Broken Rules (Love Storm series Book 2)

by Victory Storm

  "Are you really going to Seattle?"

  “ Yes. I offered to act as her father's lawyer. He lost his job and hasn’t been able to find another job this month, so I'm trying to get him back to his old job as a welder. I told Alice that she will be able to count on me until you become a lawyer, after which she will have a sharper and better shark than me to rely on. "

  "Would I be the shark?"

  “ Yes, little brother. I have great faith in you and our father also believes in you. You know he is incapable of showing what he feels, but I assure you that he cares about you and wants you to stay with Alice. "

  "I don't think Dad wants it. See how he replied to you when you asked him. "

  "Asked me what?" asked my father, surprising us from behind.

  "Would it be a problem for you if I were with Alice?" I asked him using the same words that Jake had used.

  "No, all you have to do is study and regulate your alcohol consumption," he replied calmly.

  "Seriously?" I could not believe it.

  “ Yes, son. Alice is good for you. I wish you could find your balance and made peace. She gives you peace and you give her strength. I don't know how it’s possible since you are so different, but you two make up for it together," my father replied with a smile.

  "Thanks, Dad," I found myself saying.

  “ Not at all, son. Now, please, go fix yourself up and bring Alice home. She wanted to go back to the dormitory, but Helena and I would like to get her back here before she leaves for Seattle to celebrate New Year's Eve with her father.”

  ***

  ALICE

  Almost two hours had passed but I was still shaking.

  I had declared my love to Easton and, if everything had gone in the right direction, now he knew it since I had written it on his chest that morning.

  I would have liked to stay and tell him verbally, but I had gotten scared and now I was hiding in my college dorm room.

  I didn't know what I would do if Easton refused me again.

  The only thing I knew was that I was scared, divided between the fear of losing him forever and the hope of being able to feel his kisses again, his scent that still caressed my skin after the most beautiful and special night of my life.

  Just the thought of us making love continued to invade my mind so if I closed my eyes, I still felt him inside me.

  I would never forget the delicacy with which he entered me so as not to hurt me.

  I was once again allowing myself to be lulled by memories, when I heard the door handle click.

  In an instant Easton entered my room.

  He was out of breath and still wearing the clothes he had on the day before. He was holding the note I had written to him that morning.

  He approached me and hugged me tightly.

  "I'll never stop coming for you," he whispered before kissing me passionately.

  "I love you, Easton," I confessed to him in tears. “I have never felt what I feel for you for someone else. It is so intense and strong that it scares me. Sorry if I didn’t tell you before, but the truth is that I'm a coward who just runs away when things get too heavy. You don't know how many times I wanted to tell you that I love you so much, but every time I thought about your refusal or just the idea of leaving you, it made me feel so bad. Easton, forgive me for not being as brave as I should be."

  "Alice, you don't have to apologize for anything. You are exactly the way I want you and I wouldn't change you for anything in the world. You have become my world, my everything and I cannot live without you. I would do anything to hold you close and knowing that you love me has made me the happiest person on Earth. I just want to be with you, Alice. I ... I ... " he said, excited and moved, but when I felt his difficulty in confessing his love, I stopped him by placing my index finger on his lips.

  "You don't have to tell me."

  "I don’t want to lose you."

  "You won’t lose me. I swear. I know how you feel about me. I don't need to hear you say it. One day, when you are ready and you no longer feel pressured so that you feel bad, you will tell me. I will wait but know that I am not interested in knowing if and when it will happen, because it is enough for me to have you by my side and to be able to love you with my whole being. "

  "I promise you I'll never leave you."

  "Are you sure? Weren't you the one who always boasted that he was only capable of breaking promises and rules?” I reminded him hesitantly and worried.

  "Yes, in fact I'll break another one for you: that of breaking every promise I made."

  "So, are you telling me that you won’t respect the oath you made about breaking all the promises you have ever made?"

  "Exactly."

  "Has anyone ever told you that you have a twisted mind?" I teased.

  "No, but I'm sure you already included it on your list of my one thousand four hundred twenty-five faults."

  "Obviously!" I replied with my usual arrogant and haughty attitude that I used when I wanted to make him angry.

  "I love you so much when you do this," he whispered before biting my neck with mock ferocity, making me scream in surprise.

  29

  ALICE

  I had just spent the best Christmas holiday of my life.

  Two fabulous weeks with Easton and our respective families.

  We had also visited my father, and finally I could introduce him as my boyfriend. My father had merely smiled at me as if to say, "Did you see that everything was okay?"

  I had shown Easton the whole city and the places I liked to go with my father or my high school classmates, such as the library and "The track," the bowling alley where I often went to have fun.

