Rowdy

by Jay Crownover

I could stomach the idea of returning to a place I had sworn I would never set foot in again only because I knew he was where I would be going back to. He would always be my lighthouse, guiding me home through any kind of storm, just like that sprawling tattoo on his chest said.

  CHAPTER 17

  Rowdy

  I WAS NERVOUS WALKING into the Bar. I think I had asked her to meet me here instead of one of the classier, more upscale places in LoDo to try and put us on more equal footing and I was never one to squander the home-field advantage.

  I was early by a good twenty minutes, but the longer I sat around thinking about sitting down with her one-on-one, the closer I was to talking myself out of doing it. So when I entered the dark interior of the Bar on that Friday night two weeks after Asa’s run-in with the law, I was relieved and surprised to see Rule sitting at the bar talking to Rome. The Archer brothers were bound to keep my mind off my own little reunion that I had on the schedule for the night. I should have manned up and approached Sayer and had this powwow a month ago, but I just now was able to think about talking to her without wanting to bolt in the opposite direction.

  I took a seat next to Rule and clapped him on the shoulder as Rome lifted his scarred eyebrow at me.

  “Where’s your lady?”

  My lady . . . I would never get sick of hearing Salem referred to as mine. “She’s with Saint and Royal helping Saint pack.”

  It seemed like it had taken forever to get Nash’s girl to agree to move in with him, and now that she had he was wasting no time in getting her and her belongings under his roof for good.

  “I’m actually meeting someone else for a drink.”

  Both the brothers turned to me, and if it was possible to burst into flames or be frozen on the spot from the disapproval in both pairs of blue eyes, I would have been a dead man. I held up my hands in surrender from all the disapproval and shook my head.

  “No. Not like that. Jeez, have you met Salem? She would cut my balls off and feed them to me if I was screwing around on her.” I lifted up my own eyebrow and curled my hands on the edge of the bar. “I found out a few weeks ago that the guy that contributed the other half of my DNA was out there all along and knew about me. His daughter—my half sister—found out about me after he died and left me half of her inheritance. She tracked me down and has been trying to get to know me for a couple months. She’s actually the one that found the lawyer for Asa.”

  Rome let out a low whistle and turned to get me a beer. “That’s some straight-up soap-opera shit right there.”

  Rule and I both laughed. “Tell me about it.” I shoved Rule on the shoulder hard enough that he almost toppled off the bar stool. “Why aren’t you home with your pregnant wife?” I never thought the original wild child of the Marked family was going to settle down, but Rule had taken to being domesticated like a champ and I had to say it looked damn good on him.

  He righted himself in the seat and snatched the beer out of my hand so he could take a long swallow out of it. He gave it back after making sure to slobber all over the top of it and I could only fake-glower at him while I laughed at his antics.

  “We went for the ultrasound today and I think we both needed a minute to get our heads around it. I guess it kind of made it all real. I’m gonna be a dad. I’m having a kid with the last person on earth I ever thought I was going to fall in love with, and now I don’t have any kind of life without her in it. I heard the heartbeat and almost fucking cried.” His pale eyes got huge in his face. “What am I supposed to do if he turns out just like me?”

  Rome chuckled and I asked, “You’re having a boy?”

  He rubbed his hand across the back of his neck. “Yeah. I think a girl would maybe be easier. She would be sweet and soft like Shaw. God help us all if this kid takes after his old man.”

  Rome snorted. “I have a baby girl, and while she is sweet and soft she is also ornery and demanding.”

  I smirked at him. “Just like her mama.”

  “No kidding, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.” He told Rule, “You’ll be fine. If he is like you then you know what you need to do to keep him in line and remind him that it’s okay to be difficult and to make your own way in this world, but that he also has to let the people that love him in.”

  The brothers shared an intense look that spoke to battles won and lost and I had to agree with Rome’s assessment. In order to lighten up the mood a little, I told Rule, “And at least it isn’t twins. I don’t think Denver would remain standing if there were two more of you unleashed on the Mile High.”

