LITMIR.BIZ

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interrupting a private gathering; Shaw is here with her boyfriend and I don’t think she wants to see you.”

      I fought back an eye roll. The lady was manipulative and delivered it like it was fact, but I wasn’t stupid so I just stared back at her.

      “Davenport is a stalker not her boyfriend. Just get her for me, would ya?” I could see that my lack of respect was starting to get under her too tight skin.

      “How do you presume to know what’s going on in my daughter’s private life? You’ve always just been a crush, and we all know you two aren’t right for each other. It’s time to stop playing childish games.”

      “Look, lady, what’s going on between me and Shaw has nothing to do with you and I assure you it isn’t a game. I don’t mind making a scene if it gets me what I want, but something tells me that you wouldn’t want all your guests to wonder what the commotion was about.” I lifted my pierced brow. “Am I right?” I think she was about to tell me she was going to call the police or holler for her husband, but she didn’t get the chance because the heavy door was yanked out of her death grip and suddenly Shaw’s pale face appeared around the doorjamb.

      “Rule? What are you doing here?”

      Her hair was braided up in some fancy design that looked like it hurt. She had on a pearl necklace that looked like it was from the 1800s and a pink sweater that looked fuzzy and soft. She was also in a pair of loose cream-colored pants and had on a pair of pink heels that looked like they cost as much as my truck. She was so far removed from the Shaw that I was used to rolling around naked with I almost turned around and left without saying another word, but her green eyes were wide and sad and that slippery feeling in the center of my chest started to throb. I didn’t care that her mother was watching me with an eagle eye—I grabbed her arm and pulled her onto the stoop with me. I held her face in my hands and peered straight into her eyes.

      “I’m sorry,” I said.

      She put her hands over mine and blinked up at me. “What?”

      “I sent you a text last night. I tried to call you back all night and you didn’t answer me. I’m sorry. Sorry I pushed you away, sorry I acted like an idiot, sorry I don’t know how to do this thing between us right, I’m just sorry.”

      “My phone is broken.”

      “What?” I asked it on a laugh. I wanted to kiss her, wanted to scoop her up in my arms and take her somewhere so far away from here.

      “I threw it against the wall because Ayden told me you went home with some girl Friday night. I shattered the screen on it.”

      “Shit. I’ll buy you a new one.” She closed her eyes and squeezed my hands.

      “Did you do it, go home with her?”

      “No, I kissed her, which sucks on my part and makes me an asshole, but I knew it was wrong so I stopped it. I swear if we get this straight between us I will never let it happen again. I’m trying to figure out how all this works, Shaw. I hate that you’re the one who has to get hurt because of my learning curve.”

      “You shut me out, you left me alone in the dark, Rule. I don’t think I’ve ever had anything hurt that bad.”

      “I know, Casper; I know, but don’t give up on me now, okay?”

      “You drove all the way here just to apologize?”

      I nodded. “We have to fix this.”

      She gave me a lopsided grin. “We need to learn how not to break it in the first place.” I gulped down the sudden surge of emotion in my throat and pulled her into a tight hug. It felt like coming home, a feeling I don’t think I had ever actually experienced before. I kissed her softly behind her ear and whispered, “By the way, your mom hates me, like, HATES me.”

      She put her hands in the back pockets of my pants and stood on her tiptoes to kiss the underside of my jaw. “That’s okay, she hates me, too. Why did you cut your hair all off? It looks good, you look good, but I liked the Mohawk.”

      I self-consciously ran a hand over my naked skull. “I don’t know. I just needed to change it.”

      She looked at me with serious eyes and folded her hand in mine. “It makes you look more like Remy than all your other hairstyles.”

      “Shaw, tell your friend good-bye and come back inside. We have guests and you’re being very rude.”

      She peeked over my shoulder at her mother and I felt her grip on my hand tighten.

      “I’m not coming in without Rule.” Oh shit, she was doing it again, putting herself between me and another disapproving parent.

      “Hey, it’s cool. As long as we’re good I’ll just catch up with you when you get back to D-town. I can wait to see you later.”

      “No.”

      “Shaw.” Her mother’s voice was all whiplash warning. “This ends now. Send him on his way and come inside. You’ve made enough of a scene.”

      “No. I’m with him. If you want me to sit through another meal where you’re going to blatantly ignore Gabe trying to grope me and purposely make me uncomfortable then I’m doing it with Rule there to keep him in check.”

      “Shaw, he does not belong in there with this group of people.”

      There it was, the judgment, the censure, the idea that because I lived on my own terms and in my own way I wasn’t good enough for this girl. I pulled her to my side and met her mother’s glare with one of my own. Remy might have protected her by giving her a safe haven, but I was a fighter by nature and this lady had pushed enough of my buttons to last for years.

      “Right, but I’m the one she spent her birthday with, I’m the one who makes her happy, and I’m the one who is ready to protect her from the creep you keep shoving at her. I’m more than willing to take her with me and get out of your hair, but I doubt you want to try to explain her hasty exit to the Davenports, so why don’t you just suck it up for once in your life and let your kid have something, just one thing, that makes her happy?”

      “Shaw?” There was confusion in the woman’s tone now.

      “I go where he goes, so if you don’t want him to come in then I’m outta here. I never should have come in the first place. I’m tired of being manipulated and used as a pawn and an accessory. I told you about Gabe and you refuse to listen.”

      “But you’re perfect together.”

      “Right, only I want to be with him.” She hooked her thumb in my direction.

      “He openly admitted to cheating on you only a day ago, what kind of relationship do you honestly think you can have with him? Do you think your father will continue to pay for school when he hears about this?”

      She shrugged and I put a hand on her hip to pull her back against me. “I’m sick to death of worrying about it. It gives me migraines and my relationship is mine to work out. He’s not perfect and neither am I; if I choose to forgive him you don’t get a say in it.”

      I felt like a heel. I shouldn’t have assumed the redhead was just going to be forgotten, but Shaw was still letting me hold her, so I wasn’t too worried about it.

      “Fine. Come in, eat brunch, and try not to embarrass yourselves while you’re at it. Shaw, I want you gone as soon as brunch is done and don’t think for one single second that this is over. Just wait until I speak with your father about this circus.”

      She spun around and disappeared inside the massive house. I looked down at Shaw and ran a finger across her furrowed brow. “We okay?”

      “Mostly. Let’s just get through this, then worry about the rest later.” She started to pull away from me but I caught her around the waist and pulled her back to me.

      “Shaw.”

      “Yeah?”

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