Rule(65)

“Dad I can’t come back here, not like this.  I appreciate everything you said today, in fact I wish you had said it years ago and maybe I wouldn’t have a history of bad behavior and questionable choices littering my history the way I do now, but I’m not going to be her scapegoat anymore.”

He sighed and looked at the door as Rome came out looking thunderous.  “Something tells me you aren’t the only Archer that is making that call.”

“Shaw too.  I’m not going to let mom use her as a pawn in this mess.”

“Yeah neither am I.  She’s like a daughter to me.”

Rome joined our little huddle and boy did he look pissed.  My eyes tended to be light and go silver or gray whenever I felt a strong emotion, my brothers blazed a bright blue the color of the base of a flame.

“She’s out of her damn mind.  Seriously dad she needs therapy and possibly drugs.  I can’t believe she said that shit to Rule.”

My dad sighed again and shifted sending tufts of snow that had gathered on the shoulders of his jacket drifting to the ground.

“I know son.  I just told Rule I recognize the problem is worse than I thought.”

“I only have a few weeks leave left; you better let her know I won’t be back unless she gets her head on right.  I tried to tell her and she just started spouting nonsense about Rule brainwashing everybody she cares about.  She has straight up vilified him, her own child.   I refuse to support her treating him that way.”

“You’re both good boys.  For right now you two take care of each other and I’ll work on your mother.  I love you both.  Don’t give up on us yet.”

We all shared a back pounding round of hugs before Rome and I climbed back into the truck.  I had to let the massive motor heat up before the heater would pump out warm hair so while we waited I stared out the snowy windshield in contemplation while Rome rattled on about our mom.  He was repulsed by her reaction to my surprise visit, I wasn’t.  I was however stunned by everything my dad had told me.  I couldn’t remember the last time anyone told me they loved me besides my brothers.  I had forgotten how nice it made me feel.

“You wanna take the Beamer or the truck since it’s coming down pretty good now?”

“The BMW.  I’ve seen you drive little brother, you won’t make it back to Denver in one piece in that sports car.”

He had a point and I wanted to get back in one piece because I wanted to get Shaw a phone and pick her up from work and spend the night in bed with her wrapped around me making her whisper my name over and over in that husky voice and maybe, just maybe getting someone to tell me they loved me would apply to her because I wasn’t sure, but that slippery feeling in my chest sure felt a hell of a lot like love.



Chapter 12

Shaw

I was still trying to figure out my new phone.  Instead of replacing my broken one with a replacement of the same model Rule had gotten me the brand new version with all the bells and whistles and the thing was ten times smarter than me.  I was trying to text Ayden that I was running late for our coffee date because one of my classes had run late.  I hadn’t seen her for more than a few minutes in the last couple of weeks so we were meeting to catch up.  She was still acting a little off but between always staying at Rule’s place and having him crash at ours, to shifting my schedules around at work and being constantly vigilant to avoid any kind of run in with Gabe since the protection order had been shut down cold like Mark had predicted, pinning her down and making her talk to me hadn’t been possible.

I was developing a pretty good rhythm.  On the days I worked I stayed on the Hill with Rule since his place was closer to the bar and he didn’t mind coming to have a drink and waiting for me to get off so he could take me home he and Lou were like the best of friends now.  On the days I was at school or volunteered he would show up sometimes around dinner but often right before bedtime and spend the night at my apartment.  I had decided to drop my Saturday shift in order to have one weekend night off to spend with him.  He liked to go out on Friday and Saturday nights with his friends so I figured it was cool to let him have a night to get his bro-time in while I was working, plus it was fun to have a weekend day off to go shopping or watch a movie when I was so used to being busy all the time.  Being with Rule was teaching me that my time was precious and I needed to spend it doing things I wanted as well as the things that were required of me.  That was partly why I felt justified in ignoring the calls from my parent’s that had been coming in nonstop since the trip to Brookside.

I finally got the text sent out and got one back saying she already had a seat and had ordered for us.  When I got to the coffee house the place was packed but Ayden had secured a spot by one of the windows and was messing around on her phone.  A table full of geeky looking guys was trying to get her attention by talking and laughing loudly but she seemed oblivious.  I missed our girl time and I wished she would talk to me about what had been bothering her the last month but with so much on my own plate I was well aware that I hadn’t been the best friend as of late.

I flopped in the seat across from her and gratefully scooped up the frothy drink she had ordered for me.  She made a face at me and put her phone away.  “I almost saw your boyfriend naked this morning.”