  The quip had the desired effect and some of the tension unleashed from Rule’s shoulders. “True. Cora pouted for a full hour when Rome told her it was just one baby and not twins.”

  “I bet she did.”

  Rome looked up and nodded over my head as someone came in the door. I turned to see who it was and looked past Asa as he walked in to the young woman that followed him in the front door. She was short, about Cora’s height, but curved more like Salem, she had hot-pink hair and a snarl on her pretty mouth. She looked mad at the world and not happy to be at the Bar at all. The little thing practically breathed out bad attitude and discontentment. She walked past all of us without acknowledging our existence in any way, shape, or form. She literally emanated anger and displeasure like a thick, black cloud in her wake.

  Rome grunted at her thunderous arrival and quipped, “Speaking of Cora, that little lady right there can give her a run for her money in the attitude department.” The older Archer sounded disgruntled about that fact.

  “Who is she?” This came from Rule as he pointed in the direction the pink-haired sprite had gone.

  “Brite’s daughter, Avett. He asked me and Asa to find a way to keep her out of trouble for a few months. She got kicked out of college and fell in with a pretty bad crowd. She’s shit with the customers, so we tossed her in the kitchen to help Darcy out, but considering they’re mother and daughter, it isn’t going well. One of them is bound to walk out in the middle of a rush sooner or later.” He chuckled drily. “I think Brite is hoping Asa might be a good influence on her, as crazy as that sounds.”

  Brite Walker was the guy that had sold the Rome the Bar for a song. He was also the ex-soldier’s mentor and really the all-around voice of reason when it came to burly, stubborn men making dumb choices. I knew there was nothing Rome or Asa wouldn’t do for Brite, including giving his unpleasant offspring a job and looking out for her.

  I lifted up my eyebrow. “She seems like a real delight.”

  Rome just grunted a nonanswer and told us, “I have plans with Cora tonight, so I need to work on getting out of here. Joe is babysitting and I’m taking her out.” Joe was Cora’s dad and so in love with his new baby granddaughter that he had packed up his entire life in Brooklyn and moved to Denver to be closer to his girls. He was a huge part of Rome and Cora’s life.

  “What’s the occasion?” Rule’s question was simple, but the way Rome stiffened and the way his eyes blazed neon blue made me think there was something more to his plans than just a date night.

  “No occasion. I have a gorgeous woman that gave me a beautiful daughter and she always deserves to know that she is the most important thing in the world to me.” Oh yeah, Rome wasn’t a major talker and that kind of sentiment was far more flowery than he usually expressed. Rule and I shared a knowing look. Something was definitely up.

  “Gonna go get Asa ready for the night shift and then bounce.” He lifted his chin at Rule and told him, “You’re going to be a great dad, Rule. Just like you’re a great husband, a great brother, a great friend, and a rock-solid business partner. You and Shaw were meant to do this.”

  Rule nodded his head and I saw him swallow hard. “Thanks.”

  I turned around so I could see the door. I didn’t want to miss Sayer when she showed up and I admittedly didn’t want to miss her reaction when she saw the Bar. Sure, Rome had cleaned the place up, every surface was restored or new, but it was sti
ll a dive bar and there was no way to mask that.

  “What do you think is up with him and Cora?” I went to take a drink from the beer and then remembered Rule sticking his tongue all over it and just handed it to him with a scowl.

  “I dunno. He’s been bugging her to move. He wants to buy a house, but who knows. Those two fight fire with gasoline and I think they both get off on watching it burn.”

  “Never boring, I guess.”

  “No way. Could you ever imagine anything with Cora being boring?”

  I laughed and stiffened up when I saw the tall blond woman come in through the front door. Rule took note of my sudden change in posture and followed my gaze to where Sayer was looking around the dimly lit interior for me. She caught my eye and started in my direction. She moved like she was part of a royal wedding procession.

