The Rulebreaker

by Claire Contreras

  My brothers and I exchange awkward glances. Once upon a time, our parents were headed toward divorce. They weren’t quiet about it either, but they always did hold each other with the utmost respect and never spoke badly about one another. Still, it was hard to go through. That was around the time Mitchell broke up with Misty too, which always made me think the two were related in some way. I don’t have time to dwell on that now though. I need to tell Rocky how I really feel and what I really want and leave the ball in her court.

  “What have you done, Maverick Enrique Cruz?” Mom says when I bump into her on my way to my room.

  “What are you talking about?” My heart stills in my chest. I may be a man, but no amount of years will ever make me not be afraid of my mother when she says my full name in that tone.

  “What did you do to Rocky?”

  “What’d she say?” My eyes widen.

  Oh fuck. If there’s any chance I hurt Rocky and my mother finds out, I’m toast. She’s always been very clear on her stance on girlfriends. She loves us and we’re her kids but if we don’t treat women with the utmost respect, we’re in trouble. From the way she’s looking at me, I know Rocky said something she didn’t like, and Rocky isn’t just a girlfriend. She isn’t even my girlfriend, but I know better than to bring that fact up right now.

  “What should she have said?” Mom raises an eyebrow and places a hand on her hip. My heart pounds faster.

  “Mami, I didn’t do anything, I swear.”

  “You think that because I let you off the hook most of the time it’s okay to hurt a girl?”

  “Hurt her?” My eyes widen even more, if possible. “I didn’t hurt her. She hurt me.”

  “Really?” She laughs. “Please explain.”

  “I can’t.” I let my shoulders sag and look at the floor. “I don’t want to talk about this with you right now.”

  “Because you don’t want to tell me the truth about what happened.”

  “I guess.” I look up at her. “But I didn’t hurt her. Not on purpose. You know I would never do that to anyone, especially not her.”

  “I know, but the fact remains that she’s hurt. She tried to cancel this trip, you know.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Because I was being a jerk,” I mumble, hating to admit that aloud.

  “Why?”

  “Because I’m in love with her but I don’t want to tell her.” I look away.

  “Why the hell not, Maverick?”

  “Because she needs to live a little. She needs to meet other guys.” Even as I say the words I feel like throwing up. I hate—loathe—the idea of Rocky with another guy.

  “So, she wants to be with you and you pushed her away because you think she needs to be with other guys?” Mom frowns deeply. “I must be missing something.”

  “I can’t be her first serious boyfriend. You know those other clowns she dated weren’t serious.”

  “Right.” Mom laughs. “And why can’t you be her first real boyfriend?”

  “Because I want to marry her, Mom.” The words surprise me, but not her, apparently. She just watches me, waiting for me to continue. “You’re not supposed to marry your first real boyfriend. This isn’t the 1940s.”

  “And because it isn’t the 1940s, you shouldn’t think that you need to make that decision for her.”

  I purse my lips. She’s not wrong. I don’t want to admit that, but really, she’s not wrong. But Rocky doesn’t know what she wants. She told me she wanted to date a bunch of guys. She told me she wanted to be free of her strict parents’ rules.

  “You need to tell her how you feel and let her make that choice for herself,” Mom says, walking toward me and setting a hand on my shoulder and the other under my chin so I look at her, because even though I’m at least a foot taller than her, I’m not looking into her eyes. When I do, I feel instant comfort.

  “What if I lose her? If I fuck this up, I’d lose her friendship. I don’t know if I can live with that.”

  “So don’t fuck it up.” She smiles. “It’s easier said than done, I know, but if you’re true to yourself and respect her and love her the way you do, it’ll be easier than you think.”

  I swallow, then wrap my arms around my mom and thank her. This is why I rely on her advice over my brothers. She always knows exactly what to say to make my thoughts less cloudy.

