The Marked Men Series Books 1–6: Rule, Jet, Rome, Nash, Rowdy, Asa. Jay Crownover
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around them while balancing hot coffee and trying to stay warm. She had parked her car off the street, a couple blocks over from the shop in one of the neighborhoods. I was getting ready to ask her if she was all right, if everything was still cool between us, but she came to a grinding halt and I almost ran into the back of her. I swore softly as the hot coffee splashed over my hand. “What the hell, Shaw?”
She didn’t move and I had to jump back when her coffee slid out of a suddenly lifeless hand and clattered on the snowy ground. She lifted a shaking hand to her mouth and before I could ask again what was wrong a pickup truck that was waiting to make a left-hand turn moved and I caught sight of her car.
All the windows were smashed out, the headlights had 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 of 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 shoulders 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” 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 where she felt secure. Having something destroyed like that must have been a violation like I couldn’t imagine. 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 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, during which 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 lie 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 who’s pissed 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 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 grudgingly 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 Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays so after I found a place to park it only took a nod at one coed and a wink at another to find my way to 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, I didn’t have to wait long, and campus security had already passed by without so much as a pause. Twenty minutes into my vigil the doors opened and a group of dudes who looked like they had emptied out a J.Crew store and topped it off with L.L.Bean’s winter line came pouring out. They were all laughing and talking about something and Davenport looked so self-satisfied I 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 silently followed him 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 the 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 burning 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 who 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 stopped 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. It sets a 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