  “She looks an awful lot like you, Rowdy.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  Sayer stopped in front of me and shifted a little uneasily. “Hello.”

  “Hey. Sayer Cole, this is Rule Archer. He’s a coworker and a longtime friend.”

  She stuck out her hand for Rule to shake and I was impressed her gaze didn’t linger at all over the colorful cobra had that decorated the entire backside of Rule’s hand.

  “Nice to meet you.” Her voice was firm and she didn’t seem uncomfortable at all, but her gaze kept meeting mine and then dating away. I wondered if she was just as nervous about spending time together as I was.

  “You, too. Thank you for helping Asa out.”

  The case had fallen apart in a most spectacular way when the guy Sayer had put us in touch with to represent Asa had come on board. Quaid Jackson was indeed a barracuda and he left no stone unturned when it came to defending Asa, even with Asa’s history being less than stellar. Really the nails in the coffin of the case had come down to arrogance and foolishness on the kid’s part. The ringleader, the little punk that had started shit with Asa in the bar, had been brash enough to post cell-phone video on YouTube of him and his friends surrounding Asa in the parking lot after the bar closed. The assault that was shown was violent, unprovoked, vicious, and completely unfair. Of course Asa had fought back and the kid did indeed get his ass handed to him, but that was nothing compared to the beating Asa took out, numbered five to one. Really he was lucky his face had just gotten banged up. It really looked like things could have been far worse for him.

  Quaid found the video, not that it had been hard to find once it found its way to Facebook and Twitter, and took it to the powers that be in the justice system in order to get the case dropped. The ringleader of the entire circus was now looking at false reporting charges and some serious assault charges of his own. Quaid had been nice enough to only charge Asa a grand considering he never actually had to go before a judge. It was pretty much a win for Team Asa even if he still wouldn’t explain why he hadn’t protested his arrest or defended himself to the police when they hooked him up and put him in the patrol car.

  “He seems to have a knack for landing in hot water.” Sayer said it lightly and without censure.

  Rule got up off the stool and threw some money down on the bar. “It happens to all of us now and then.”

  He told me good-bye and hollered the same to Asa as he appeared behind the bar. I introduced the bartender to Sayer as well and he thanked her in much the same way Rule had, only with far more charm and a grin that was designed to make her want to go to bed with him. I hoped it didn’t work. I was just getting used to the idea of having a sister. I couldn’t even begin to try and work my way through how the idea of her sleeping with a lothario like Asa made me feel. He told us drinks were on the house for the night and gave me a smirk like he knew exactly what part of the gutter my mind had nose-dived into. I flipped him off as I followed Sayer to one of the tables that was up near the stage Rome had built during his remodel of the Bar. It was going to get busy later but for now it was quiet enough we could talk and not have to shout at each other over bar noise.

  I was surprised when she took a bottle of Coors Light instead of ordering a mixed drink or a glass of wine, though I wasn’t even really sure they served wine here that wasn’t the equivalent of the stuff that came out of a box.

  “I’m glad you asked to meet with me.” She talked in a way that was very cultured and even but her constantly moving hands gave away how nervous she was.

  “Sometimes it takes me a minute to work my way around to where I’m supposed to be. Like I told you in your office you didn’t deserve that kind of treatment. I’m usually a pretty decent guy.”

  “Maybe not, but I get that this is all kind of hard to process.”

  I picked up my beer and looked at her over the top of it. “You had to process it as well.”

  She nodded a little and picked at the sticker on her beer bottle. “My dad was always finding new and perfectly horrific ways to mess with my life. I’m used to trying to process through it all.” Her eyes that were an identical match to mine darkened like a cloudy day. “When I started trying to track you down I was mad at him. I was alone, you were alone, and he knew it all along. We could have had each other and helped each other and he purposely kept us apart until he was gone. I’m pretty sure he counted on you being a greedy, selfish bastard that would just snap the money up without a thought. He was trying to hurt me, but really he gave me the one thing I always wanted.” The corners of her mouth tilted up just a little bit. “Someone else to call family, someone else to care about and share things with. The fact that you are a good man, and that you turned out so amazing all on your own, really is an epic ‘screw you’ to the old man. I could love you unconditionally for that alone, Rowdy.”

