and kissing her made me feel better. When I lifted my head her mouth looked puffy and damp and her eyes were glassy with banked passion.
“I missed you, too.”
She giggled a little and hooked her elbow around my arm. “These are a bunch of country club people and Mom’s political associates. You clean up nice, but don’t expect them to welcome you with open arms. I don’t think any of them have ever even seen a tattoo up close and personal so be prepared to be treated like half pariah and half zoo exhibit.”
“It’ll be fine. I can’t promise to play nice if that douche bag tries to put his hands on you in front of me, though.”
She shivered against my side. “He was awful last night. I kept trying to move farther and farther away and he just followed. My mother is insane if she thinks I’m spending one more minute with him.”
“Don’t you have to drive him back to school today?”
“I was planning on faking a headache and just letting him drive while I lay down in the backseat.”
I didn’t like that idea at all; she didn’t need to be vulnerable and subjected to that nonsense.
“Just give him the keys to the BMW and you can ride back with me. Have him text you when he’s home and Nash and I can go get your car later tonight.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Look, I know I messed up but I’m here for real now. We’re going to do this and I promise I’ll take care of you the best as I can. You’re going to have to be patient with me because I’m flying blind, but this is the kind of thing I should be doing for you. Plus, I don’t want you anywhere near that guy. He has something going on under all that polo and khaki and I don’t trust him one bit.”
“All right. I’ll set it up and if he refuses I’ll just tell him he has to find his own way home.”
She led me into a dining room that was packed with every real housewife of Brookside and every single person in the top-earning percentile of the state. There was a lot of money and power in this dining room, and Shaw was right, they were all looking at me like I was a wild animal let out of its cage. She tightened her grip on my arm and led me over to a table with all kinds of food spread out on it. Everyone gave us a wide berth for about three minutes, but as soon as Shaw tried to lead us to the table we were waylaid by Polo Shirt and the rest of the Junior League. He looked me up and down, then skimmed over Shaw in a way that made me want to hang him from a tree by his own intestines.
“This is a private function; I doubt you were invited.”
I lifted an eyebrow and settled a hand on Shaw’s lower back.
“He’s with me.” Her tone was cold and left no room for argument.
“For now.”
“Leave it alone, Polo Shirt. This isn’t the time or the place.”
“You don’t belong here. You’re a thug and a loser. Shaw is going to get tired of living on the wild side and see reason.”
“Here.” She shoved her keys at him and dragged me behind her into the room where everyone was seated at a massive table. All eyes were on us as she stormed to the table calling over her shoulder, “I’m not spending one second more with you; you can take the Beamer home by yourself or find your own ride.”
I heard him sputter but I was too busy pulling out Shaw’s seat and settling in next to her to enjoy it. I could feel most of the eyes in the room on us and her mother’s sour look from the head of the table. I was about to tell Shaw this was silly and was just making everyone uncomfortable when I heard a surprised voice say my name.
“Rule? Rule Archer is that you? What are you doing all the way out here for brunch?” The chair next to mine was pulled out and Alexander Carsten, a longtime client of mine, settled into the seat next to me. I gave him a grin and shook the hand he offered.
“What’s up, Alex? Long time no see. How’s the leg piece? Did it heal up all right?”
He laughed a big hearty laugh. Alex was a lawyer or something, in his early forties and pretty successful. I knew he drove a sweet Jag and had an awesome loft somewhere down in LoDo, but he was cool as hell for a buttoned-up kind of guy. I had done a couple big pieces on his leg and on his back, and under his pressed shirt and silk tie I knew he had two full sleeves, one Nash had done for him and one Rowdy had done. He paid big bucks and was an awesome tipper. Considering this was the last place on earth I would have planned on running into a client, I was stunned into momentary silence. I felt Shaw drop her hand onto my thigh and I covered it with my own.
“It healed perfect. I was actually thinking about swinging by in a few weeks and getting you to draw up something for my chest. So what are you doing out here?”
“I’m actually from Brookside, but I’m here particularly because my girl is stubborn and trying to prove a point.” I inclined my head at Shaw and she narrowed her eyes at me. Alex looked around me at Shaw and snorted out a laugh.
“You’re dating Eleanor Landon’s daughter? I bet that went over like coal on Christmas.” I guess Shaw’s mom hadn’t changed her name when she left Shaw’s dad or maybe it was just a better name for her political agenda.
“Oh yeah, she’s not a fan.”
“Well, don’t worry about it; she isn’t a fan of much from what I hear. It’s good to see a familiar face at one of these shindigs. I hope she keeps you around; these people can use the culture shock. This stuff is normally so boring.”
We bumped fists and I turned back to Shaw to ask her how much longer we had to stay, but now everyone in the entire room was staring at me like I had grown an extra head.
“What?”
She laughed and pressed her head against my shoulder. “Do you have any idea who that is?”
I popped a piece of orange in my mouth and pressed her hand harder into my thigh. “Alex. I tattoo him—actually we all do. He’s a regular at the shop.”
She was laughing so hard there were tears running down her face. “That’s Alex Carsten.”
“I just said I know.”
“Rule, Alex is the state attorney general. He’s the most influential legal person in all of Colorado. My mother helped get him elected.”
I ate another slice of orange and noticed Shaw’s mom was looking at me totally differently now. “Weird. He’s tatted up like crazy; under that suit and tie is some serious artwork.”
“That’s just too funny.”
“Hey, how much longer do we have to stick around here?”
“Let’s finish eating and then I need to pack my stuff up in my room. You can come up and help me.”
“You think the queen of the castle is going to let me in the ivory tower?”
She leaned in closer to me and moved her hand up even higher on my thigh; it made me almost choke on the orange I was chewing.
“She might not want you in there”—her green eyes twinkled up at me with merriment—“but I sure do.”
This stupid brunch couldn’t end fast enough. I popped another piece of orange in my mouth and tried counting backward from a hundred to get my libido in check. I thought brunch with my folks was rough. I was starting to see why Shaw was so interested in pulling my fractured family back together. Even as messed up as we Archers were, these rich people had us beat in crazy and nasty by spades.
CHAPTER 10
Shaw
I was doing my best to get away from my mother’s house but even though the plan had been to escape as soon as we were