“I look like a clown no matter what when I’m around that girl.”  He barked out a laugh and rubbed a rough hand through my spiky hair.

“You and Shaw are still acting like mortal enemies?”

“More like uneasy acquaintances, she’s just as prissy and judgmental as always.  Why didn’t you call or email me that you were hurt?  I had to hear it from her on the way over.”

He swore as we started to slowly start and make our way into the house.  It upset me to see how deliberate he was moving and I wondered if there was more serious damage done than the visible marks I could see.

“I was unconscious after the Hummer flipped.  We went over an IED and it was bad.  I was in the hospital for a week with a scrambled noggin and when I woke up they had to do surgery on my shoulder so I was drugged up.  I called mom and figured she would let you know what the deal was, but I heard that as usual you were unavailable when she called.”

I shrugged a shoulder and reached out a hand to steady him as he faltered a little on the stairs to the front door.  “I’m busy.”

“You’re stubborn.”

“Not too stubborn, I’m here aren’t I and I didn’t even know you were home until like fifteen minutes ago.”

“The only reason you’re here is because that little girl in there is bound and determined to keep this family together regardless if we’re her own or not.  You go in there and play nice otherwise I’ll kick your ass broken arm and all.”

I muttered a few choice words and followed my battered sibling into the house.  Sundays really were just my least favorite day.

Chapter 2

Shaw

I closed the bathroom door with a soft click and turned the lock.  I collapsed against the skin and ran shaking hands over my face.  It was getting harder and harder each and every Sunday to be Rule’s chaperone to these family gatherings, I already felt like I was getting an ulcer and if I had to walk in on him and one of his disgusting bar bimbos again I wasn’t sure I was going to make it out of his apartment without committing homicide.  I turned around to splash some cold water on my face and lifted the heavy fall of blond hair off my neck.  I needed to pull it together because the last thing I wanted was for Margot or Dale to notice something was off and even drugged up and in pain Rome was one of the most observant people I had ever met.  He didn’t miss a thing when it came to either of his younger brothers and me by association since I was technically lumped into the category of surrogate little sister.

It was getting harder and harder to spend time around Rule and not just because looking at him reminded me of everything that I no longer had which was the problem Margot and Dale struggled with, not that the insensitive ass had any empathy for his parents.  My struggle came with the fact that Rule was complicated, he was brash, mouthy, careless, thoughtless, and often cranky and generally and insufferable pain in the ass but when he chose to be he was also charming and funny, artistically brilliant and more often than not the most interesting person in the room and I had been head over heels in love with both sides of him since I was thirteen years old.  Of course I had loved Remy, loved him like a brother, like the best friend and consummate protector he had been but I loved Rule like it was my mission in life, like it was inevitable and no matter how many times I was shown what an awful idea it was, what a bad match we were, what a callous asshole he could be, I couldn’t shake it so each and every time I had to have the fact that he didn’t even think of me as more than a car pool driver shoved in my face it tore a little bit more of my battered heart apart.

My own family was such a mess there was no way I would be half the person I was today without all the Archers had done for me.  Remy had taken me under his wing when I was a friendless and lonely pre-teen, Rome had threatened to beat up the first boy that made me cry because he didn’t like me back, Margot had taken me shopping for homecoming and prom dresses when my own mother was too busy with her new husband to care, Dale had taken me to Denver University and CU Boulder and helped whittle down the choices logically and rationally when it came to picking a college and Rule, well Rule was a constant reminder that money didn’t get you everything you wanted and that no matter how perfect I tried to be, how hard I worked at being everything to everyone that it  still wasn’t enough.

I blew out a breath that I felt like I had been holding for over an hour and took a piece of Kleenex to wipe away the black smudges that had run under my eyes from the water.  If I didn’t get down the dining room fast Margot was bound to come looking for me and I didn’t have a reasonable excuse as to why I was currently hyperventilating in the bathroom.  I fished a hair tie out of my pocket and pulled my hair into a low ponytail.  I slicked on a sheer coat of gloss and gave myself a silent pep talk, reminding myself that I had done this a million other Sundays and that this one was no different.  Just as I was stepping into the hall my phone rang and I had to struggle to keep back a groan when I saw that it was Gabe calling again.  I sent the call to voicemail and wondered for the hundredth time in the last month why I had ever wasted a second of my time on his pompous ass.  He was over entitled, overly grabby, overly superficial and overly interested in my last name and the fact that my parents were loaded than in me.  I wasn’t even interested in dating him, wasn’t interested in dating anyone but my parents had forced my hand and as usual under their pressure I folded and ended up spending more time than I wanted with him.  I managed to tolerate him for a lot longer than I thought I would be able to, after all Gabe was way more interested in himself than in me, it wasn’t until he had started pushing for sex, started making me uncomfortable by grabbing and touching things I didn’t want his hands anywhere near that I cut the cord.  Unfortunately neither he nor my parents seemed to want to get the message and I had been inundated with calls, texts and emails for the last two weeks.  Gabe was easy enough to dodge, my mother not so much.

I was shoving the phone back into my back pocket when a quiet voice stopped me.  “What’s going on with you little girl?  I’ve been gone for over eighteen months and all I get is a hug and a peck on the cheek before you disappear?  Where are the tears, where’s the hysterics that I’m home safe and sound?  What’s working in that complicated brain of yours because I can tell something is on your mind?”

I hiccupped a little laugh and let my forehead fall onto the strong chest in front of me.  Even battered and bruised Rome was the kind of guy that stood between the people he loved and anything that might possibly hurt them.  He patted the top of my head and laid a heavy hand on the back of my neck.  “I missed that pretty face Shaw; you don’t know how good it is to be home.”

I shuttered a little and wrapped a carful arm around his waist so that I could give him a squeeze and not hurt him.  “I missed you too, Rome.  I’m just stressed out.  School is crazy right now, I’m working three or four nights a week and my parents won’t get off my back about this guy I just broke up with.  You know I love it when we’re all together.  I thought your mom was going to have a heart attack when she called to tell me what happened to you.  I’m so glad you’re okay, I don’t this family would be able to handle another Archer son going down.”

“No probably not.  I can’t believe she still has you playing chuffer to my idiot brother.”

I hooked my arm through his and we started to make our way to the dining room.  “It’s the only way he’ll come.  If I have to miss it because of school or because something comes up he just blows them off.  Half the time when I get to the apartment he doesn’t even know what day it is and has to scramble to get out the door, today would be a prime example of that.  If I show up he feels obligated to ride with me no matter what or who he’s in the middle of doing.”