Shaw sighed and her hands twisted even tighter on the steering wheel. “She was calling to tell you that Rome got hurt and the Army is sending him home for six weeks of R&R. Your dad went to the military base in the Springs yesterday to pick him up.”

I bolted up in the seat so fast that I smacked my head on the roof of the car. I swore and rubbed the spot that made my head throb anymore. “What? What do you mean he got hurt?” Rome was my older brother, he had three years on me and had been overseas for a good portion of the last six, but we were still tight and even if he didn’t like all the distance I put between me and my parents over the years if he was seriously injured I would have heard about it from him.

“I’m not sure; Margot said something happened to the convoy he was in when they were out on patrol. He was in a pretty bad accident I guess. She said his arm was broken and he had a few snapped ribs but she was pretty upset so I had a hard time understanding her when she called.”

“Rome would have called.”

“Rome is doped up and spent the last two days being debriefed, he asked your mom to call because you Archer boys are nothing if not persistent. Margot told him that you wouldn’t answer but he kept telling her to try.”

My brother was hurt, but he was home and I didn’t know about it. I closed my eyes again and let my head drop back against the headrest. “Well hell, that’s good news I guess.”

“Are you going to go by and see your mom?” I didn’t have to look at her to know that she had stiffened even more. I could practically feel the tension rolling off of her in icy waves.

“No.” She didn’t say more and I didn’t expect her to. The Archers might not have been the closest, warmest bunch, but we didn’t have anything on the Landon’s. Shaw’s family craped gold and breathed money, they also cheated and lied, were divorced and remarried and from what I had seen over the years had little need or interest in the biological daughter that came from a union figured out on a tax form rather than a bedroom. I knew Shaw loved my house, loved my parents because it was the only semblance of normalcy she had ever experienced and I didn’t begrudge her that, in fact I appreciated the fact she took most of the heat off of me. If Shaw was doing good in school, dating an affluent undergrad, living the life my parents had always wanted for their sons but had been denied they stayed off my case and since Rome was usually a continent away I was the only one they could get to so I took no shame in using Shaw as a buffer.

“Man I haven’t even talked to Rome in three months. It’ll be awesome to see him. I wonder if I can convince him to come spend some time in D-town with me and Nash. He’s probably more than ready for a little bit of fun.”

She sighed again and moved to turn the radio back up a little bit. “You’re twenty-two Rule, when are you going to stop acting like an indulgent teenager? Did you even ask this one her name? In case you were wondering you smell like a mix between a distillery and a strip club.”

I snorted and let my eyes drift back shut. “You’re nineteen, Shaw when are you going to stop living your life by everyone else’s standards? My eighty-two year old grandma has more of a social calendar than you and I think she’s less uptight.” I wasn’t going to tell her what she smelled like because it was sweet and lovely and I had no desire to be nice at the moment.

I could feel her glaring at me and I hid a grin. “I like Ethel.” Her tone was surly.

“Everybody likes Ethel. She’s feisty and won’t take crap from anyone. You could learn a thing or two from her.”

“Oh maybe I should just dye my hair pink, tattoo every visible surface of my body, shove a bunch of metal in my face and sleep with everything that moves, isn’t that your philosophy on how to live a rich and fulfilling life?”

That made me crank my eyes back open and the marching band in my head decided to go for round two.

“At least I’m doing what I want. I know who and what I am Shaw, and I don’t make any apologies for it. I hear plenty of Margot Archer coming out of your pretty mouth right now.”

Her mouth twisted down into a frown. “Whatever, let’s just go back to ignoring each other, I just thought you should know about Rome, the Archer boys have never been big on surprises.”

She was right. In my experience surprises were never a good thing, they usually resulted in someone getting pissed and me ending up in some kind of fight. I loved my brother but I had to admit I was kind of irritated he hadn’t one, bothered to let me know he was hurt, and two, was still trying to force me to play nice with my folks. I figured her plan to ignore each other the rest of the way was a winner so I slumped down as far as the sporty little car would allow and started to doze off. I was only out for twenty minutes or so when her phone started singing The Civil Wars and jarred me awake. I blinked gritty eyes and rubbed a hand over the scruff on my face. If the hair didn’t piss mom off the fact I was too busy to shave for her precious brunch might just send her into hysterics.

“No, I told you I’m going to Brookside and won’t be back until late.” I looked across the car at her and she must have felt my gaze because she looked at me quickly and I saw a little bit of pink work its way into her high cheeks. “No Gabe, I told you I don’t have time and that I have a lab due.” I couldn’t make out the words but whoever was on the other end of the phone sounded angry at her brush off. I saw her fingers tighten on the phone. “It’s none of your business; I have to go now, so I’ll talk to you later.” She swiped a finger across the screen and tossed the fancy device into the cup holder by my knee.

