Rule Number Four (Rule Breakers Book 4)

by Nicky Shanks

  Okay, maybe she didn’t owe me her life.

  Fuck, I’m starting to feel bad.

  “Oliver?” Julie’s wide, bright eyes glitter. “What is it?”

  Just tell her already.

  I bite the inside of my cheek. “It seems that Veronica pushed me out of the way and the bullet hit her side and ended up in her lung. She had emergency surgery and I’m not sure what else. That’s all I heard before I ran here to you.” I feel my cheeks flush; I’m embarrassed that she sees vulnerability in me when I try so hard to be strong. “I had to make sure you were alive.”

  She sighs and sits on the bed. “I’m alive. I’m always going to come out alive.” Her smile invites me closer and pulls me down on the bed with her; the feeling of her love wrapping around me draws me into another reality for a few magical minutes until her hand meets mine and she squeezes for comfort.

  I have to be that man for her.

  “It’s gonna be fine.” I catch her head that falls on my chest. She sobs into my sweaty t-shirt but I don’t fucking care. She can do whatever she wants to me and I’ll follow her anywhere. “Hey…” I pull her chin up gently. “Let’s go check on her, okay?”

  I have to play like I want to know.

  Julie deserves that much from me.

  She sniffles and lifts her body away from mine. “Okay, that sounds like a good idea.”

  Her tired feet try their best to keep up with mine as she follows me out of the room and to the nurses’ station. A few nurses zip through the station without looking at us, so I wave my hand in the air and catch the attention of a young male nurse as he tries to pass us by.

  “Yes?” He blinks a few times trying to remember our names. “What can I do for you?”

  I lick my lips and choose my words carefully. “We came here with my mother, Veronica Bennett.” I nervously look down at Julie, who looks impressed that I care to use my mother’s full name like I’m familiar with her like that. “She had a gunshot wound to her abdomen and had surgery—”

  “You’re her son?” His eyebrows rise. “And your name is?”

  My chest puffs out and I’m not going to let some fucking idiot with a pair of hospital scrubs on get the best of me. “Oliver Jackson. She’s my mother—I want information.”

  He looks like he’s about to protest so I put my hands on the counter and lean in a little, hoping he’ll get the hint.

  “Now.”

  We can see the lump in his throat as he swallows it down and backs off of me. “Let me see if she’s allowed visitors.”

  “Don’t bother because we’re about to see her. What room?”

  “Mr. Jackson—”

  “What. Room?”

  He checks the chart next to him and mutters something to himself that I choose to ignore. I know he feels the hole I’m burning into his fucking skull as he tries to stall so someone can save him from making a huge mistake. I don’t even care about this guy at this point; I just want Julie to see that I can get shit done.

  “She’s in Room 415. Fourth floor. You’re on the third floor,” the nurse flatly says. “Don’t let anyone know I told you or I can get fired, you hear me?”

  I growl as he raises his index finger. “Threaten me or point that fucking finger at me one more time—” He lowers it quickly. “—and you’re gonna wish you called in sick today.”

  “Okay!” Julie claps her hands and glares at me. “That’s too far.”

  The nurse scoffs. “I’d listen to—”

  The look I give him makes him back off, and I know I’ve gone too far without Julie even saying anything. She glares at me with knowing eyes; she’s not stupid—she knows I’m trying and failing miserably at being a better person.

  “That wasn’t necessary,” she says when we enter the elevator. “He would’ve told you what you wanted to know.”

  My eyes find the floor and I notice the dirt on her jeans. “Do you want to talk about what Casey did to you? I mean, do you want to wait until we’re home and you’ve slept or are you ready to talk about it now?”

  She giggles and wraps her arm around mine. “Oh, Oliver. I’m ready to check on your mother and figure out the rest of our shit later.”

  The elevator dings and we step onto the fourth floor. Brandon and Heather notice us as we start walking down the hall to find Room 415. I hold my arms in the air and reach out my hand so Brandon will shake it. He holds on tightly and nods when we let go; Heather extends her arms and wraps them around me in a friendly hug.

