Rome: A Marked Men Novel (5 page)

She spun around to leave when Nash suddenly hopped to his feet and snapped his fingers. It made the

nurse wince and made me frown.

“I knew I knew you! We went to high school together, didn’t we? Aren’t you Saint Ford?”

We could have heard a pin drop she went so still and got so quiet. She stared at him like he had just

crawled out of the sewer.

“I am. I’m surprised you recognized me, most people don’t.”

He tilted his head to the side and gave her a considering look. “Why did you say we didn’t know each

other, then?”

She cleared her throat and fiddled with the end of her braid. She was clearly very uncomfortable with

the conversation.

“Because high school was a million years ago and I was a very different person then. It’s not a time that

comes with the fondest memories; in fact I prefer to pretend it never even happened. I’m sure that’s not

something a guy like you can understand. Have a nice night; try to avoid any more knife-wielding bikers if

you can, Mr. Archer.”

She swept out in a haughty cloud, leaving both of us dumbfounded and gaping at each other.

“Whoa. Were you a dick to her in school or something? That was a whole lot of hostility for something

that happened so long ago.”

He shrugged and helped me get up onto my feet. I wobbled a bit from the mixture of alcohol and blood

loss, so he didn’t let go until I was steady.

“Probably. Rule, Jet, and I were a bunch of punks. Remy was the nice one.”

“What do you mean, ‘were’? You probably teased her for being fat or something.”

He had the good grace to look ashamed. “That is entirely possible. I wasn’t exactly in a great place when

I was in high school either. There was too much stuff going on with my mom and that idiot she married for

me to really give a crap about anything or anyone else. Man, that blows. She’s a total babe now.”

I didn’t even consider putting my blood-soaked shirt back on as I hobbled out of the emergency room.

“She sure is.”

We got to Nash’s fully restored ’73 Dodge Charger and I slumped down in the seat. It wasn’t the worst

Independence Day I could remember having, but it sure wasn’t one of the best either. All I wanted to do

was crawl into bed and forget about everything, not that that seemed to be working out for me so great as

of late.

“Listen, dude, I’m sorry about today. I’ll touch base with Rule and make things right. I’m just a little off

balance right now.”

The massive motor rattled so loud it made my teeth hurt.

“We all get that. You just aren’t giving anyone a chance to try and help set you straight.”

“I’ll chill out.” I wasn’t sure how I was going to go about that exactly but I knew I needed to get on it.

“You can tell the rabid pixie to back off.”

He laughed. “No can do, my friend. Cora is like a pit bull; when she sinks her teeth into something or

someone she doesn’t let go. You might want to try and apologize. She just wants to look out for all of us

and she does a good job of it.”

I closed my eyes and let my head drop back on the seat.

“I remember when that was my job.”

Heavy silence filled the car and I didn’t think he was going to say anything else about it, but after a

minute he muttered, “You went off to save the entire world, Rome, we just did the best we could while you

were gone.”

Just like being a big guy often had its disadvantages, wanting to be a hero to everyone and anyone often

had the same dangerous pitfalls. I got used to everyone needing me, to them relying on me, and now that I

wasn’t needed anymore I simply didn’t know what to do with myself. That honestly terrified me more than

any war zone or bar brawl with armed bikers ever could.

CHAPTER 3

Cora

Summertime was always busier at the shop. It was the Tuesday after the ill-fated barbecue, and the ink

bunnies were out in full force. The warm weather and lack of clothes led to people wanting to get all kinds

of adornment in all kinds of interesting and visible places, and I swore to God that ever since Rule had

officially gone off the market, the girls who came in to get work done specifically by him had doubled in

number. I would never understand the allure of wanting something you clearly couldn’t have, but I had to

admit it was a riot to watch them try to get it.

The Terrible Trio were booked solid for the next six weeks, as were the other three artists who rounded

out the crew at the Marked. I wasn’t as busy since I had to schedule appointments around my other

obligations at the shop. Today a young guy had wandered in talking a big game about getting a full Jacob’s

ladder, but hadn’t even made it past the point where he actually had to take his pants and underwear off to

let me get at the goods. That happened a lot, so I found myself with an hour of downtime that I was using

to stalk Jimmy on Facebook.

For the last five years Jimmy only popped up in my mind when something or someone reminded me of

him, but ever since that wedding invitation showed up in the mail, I was obsessed. It was like all the old

hurt, the old embarrassment, was fresh in my mind and all the wounds he had left me with were opened

back up and bleeding. I really owed that jackass a punch in the nuts if I ever saw him again. I hated to

admit that the girl my ex was going to marry really was lovely and that they looked happy together, but then

I remembered that he and I had looked that way as well at one point in time and it hadn’t kept him faithful

to me.

The guys were listening to some really loud punk rock and I wasn’t really paying attention because I

was lost in my own memories when I realized someone was leaning on the counter across from me. The

waiting area had people milling around waiting for their friends or family members to finish up with their

appointments, but I hadn’t heard the chime of the bell over the door ring to indicate a new arrival. At first I

thought it was a walk-in wanting to set up a consult, but it was only when I had to lift my gaze up, and then

even farther up, that I realized it was not someone I was particularly happy to see. My feelings must have

been reflected on my face because the hard mouth I was used to seeing in a harsh downturn actually kicked

up on one side in a grin that transformed Rome’s entire face.