  Jake had joined us shortly before the end of the holidays and, after so many years, he and his brother came to a truce. Together they started helping my father with the repairs of the house, they had paid a professional electrician and finally we had all attended the meeting between Jake, as a lawyer, and my father's former employer. There was a fierce disagreement and the lawyers of the opposing party tried to make things difficult for Jake; but finally they had not succeeded, and in the end they were cornered and forced to advise their client to take back his former employee to avoid ending up with a lawsuit and having to pay damages to my father.

  The whole time

  Easton did not take his eyes off his brother. He was enraptured by that role of defender. When we emerged victorious from the meeting, he was elated had embraced Jake, telling him that he wanted to become like him and that he hoped he would never have to meet him in a courtroom.

  The experience gave Easton an incredible boost. In fact, when he returned to college, he immediately went to great lengths to get the best results in his courses.

  The return to Eugene had been pleasant. I had liked that Easton had wanted to make peace with Logan, after discovering that he had betrayed him with his father.

  The only unanswered question was that I never knew if he had told his friends that we were together now. The few times I met them, Easton always kept me close to him, with an arm around my shoulders, but he hadn't mentioned that I was his girlfriend.

  The doubt almost became torture when classes resumed, and the campus was again crowded with students.

  I had told Kira what had happened and that I hadn't noticed any change in Easton's attitude towards me.

  Also, on our first night in the dormitory, Easton didn't even sleep with me but stayed with his friends.

  Even in the cafeteria, he didn't constantly look for me before. His and that detachment was beginning to make me feel insecure.

  On the second day, I was in bed reviewing the notes for my literature report when I saw Easton enter my room.

  "Here you are!" he said, sitting next to me and kissing me.

  "So, you do remember that I exist!" I snapped sourly.

  "Every now and then, yes," he replied with a shrug that made me nervous. "Don't tell me you're feeling neglected."

  "Partially yes. I don't want to
sound clingy or petulant, but now that you're my boyfriend but you act like it isn't. "

  "I was busy."

  "Doing what?"

  "Nothing important."

  "But more important than me," I said jealous and irritated, noting how he avoided looking me in the eye.

  "I do not know. I’m too tired to answer you. Move over,” he replied in a bored voice, lying down next to me, and dragging me into his arms.

  "I'm not kidding, Easton. If you have second thoughts or ...” I tried to ask with a lump in my throat, but he closed my mouth with a kiss that I hesitantly returned.

  'It's all right, Alice. And what about you?"

  "What about me?"

  "Do you still love me?"

  "Of course."

  "More than yesterday and less than tomorrow?"

  “ Yes ... No, it depends on what you will tell me. Where have you been these two days? "

  "I was studying."

  "All day?" I tried again, but he didn't answer me anymore. His eyes were closed, and he looked really tired dead.

  Surrendering, I curled up beside him and let myself be lulled by his quiet breathing.

  I looked at the alarm clock. I still had an hour free before going to the library with Kira and Felicity.

  The sound of the cell phone suddenly awoke up.

  When I opened my eyes, I realized that I had fallen asleep and that Easton was already gone.

  Why didn't you even wake me up?

  I snorted, worried. I couldn't understand why Easton had stayed so far away from me since we got back to college.

  I picked up the phone. It was Kira.

  "Sorry, where are you?"

  "What?" I tried to understand, trying to reconnect my few neurons that were still asleep.

  "Alice, you remember we are supposed to go to the library with Felicity, don't you? You said you had to return books! "

  "Yes, sorry, what time is it?"

  "It's almost three o'clock. We have been waiting for you for twenty minutes. "

  "Oh, hell! Sorry, I fell asleep. I'm coming. I'm already leaving the dormitory," I lied, running to put on a jacket, my shoes and taking the books from the desk.

  I didn't even look at myself in the mirror. I hoped I didn’t have a pillow mark on my face.

  I ran, but when I got to the main lounge that opened onto the dormitory entrance, I noticed that all the students stopped talking and stared at me.

  I looked for Easton and his friends but didn't find them.

  I looked around and slowed my pace as if I feared I had bothered with my run.

  Although I slowed my pace, everyone continued to look at me.

  Too embarrassed, I finally started running again and when I went out for a while, I didn't bump into my two friends, who had joined me in the meantime.

  "What the hell is going on?" I exploded, checking my clothes, and running my hand over my face in search of some defect. “Everyone stared at me in there. They scared me to death. "

  My two friends burst out laughing.

  "Do I have something wrong?"

  "You're perfect," Kira reassured me.

  "So, what's wrong?" As I said it, I thought of the times before when I had felt like someone was watching me. "Don't tell me that Easton has met someone else?"

  "Sorry, aren't you getting Instagram notifications?" Felicity asked me.

  "No, I took them off when I moved here because they distracted me while studying."

  "You should put them back."

  "If Easton put another photo of me while I was asleep, I'll kill him."

