Against the Rules (Even The Score #4)

6. willow

CHAPTER 6

WILLOW

YOU HAVE A CALL COMING

It was weird seeing my home completely naked. Every wall was repainted, and the place was full of taped boxes. All our cherished memories, packed for Boston. The weirdest place to imagine my dad, a proud San Antonioan professor of poetry.

"Call me the Taco Man because I have tacos! " Dad belted.

I found him in the kitchen, placing a dozen brown bags on the counter.

"Move, Willie!" My brother, Embry, rocketed from the wall, leading the way for relatives coming from the backyard.

Everyone started stretching out the folding chairs until the living room was full of people.

My other brother, Kenan, shuffled in, glued to his phone until I wrapped my arms around him.

"Get off of me? — "

"I love you."

"Yeah, yeah." He pulled away from me. "I’m going to miss you too."

I leaned against the wall, watching my dad. It was so good to see him so happy. Especially after the divorce. But my stomach churned thinking about the future miles between us and how I wouldn’t get to see him or my brothers until the end of the summer.

I needed a couple of minutes to get the smile back on my face. I wouldn’t let our goodbye be a sad one.

I wasn’t alone in the backyard for thirty seconds before my aunt opened the screen door. My mom’s twin sister was only there to say goodbye to the kids and was proudly pro-divorce and pro-Lawson.

"You need to clean up the attitude."

Exactly what I wanted to hear. Nothing better than having your own family chide you for feeling weird about the situation.

"You don’t have to like Lawson." My aunt sipped her drink. "But when he dies, he doesn’t have children. The millions have to go somewhere. "

That was absolutely not why my mom married him. She was already a successful sports journalist with a bestselling book, she didn’t need the money. But my aunt was talking about me .

I whipped out my phone.

Me

Give me an excuse to run away from a conversation

Anything

Please

Tattoos

You have a call coming

I tilted my head, confused, before his face popped up on my screen.

Oh my god, he’s serious.

Holding in the breath of relief, I gestured for my aunt to see. "I’m so sorry. I have a call, I’m sure we’ll pick this up later."

Or never .

At the other side of the backyard, I sank to the bench. "Hey," I whispered. "Thank you."

There was a weird beeping noise on his end, but his voice came through perfectly. "That’s why I’m here."

"I’m grateful," I murmured.

"Sounds like you need a break."

"My family’s been…" I groaned. "A family. You know."

"Are you okay?"

"Right now? Good. As a whole…? I don’t know."

He was quiet, and I knew he was waiting for me to talk.

There was a very real reason why I hadn’t jumped into hookup culture, but I was pretty sure deeper topics weren’t usually tacked on. It was supposed to include surface-level conversations, like with cashiers at the grocery store or with my brothers when they were sucked into their video games.

But for some reason, I wanted to say what had been on my mind. "My parents split up and my mom married a family friend like…six weeks later?"

Tattoos grunted in surprise. "Uh…a close family friend?"

I thought about the professional keyboard Dan Lawson bought me for my birthday and how we spent hours configuring it before I put on a little concert for my family. That keyboard was tucked away and hadn’t been touched since the wedding announcement.

"Yeah," I admitted. "Really close. They met through work, and I thought he was just a coworker, but guess who was wrong about that? Now I’m transferring to Marrs and moving in with them. I’ll see my mom’s new husband…all the time. A man I used to call my uncle. The guy who split up the family."

"Holy shit."

"Sorry." I closed my eyes. "That’s too much."

"No, I can’t imagine how tough that is. They’ll expect you to be cool about it and all you’ll see is your uncle. Yeah. Really shitty."

His reply felt weird before I realized everybody else was either melting down or ecstatic to see my mom marrying a multi-millionaire football coach. No one bothered to actually talk to me about it.

"Thank you," I said softly. That weird beeping came in again. "I’m sorry. Where are you?"

"The hospital."

"Did your friend try another cartwheel?"

"No, I’m here for my mom."

I didn’t know what to say. He was nonchalant about it, or a lot calmer than I would’ve been with that sentence. "You’re at the hospital with your mom?"

"Yeah, but we’re at the other end. We’re leaving in a couple of minutes."

"Other end…?"

"My mom’s a severe diabetic. She can pass out pretty easily. When her numbers jump around, we have to go in, and they stabilize her. But we’re at the end of it. Quick visit."

My mouth fell open. "Oh my god. I’m complaining about a divorce and?—"

"It’s okay."

"How often does it happen?"

"Uh…we used to have a hundred day streak on the calendar but we never made it so I took it off."

"I am so sorry."

"We’re at the end."

"Tattoos—"

"You don’t need to worry about it. That’s my job." He hesitated. "I was on my way to see you, but my mom called and I had to cancel the flight."

I had no idea if he was serious until my phone buzzed. It was a welcome email for a hotel. A really, really nice hotel on the San Antonio River Walk.

"You…?" My mouth fell open. "I…?"

"I thought I could steal you from family stuff, even just to grab dinner."

I rotated between holding the phone to my ear and checking the email. He was going to come see me. I fumbled with a reply, completely surprised.

I blushed. "That’s really disappointing. Because I would’ve snuck out with you."

"Yeah?"

"To check out the hotel," I teased. "Did you get a Groupon?"

"My boss and his assistant actually put it together."

"Are they worried you’re going to quit? Is this a bribe?"

He laughed. "Nope, I’m just lucky to have them."

Doing all of that for a hookup? I hesitated with the questions I wanted to blurt out. How was I supposed to figure out if he liked me as much as I suspected he did? What was the protocol?

"So…you’re saying the other girls on your list aren’t getting the Emerald Dream experience?"

"I don’t think you can call it a list if there’s only one name on it."

Oh . Wow.

Sending nudes, sexting, that was the kind of stuff I became comfortable with while I rooted out the perfect v-card candidate. This…sweetness was entirely new territory.

"I have to sign some papers for my mom," he said. "Can I call you tonight?"

"Call as in…?"

"After I get home, can I call you?"

I did plenty of those kinds of calls before, but my eyes darted to the house. "My whole family’s here and the walls are really thin?—"

"Not that kind of call, a regular call. I like talking to you."

Oh .

I could already think of the song titles off the top of my head to write about this. This man was pure inspiration, with a velvet voice as a special treat.

"The call would actually be perfect." I smiled. "I really like you, Tattoos."

"I really like you too, Angel. Let me know when you’re available."