Rule Number Three

  Rule Number Three

  Book Three of

  The Rulebreaker Series

  By Nicky Shanks

  Rule Number Three

  Copyright © 2018 by Nicky Shanks.

  All rights reserved.

  First Print Edition: July 2018

  Limitless Publishing, LLC

  Kailua, HI 96734

  www.limitlesspublishing.com

  Formatting: Limitless Publishing

  ISBN-13: 978-1-64034-404-4

  ISBN-10: 1-64034-404-7

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to locales, events, business establishments, or actual persons—living or dead—is entirely coincidental.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter One

  Veronica

  The worst thing about not having any family left isn’t the emptiness you feel when holidays come and go without a second thought; it’s not the look people give you when you get lost in a daydream while staring at their beautiful family as they eat at the table next to you in a diner. That always happens to me—anywhere I go where I see a mother with two sons, I instantly get sharp pains in the bottom of my stomach. I think about what could have been—how Oliver might have turned out if I chose to give everything up and stay with him.

  But, no…the worst thing about not having a family is knowing that they couldn’t care less about you.

  In my perfect life daydreams, the older son would always taunt the younger son when the mother isn’t looking. The boys aren’t too far apart in age, maybe just a few years, but they both look so different that it always makes me sad each time I dream about it. I often wonder if anyone had ever found out—I ran away when I started to show with Casey—but Colin would’ve said something if he’d known. Especially when I came crawling back after having Casey, or whenever I’d slump back onto his cold, rainy doorstep for more money to inject into my veins.

  Or snort through my nose.

  That’s my life. That’s me.

  Cliché poor girl turned rich-girl drug addict.

  But I was more than poor before Colin and I met at the Lake Reed Inn over twenty-six years ago. He whisked me away into an entirely new world full of opportunities, choices, and money. I just grew so very tired of having nothing, so when Colin handed me something, I took too much and took it too far. I know I screwed it up a little more each time I showed up in his life, but Mac just kept me feeling so damn good all the time that I kept finding it harder and harder to resist what he was offering me:

  Freedom.

  When I found out I was pregnant with Oliver, there was no doubt in my mind that I would stop doing whatever I wanted. I wanted to actually try to be a perfect mother—something my own mother tried her hardest to be too. In turn, I stressed out so much that my weakness to the freedom got the best of me, and to this day, I swear, I thought Oliver would have died the moment he came out of me.

  I had nightmares about him coming out soaked in heroin and coughing up cocaine, but it was never enough to scare me straight. Despite my efforts to not have him at all, he came out screaming and just addicted to drugs a little. The first few weeks were pretty scary, though—I honestly thought he wasn’t going to make it. Of course, I wanted him to make it—that wasn’t even a question—but I knew it was going to be my fault if he didn’t. Once Colin took over and showered him with love and his ability to make everything feel painless and like it would all be okay, Oliver started to recover and get stronger.

  Strong and handsome like his father.

  He looks almost exactly like Colin. I think about that as I close my eyes in the front seat of the van where Mac parked down the road from the bar where we spied on them. The van is hidden by some thick brush and trees, but I still had a perfect view of the place where people all gathered like moths for the aftermath of Oliver and Casey’s bar brawl. The darkness surrounds me like it always does, tight and suffocating. I take a few hits of a cigarette that Mac has left in the ashtray, trying to calm myself enough to go through with our plan.

  I’m going to kidnap my son’s girlfriend.

  I keep repeating it over and over in my mind. The chill that makes me shiver isn’t from the outside air—it comes from a dark place deep inside of me that wonders if I’m going too far. Mac—the man who helped me destroy everything good I ever had—snores next to me, jolting me back to the present and my decision. It’s gonna have to happen if Oliver won’t give me any money; his father, grandfather, and I all had an understanding. It’s too bad they both died before they could fill him in on it, but that isn’t my concern.

  I do wonder what I would’ve said differently to my son in the hospital a little while ago if I’d been a different person, though.

  Would I have cared more about his injuries?

  Would I have cried?

  A different me would’ve been fucking worried to the point where my nails were bitten down and my eyes were red and puffy from crying. I would cry with Colin and we would tend to his bedside like worry-wart parents. That’s what a damn-near-perfect mother would do.

