LITMIR.BIZ

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she needs to keep her eyes open and he wants me to get her a Taser or mace. He thinks the little punk is pretty insulated because of his old man, but he pretty much said if he tries anything with me I can lay him out. It sucks, he shouldn’t be allowed to put his hands on her and live to tell about it.”

      “We’ll keep her close and keep it under control; you know we got your back in this, lil’ bro.”

      I made a face and lowered my voice because I heard Shaw coming back down the hall. “If anything happens to her, Rome, I’m going to lose it. I mean, I know I kind of went off the rails when Remy died, but something tells me if that girl ends up hurt or worse there won’t be any recovering from that for me.”

      I think he was probably going to answer something back but Shaw popped up at my elbow and none too subtly tugged on me to let me know she was ready to go. She waved to Rome and hustled me out to the truck. It was cold out so I wrapped an arm around her and tugged her close to my side. She rubbed her cold nose on my neck and laughed when I swore at her.

      “You need a hat.” My newly shorn head was actually freezing but I was a tough guy so I just pulled the hood of my sweatshirt up and raised the eyebrow with the hoops in it at her.

      “Better?”

      “Whatever, macho man. Thanks for getting my car.”

      “No problem, just make sure you keep an eye out at school today. I don’t want Polo Shirt waylaying you on your way to class or anything.”

      “Polo Shirt?”

      “Davenport, he always has on a stupid polo.”

      She laughed so hard I had to hold her upright and give her a boost into the truck, not that I minded, because it meant I got to cop a feel of her superb backside.

      “That he does. I’ll make sure I walk to class with someone. This girl, Devlin, is in a bunch of the same classes as me and we have a couple study groups together so I’ll just stick with her. I don’t think she’s a fan of Gabe, either, so that should make asking her easy.”

      “Cool. What kind of phone do you want? I don’t want you to have to wait until tomorrow to get one. I’ll go on my way back from Brookside and pick one up.”

      She shrugged and messed around with my iPod until the smoky sound of Lucero filled the cab. “I don’t care. The same as my old one is fine. I need my contacts switched over, though.”

      “I’ll take care of it.”

      She grinned at me and scooted over so that she could put her hand on my knee. Her fingers tapped out the rhythm of the country-tinged rock as we made our way across town to the university. It took about twenty minutes in light traffic, but it was getting ready to snow, and I could see having to push my first appointment back because of weather since I was driving out of town. She wanted me to just park on the street and drop her off, but I wanted to keep her in sight as long as possible, so I parked the truck at a meter and told her I was walking her to her first class. She rolled her eyes but didn’t argue when I opened her door and helped her hop down.

      I tucked her back in the curve of my body and walked across the campus with her, thinking this was the only time I had been on a college campus for a reason other than a party. Several people called out a greeting to her or waved hi. She replied in kind and I didn’t miss the speculative looks we got. I’m sure we made an odd pair and her classmates probably weren’t used to seeing her out of her normal rich-girl gear. We stopped outside an impressive-looking building and she tilted her head back so she was looking up at me. Her green eyes were bright, her hair was in a sexy tangle from me and from the brisk Colorado air, and her nose was a charming shade of pink; I don’t think I had ever seen anything cuter.

      “Drive safe. I agree with your brother, I think you should try to see your parents while you’re there.”

      I didn’t want to argue with her so I just kissed her hard and fierce with enough tongue and enough force to let her know she would be on my mind throughout the day. I thought maybe she would freak out about the public display of affection but it only took between one heartbeat and the next for her cold hands to climb up my chest and wrap around my neck. She kissed me back with just as much fervor and when she fell back to her feet, she was breathing hard and had a pretty flush under her pale cheeks.

      “You be safe, too. I’ll see you later. I’ll bring your phone by the bar after work. Remember, don’t be alone whenever you can avoid it. And Shaw”—she met my gaze with humor lighting up her own—“I like you going to school in my clothes, it’s totally hot.”

      She stood back on her tiptoes and kissed the end of my chilly nose. “Agreed. And you suck for changing the subject, but I can take a hint so I’ll see you later.”

      I watched her walk up the stairs of the building and she paused at the top, where a girl was seemingly waiting for her. She smiled at the girl and told her hello. I heard the other girl ask her in a surprised voice that was loud enough to carry down to where I was waiting, “Who was that?” I was curious as to what her answer would be, considering that wasn’t something we had ever really talked about.

      Her laugh carried sharp and clear through the winter air. “That’s Rule.”

      “I didn’t know you had a new boyfriend.”

      “Well, he isn’t exactly new, but yeah.”

      I was her boyfriend. She was my girlfriend. How weird was that? I hadn’t had any girl in my life long enough in twenty-two years to call a girlfriend; I didn’t even really have friends who were girls. Shaw was the closest thing that had ever come to filling that role as well. I was her boyfriend and that made me want to dance a jig and pump my fist in the air. Instead, I winked at her when she turned back to look at me and laughed when she in turn stuck out her tongue at me. Why hadn’t I realized before that letting someone in would make me happy, that she made me happy? I couldn’t remember the last time I had laughed so much and even in bed she made it fun. She made things better and I knew I wanted to do the same for her.

      I sent Rome a text that I was on my way and he replied back that he and Nash had just finished up at the gym so he would be ready to go when I got home. I changed the music to the Bloody Hollies and rocked out on the way back to the Victorian. I ran in to grab Shaw’s phone out of her bag and collected my brother and in no time we were on the highway headed to Brookside. The first few flurries of snow started to pelt the windshield as we were just entering the interstate and I swore, knowing what it was going to do to the commute and my schedule for the rest of the day. In fact, before we even got to Brookside, Nash called and told me both my noon and two o’clock appointments wanted to reschedule because of the weather, so I no longer had the work excuse as a reason to bolt home without trying to see my folks.

      Rome, not being stupid, blatantly listened in on the call and looked across the cab of the truck expectantly. “It won’t kill you to stop by and just say hi for a minute. We can even go there first so they don’t ask why we have Shaw’s car with us.”

      “I just don’t see the point.”

      “The point is that no matter how you feel they’re still our parents and you don’t just get to give up on them.”

      “Why not? They gave up on me the minute the good twin was pronounced DOA.”

      “Stop it and grow a pair. You can tough out a five-minute visit with Mom and Dad if only to say you tried. It’ll make Shaw happy to know you made a minimal effort. Remember they’re more like her parents than her real parents so if the two of you are going to do what you’re doing for the long term, you’re going to have to show her that even if Mom isn’t going to budge that at least you tried.”

      He was right and it totally made my stomach turn over. Right now, Shaw was all about building a bridge and forcing my mom’s hand when it came to dealing with me and accepting me, but after seeing how awful her biological mother treated her I had no doubt the divide between her and my parents wouldn’t be longstanding, which meant I had to figure out how I fit into that puzzle. Trying wouldn’t kill me,

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