  "You really don't know what picture he took?" Felicity was surprised.

  "Should I?"

  "Maybe you missed a detail," she said, pointing to the books I held in my right hand. Other students had looked at them too. I checked them. Nothing.

  'Not the books, silly girl. Your hand,” Kira warned me, amused.

  I looked at my right hand and ...

  "Oh my God," I blew in shock, noticing a wonderful white gold ring with a brilliant set, which sparkled on my ring finger. "I've never seen it before. But when did it happen? "

  I was speechless and couldn't stop staring at that ring.

  "He wanted to surprise you," Felicity exclaimed excitedly for me.

  "Did you know?"

  “ Easton took us to the jewelry store yesterday afternoon to help him choose. His friends were there too. He was so shaken up that he wanted to ask each one each of us. We filled the jewelry store and frightened the jeweler. He thought it was a robbery," Kira told me.

  "Easton chose the ring. Ant gave his contribution by making an accurate diagnosis regarding weight and how much it would affect a possible osteoarthritis in the hand. It drove the jeweler crazy. Even Logan wasn’t silent, criticizing the light from the diamond and saying that it should shine more. Ryo just made a remark about the price saying that you should love him forever with what he was spending. The shop assistant wanted to kill him. Lucas, on the other hand, was so impressed with the beauty of the ring that he asked for one for Kira too, but she forbade it. In the end, Kira and I only needed to give the final approval, since our exclamations of joy in front of all those jewels just made his friends make fun of us," Felicity explained.

  "Thank you," I whispered, moved.

  "He would have given it to you last night, but he wanted to have something engraved inside. He only picked up the ring a few hours ago," Felicity warned me.

  I took off the ring and when I saw the writing "I love you, Easton" I felt the tears my face, while my heart seemed to explode in my chest.

  The engraving also made me understand why he had chosen to put the ring on me without my noticing.

  It was too difficult for him to express his feelings. He was still terrified of love, so much that he had not yet told me verbally. And although the words had escaped him in his sleep, I had promised myself never to tell him.

  "Where is the madman?" I asked with a heartbeat.

  “ Go to him, Alice. He is waiting for you in his room. We'll take care of your books,” Kira said, taking the books out of my hands.

  Passing them, I noticed my ring sparkling.

  It was so beautiful and bright!

  I still couldn't believe it.

  "Now I understand why everyone noticed it! It glitters more than the sun,” I exclaimed, still excited.

  "No, here's ... the story of the notifications ... Before going to him, look at Instagram," Felicity reminded me.

  I took my cell phone and opened the social network app.

  I had been tagged in an Easton post.

  I clicked and, in a moment, I found the black and white photo of my hand entwined with Easton's.

  It was a recent photo because I had the ring on my finger. He probably made it while I slept with him earlier. There were also other photos. They were the ones we had taken during the holidays, while we were bowling, cooking together in the kitchen of my father's house, throwing snowballs at the villa, cuddling on the bed, kissing ...

  He had put all the most beautiful and meaningful photos of our love since I told him I loved him. The last one also showed my writing "I love you, Alice" on his chest. I smiled at the thought of how long it had been on his chest since I had used an indelible.

  Then I read his comment: “@Alice Preston, when I learned that I was going to meet you for the first time, I organized a pool party with the intention of throwing you into the water out of spite. But then I saw you and kissed you. I never understood why I did it, but today I have the answer: inside I already knew how important you would become to me, so much that I could no longer be without you. You are my everything and for you I would break any promise or rule just to stay with you forever. #aliston #us #forever."

  “ I would say that with this post there are no more doubts about you two. You're a couple,” Kira told me, answering my doubts from the past two days when I had feared that Easton would never have the courage to let others know that we were together.<
br />
  "I'd go to him right away to let him know how he violated your privacy for the umpteenth time," Felicity joked, winking at me.

  “ My influence is hurting you. You're starting to sound like me, " I chuckled. When I had met Felicity, she was very shy and insecure, always ready to hide from others to go unnoticed, but now she was a little prouder and cheekier.

  "I hope so. I've always wanted to be as bold as you are," she replied, blushing happily.

  ***

  EASTON

  Alice had once again become insecure and hesitant towards me.

  I would have liked to tell her what I was planning for her, but I wanted to surprise her. And when she welcomed me that afternoon, telling me that she loved me but with that angry and discontented tone, I had felt the cold run all along my spine.

  I would have liked to take the box with the ring out of my pocket and show it to her, but then I had become afraid that she would look at me again with distrust and disappointment.

  So, I pretended to sleep and waited for her to really fall asleep.

  I had trembled with emotion when I put the ring on her finger. It had been an intimate gesture, full of love and promise. I had never believed that something so simple and trivial could have so many meanings, feelings intense enough to make me forget to breathe.