There was no denying the Archer brothers had won the genetic lottery. Whereas Rule’s good looks were

camouflaged under self-adorned artwork and flair, Rome’s were totally in your face and impossible for all

the girly parts of me not to notice. If the army wanted to guarantee the recruitment of every ninety-pound

weakling from here to Brooklyn, all they needed to do was slap Rome Archer on their recruitment posters.

He just emanated a sense of “take care of business” that was heady, and I shouldn’t have found it attractive,

but I totally did. He was as gorgeous as he was annoying.

I cleared my throat and clicked off the browser.

“You look terrible.” And he did. He had a black ball cap on with a white Broncos logo on the front, but

even under the shadow of the brim I could see that he had the shadow of a bruise under one eye and that

the knuckles of the hands he had placed on the counter where he was leaning were torn up and covered in

scabs. All that aside, his eyes were still the bluest blue I had ever seen and that tiny little grin did more to

make him look like an actual, breathing human than I think a full-on smile ever could.

The eyebrow under the scar twitched a little and he rapped his fingers on the marble that separated us.

“You have really pretty eyes.”

I blinked those eyes in surprise because I wasn’t expecting that. So far all this guy had shown he was

capable of emoting was vitriol and angst. The compliment seemed out of left field.

“Ahh … thanks?” My eyes were two different colors. The left was a bright, iridescent turquoise that was

indeed really pretty, the right was a hazel brown that fluctuated between hot-cocoa brown to the color of

espresso at any given moment. People commented on them a lot, but I never would have figured Rome to

be one of them. In fact I think it was the first thing he had ever spoken directly to me. I was good with

words, so I didn’t love that him being nice made me tongue-tied.

“Do you think you can grab my brother for me? I need to talk to him really quick. I have an entire post–

Independence Day parade of repentance I need to get through today.”

I stared up at him in surprise. In my experience big, gruff ex-soldiers weren’t the type of guys who

readily admitted accountability when they messed up. I wasn’t sure what to make of that, or really of him. I

did know his looming presence and those too-blue eyes were making me kind of uncomfortable, but not in

the
he’s a big jerk
kind of way, more in the
I really want to see him without a shirt on
kind of way.

I cleared my throat again and looked back into the shop. Rule was wiping the clear goo on the fresh ink

he used to protect the tattoo for the client until they got home. He was watching Rome and me interact with

a frown on his face and I noticed that Nash and Rowdy all wore similar expressions. I didn’t know if the

sour looks were directed at me or at Rome, but I didn’t like it either way and gave them all a glare back. I

swiveled around in my chair and looked back up at Rome. He was watching me with a look of curiosity on

his face and I almost wished I knew him better so I knew what it meant.

“He’ll be done in like fifteen minutes if you want to hang out. He has another appointment right behind

it, though, so try and keep the murder and mayhem to a minimum.”

He snorted and pushed off the counter. I hated to admit it, but I couldn’t pull my gaze away from the

muscles that were rippling along his huge biceps, visible under the sleeves of his black T-shirt. I wasn’t the

kind of girl who was attracted to bulging muscles and a rock-hard physique, at least I never thought I was

until I couldn’t pull my eyes off of all the sinew and flex that was Rome Archer. He was just too big, too

much, and way too all-American to be sending all those kinds of tingly things running under my skin.

“I’m not exactly sure why, but I feel like I should apologize to you as well. Even though I’m the one

that ended up covered head to toe in beer.”

I winced a little and tried not to squirm under the scrutiny of those piercing eyes. I tugged on my ear

and looked away. The smooth surface of the plug in the lobe rubbed back and forth between my fingers.

“I have a tendency to overreact at times, and you were being unbearable. Every one of those people

loves you and has worried about you for years and years while you were gone. The least you can do is

return that affection.”

He had the good grace to look properly chastised, and when he took his hat off to rub a hand over his

short cap of hair, I noticed a nasty-looking gash that now decorated the side of his head.

“What on earth happened to you?”

He looked confused until his fingers grazed the shaved spot and the tiny metal sutures holding his scalp

together.

He slammed his hat back on his head and the grin that had been dancing around his mouth fell totally

away.

“Wrong place at the wrong time, I have a knack for finding myself there.”

I didn’t understand how a guy who clearly had so much going for him—good looks, a loving family,

hordes of people that cared about him, a successful career, and obviously a rigid sense of duty and honor—

could be so unconcerned about his circumstances and his impact on those around him.

I cocked my head to the side and regarded him closely. I didn’t know Rome from any other stranger on

the street, but there was something about him, something strong and magnetic that I was having a hard time

denying made me want to figure out what made him tick. Maybe it was the idea of having a distraction from

how bummed out I was becoming the closer the date to Jimmy’s wedding got. Maybe it was because he was

so ingrained in the lives of everyone I cared about. Maybe it was because he was just so much larger than

life and impossible to ignore, but the longer we stared at each other the more my curiosity was piqued.

I was going to tell him he should be more careful, when a heavy hand fell on the back of my neck and

gave it a slight squeeze. I knew Rule well enough to take it as the warning it was:
Don’t meddle
. Rome

didn’t need me trying to dismantle him and reassemble him in proper working order. He was a grown man

and was going to have to find his way on his own.

Rule’s client looked back and forth between the brothers with huge eyes and then at me, like I could

explain why the room suddenly seemed full of tension and hostility, making it almost impossible to breathe.

I forced a smile at her and climbed out of the chair.

“Let me just check you out and get you paid up. Why don’t you two take the brotherly love outside

before you scare the rest of the customers into leaving?”

Rule gave the back of my neck another squeeze and let me go as he made his way around the counter