  Chapter Thirty

  Rocky

  The bedroom I was assigned is right beside Maverick’s, which makes me wonder how involved he was in the arrangement. It doesn’t matter though, the rooms are huge and each have their own bathrooms. I mean, the house is insane. Not long after seven o’clock, there’s a knock on my door, and I call out for whoever it is to come inside. When I see it’s Maverick, my heart nearly explodes. He’s already dressed for dinner, dark jeans, white sneakers, and a white short sleeved button-down. Mitch and Jo are having a chef over to cook for all of us, so I opted for casual as well and went with a white wrap dress with ruffled sleeves, that’s a little short, but not too short, and white thong sandals. Misty and Jo are also wearing similar wrap dresses and Jo’s is definitely sexier than mine so I feel comfortable with my choice.

  “Wow,” Mav says as he shuts the door behind him and walks forward. He brings a hand from behind him and walks toward me with a red rose in his hand. “I stole this from one of Jo’s arrangements. Don’t tell on me.”

  “I don’t think she’ll miss it.” I smile, pulse racing as he reaches me and hands me the rose. “It’s beautiful.”

  “You’re beautiful.” He searches my eyes as he says the words.

  “Mav.” I quiver and take a breath. “You can’t keep saying things like that to me. I gave you a list to woo other women, not me.”

  “You’re the only one I want to woo, though, Keke.”

  “You told me to date other guys.”

  “I know what I said, but I don’t know if I can do this. I don’t know if I can watch you with other guys anymore and act like I’m okay with it.”

  “Act like you’re okay with it? So, you weren’t okay with it before?”

  “Of course not. I mean, I was fine with it because I love seeing you happy, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t also wildly jealous.”

  “But you were my first.”

  “I know.” He shuts his eyes in an exhale, as if savoring that. When he opens them again, they’re lava. “Which is why I was trying to resist this. Part of me wants to be an asshole and tell you that you’re mine and never let you go, but you deserve to be with other guys. You deserve to be wooed and taken out.”

  “What if I don’t want other guys? What if I want you to be that guy?”

  He brings a hand down to cup my face, my neck. “What if you regret that later on?”

  “Later on?” I let out a laugh. “You’re talking like we’re getting married.”

  “Like I said, what if you regret that later on?”

  “Maverick.” My chest flutters. “How will I know you’re not going to change your mind again?”

  “Because I’m telling you I won’t.” He reaches into the collar of his shirt and pulls out the necklace he’s wearing.

  “How did you . . . you still have it?” My eyes widen when I see the broken half heart that says BEST.

  “I’m sure I do, but this is a new one.” He reaches into his pocket and gives me the other half. I smile at the word FRIENDS. “You know I would never do anything to destroy what we have, right?”

  “Our friendship, yeah, I have no doubt about that.” I clasp the necklace in my grip. “But what about everything else?”

  “I can’t imagine I’d ever do anything to hurt the love of my life.” He looks into my eyes. “Especially since the love of my life happens to be my best friend.”

  My bottom lip starts to quiver. “Mav.”

  “If I had it my way, I’d make you my wife right now, this second, but I know that sounds crazy and—”

  “I like crazy,�
� I say, smiling as I wipe my tears. “But I don’t mind savoring this. We have a lot going on right now.”

  “I know.” He licks his lips. “That’s another thing I want to talk to you about. I know you’re going to do your try-out and I know you’re going to get offers from a lot of places, so I want you to pick whatever team you feel is best for you and I’ll—”

  I wrap my arms around his neck, pull my legs up and wrap them around his waist, and kiss him. “Stop being so serious for once, Mav.” I pull away and smile. “By the way, I’m in love with you too. I’ve been in love with you for a while now, even if you’re too blind to see it.”

  “Dammit, Rocky.” He kisses me again, so deeply that I feel like I’m going to combust. When he pulls away, we’re both breathing heavily. “I’m not letting you go. I hope you know that.”

  “I’m totally okay with it.” I smile.

  For the first time in a long time, I feel amazing.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Maverick

  “Misty,” Jo says, walking into the kitchen from the other side. “I cannot believe you are such a freaking baby. You called Mom?!”