  “We totally thought you guys were in trouble.” Heather shakes her head. “Lucy called me and I heard a gunshot…it wasn’t a fun few minutes to try and figure out.” Her face turns green when she’s realized what she’s said. “Oh, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean that what happened to me was worse than what happened to you! I haven’t had any sleep since we’ve been packing and planning.”

  “Packing and planning?” Julie steps from beside me and returns Heather’s hug halfway. “Are you guys moving somewhere?”

  Brandon nods. “I’ve been blacklisted from the firms up here and Heather agreed to move to California with me to start fresh.” He looks at Julie and smiles. “Newton Beach, of all places.”

  Julie blushes and it pisses me off. “Oh, that place is beautiful! I used to visit the little shops when I was younger and dream of owning one.”

  I pull her close and kiss her head. “Now you own a bar and restaurant, and if you want to own a little shop, you can do that too.”

  Heather groans. “It’s going to be weird being so far away from here, but I guess I can get used to sandy beaches and more sunlight, right?”

  A man in a white doctor’s coat walks up to us and looks from me to Julie and back at me. “Are you Oliver Jackson?”

  “Yes.”

  He opens a folder and motions for me to follow him. Julie latches onto my shirt and trails behind as we walk back toward the elevator and he stops. “I’m Dr. Samuels. I’ve been attending your mother since her surgery. She took the bullet in her left side and it traveled through and exploded in her lung. They got all the pieces out, but she’s not breathing on her own right now. Her lung isn’t strong enough yet.”

  Julie holds my hand and squeezes. “Will she be okay?”

  He looks confused. “Didn’t your brother find you and tell you any of this?” I don’t know what the fuck he’s talking about; he looks confused and shakes his head. “She isn’t getting any stronger, and without both her lungs, she won’t survive. There isn’t any easy way to say this, but…if it comes to it, you might have to make a hard decision to take her off her support. But that won’t be today. Do you have any questions right now?”

  I shake my head. “I got it. Thanks.”

  He nods and leaves us alone; Julie steps in front of me and puts her hands on my face. “What do you want to do?”

  “What do you mean?” I slide my hands over hers. “He said I didn’t have to decide today.”

  “You’re going to wait, though, right? I mean, you’re not going to just take her off support tomorrow?” The fear in her voice saddens me.

  My voice cracks. “Is that what you think of me?”

  “No, I just—please don’t be mad, I needed to make sure you’re going to give her a chance.”

  I take a deep breath in and watch her honey blonde hair move when I blow it back out. “I’m going to wait, Julie, she’s my mother. Even if it weren’t my mother, I would wait. Maybe all the drugs she’s done haven’t torn her insides to fucking shreds and she has a fighting chance.”

  Her eyes narrow and she smiles. “You care about her.”

  “I don’t.”

  Her fingers find my hair and she lightly runs her nails over my scalp. “You do, and I can see it. I love that you’re worried about her, and I would also understand if you weren’t. The man you are today isn’t because of anyone but you, and I think your dad would be proud of how far you’ve come with her.”

  I close my eyes and pretend she didn’t jus
t say that.

  “You didn’t know him, Julie—don’t say things like that.”

  Her arms fall to her side and she blushes. “I’m sorry, I was trying to make you feel better.”

  I wipe the tear falling from her eye. “I know, it’s my fault. I’m too sensitive about that subject, I’m sorry. I love that you want to help me and trust me…I need you more than you’ll ever fucking know.”

  The sweet smile returns to her lips and I kiss her gently, hardly remembering—or caring—that Brandon and Heather are just feet from us down the hall.

  “You’re crazy,” she whispers and kisses my lips with such fucking passion that I have to hold myself steady. I grip the back of her head and catch her lips with each move they make against mine; her soft hair gets tangled between my fingers.

