Rule

by Jay Crownover

Page 37

 

  All the windows were smashed out, the headlights and been shattered; all four tires were on the metal rim on the ground the slashed rubber sitting lifelessly around them like tattered material. The pristine black paint job was now marred with ugly red spray paint that had even uglier words blazed across the surface. The hood had the word ‘whore’ in huge letters and along each side of the car from front to trunk were variations on the same thing. It was bad and considering what kind of car she drove it was also going to be extremely costly to fix.

  I could see that she was shaking so I put an arm around her shoulder and tugged her to my chest. At first she resisted, standing stone still, eyes locked on the senseless destruction but when I applied just a little more pressure she came willingly and I tucked her head up under my chin.

  “We should probably call the cops. ”

  She shuddered against me and I felt her head move ‘no’ under against my throat. “No. What’s the point? His dad will just cover for him again and make it all go away. Besides it’s not like there is any proof he did it. ”

  I hated that she was probably right. “Do you want me to take you to school? I can get this taken care of for you while you’re there. ”

  “No. I need to call the insurance company and have it towed somewhere. Why can’t he just leave me alone?”

  I ran a hand lightly from the crown of her head to the ends of her almost white hair. “Because you’re kind of impossible to get over. ”

  She sighed against my neck and just let me hold her until she stopped shaking. “I guess I need to go back to your place and get this taken care of. ”

  “Of course. ” I handed her what was left of my coffee and made sure I kept her tucked in close to my side on the way back to the Victorian. We were both quiet, now for different reasons but I knew I needed to keep the rage that was practically choking me at bay until I got her somewhere safe and she felt secure. Having something destroyed like that must have been a violation like I couldn’t imagine and even though Gabe had been quiet the last few weeks it was clear now he had no intention of letting go of his obsession with my girl.

  When we got back inside she immediately started calling around getting things in place for an adjuster to check out the damage and have the car towed to a body shop. She needed a rental in the meantime and wasted no time in setting that up as well. After about an hour or two where I just watched her like a hawk all the adrenaline finally wore her out and she mentioned that she wanted to take a shower and lay down. I sent her off to my room with gritted teeth and a kiss, hoping she couldn’t feel the fury that was burning in every cell of my body.

  Nash came crawling in a few minutes after I heard the hot water turn on. He looked a little worse for the wear but he had a shit eating grin on his face and his shirt was on inside out so I assumed the date had served its purpose. He took one look at the way my jaw was clenched and the way I’m sure my eyes were flashing with platinum fire and asked,

  “Bad night?”

  “Bad morning. Shaw’s car got trashed last night. ”

  “You think it was polo shirt?”

  “Who else would do something like that to her?”

  “I dunno one of your legions of one night stands that’s pissed off you’re off the market? You both have some pretty heavy baggage floating around out there. ”

  I hadn’t even considered that I might be the cause of retaliation against her. That just made me even angrier. I inclined my head toward my bedroom.

  “Can you keep an eye on her until I get back? She seemed okay but I could tell she was pretty shaken up. ”

  “Where are you going? I have to be at the shop at one. ”

  “I’ll be back before then. ”

  “Rule…”

  “Just don’t Nash; it’s long past time for me to lose my shit. This asshole is going to hear it from me that if he keeps messing with her that I’m going to annihilate him. ”

  “You’re asking for trouble and not in a good way. ”

  “I don’t care. I’ll be back in a few just keep an eye on Shaw and if she asks where I am make something up. She doesn’t need to worry about anything else today. ”

  He begrudgingly agreed but I could tell he was not stoked with what I was about to do.

  I jumped in the truck and drove to the school. I knew that Shaw had class the same time as Gabe on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays so when I found a place to park it only took a nod at one co-ed and a wink at another to find my way to the where all the political science classes were held. It was cold outside and students were hurrying from building to building with their heads down so no one really paid any attention to me as I lurked around the building that I was sure Gabe would eventually come out of. Fortunately for me I didn’t have to wait long and campus security had already passed my direction without so much as a pause because twenty minutes into my vigil the doors opened a group of dudes that looked like they had emptied out a J Crew store and topped it off with all off L. L Bean’s winter line came pouring out. They were all laughing and talking about something and Davenport looked so self-satisfied I just wanted to knock his pearly whites down his throat.

  I waited until the group dispersed and it was just Davenport by himself. He pulled the collar of his Patagonia jacket up around his ears and pulled out his cell phone. I pushed off the wall of the building I was leaning against and followed him silently until he reached the parking lot. When he stopped by the Lexus I reached out and grabbed the back of his neck and shoved him forward so that his face was smashed against to freezing metal of the roof. He let out a surprised sound and the bag with his books and computer in it clattered to the ground. He struggled but I had a good grip and was fueled by a living fury so he didn’t have a chance. I leaned forward so that my elbow ground painfully into the base of his neck and tightened my fingers until I felt his skin start to resist.

