It was Friday afternoon and I had been at the Marked, but my last appointment canceled due to an emergency, so I had a couple hours free. It was Rule’s day to be down at the Saints of Denver, so I knew he was going to give me a load of shit for lurking around the new shop when I should be working, but I didn’t care. When I pushed open the door I was surprised to see his spiky head behind the counter and not Salem’s. He was on the phone and just rolled his eyes at me when I propped myself up on the opposite side.
“Let me call you back, Rome. Rowdy just got here.” He paused and then grinned. “Yeah, thanks . . . I’m scared shitless but I’ll figure it out.”
I lifted an eyebrow at him and he did the same back at me, only his had metal in it.
“What’s up?”
“Nothing. Just thought I would stop by. What’s up with you? Why are you scared shitless?”
Rule shrugged. “Things just keep changing. It’s hard to keep up sometimes. Rome was just telling me it’s all payback for being such an asshole for so long.”
“What’s he talking about? You’re still an asshole most of the time.”
He laughed and leaned back in the chair with his arms up behind his head. “True. You wanna be straight with me and tell me the real reason you’re here instead of being where you’re supposed to be? Because I’m pretty fucking sure it has something to do with our pretty new shop manager.”
“I don’t want to tell you shit.”
He snorted and told me, “She had a meeting with the screen printer. She should be back in an hour or so. Those designs you mocked up were killer, dude.”
I shrugged nonchalantly. “Still waiting on you and Nash to give me something I can give to her.”
He let his arms fall and rose to his feet as the front door opened. “My mind has been on other things lately. I’ll get to it soon. Promise.”
He greeted a client and I turned to go up the stairs. He stopped me by calling out my name.
“The girls are all up there. You might want to steer clear for a minute or two.”
I just waved him off. I was used to Cora’s attitude and Ayden’s sass. Shaw was the sweetest thing in the world, and whatever they were up there discussing couldn’t be anything that would send me running for the hills. Besides, maybe I could pick their collective lady minds and figure out what Salem’s deal really was. There were just too many secrets and unknowns lurking behind those dark eyes.
When I hit the top of the steps I immediately knew I should have heeded Rule’s warning. The girls were huddled in a tight circle and they were all making whimpering sounds like they were crying. All three of them had their heads bent close together like they were in a huddle before a major play and I felt all my protective instincts fire up. I wanted to hurt whoever it was that was responsible for making these fantastic, important women cry and then I realized they were probably all just overreacting about Ayden’s news that she was moving.
The all broke apart when my boots clattered on the top step and three pairs of watery eyes shifted in my direction. I smiled at them, my instinct to try and make the situation better.
“Don’t worry, girls, Austin isn’t that far away. Jet will bring our girl back on the regular. I’ll make sure of it.”
I saw Ayden’s eyes get huge in her face as Shaw and Cora both turned on her with furious scowls.
“What?” Shaw snapped the question and Cora followed quickly behind.
“Yeah, what?”
Ayden held her hands up in front of her and glared at me.
“You suck, Rowdy.”
I frowned and looked between all of them, totally lost.
“What in the hell are you all crying about if it isn’t because you’re moving?”
“MOVING!” Shaw’s shriek was enough to have the mirrors and windows rattling in their frames as her cheeks turned a hot red.
Cora shoved Ayden in the shoulder and my buddy’s girl just shook her dark head. “I was going to tell you guys once I officially got accepted into the grad program at UT Austin. Jet and I just can’t keep spending so much time apart. I hate it. He hates it and we had to figure something out.”
Shaw just gaped at her as Cora crossed her arms over her chest. They both watched Ayden while she glowered at me. I shifted uncomfortably and made my way farther into the room.
“If you weren’t crying because of Ayd leaving, then what on earth has all of you in tears? I don’t like it one bit and I’m ready to beat someone up for all of you.”
Shaw jerked her gaze away from her friend and stared at me for a solid minute before blinking her big, green eyes at me. She let out a high-pitched laugh and pushed some of her almost white hair out of her face.
“I’m pregnant. I’m not supposed to be, but somehow, as usual, Rule doesn’t do things the way he’s supposed to and now we’re having a baby.”
Holy shit! The ultimate wild child having a child of his own. Oh, how the times had changed on all of us.
I walked over to her and wrapped her up in a rib-cracking hug. “Congratulations. You two are gonna make a beautiful baby, but why are you all crying over it?”
Cora lifted her eyebrow at me. “Happy tears. It’s exciting.” She pointed at Shaw and her mouth kicked up in a half grin. “I knew it wasn’t a stomach bug.”
Shaw shoved her hands through her long hair and sighed. “I just didn’t believe it for a long time. I mean we just got married. I still have to get through school and I’m not even close to doing a residency yet, but I’m already trying to imagine how any and all of that works with a baby. Rule was the one that kept saying I was probably pregnant but I thought he was out of his mind.” She shook her head and laughed again. “We’re always careful, but it’s just like him to make his own rules and have that not matter.”
