By now I had maneuvered her to the entryway of the building and I saw her in the BMW idling in the spot next to my truck.  She was impatient and would take off if I wasted anymore time.  I gave Lucy a half grin and shrugged a shoulder, after all it wasn’t her fault I was an asshole and even I knew she deserved better than such a callous brush off.  “Look don’t feel bad, I can be a charming bastard when I put my mind to it.  You are far from the first and won’t the last that has to see this little show.  I’m glad your tat turned out badass, I’d prefer you remember me for that rather than last night.”

I jogged down the front steps without looking back and yanked open the door to the fancy black BMW.  I hated this car and hated that it suited the driver as well as it did.  Classy, sleek and expensive were definitely words that could be used describe my traveling companion and even as Lucy yelled at me and flipped me off as we pulled out of the lot to my apartment building all she did was roll her eyes and mutter, “Classy” under her breath.  She was used to the little scenes chicks liked to throw when I bailed on them the morning after; I had even had to replace her windshield once when one of them had chucked a rock at me and missed while I was walking away.

I adjusted the seat to accommodate my long legs and settled in to rest my head against the window.  It was always a long and achingly silent drive, sometimes like today I was grateful for it, other times it grated on my very last nerve.  We had been a fixture in each other’s lives since middle school, she knew every strength and fault I had, my parents loved her like their own and made no bones about the fact they more often than not preferred her company over mine. One would think with all the history, both good and bad between us that we could make simple small talk for a few hours without it being difficult.

“You’re going to get that junk that’s all in your hair all over my window.”  She had a voice that didn’t match the rest of her.  It was all cigarettes and whiskey, while she was all champagne and silk.  I had always liked her voice, when we got along I could listen to her talk for hours.

“I’ll get it detailed.”  She snorted.  I closed my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest.  I was all set for a silent ride but apparently she had things to say today because as soon as she pulled the car onto the highway she turned the radio down and said my name, “Rule,”  I turned my head slightly to the side and cracked open an eye.

“Shaw.”  Her name was just as fancy as the rest of her.  She was pale, had snowy white blond hair and big ole green eyes that looked like a Granny Smith apple.  She was tiny, an easy foot shorter than my own six three, but had curves for days.  She was the kind of girl that guys looked at just because they couldn’t help themselves, but as soon as she turned those frosty green eyes in their direction they knew they wouldn’t stand a chance.  She exuded unattainability like some other girls oozed come and get me.

She blew a breath out and I watched as a strand of hair twirled around her forehead.  She looked at me out of the corner of her eye and I stiffened up when I saw how tight her hands were on the steering wheel.

“What is it Shaw?”

She bit her bottom lip, a sure sign she was nervous.  “I don’t suppose you answered any of your mom’s calls this week?”

I wasn’t exactly tight with my folks, in fact our relationship hovered somewhere around the mutually tolerable area which is why my mom sent Shaw to drag me home each weekend.  We were both from a small town called Brookside in an affluent part of Colorado.  I moved to Denver as soon as I had my diploma in hand and Shaw was a few years behind because she was younger than me and also because she had wanted nothing more than to get into D-U.  Not only did the girl look like a fairytale princess but she was also on track to be a freaking doctor.  My mom knew there was no way I would make the two hour drive there and back to see them on the weekends, but if Shaw drove and came and got me, not only would I feel guilty for making her take time out of her schedule to get me, but that I had no excuse to not go.  Shaw paid for the gas, waited for me to stumble out of bed and dragged my sorry ass home every single Sunday and not once in going on two years had she complained about it.

“No, I was busy all week.”  I was busy, but I also just didn’t like talking to my mom so I had ignored her all three times she had called me this week.

Shaw sighed and her hands twisted even tighter on the steering wheel.  “She was calling to tell you that Rome got hurt and the Army is sending him home for six weeks of R&R.  Your dad went to the military base in the Springs yesterday to pick him up.”

I bolted up in the seat so fast that I smacked my head on the roof of the car.  I swore and rubbed the spot that made my head throb anymore.  “What?  What do you mean he got hurt?”  Rome was my older brother, he had three years on me and had been overseas for a good portion of the last six, but we were still tight and even if he didn’t like all the distance I put between me and my parents over the years if he was seriously injured I would have heard about it from him.

“I’m not sure; Margot said something happened to the convoy he was in when they were out on patrol.  He was in a pretty bad accident I guess.  She said his arm was broken and he had a few snapped ribs but she was pretty upset so I had a hard time understanding her when she called.”

“Rome would have called.”

“Rome is doped up and spent the last two days being debriefed, he asked your mom to call because you Archer boys are nothing if not persistent.  Margot told him that you wouldn’t answer but he kept telling her to try.”

My brother was hurt, but he was home and I didn’t know about it.  I closed my eyes again and let my head drop back against the headrest.  “Well hell, that’s good news I guess.”

“Are you going to go by and see your mom?”  I didn’t have to look at her to know that she had stiffened even more.  I could practically feel the tension rolling off of her in icy waves.

“No.”  She didn’t say more and I didn’t expect her to.  The Archers might not have been the closest, warmest bunch, but we didn’t have anything on the Landon’s.  Shaw’s family craped gold and breathed money, they also cheated and lied, were divorced and remarried and from what I had seen over the years had little need or interest in the biological daughter that came from a union figured out on a tax form rather than a bedroom.  I knew Shaw loved my house, loved my parents because it was the only semblance of normalcy she had ever experienced and I didn’t begrudge her that, in fact I appreciated the fact she took most of the heat off of me.  If Shaw was doing good in school, dating an affluent undergrad, living the life my parents had always wanted for their sons but had been denied they stayed off my case and since Rome was usually a continent away I was the only one they could get to so I took no shame in using Shaw as a buffer.

“Man I haven’t even talked to Rome in three months.  It’ll be awesome to see him.  I wonder if I can convince him to come spend some time in D-town with me and Nash.  He’s probably more than ready for a little bit of fun.”

She sighed again and moved to turn the radio back up a little bit.  “You’re twenty-two Rule, when are you going to stop acting like an indulgent teenager?  Did you even ask this one her name? In case you were wondering you smell like a mix between a distillery and a strip club.”

I snorted and let my eyes drift back shut.  “You’re nineteen, Shaw when are you going to stop living your life by everyone else’s standards?  My eighty-two year old grandma has more of a social calendar than you and I think she’s less uptight.”  I wasn’t going to tell her what she smelled like because it was sweet and lovely and I had no desire to be nice at the moment.