  “You want to harass someone, scare someone, terrorize someone you might want to pick someone that doesn’t have a pissed off boyfriend waiting around the corner preppy boy. This is the last time I’m going to tell you to leave Shaw the hell alone. If you don’t that fancy Ken Doll face you seem so fond of is going to end up like hamburger. ” I gave him another shove so that the metal smacked unforgivingly against his cheek. People were wandering around the parking lot and stopping to stare at us but I didn’t care. “Are we clear?”

  He grunted and got his hands under his chest so that he could lever himself off the side of the car. I let him go and stepped back, hands hanging loose at my sides in case he decided he wanted to throw down right then and there. He smoothed down the hair my rough handling had messed up and glared at me while working his jaw back and forth.

  “We both know my father can keep me out of jail, what can yours do for you? Change a tire, help you move?” He laughed bitterly and spit out a mouthful of blood that narrowly missed the toe of my boot. “You aren’t a match for me in the real world. You can call yourself her boyfriend all you want but the fact of the matter is she simply isn’t allowed to walk away from me for someone like you. That’s just bad precedent. ”

  I thought he was just spoiled and annoying but the more he talked the more I started to wonder about his sanity. The guy talked like a lunatic.

  “Dude go fuck someone else. Shaw isn’t into you, she never will be and harassing her is just pissing everyone off. If you think I’m scared of what your dad or anyone else can do to me if it means protecting her than you’re in for a shock and even if you manage to get me out of the way there is a whole group of people out there ready to take my place. You aren’t going to get anywhere messing with her and if you ever touch her again I’m going to snap every single one of your fingers off and cram them down your throat. ”

  He scoffed at me and poked a finger in my chest. He was lucky I didn’t knock him in the mouth. “You’re so stupid, so uneducated and low class to think it has anything to do with sex. I can get sex anywhere, you really th
ink I let Shaw dangle her ass in front of me for six months and didn’t get some on the side? Sex is irrelevant and if she’s giving it up to you I don’t want to go near her with a ten foot pole. This is business and image; she can’t set a protocol that I’m replaceable with a tattooed punk that has nothing to offer. I can’t have people remembering that. ”

  I grabbed the wrist of the hand that was poking me and shoved him back into the car. “If you think sex with Shaw is irrelevant than you’re the one that is uneducated jackass. Get over yourself, if I can prove that you had anything to do with her car we’re pressing charges. If you keep harassing her we’ll keep going to court and eventually someone will notice your old man covering your ass. I’m telling you this stops now or you can go to the hospital and I can spend some time in jail, got it?”

  We stared each other down but by now there was a decent size crowd gathered around while we sized each other up. I didn’t see the security guard until he was getting in between the two of us. Before he could start asking questions I flipped Gabe off and headed back to the side street where I had parked the truck. The guard called something after me and I heard Davenport’s raised voice but I didn’t stop until I was back in the truck and had the heater blaring. I flexed my hands repeatedly on the steering wheel and took a few deep breaths to get myself back under control. The last time I had felt this impotent amount of anger, this unfinished need to destroy something was when I had watched them put my brother in the ground. I wanted to tear his perfectly tailored body apart seam by seam and watch him suffer. Pushing him around and making him uncomfortable just wasn’t enough. The darkness, the unpredictability that lurked inside me reared up again and wanted unbridled vengeance but I had to put it back in the box because I wasn’t going to make Shaw wrestle with it again so soon.

  It took me a solid half hour before I felt like I was ready to go home and face her. When I walked in the door Nash was playing one of the game units and screaming a mouthful of obscenities through the headset at whomever he was playing with. He ripped the gear off and gave me a once over as I shut the door and climbed to his feet.

  “I don’t see any blood or gore. ”

  I shrugged and tossed my jacket on the back of the couch. “Too many people around plus I think kicking his ass would only encourage him. The guy has a whole tool box of screws loose. It isn’t even about Shaw it’s all about how it looks that she dumped him and is hanging out with me. His ego is out of this world I seriously don’t know what we’re going to do about it because he’s right about his dad being able to cover for him, he already proved it once. ”

  Nash jerked his head in the direction of my room. “She hasn’t made a sound. She never surfaced after the shower so I don’t know how she’s doing, but I have to go or I’m going to be late for my appointment and I still need to tweak the drawing a little. ”

  “It’s cool I got her. Maybe she was just so stressed out she slept the whole time. ”