Cora reached out to squeeze her shoulder. “Don’t worry. You’ve got all of us around to rely on. You’ll be fine and I’d pay a million trillion dollars to see Rule as Mr. Mom. It’s going to be fantastic. If his brother can take to fatherhood like a duck to water, the younger Archer will be fine. Those boys have more love in them than they know what do with. They were made to be daddies.”
Ayden looked like she was going to cry again and I was suddenly very aware of the fact I was the only person in the room with a penis.
“I can stay. If you need me here, I’ll stay.” Ayden whispered the words to her best friend and her voice broke. Ayden and Shaw were in tears again and then they were hugging and sort of rocking together.
“Don’t be ridiculous. I hate that you aren’t with Jet, too. It’s where you’re supposed to be.” Shaw would always have a heart the size of my home state.
I looked at Cora like she might be able to help, but for a pretty tough chick she looked like she was going to break apart again as well.
“Well, damn. I didn’t mean for any of that to happen. You all know I’m usually better around the ladies than this.”
Cora walked over and hooked her arm through mine and rested her head on my shoulder.
“It’s okay. She would’ve had to break the news eventually. It’s just a lot to take in. Those two are tight. It’s gonna be hard for them to adjust to not having the other right around the corner for every little thing. Honestly, we all saw this coming. Ayd needs to be where Jet is and Jet needs to be where the music is. It’ll be fine. It always is.”
“I can’t believe Rule’s gonna be a daddy.”
We both sort of laughed and she turned her head to look up at me with her multitoned eyes.
“Would serve him right if she ends up having twins.”
I barked out a laugh that had the other two girls pulling apart and scowling at us. Cora moved out of striking distance as Ayden stalked over and punched me solidly in the gut. I grunted a little and caught her up in a tight hug as well.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to spill the beans.”
She just shook her head and wrapped her arms around my waist. “Probably better it came from your pretty face than fr
om me anyway. I would have screwed it up.”
“You’ll be here when she needs you.”
She nodded her silky hair under my chin. “Always.”
“What are you doing here anyway? Why aren’t you at the Marked?” Ever the busybody, Cora would have to be the one to point out I wasn’t where I was supposed to be.
“My last appointment canceled, so I thought I would swing by and see what was going on.”
She snorted. “You thought you would swing by and get Salem all riled up. I don’t know what the two of you have going on, but it’s like watching two boxers circle each other in the ring. One of you is going to get knocked out by a sucker punch sooner or later.”
Ayden made a noise and pulled away from me. “A sucker punch called love. Rowdy likes her. Jet told me he hasn’t been with anyone else since Salem showed up, so we know it’s serious. You never keep it in your pants for very long.”
I fake-growled at her and stepped away from the girls. “Salem and I have history, is all. She used to matter a lot to me and now that she’s back we’re just trying to figure it out. The then and the now can be a little bit tricky.”
“Does she know you swore off ever getting serious about another girl because of her sister?”
“Yeah. I told her all about it this weekend; that’s why she’s been dodging me. She says she doesn’t really know what to think of it. Salem thought it was simple puppy love.”
“Even puppy love can have some nasty teeth.” Cora’s tone was matter-of-fact. It was something we shared, a tie that bound us together the others didn’t have. Cora’s first love had cheated on her, left her broken and soured on the idea of what love should look like as well, so I just nodded at her assessment.
“It sure can, but now I think I want to see what’s past the one. What the one after might look like. Salem was my best friend when I really needed someone and now she’s here and I want her to be an entirely different kind of friend.” I wiggled my eyebrows up and down, which made all the girls laugh. “The kind with benefits and missing clothes.”
“They do say friends make the best lovers.” Shaw sighed in a dreamy way. “You deserve someone that can make you happy, Rowdy.”
I never really thought I wasn’t happy, but now standing here in a room full of good women that loved difficult and complicated men I wasn’t so sure. Then I found myself in the middle of a hug between the three of them that just made my heart swell. These were good women that loved hard and loved completely and I was a very lucky guy to have them in my life.
“Well, this is quite the love fest.”
Salem’s voice held a mixture of humor and irritation. I met her midnight gaze over the top of the girls’ heads. She stood watching me and I could tell she was trying to decide if the sight of me being smothered in love by three beautiful women was hilarious or annoying. The other girls broke away and I took a step toward her. I saw awareness flare in her dark gaze and she took an automatic step back. I reached out a hand to grab her wrist because one more step back in her haste to get away from me and she was going to topple backward down the steps. I felt her pulse thunder out of control under her delicate skin.
“I was looking for you.” I let my voice drop a little lower and made sure she could tell I was checking her out as my gaze scanned her from head to toe.
She was back in her formfitting, supersexy garb that put every curve she had on display. Her hair had a bunch of big, loopy curls in it and her face was painted in that pretty retro way that made her look like a rock-and-roll dream. I still preferred her with no makeup and less camera-ready.
“You were?” She sounded sarcastic and smirked at me as she looked at the other three girls in the room.
