

“No motorcycle for you babe. Besides, Jace took it today.” What did he mean by no motorcycle for me?

“Are you saying I’ll never get to ride on it?” He reached down and put both his hands on each side of my waist. This unexpected contact caught me off guard. There was an exciting charge between us. My mind didn’t want to respond to him like this but my body wasn’t listening.

When he leaned in toward my ear, my breath caught. I stared straight ahead so I wouldn’t get trapped in those blue eyes. “Motorcycles are dangerous. I would never put you in danger,” he whispered. Then he lifted me up onto the bench seat in the truck. His voice returned to its normal deep tone. “Besides, Cole would kill me. He threatened Jace and me if we put you or Quinn on the bike. Jace and I could take him, but I’m not trying to get on his bad side.” He winked and I knew he was kidding.

“Oh, I’m going to have to have a talk with Coley.”

He burst out laughing while he closed my door. I could see him laughing all the way around the front of the truck to his side. When he opened it to climb in, he said, “Please tell me you call him that in front of his lame-ass frat brothers.” He had a huge smile on his face.

“Of course I do, I’m not embarrassed.”

“Oh, I’m sure you’re not. I mean he must love it,” he stated sarcastically.

“So this giant truck, I mean is it necessary for college in southern California?” I asked, trying to tease him.

Suddenly his face changed from teasing to a little sad, but he quickly pushed it away with a stiff smile. “It used to be my dad’s. But now Jace and I drive it. It was helpful for moving out here with all our stuff, and I could just put the motorcycle in the back.” He pulled out of the parking lot and turned toward our apartments. “You’re avoiding a serious topic here though; I need to know these rules of yours.” He patted my thigh a couple of times.

“Okay, fine,” I said grumpily. “I don’t plan on ever actually being with anyone permanently. My parents taught me that it only leads to heartbreak. I like having fun, and I’m not sure I’m strong enough to come back from something like a broken heart. So my rules are: I don’t sleep with anyone that I know my friends like, I don’t sleep with anyone’s boyfriend, and I never sleep with someone more than three times.”

After a couple of truly uncomfortable seconds he uttered, “I think you’re wrong, you know.”

“I don’t think it’s wrong, I think it protects everyone involved. No one thinks that I’m going to give them more than I have to give. I also don’t want to make any enemies by sleeping with someone’s boyfriend,” I replied softly.

“Not about the rules. About not being strong enough, I can tell you are.”

I sat there with really nothing to say back to that. He didn’t know me. He didn’t know what my parents did to me, to each other, or to Ellie. People break each other’s hearts. It’s hard to believe I’d only just met Jax this morning. I feel like we’ve already said so much to one another; maybe a little too much.

“Well, all I do know is that I don’t require daily phone calls, mushy love notes, bouquets of roses or cuddles every night.”

“A low-maintenance chick. I can dig that,” he chuckled.

When we pulled up outside of our building, I unbuckled my seat belt and lunged for the door. I felt naked around this guy; he sees too much or thinks too highly of me, I couldn’t figure out which one. I just wanted to get to my apartment, take a shower and a nap before my shift tonight. When I came around the front of the truck to walk up the stairs, Jax met me with our bags. He let me walk up ahead of him and he followed me to my door.