  “You make me crazy.” My lips find her ear. “Let’s get rid of them and go home.”

  “None of this changes the fact that you brought Lucy home.” A light burns in her eyes because she’s just remembered why she was out walking on the street in the first place. “Why didn’t you come after me? Why did you call Lucy?”

  I take her hand in mine and kiss her fingers. “We can spend the next fifty years talking about all of this…anything you ever want. I will be honest with you and tell you everything you want to know, but right now let’s just settle down.”

  She snorts. “Settle down? Our lives are always chaos.”

  A smirk finds the corner of my mouth and I can’t escape it. “I have a feeling that breaking all of these fucking rules are going to pay off for us soon.” She breathes in deep and her face pales. “I know you don’t like rules and I know we agreed to not having any more of them, and we won’t. But Julie, don’t you see? It’s breaking those rules that brought us together even before we realized.”

  “Hey, guys?” Brandon interrupts us. “We’re going to take off—is there anything we can do for you?”

  I shake my head and look at him. “I think we’re headed out too. I promise I’ll make sure she has everything she needs, okay?” My eyes go back to Julie. “Veronica will be fine.”

  She nods and lets me put my arm around her and we lead everyone to the elevator. It’s been a long fucking six months, and I just want to tuck Julie into my body and sleep with her forever. She leans her head on my shoulder as the elevator goes down and Heather turns to us with fear in her eyes.

  “What about Casey?” She gulps. “Isn’t he still out there?”

  Fuck.

  “Shit, she’s right.” My body vibrates with rage. “If he knows what’s good for him, he’ll fucking stay away. It’s better if we don’t go back to the apartment tonight.”

  Heather nudges Brandon. “You could stay with us.”

  “We’ll stay at Randy’s.” I make a weird face on accident. “I’ll text him and let him know we’ll wait for him down in the lobby.” Quickly realizing that Julie and I left our rooms without our things, I pat myself down one more time to make sure I don’t have my phone or wallet.

  Brandon notices that I’m struggling and pulls me aside. “I’ll keep an eye on her while you run back for your shit.” He smiles and pats my shoulder. “I’m glad you guys are okay.”

  My eyebrows furrow, but I don’t have the time to ask questions.

  The elevator takes forever to get to the third floor where I left Randy, but finally the doors open and I almost run into someone as I step outside.

  “Oliver.”

  I look into his cold eyes and freeze.

  Casey.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Casey

  What the fuck was that? I thought the gun that my father hid in his desk wasn’t loaded—at least that’s what he always told us when we asked.

  I’m so fucking stupid.

  What is wrong with me?

  Forget about Julie, something inside of me clicked when she fought as hard as she did to get away from me. What was I thinking? Did I really think I could have her like that? I went about this all wrong, and now I’m going to be running from what I’ve done forever.

  I try to catch my breath as I run down the flights of stairs to the parking garage of Oliver’s apartment. The last fifteen minutes replay like a movie in my mind as I find my car and slam the door shut behind me.

  I have no one now. Literally no one. I’ve fucked all of my relationships up over…lust and greed.

  Maybe I am just like my mother.

  It’s getting hard to see through the sea of tears that fall from my eyes. There’s no going back from this. Oliver is going to see to it that I’m put away for fucking life for this.

  The gun went off.

  Did I shoot anyone?

  I think really hard as I squeal the tires onto the main road and make my way to my parents’ house. By now, someone would’ve called the cops and I wait for them to pass me, but I safely get into the driveway and inside the house before I see any. I stash the gun back where I found it and seriously think about driving back to Oliver’s apartment to make sure Julie is okay and I didn’t kill her.

  My knees get weak, and if I don’t get moving soon, I never will. My fingers shake when I open the safe in my father’s office and pull out a few bundles of cash and stash them in a small messenger bag I find on his leather sofa. I’m making so much noise that the foyer light comes on; I’m able to quickly close the safe and hide the bag before my father comes into the room.