  But that ain’t me.

  I was never meant for something like that.

  I’m a shitty mother…No, I’m just a shitty person all around.

  So, for now, I’ll pretend our conversation went in a different direction. In my perfect-life daydream, I’d go out to lunch and get my nails done with my son’s girlfriend. I wouldn’t have to slink around town and offer favors to people to find out her full name, either.

  Julie Remington.

  Perfect little blonde girl with her porcelain skin and rosy cheeks is going to steal my money from me. Once she gets her hooks all the way into him, I know I won’t see another dime. My anger flares again but I keep my eyes closed, breathing steadily and imagining my perfect life again, this time without Julie in it; both of my sons are together again instead. I knew Colin hadn’t told Oliver about his half-brother because my ex hadn’t even known himself, and that’s the way I’d wanted it. Mac and I skipped town for four months after I started to show with Casey and didn’t even bother going to a hospital once I began labor.

  After we dropped the baby off on a fire station’s front doorstep and ran, Mac and I promised each other we would never speak of it again, and we haven’t.

  Until now.

  “That’s gotta be him, Mac.” I sigh, and Mac stops snoring. He groans and kicks the dashboard as hard as he can to get me to shut up. He doesn’t care, and I don’t care that he doesn’t care. “You know that’s him—did you see his brown eyes an
d olive skin like yours, and his long nose like mine and those broad shoulders? That’s gotta be him.”

  Mac hisses at me, half-asleep. “That little jerk-off ain’t mine. I told you we ain’t talking about this anymore, and I mean just that. Are you trying to piss me off?”

  I ignore him and go back to my daydream where my two sons love and adore me because of how perfect I am. I wonder how they met and how they became friends—if they love each other like brothers would and care for each other now that Colin’s gone. They both seemed to grow up with money and silver spoons, so at least I did something good for the both of them. I gave them a life of luxury instead of a life of them sleeping in bags in the back of Mac’s van while watching him and me blow through money like it was endless. I won’t have to endure my humiliation getting worse and worse year after year.

  If I’m right and he is the one I dropped off so long ago, it’s too odd of a coincidence that they ended up being best friends. Colin’s father must’ve had something to do with this—he hated me with a thousand fires burning down under from the moment I left for good. I think about the way the boys look at Julie—her little sweet and innocent self completely unaware of the effect she has on men, which I have to say I like a little. She reminds me of my old self, the person I was before Mac got ahold of my insides and burned me up. Still, she has Oliver and Casey drooling all over the floor for her, and if she asked them to lick it up, I’m sure they wouldn’t even hesitate.

  I could use that to lure her in…try and expose a secret relationship that may or may not be there. My bones feel like stone; I don’t even know what these kids are like or how to exploit them, but that isn’t going to stop me from getting what I need.

  Maybe she’ll just go with me knowing that Oliver will pay.

  The snoring fills the van so I flick my eyes open and step outside. The October air whips against my skin—my fragile and paper-thin skin—making it feel like it’s on fire. I think about the photo I sent earlier to a few of Mac’s friends. I managed to snap a picture of Julie and find out her name and all kinds of useful information about her. I know I still need more to make this entire thing come crashing down and get her out of the way…so the more they dug, the more they found.

  I got her last address—some condo on the east side of Rockford, where her name is on the lease with someone else, Brandon Whitehouse. I rub my chin and breathe out, watching my breath disappear into the night air. They also found their marriage license, and I have a copy of that shit tucked into my back pocket for safe keeping. That’s something Mac doesn’t fucking know about, and the less he knows, the better. So, sweet little Princess Julie is already married and fucking my oldest son.

  I have to pay this Brandon kid a visit and see what he can tell me about Julie before I make my next move. I have to be smart about this, though—I don’t need or want any more jail time.

  But Mac won’t wake up now, so I have to wait until morning, and that pisses me off. He sure likes helping me snort and blow the money, but he doesn’t want any part of helping me get it.

  Maybe it’s time to leave ol’ Mac behind.

  I wish I could.

  I really wish I could.

  Chapter Two

  Oliver

  Lemonade.