  I paused with the beer halfway to my lips and just looked at her. That was probably one of the nicest things anyone had ever had to say about me.

  “I’m really not interested in taking half of your inheritance, Sayer. I don’t make lawyer money but I do all right and I can support myself just fine.” I finally took a slug of the beer and put it back down on the table. “It sounds like you earned every single cent in the hardest way possible.”

  She moved some of her hair over her shoulder and leaned a little closer to me so that she could prop her elbow on the table and rest her chin on her hand.

  “I’m going to be really presumptuous and overstep my bounds for a second, so don’t get mad at me.”

  I lifted an eyebrow at her but grinned because she really looked concerned about what my reaction might be. I couldn’t blame her. I hadn’t exactly rolled out the welcome mat for her thus far.

  “I’ve spent some time with Salem. I adore her and think she’s about as perfect for you as any girl could ever be. I know you guys have some history lingering between you but from the outside the two of you act like you’re a team. Before you dismiss saying yes to money that is rightfully yours, you might want to think about the fact you are not operating independently anymore. That money could pay for a wedding. It could pay for a down payment on a house. You could use it for a new business, or for college if you have kids down the line. It’s no small sum, and honestly, Rowdy, you earned it just as much as I did.”

  Fuck me. I hadn’t even started to think about what an unexpected windfall might mean if my relationship kept moving forward with Salem the way it was. There was no doubt she had ahold of my heart and had always owned my soul. Sure I was probably going to put a ring on her finger down the line and the way this group was popping out kids left and right that would probably be on the agenda at some point as well. I just hadn’t really thought about it in terms of being right around the corner.

  “We are a matched set.” I liked Salem’s way of looking at how we fit together. Sure there had been others along the way but no one fit in the empty places the way she did, no matter how hard I might have tried to force them. “You’re right. I need to talk to her before just turning the money down cold.”

  “She’s a very dynamic young woman.”

  I laughed becaus
e that was one way to put it. “She’s a force of nature.”

  “The tattoo she has on her back, the one you drew for her when she was a teenager, I’ve never seen anything so beautiful. I think your drawing is amazing and the fact she carries her favorite gift she ever received with her every day is pretty special.”

  I had never really looked at it that way before, but Sayer was right. It was special. Really special, just like the relationship I had with Salem was. “I always thought I had bad luck, ya know?” I leaned a little closer to her as well. “My mom died because some dirty bastard tried to carjack her.” I sighed and felt the weight of that loss settle on me like it always did. “I’m sure you know that because you dug into my life trying to find me, but what you don’t know is that she was out that night because I was sick. I had a fever and was throwing up, so she was just running to the store real quick to grab some 7 Up and kid’s Tylenol for me. We didn’t live in a good part of town, so she never would’ve been out unless it was for me.”

  Emotion crawled up my throat and made it hard to talk. I had to look down at the table because the sympathy in Sayer’s gaze was too much for me to handle.

  “Then there was the Cruz sisters. I needed Salem and she left. I thought I loved Poppy and she didn’t want me. More bad luck.” I gave a broken laugh that sounded like it was coated in rust. “Then there was football. I was good at it, really good, but I didn’t love it and what I did love I couldn’t see a future in.”

  I cleared my throat and then looked back up at her. “After the last month or so I’ve started to change my mind about that luck. Salem came back and set my world right even though I didn’t know it was upside down. Poppy will always be important to me in a different way that still really matters. Phil found me and taught me how to make a living off of art. My mom might be gone but everywhere I turn now I run into someone that loves me and considers me family . . . including you. That’s more good fortune then most men get in a lifetime.”

  Her eyes got really shiny and she told me, “You’re going to make me cry.”