LITMIR.BIZ

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entering a new phase; maybe this isn’t new Ayden or old Ayden but an excellent new incarnation of both. You’re fine; whoever and whatever you want to be is just fine.”

      “I sure hope so. So, have you seen or heard anything from Gabe?”

      I shook my head and kicked back in the seat. “No. I’ve seen him on campus coming and going but he keeps his distance. Rule’s retired cop friend says he heard that Judge Davenport wasn’t happy to have his son’s name come up in open court, so maybe he put a leash on him. The guys have been really good about keeping me close, so I don’t think he has the nerve to go up against Rule or Rome. I’m purposely avoiding all contact with my parents, so if he’s trying to enlist them it isn’t doing him any good.”

      “So, what’s your long-term plan? Rome has to go back to playing soldier soon, and as much as I’m sure Rule likes keeping you close, eventually it’s gonna get old. The honeymoon phase won’t last forever.”

      I was worried about that myself. Right now he seemed to like hanging out at the bar and didn’t seem to mind juggling our hectic schedules back and forth to see each other and to keep his eye on me, but I agreed with her that it couldn’t last much longer.

      “I don’t know what to do. If the legal system can’t help and my own parents are working against me, I just don’t know. I wish he would find another girl who is socially acceptable and forget about me.”

      “I don’t know, either, but I’m glad you aren’t trying to handle this all on your own.”

      “Rule is good for me. I feel like my life is finally my own with him in it.”

      “Have you told him that you’re in love with him and have been for eternity?”

      I gulped down some of my drink and it went down the wrong tube. I hacked for a second until tears filled my eyes. “No! Are you nuts? Why would I do that? He already knows that I’ve had a crush on him since forever and I think that just weirds him out. I don’t want to put all kinds of pressure on him to feel the same about me. He wants to be together and he’s making a true and honest effort to be in this relationship with me, and for now that’s good enough.”

      She clicked her tongue at me and waved a finger back and forth. “If you think you hide the way you feel about him at all, you’re so wrong. The feelings you have for that boy radiate out of you like a bright light. He has to see it every time he looks at you.”

      I fiddled nervously with the ends of my hair. “Well, he’s never said anything about it and that’s just fine by me.”

      “You are so silly. You’ve been in love with this guy since you were a teenager and now you have him and you’re still worried about being open and honest with him? It just seems to me like you wouldn’t want to waste any more time.”

      “This is Rule we’re talking about. He’s unpredictable and doesn’t deal with emotions in a typical way. I don’t want to scare him off by getting too intense, too quickly. I’ve seen what he does to people who push him and it isn’t pretty.”

      “For what it’s worth, I think he’s just as sprung on you as you are on him. That glow you have, well he has it, too, just in a darker, slightly more confused way.”

      “Well, that’s nice to hear. I don’t know that I believe it, but still, it’s a nice thought.”

      We spent another hour and one more coffee each catching up. We talked about school and I told her a little about Margot’s breakdown when Rule went to get my car. We talked about work and how ridiculous Loren seemed to be every time she opened her mouth and we made plans to go shopping the following weekend after another trip to the salon. By the time we were done talking, she had to run to get ready for work. We left on a hug, which I’m pretty sure caused the table of geeks to spontaneously break into juvenile erection territory, and I headed up to Capitol Hill. Since I was off and Rome was back in the Springs for another checkup, I had promised Rule I would meet him at the tattoo shop and wait until he was done with his last client.

      I hadn’t been in the shop during business hours so when I pushed open the door I was slightly taken aback at how busy it was. There was a girl behind the counter with supershort hair bleached out as white as mine and spiked up all over the place. She was answering the phone, handling the people milling about the waiting area, and pointing prospective clients in the directions of the appropriate portfolios. There were three other artists set up in the stations not filled by Nash, Rowdy, and Rule. I noticed one of them was a very pretty girl with black and green hair that looked like something out of a comic book. There were also six clients in varying positions getting all kinds of designs and making all manner of awful sounding noises and looks of discomfort that had their friends and the artists laughing and making lighthearted comments. Against Me! was blasting over the sound system and the entire vibe was energetic and exciting. I couldn’t fathom how anyone earned such a good living in such a crazy environment, but it seemed to suit Rule’s personality to a tee.

      I stood unsure in the doorway for a full minute just taking it all in until I was jostled to the side by a girl in too-tight pants and disgusting UGGs. Her hair was teased up and I could see she had swirling sleeves of ink under her supertiny T-shirt. I guess she was good-looking in a trashy, desperate kind of way, but the girl behind the counter apparently had no time for her because her voice, loud and clear with a hint of an East Coast burr, told her none too graciously, “Fuck off, Liza. I already told you over the phone that he was booked up for the next two weeks and he has no interest in working late to touch your shit up.”

      The girl mumbled something I couldn’t hear and leaned over the counter. The receptionist or whatever her title was rolled her eyes dramatically. “Look, let me break this down for you: he is not interested in you. You are a client—you give him money to tattoo you, not to date you and not to flirt with you. He’s busy, and I mean busy, so if you want work done, you will get put in the book like everyone else and come in for your scheduled appointment. Besides, he’s got a girlfriend now and has no interest in the little ink bunnies anymore.”

      I blinked rapidly in surprise when I realized she was more than likely talking about Rule and that I was more than likely the girlfriend she was referring to. How strange was that? The girl continued to have a little bit of a fit until it became clear she wasn’t going to get past the blond fireball. She shoved past me on the way out the door, and a clean-cut college guy took her place at the desk. He made his appointment with no fuss and I continued to watch the ebb and flow of business for a while until the girl’s attention finally landed on me.

      “Can I help you with something?” She wasn’t exactly friendly, more like matter-of-fact, so I started a little bit.

      “I’m just waiting for someone.”

      “Well, you can have a seat over there if you’re waiting for a client.”

      I tucked my hair behind my ears and cocked my head to the side and regarded her carefully. “I’m actually waiting for Rule.”

      Now that she was looking at me I could see she had really unusual-colored eyes; one was dark brown and the other was a swirl of green and blue. She gave a really heavy sigh and narrowed her eyes at me. “Like I told the other tattoo tramp, Rule is busy. If you want to see him, you have to have an appointment just like every other client.”

      I snickered against my will. “Tattoo tramp? Is that what you call them?”

      She seemed surprised by my question. “Yeah. You have no idea how many poor girls are walking around this town with stupid lower-back tattoos just because they wanted to pull their pants down for one of the guys.”

      “Oh, I would totally believe it.”

      She leaned her elbows on the counter and sized me up and down. “What did you say your name was?”

      “I didn’t, but then again you didn’t ask. I’m Shaw. I’m not a tramp of any persuasion and I don’t have any tattoos, so neither of those things apply to me.”

      As soon as I said my name her jaw dropped open

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