  “What are you doing here so late?” He yawns and scratches his head. “Why didn’t you call? I would’ve gotten up for a nightcap with you.”

  This may be the last time I see him.

  “Dad…” I shake my head and can’t contain my grief. “I…d-did something.”

  He looks concerned and sits on his sofa. “What did you do?”

  There’s really no other way to say it other than…just saying it.

  “I stole your gun and I think I shot someone.”

  He stands up immediately and goes to his desk where he finds the gun back in its place. “I’m confused, my gun is right here. Are you playing a joke?”

  “No, I’m not.” I turn and face him; the look in my eyes startles him and he knows I’m not lying. “Something is wrong with me, Dad. For the past six months I’ve become this jealous person and it’s consumed me so much that I tried to force Julie to be with me.”

  He cocks his head. “Julie Remington? Oliver’s girlfriend?”

  I grit my teeth. “Yes, her. I love her, Dad.”

  “Does she love you?”

  That’s a loaded question. Julie does love me…just not in the way I want her to.

  “No, not like that.”

  He licks his lips and tries to take in all this information without his brain exploding. “So, you stole my gun and shot her?”

  “No! I had it for protection against Oliver because he already wanted to kill me for letting Julie get kidnapped.”

  His eyes bulge from his head. “Kidnapped? Julie was kidnapped?”

  As I quickly run through the whole story, his interest is really piqued when I speak about Veronica. “She tried to talk me out of it, but everything was red and I felt so backed into a corner. When Oliver challenged me and told me to shoot him…I just…did. I shot at him.”

  My father closes his eyes. “Did you kill him?”

  “I don’t know, Veronica jumped in front of him, but I don’t know if I clipped her or got him. I don’t know if anyone was hit…I just ran.”

  “Oh, Casey…”

  I put the messenger bag around my shoulders. “I know I fucked up, you don’t have to tell me. I’ve been fucking up and now I have to leave.” I start to walk away from him, but he calls me back with fear in his voice.

  “Where are you going? If you stay here, we can get you a lawyer and help you.”

  Before I clear the doorway, I turn and look at the man who looks nothing like me. “I don’t want any help. I did this, and I have to figure it out. Can you call the hospital and check on Oliver and Julie if th
ey’re there, though? Especially Julie—if I hurt her, I can’t bear it.”

  He looks at me like a stranger. “Casey, don’t do this. Don’t do this to yourself, to me, or your mother. If you love Julie like you say you do, don’t do this to her, either. We don’t want to lose you, son.”

  My stomach sizzles from the words coming into my mouth. “You can’t lose someone that was never actually yours to begin with.” He wipes a tear from his eye as I leave him and run back to the car. It’s hard to catch my breath through my flowing tears, but I manage to start punching the steering wheel anyway and scream at the top of my lungs.

  I fucking hate this.

  Why did I let it get this far?

  The streets are deserted as I pass two ambulances with their sirens blaring. They’re headed toward the hospital from Oliver’s, and my heart starts to fucking burn.

  I killed someone.

  I can’t run from this, I really fucking can’t.

  Am I going to live a life on the run forever?

  No, I have to turn myself in.

  I can’t go back to my parents’ house or the cops will try to involve them in this. This was all my fault, and I just want to see Julie one more time before I turn myself in. I need to see her face when I tell her I didn’t mean to force her to be with me, but it was my only option to make her see how much of a better choice I am than Oliver.

  Am I, though?

  I’ve hurt her just as much as he has.

  “Shit,” I hiss and turn the car to head toward the hospital. There’s no way I can confirm it was either of them in the back of those ambulances, but I have to try. I pull into a faraway parking lot and wait for a few paramedics to exit the open ambulance bay doors before I slip inside and try to find my way around. I find a door that leads to a long hallway and a lonely nurses’ station with an older woman sitting behind the desk. I smile at her, but she doesn’t smile back.

  “What do you need?” she snarls at me, rubbing her eyes. “Better have a good reason for waking me up from my nap.”