Rome: A Marked Men Novel Read Free Page A

tops for another round of beers. It looked like
    they were going with the time-honored, male way of dealing with things by ignoring the entire thing. Not
    that I could blame them. None of them seemed to want to call Rome out on his ridiculous behavior and I
    knew all of them well enough to know that stubborn didn’t even begin to cover how they acted when they
    made up their minds about something.
    “You okay?”
    Shaw blinked at me and gave me a lopsided grin. It was just her way to always want things to be okay
    for everyone.
    “I’ll live. Part of me thinks they should just beat the crap out of each other to get whatever is going on
    between them out in the open. But I don’t think Rule would know when to back down and I think Rome
    could kill him if he lost control. I don’t know what happened to him this last tour, but that guy is not the
    guy I grew up with.”
    I lifted my eyebrow and took the plate Rowdy handed me as he sat down across from me and put his
    feet up on the arm of my chair. I made a face at him, but he was forgiven when he tossed me a beer.
    “You know, everyone keeps saying that, but I met big brother a few times before and he never struck
    me as a barrel of laughs. The guy has always been wound up pretty tight.”
    Shaw took the plate Rule handed her and scooted over on the bench seat to make room for him next to
    her. They were an odd pair at first glance but the love they shared was a tangible thing and I tried really
    hard not to be jealous about it.
    “It has to do with more than Remy.” Rule’s deep voice was gruff and I could tell he was stewing over
    the latest run-in with his brother.
    I cracked open the beer and offered my own two cents. “Who cares what it has to do with? He’s a jerk
    face for no reason. Screw him.”
    Rowdy shook his head at me and Shaw and Rule both rolled their eyes. As usual, it was up to Nash to
    be the voice of reason.
    “We don’t just write off people that we care about, Cora. You know this.”
    I did. This group was fiercely loyal and honest to a fault, which is why I loved them like I did. I just
    hated to see one person causing so much strife with so many different, wonderful people.
    “I gotta say I’m glad he doesn’t have your temper, Rule. I think one solid hit with those mitts of his and
    I would’ve ended up like Asa over there.” Rowdy indicated the southern playboy with a tilt of his beer.
    Asa had taken a beating so bad that he had been in a coma for several weeks. It was a miracle he had
    come out of it as unscathed as he had.
    Rule grunted and put his free arm around Shaw as she leaned into his side. They really were too cute
    for words. I had to bite back an envious sigh. Rule glanced at the gate Rome had just stormed out of and
    stated, “He’s never been much of a brawler. I mean, when we were younger he would wade in when Nash
    and I started shit, but he was never the type to start anything himself. That’s why I don’t get what is going
    on with him lately. I’m about sick of it, though.”
    Nash snorted a laugh and pointed at me with the end of his fork. “To be fair, Tink kind of started it
    today. Was dousing him in beer really necessary?”
    I tried to look innocent. It wasn’t really a look I could pull off very well, so I gave a helpless grin.
    “I could’ve punched him in the nose, but there wasn’t a stepladder anywhere handy.”
    That got a round of laughs from everyone, because I really was tiny compared to the older Archer and
    laughter worked wonders at lifting the black mood he had brought. We finished eating and had a few more
    drinks; at least they did. I had to drive Asa back to the house and there was no way I was going to risk a
    DUI on such a checkpoint-happy holiday. The guys waited until it was dark and wandered off into the yard
    to light fireworks, because really they were all just big kids covered in ink.
    I found myself alone with Shaw on the deck once again and noticed that despite the lingering