The hushed conversation gave me a whole new insight into the girl that was starting to mean so much to me. It also brought up a lot of questions that I couldn’t ask of my deceased brother. I wanted to know why if he had known she had a thing for me, he let me and the rest of the family happily believe they were an item for all those years. It seemed deceitful and shady and so not like Remy. I also wanted to know why he hadn’t said anything to me about her, I thought we shared everything and not that I had been in a place in my early teens to offer Shaw anything it still seemed odd he hadn’t mentioned anything about her feelings to me so that I might have treaded more carefully around her instead of trampling across her feelings like a herd of buffalos.

The quiet conversation took place early in the morning while she was stumbling around my room trying to get ready for school. She only had her fancy dinner with mom clothes and didn’t want to run back to her apartment so I told her to take one of my t-shirts out of the closet. It was fun to watch a hot chick scramble around half naked and pick through my pretty basic guy wardrobe. She ended up in her leggings and boots and my Black Angels t-shirt that hung almost to her knees and suddenly getting up to take her to school seemed a lot more fun. She dodged my grabbing hands with a laugh while trying to pull her hair into a ponytail. This was the kind of interaction I missed by only engaging in meaningless one night stands. I liked playing with Shaw, liked having her using my bathroom and being all up in my stuff and the more I thought about it the more I realized I had missed her in more areas of my life than my bed this last week.

She pressed a quick kiss to my mouth and told me she was going to make coffee and something for breakfast so I struggled to get up and searched around for my phone to call Mark. I wasn’t going to waste any time trying to put as many roadblocks between Shaw and Davenport as I could. I pulled on a pair of dark jeans and a shirt and went into the bathroom to splash cold water on my face. The phone rang while I brushed my teeth and Mark picked up just as I was spitting into the sink.

“What’s up kid?” I was checking out my stubbly face in the mirror and decided since I didn’t have any hair at the moment I was just gonna let it go, maybe try and grow it into a goatee or something.

“Hey Mark, sorry to bother you but I have a problem and I need some advice.”

“You piss off that pretty girl of yours?”

I laughed and leaned against the sink. “Yeah but I managed to fix that all on my own, but she is the reason I am calling. She has a lunatic ex who doesn’t seem to want to take no for an answer. He’s been showing up at her work, following her around, calling her a million times a day and he’s a friend of the family so her parents keep making excuses for her to be around him. This weekend he cornered her when she was alone shook her up and grabbed her. He left bruises on her arms and made a bunch of threats about what he’s going to do to her if she doesn’t take him back.”

“I’m surprised you’re not in jail.”

“Well she didn’t tell me about until after we left her parent’s house and I’ve already told him in no uncertain terms to leave her alone.”

“What’s his name?”

“Gabe Davenport.”

There was a low whistle and I could practically see Mark pacing back and forth. “He wouldn’t happen to be Judge George Davenport’s son would he?”

“Probably. He keeps throwing around that there isn’t anything I can do to him because of who his dad is.”

“He might be right. I would say we need to get a personal protection order in place as soon as possible, but there is a good chance if Davenport sees his son is involved it might not get passed.”

“That’s bullshit.”

“It is, but we still need to try otherwise there won’t be anything on file. You need to keep a clear head about this kid. The name Davenport is pretty powerful in our legal system and you don’t want to end up on the wrong side of it.”

I ran an agitated hand over my head. “I’m not going to let him anywhere near her Mark, plain and simple.”

“That’s fine but don’t go looking for trouble. She’s going to be a sitting duck if you go after the son and end up locked up.”

“I’m pissed Mark, not stupid. I want her safe and his guy taken down a notch or two but I’m well aware that me rearranging his face isn’t going to accomplish either of those things, however if he comes at me I make no promises.”

“If he comes at you take him out, but remember guys like this use laws and regulations to fight not bare knuckles and fists. Tell Shaw to be extra careful, tell her to try and be around someone else at all times, look at getting her a Taser or some mace and tell her if he shows up or put his hands on her again to call the police. She can get a harassment order in place if he keeps hounding her and once the police are involved there isn’t much a judge can do to make the report go away. Give her my number just in case, tell her to call me if she has questions or just needs to talk. Like I said that’s a special girl you got there, Kid. You wanna keep an eye on her.”