“Trouble in paradise?” I didn’t really care about Shaw and her richer than God, future ruler of the known universe boyfriend, but it was polite to ask when someone was obviously upset. I hadn’t ever met Gabe, but from what I heard from mom when I bothered to listen he was custom made to go with Shaw’s future doctor persona. His family was as loaded as hers, his dad was a judge, or lawyer, or some other political nonsense I had no use for and I was sure beyond the shadow of a doubt the dude had to wear pleated slacks and pink polo shirts with white loafers. For a long moment I didn’t think she was going to respond but she cleared her throat and started tapping out a beat on the steering wheel with her obviously expensively manicured fingers.

“Not really, we broke up but I don’t think Gabe really gets it.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, a couple weeks ago actually. I’ve been thinking about doing it for a while. I’m just too busy with school and work to have a boyfriend.”

“If it was the right guy you wouldn’t feel that way. You would make the time because you wanted to be with him.”

She looked at me with both blond brows raised up to her hair line. “Are you, Mr. Manwhore of the Century seriously trying to give me relationship advice?”

I rolled my eyes which made my head scream in protest. “Just because there hasn’t been one girl I wanted to hang out with exclusively doesn’t mean I don’t know that difference between quality and quantity.”

“Could have fooled me, besides Gabe wanted more than I was willing to give and it’s going to be a pain because my Mom and Dad both loved him.”

“True that, from what I’ve heard he was pretty much custom made to make your folks happy. What do you mean he wanted to more than you were willing to give? Did he try and put a rock on your finger after only six months?”

She gave me a look and curled her lip up in a sneer. “Not even close, he just wanted things to be more serious than I wanted them to be.”

I laughed a little and rubbed between my eyebrows. My headache had turned into a dull throb but was starting to be manageable. I needed to ask her to swing by a Starbucks or something if I was going to get through this afternoon.

“Is that your prissy way of telling me that he was trying to get in your pants and you weren’t having it?”

She narrowed her eyes at me and pulled off on the exit that took us towards Brookside.

“I need you to stop by Starbucks before going to my parents’ house, and don’t think I didn’t notice you aren’t answering my question?”

“If we stop we’re going to be late and not every boy thinks with what’s in their pants.”

“The sky isn’t going to fall on us if we show up five minutes behind Margot’s schedule, and you have got to be kidding me, you strung that loser along for six months without giving it up, what a joke.”

That made me flat-out laugh at her. I laughed so hard that I had to hold my head in both hands as my whisky logged brain started to protest by screaming at me. I gasped a little and looked at her with watery eyes. “If you really believe that you aren’t nearly as smart as I always thought you were. Every single dude under the age of ninety is trying to get in your pants, Shaw, especially if he’s thinking that he’s your boy. I’m a guy, I know this shit.”

She bit her lip again conceding I probably had a valid point and pulled the car into the coffee shop. I practically bolted out, eager to stretch my legs and get a little distance from her typically haughty attitude. There was a line when I got inside and I cast a quick look around to see if I recognized anyone because Brookside was a pretty small town and usually when I stopped by on the weekends I inevitably ran into some I used to go to school with. I hadn’t bothered to ask Shaw if she wanted me to grab her anything because she was still being all uppity about having to stop in the first place. It was almost my turn to order when my phone started blasting a Social Distortion song in my pocket. I dug it out after ordering a big ass black coffee and took a spot on the counter next to a cute brunette that was trying her hardest not get caught checking me out.

“What up?”

I could hear the music in the shop blaring behind Nash when he asked, “How did this morning go?”

Nash knew my faults and bad habits better than anyone and the reason we had maintained our friendship as long as we had was because he never judged me based on those factors.

“Sucked. I’m hung-over, grumpy and about to sit through yet another forced family function, plus Shaw is rare form today.”

“How was the chick from last night?”

“No clue. I don’t even remember getting home from the bar but apparently I did a huge piece on her side so she was a little pissed I didn’t remember who she was, so ouch.”

He chuckled on the other end of the line. “She told you that like six times last night, she even tried to pull her top off to show you and I drove your dumb ass home last drunko. I tried to get you to leave at like midnight but you weren’t having any of it as usual.”

I snorted and reached for the coffee when the guy behind the counter called my name. I noticed the brunette’s eyes follow the hand that wrapped around the cardboard cup. It was the one that had the flared head of a king cobra on it. The rest of the snake wound its way up my forearm and around my elbow, the extended forked tongue made the “L” on my ring finger in the tattoo of my name that was inked across the four knuckles of the same hand. Her mouth made a little O of surprise so I flashed her a wink and walked back to the BMW.

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