When I brushed past him, I didn’t miss the anticipation gleaming in his midnight gaze. He didn’t say anything else, which I was grateful for because I was feeling like I had jumped off a very high cliff without any knowledge of what was waiting for me below, and that was terrifying. There were no guarantees that he was going to stick around once he had the entire picture laid out in front of him, but I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. In reality, I wanted to give him a whole lot more than that, which was enough to make me break out in nervous hives. I held on tenuously to my control, to the protection it offered my life here, and I had a sinking feeling he could make me give it all up.
When I got to work, a familiar truck was parked at the curb and I could see one very blond head and one darker one with hot pink spikes, turned toward each other. The windows were up, so I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but Shaw looked mad and Rule was frowning, hard. When she caught sight of me walking by, she waved and started to scoot across the seat to the passenger door. I laughed to myself when Rule promptly pulled her back and planted a steamy kiss on her open mouth before letting her go. She was flushed and breathing hard when she walked around the front of the vehicle to stand by me. I gave her a look and she rolled her eyes at me. The driver’s window rolled down and Rule stuck his head out. No boy should be that good-looking, especially when half his face had holes and jewelry in it, but there was just something about him that commanded attention and refused to be ignored.
I had to grin at him when he asked, “Do you need me to go stomp on Jet’s head for you? That was a total dick move he pulled last night and I will gladly do it.”
I shook my head and let Shaw lace her arm through mine. “Naw, we kind of made up.”
He lifted the eyebrow with the rings in it and gave me a lascivious grin. “Does that mean you finally got naked together?”
Shaw gasped and snapped, “Rule!” but I just laughed until tears came out of the corners of my eyes. “No, not yet, but I’m working on it.”
He smacked the side of the truck with the flat of his hand. “Atta girl.” He pointed a finger at Shaw. “You think about what I said this morning, Casper.”
Shaw made a face next to me, but hollered, “I love you, jackass!” at him when he started to roll up the window. He blew her a kiss, which made her flip him off, and started to tug me toward the bar. I tried to get her to slow her frantic pace but she was clearly worked up and in no mood to be soothed.
“What’s going on with you two?”
She cut me a sideways glance and pulled open the heavy back door. “Shouldn’t I be asking you that? You tore out of there like the place was on fire last night, and I never heard a word. I know you had to have been pissed at Jet, so what happened?”
I threw my bag on the bench and started digging around. “You go first. You talk and I’ll get dressed, and I’ll tell you what happened with us after.” I was feeling like I needed a little oomph today after yesterday’s debacle, so I went with the football uniform. I liked the white-hot pants with the blue piping and laces, and in all actuality they covered more than either the referee uniform or the cheerleader uniform did. Plus, I could wear tennis shoes with it and still look hot enough to get good tips. I heard Shaw sigh and watched as she twisted her long, two-toned hair into a braid.
“Rome is coming home in a few months. Like home, home. He’ll be out of the army for good.” Rome was Rule’s older brother and they were super close, but due to a recent, startling family secret being brought to light, he was furious with his parents. I guess he was not even getting along all that well with Rule at the moment, but he supposedly had forgiven Shaw for her part in keeping the secret for years and years.
I slimed some junk in my hands and ran it through my hair to get it to lie flat, and then tugged the front up into a little poof. I shoved a blue-and-orange silk flower behind my ear and worked on doing some basic maintenance to my face.
“Well, that’s good, right?”
She groaned and let her head fall against the closed locker she was leaning against. “Rule has it in his head that when Rome gets back, he won’t go to his parents’ home at all, and is going to need a place to stay. He wants to buy a house for us and let Rome take over the lease on the apartment with Nash.”
I stopped smacking my lips and doing my lipstick to look at her incredulously. “Why aren’t you excited? That sounds amazing. Most girls get flowers and chocolates for Valentine’s Day, and you get your dream guy offering to buy you a house.”
She turned to look at me and I saw her chew on her bottom lip like she did when she was nervous or worried about something. “I don’t know. I guess because I always thought I would do things in order, you know? Fall in love, get married, buy a house, have kids. All of that stuff goes hand in hand and I’m not even close to being done with school yet. It just seems like a huge step and if he changes his mind or whatever, then what do I do?”
“Shaw, that guy loves you like you’re his reason for being. He isn’t going to change his mind, and unless you think this isn’t a forever thing, then what should the order it happens in matter?”
She sighed again and played with the ends of her braid. “I know for me it’s a forever thing, and I believe that he feels the same way, but Rule gets dangerous when he feels trapped. It scares me what he might do when he has to pay a mortgage and come home to the same person every night.”
I poked her in the shoulder. “He comes home to you every night now. Stop making it into something it isn’t. You guys love each other and it doesn’t matter if it’s in an apartment or a mansion or a freaking tent in the wilderness. You’re still going to love each other, and Rule will be fine. Besides, did you ever stop to think maybe he wants to do something to make Rome’s life easier? Rome has always protected both of you. Maybe this is Rule’s way of trying to return the favor.”
I saw something in her green eyes flare and a little bit of the tension in her face release. “Thanks, Ayd, I needed to hear that.”
I shrugged and situated my phone in my bra. “No problem.”
“Sooooo, what about you and Jet? I saw how you looked when you came back to the table. I thought we were either going to have to make up an alibi for you and help you move the body or hose you down.”