“I’m doing my best.”

“I know you are and Rule,” I waited a moment while he finished. “It’s good to see you finally settling down. You’ve always reminded me a little of my son, wild and carefree but you needed something to give you purpose. For my son it was fighting for our freedom and protecting his country, for you I think it’s figuring out you are worthy of the kind of love and affection a girl like that can offer. You two take care I’ll be in touch.”

I hung up the phone just as the door swung open and Shaw stuck her head in. “Come on let’s eat so we can go.”

I looked at her, I mean really looked at her and that slippery stuff in my chest suddenly settled right in the center. Her green eyes got wide when I tugged her into the bathroom and pulled her between my spread legs so that she was up against my chest and I rested my chin on the top of her head. Sometimes the difference in our height was just delightful.

“Are you okay?” She put her hands around my waist and gave me a tight hug.

I let out a breath that felt like I had been holding for a hundred years. Suddenly I knew that no matter how my parents felt, no matter what happened in the future near or far I was for once doing the absolute right thing. “Yeah, I’m good. Better than good actually.”

“Okay well I don’t want to be late so come eat some pancakes and take me to school.” She gave my ass a little pat and bounded back out of the room. I shook my head on a little laugh and followed her out. Rome was up and sitting at the table listening to her tell him about the bizarre brunch yesterday but Nash was nowhere in sight. I had let both of them know what was going on with polo shirt yesterday and I think they were both on hyper alert so that I didn’t go off the rails. My brother gave me a questioning look as I sat down, but I wasn’t about to go into detail while Shaw was prancing around feeding us breakfast.

“You still good to come to get her car with me?”

“Yep but I’m going to swing by mom and dad’s while were there, you wanna come?”

I flipped him off because he knew the last thing I wanted to do was see my folks. “Can’t anyways I have an appointment at noon.”

Shaw placed plates in front of both of us and took a seat on my right, she gave me a warm smile and I knew besides feeling right that this is what I had been missing for so long. I felt at home, this girl, my brother, my friends all the things that I had surrounded myself with suddenly made so much sense and I had a clarity that had been missing since Remy’s death. I loved my family, but I had never felt like I was part of them, this world I had developed, this life I was living it was a good one, filled with solid people that saw me for who I was and cared about me anyway. My throat got tight and I had to hide the swell of emotion behind a glass of orange juice otherwise I risked blubbering like a baby. I cleared my throat, “I’m gonna run Shaw to school then come back and get you is that cool?”

“Sure. I’ll go kick Nash and see if wants to hit the gym with me while you’re gone.”

I glanced at Shaw. “You’re going to have Ayden take you to work after school, right?” She nodded at me and continued to eat her breakfast. “Good. I’ll come get you from the bar when your shift is done. Your car will be here so you can decide if you want to stay or go to your place later.”

She lifted a shoulder and let it fall. “I don’t get out until two, its Monday night football so we’re busy. I’ll probably just stay here, besides you need to take me to get a phone tomorrow.”

“Why does he owe you a phone?” I glared at my big brother but she answered before I could tell him to shut it.

“I broke mine on accident and Rule offered to replace it.”

“He did? That doesn’t sound like my little brother.” I know he was just trying to rile me up but awesome sex and having Shaw close at hand with a plate of pancakes in front of me made that an impossible task. I smirked at him and leaned back in my chair to reach out and put my arm across the back of Shaw’s.

“I’m turning over a new leaf.”

He snorted, eyes that were so similar to mine gleamed with repressed humor. “For you to be considering someone else like that is more like turning over a whole freaking tree, not just a leaf, but good for you. Being considerate is a nice change for you.”

“Screw you.” Shaw rolled her eyes and let her fork clatter to her plate.

“You’re both ridiculous and I’m going to be late so let’s go.”

I leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. “Let me grab shoes and we’ll head out. Go grab your stuff. Thanks for breakfast.”

“Sure.” She ran out of the room and I pushed to my feet. I glowered at my brother.

“I do know how to be nice.”

“Only when you want something.”

“True enough. I want her.”

“Looks to me like you got her.”

“Now I just need to figure out how to not screw it up.”

Rome got up as well. “You won’t Rule. When it matters you never do, just remember that. Hey what did your cop buddy say?”

“That 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 to subtlety 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 and 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.