I rolled my eyes at her purposely obtuse attitude and pulled her a little closer so that she was the only one that could hear me when I told her, “I want to take you to do something on Sunday when we’re both off.”
She blinked at me and her glossy mouth dropped open in silent denial. I could see the indecision flash in her eyes but I just smiled at her and told her, “Don’t worry. What I have in mind doesn’t have anything to do with a bed or you being naked in it.”
She wrinkled her nose at me and shook her arm free. “Fine.” She always had been defiant. There was no way she was going to turn me down and look scared in front of the other girls.
I nodded in satisfaction. “Don’t dress like that, though.”
Her ebony eyebrows furrowed together and her cheek twitched at me. “Why?”
“You need to be able to get a little dirty. I’ll pick you up around noon. Grab the dog; he can come, too.”
I could see I had her curiosity piqued but I didn’t give her a chance to ask any more questions. I wanted to do something that took us both back in time, put us in a place where we remembered how to be around one another without all the baggage and weight of the past holding us down. I thought I had a perfect idea.
I smiled at Shaw again and slid past Salem to head down the stairs. I made sure to press into her space, to brush across her chest just so I could feel her quick intake of breath.
“Congratulations again, Shaw. This is going to be an awesome adventure for you and Rule. Remy needs a little playmate.”
Salem broke into a blindly pretty smile. “You’re pregnant?”
Shaw nodded. “We waited until we saw a doctor to know for sure and Rule wanted to tell Rome and his parents first.”
Salem tossed her head back and laughed. The sound was husky and rich. “I haven’t been in this city for very long but even I know adding more Archers to the population is bound to be a good time down the road. How exciting for the two of you.”
And just like that I was outnumbered by waves of estrogen once again and I couldn’t get away fast enough.
Rule was working on a client and bent intently over an intricate design of a Hindu god that spanned a burly man’s bicep. I lurked over his shoulder until he looked up at me, his pale blue eyes sharp and knowing.
“Other things on your mind, my ass.”
He chuckled at me and looked back down at what he was doing. “We had to be sure. It’s not like it was something we were planning on. Now that I know for sure, I’ll be able to focus more on the shop and the store.”
“Everything happens for a reason.”
Rule paused and lifted the machine up off the client’s ink-smeared flesh. He looked back at me again and this time his eyes were winter cool and his expression pointed.
“Or sometimes accidents happen and we just work with them, consider them a blessing. Not everything is preordained, Rowdy. You should know this by now. Shit really does just happen. Look at Rome and Cora. None of what happened with them was on the agenda, but it happened and it all worked out.”
I disagreed, but I wasn’t going to argue the point and take away from the excitement of the fact he was starting a family with the perfect girl for him. And it was my firm belief that Rome and Cora had been thrown together by something far bigger than either of them so they could save each other. Little baby Remy was just a happy result of the fact the two of them were meant to be.
“Either way, congratulations, dude.” He nodded his thanks. I left him to finish his tattoo.
I always figured the things that happened, good or bad, had to be happening for a reason. There had to be a reason my mom was taken from me when I was too young to take care of myself. For a long time I reasoned that she had to go so that I could be taken in by the Ortegas and placed next to Poppy. I would have never met her otherwise. When Poppy had dashed all the dreams and hopes I had built on her young shoulders, I thought her turning away from me had been orchestrated to get me out of football, to get me on the path to my true calling and to Phil. Now all those little things, all those little pieces, were building a road to the other Cruz sister. I never considered a reason for all those things happening, but now I wasn’t so sure that Salem wasn’t the final destination my mother’s tragic end had been pointing me to from th
e very beginning.
SALEM WAS LOOKING AT ME like I was off my rocker.
The puppy was bounding around like a lunatic on the end of the leash. I think out of the three of us making the trek to City Park, he was the only one who was overjoyed to be headed out for day outside in the sun. His antic were making me have to hold onto the handle of his leash in a tight grip. The park was right off of Colfax. It was huge, green, and crowded with locals and tourists alike out to enjoy a beautiful Colorado summer day. I picked it because it was within walking distance of Salem’s apartment and that gave her an easy out if things got weird or if she decided she wasn’t going to get past the fact that she thought Poppy was very much standing between us even though I had no clue where the other Cruz sister was even at and frankly didn’t really care.
“The park? Are we twelve years old?”
She had heeded my warning and dressed down for our Sunday outing. Her dark hair was tied in long braids down either side of her head, the red stripe making her look like she had a flashy hot-rod racing stripe in her hair. She was wearing cutoff jean shorts that showed off her caramel-colored legs that had beautiful ink sprinkled across the surface and she was rocking black Chucks that were identical to my own. And just because she couldn’t help but emanate sensuality and dark beauty, she had on a tight plaid shirt that was tied up over her navel, flashing her taut tummy and a secret tattoo that dipped below the waistband of her shorts that I was dying to check out. She looked perfect and she didn’t have a drop of makeup on her face. The only thing I wished was different was that I could see her eyes, but they were hidden behind a massive pair of sunglasses that just showed my reflection back at me as I stared at her.