  “You guys put me in a room that literally looks like UNC vomited in it, so yeah, I called Mom,” Misty says, looking between Jo and Jagger. “What the hell?”

  Jagger starts to laugh along with everyone else in there. I bite my tongue to keep from laughing because even though we’re not in the kitchen just yet, hearing the commotion is hilarious. Misty attends a rival university, and that makes this even funnier.

  “Unbelievable.” Misty shakes her head, and as we walk into the kitchen, we see her turn her glare toward Mitch. “Keep laughing.”

  “Nope.” Mitch straightens. He looks like he’s dying to laugh, but is trying really hard to hold it in. “I’m good.”

  “Such a baby,” Jo says again. “Mom and Dad think it’s hilarious, by the way.”

  “Of course, they do. You’re all traitors.”

  “You’re the only one who chose Duke over UNC! You’re the traitor,” Jo shoots back.

  “Oh, I see you kissed and made up,” Mitchell taunts as Rocky and I walk into the kitchen hand in hand.

  “You told them?” She squeezes my hand and looks up at me.

  “Yeah, pretty sure no one here is surprised by this development,” Mom says.

  “I’m surprised,” Dad says. “I mean, really, Rocky, you could do so much better.”

  Rocky laughs loudly and grips my hand again. “Honestly, Roberto, I gave it a lot of thought but after seeing what’s out there, I somehow kept coming back to him.”

  “I joined a dating app recently, so I feel this on a deep level,” Misty adds.

  “You joined a what?” Mitchell shouts. “When? Why?”

  “I got tired of going on dates with the same three guys.” Misty shrugs a shoulder. “Jo put me on one, so blame her.”

  All eyes turn to Jo, who gasps. “You guys are so judgy. She needs a man in her life so she can stop calling me at one in the morning when she has all her high musings.” Jo laughs. “Sorry, Misty. I guess everyone knows you smoke now.”

  “It’s for anxiety,” Misty says, eyes wide.

  “Hey, you don’t owe us an explanation,” Mom says. “I smoke once in a while.”

  “What?” I roar alongside my brothers. “Mom, no!”

  “My, how the tables have turned,” Dad says with a laugh. “I told you they’d think you’re a pothead.”

  “Not that there’s anything wrong with being a pothead at my age.” Mom shoots each of us a pointed look. “But it really does help me with my aches and pains once in a while, so, sorry, not sorry.”

  Rocky tries and fails to fight a laugh, especially when Jo and Misty start laughing uncontrollably, because admittedly, my brothers and I are in complete shock.

  “This day is wild,” I say after a moment. “Wild.”

  “Ma, we don’t even drink!” Mitchell says, then corrects himself when all of us look at him, “I mean, not a lot anyway.”

  “We definitely don’t do drugs,” Jagger says. “I just can’t believe that after all of those lectures you gave us . . . ” He shakes his head.

  “Relax.” Mom rolls her eyes. “I dedicated my life to raising three healthy, yet annoying boys and started a couple of companies. If I want to relax once in a while with something that’s not only legal, but natural, I’m allowed, dammit.”

  “It’s not legal in this state,” Jo adds. “Not that it stops Misty, as you can see.”

  “It’s not my fault some states are behind on the times and would rather keep feeding big pharma and letting them control us and make us addicted to the opioids of their choosing,” Misty argues.

  “Holy shit. I need a drink because after this conversation I have a feeling we’ll all need a little weed in our lives,” Dad says, walking over to the small bar. He looks over at the chef, who has been laughing at our entire exchange the whole time. “I’m sure you’ve heard worse things.”

  “Much worse,” the chef says.

  “Let’s talk about something less triggering,” I say. “Like Jo and Jagger’s wedding.”

  “Less triggering?” Jagger shouts with a laugh. “Dad, get me a drink, please, before Bridezilla starts going on her rants.”

  “I am not a Bridezilla, Jagger, what the fuck?” Jo says, crossing her arms over her chest.

  “You sure you want to be part of this forever?” I ask Rocky, looking down at her. “I mean, you’ve already been part of this forever, but it’ll be next level.”

  “I like next level.” She reaches up and kisses my chin because that’s as far as she can reach without heels. “I definitely like next level with you.”

  “Good.” I let go of her hand and squeeze a handful of her ass. “Because I still have a few things on that list to cross off.”

  “I mean, I can always make you a new list.” She winks. “A naughtier one.”

  I close my eyes momentarily, trying to keep myself from reacting.

  Yeah, taking this from friendship to relationship is definitely something I could never get over or regret.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Rocky

  “I COME IN PEACE,” Maverick shouts from the other side of the theatre.

  I lower into my seat and try not to laugh. Last time he did this, I was the only person here. This time, we have company. They’re sitting up near the front, but still, company. I shake my head as he walks down the row and reaches me.

  “You’re too loud for the theatre,” I whisper as he sits down beside me.

  “I thought about renting out a theatre for just the two of us.” He leans in and kisses me. “But I know how important it is for you to watch the previews and I don’t want to be a distraction.”

  I roll my eyes. “A little late for that.”

  “Is it?” He raises an eyebrow. The lights dim. He leans in and whispers, “Why don’t you come and sit on my lap?”

  I raise an eyebrow. I’m wearing a plaid yellow and black skirt and crop top. It was another option for a Halloween costume, but I didn’t use it and then I decided I didn’t care if Halloween was over, I was still going to dress like Dionne. I set my popcorn down, stand up, walk between his legs, shutting my eyes and inhaling when his hands grip the back of my thighs and make their way up underneath my skirt.

  “Fuck, Rocky, you’re going to kill me with this,” he whispers.

  “Shh,” I taunt quietly, but it doesn’t matter, the previews are loud and the people up front are too far to hear us. I hope. I take a step back as he spreads my legs and guides me onto his lap, one hand on my waist, the other underneath my skirt, toying with the string hiding between my ass cheeks. He brings his lips to the side of my neck, licking, kissing, as he continues to move his fingers up and down the string, the front of my panties digging into my folds with each motion. I feel my breathing quicken.

  “You like this, baby?” he whispers hotly in my ear. “You like when I play with your pussy
like this? What if we get caught?”

  For some reason, his words make me hungrier for him, and when his fingers begin stroking along my folds, outside of my panties and he groans against my ear, commenting on how wet I am, my body reacts. I start to move against his fingers with ease, gliding, and he lets me. He gives me full control of the pace. He bites down on my shoulder blade and I gasp, back arching, moving faster in search of release. I find it quickly, and just as I’m coming down from the orgasm, he tugs on my clit. A simple tug, torture, and I want more. I need more. He continues kissing my neck and makes his way up to the shell of my ear as his other hand leaves my waist and sneaks underneath my shirt and bra, cupping my breast, pinching my pert nipple.

  “It’s too much,” I whisper. “I need you inside me.”

  “Hm.” He moves a hand from underneath my skirt and adjusts himself underneath me.

  I feel his cock on my lower back, straining against us, and I pick myself up from his lap just to give me enough room to grab it and guide it inside of me. It hurts. It always does. I’m so wet, but he’s so big, and settling over him makes me feel so full. My arms shake on the armrest on either side of us as I pull myself up and back down.

  “Fuck, baby. Just like that,” he says into my ear. “Ride me just like that.”

  His hands go back to my waist, helping me do just that. My knees begin to buckle as he thrusts deep inside me, the wave of the impending orgasm washing through me all at once. I put a hand over my mouth so that I don’t scream. I value this movie theatre too much to get kicked out forever. Yet, when his cock swells inside me and he rocks against me hard and fast, making my eyes roll to the back of my head, I can’t find it in me to care about the consequences.

  “The movie was good.” Maverick shoots me a grin, reaching for my hand as we walk out of the theatre two hours later.

  “You’re unbelievable.” I shake my head.