  That’s all I can think about right now as I watch Julie’s pale, milky white skin squirm, begging for me to touch her. She puts up a thick brick wall between us just to make me work harder for it. I don’t care. This woman has twisted all my insides into knots—miles and miles of endless knots—that I would miss if they ever went away. I never, ever want to leave her side again.

  She makes me feel alive.

  She makes me think of lemonade.

  Sugary and sweet with a twinge of tart if you do it right.

  And she does it right.

  Her sexy, pouty lips beckon me, calling out my name to come closer and attach myself to the flesh underneath her jeans. I love this woman more than anything I’ve ever loved in my entire fucking life; the hope that grows for us makes my heart beat every second of every damn day. I can’t think of anything else to do to know for sure that she’s mine other than ask her to marry me for real.

  I shiver.

  Do I want to even go there?

  Her smile tugs at my heartstrings and my mouth opens before I can even think of what’s going to spill from it.

  “Marry me, Julie,” I whisper into the air between us. Her body quivers at the feel of mine so near, and she knows she will give into me.

  I can feel it.

  “Julie?” I wait for her to answer me, letting myself have more time to look her over. My eyes rest on her thick lips again, but they don’t give me any indication of what’s going through her mind. I know she wants to say yes; she wants to be mine forever, but time is always the enemy to her. I can see the gears turning in her eyes, frantically searching for the way out. “Is something wrong?”

  She shakes her head and my entire body melts onto the floor.

  She’s saying no.

  I open my mouth to protest immediately after I start to panic in my head, but she holds up her palm to my chest and my skin burns even to her touch over my shirt. Her honey blonde hair smells like her familiar aroma of strawberries. I want to know what flavor her lips taste like today as I draw closer to her body and smell the mint on her breath from the gum she just finished chewing.

  “Oliver—”

  I shake my head violently. My dark hair falls into my face, but I don’t bother with it because I’m so focused on her and her deep blue eyes. “Don’t think. Just answer.”

  “We’ve only known each other a few—”

  I let a growl escape my throat. I don’t mean to, but she’s always letting time get stuck in her mind. This isn’t a game to me…I want her by my side, and if putting a ring on her finger prevents her from leaving me again, then so be it. I know how to appeal to the woman I want to wake up to for the rest of my life. “We can have a long engagement. I know you’re scared about everything that’s happened around us and between us. We don’t have to get married right away, Julie.”

  “Yes,” she whispers, looking surprised at her own words. My eyes widen—even I find myself surprised at her answer, but I’m not going to ask her if she’s sure and let her dwell on it.

  “You mean…you said yes, right?” My mouth is dry and I blink a few times, hoping that I’m not seeing or hearing things that could make me look like a fool. “Like, as in you’ll marry me…yes?”

  Julie giggles and bites her index fingernail. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

  The world explodes around me—it’s better than anything I’ve ever felt in my entire life, including any intimate moment I’ve ever shared with Julie besides this one right now. I pull her against my chest and attempt to pick her up, managing to hold her in the air for a few minutes before she starts scolding me to put her down and rest my knee.

  “I don’t care about my knee…are you serious?” There’s wonder and amazement in my voice, and her eyebrows rise with intrigue. “Julie, I literally don’t care about anything else in this entire fucking universe right now except for you—you get that, right?” My mouth devours hers and I know I have to part from her or else I won’t be able to stop, and it’s too soon to try and get her to let me break my promise.

  Now she’s laughing at me. Okay, I can handle that. “Come on, let’s celebrate,” she says.

  “I have to let Harley know you said yes. Let’s call him,” I say. Her face turns a little green as I stand up and steady myself, wincing in pain. She tends to me, but I can feel her reluctance to call and tell him the good news. I want the whole fucking world to know that Julie is mine and no one is going to take her away from me this time. “Maybe he’ll tell Casey and I won’t have to.”

  “I thought you didn’t care about Casey anymore.” She frowns, and I don’t like the way it makes me feel. “Have you forgotten what a lost cause he just turned out to be?”

  I take the image of h
er frowning and tuck it in the back of my mind; I don’t like upsetting her. Casey and I are best friends—and apparently brothers—but I can’t turn my back on her over something like this.

  He tried to steal the love of your life.

  Then he punched her in the eye…okay, on accident, but still.

  I look at Julie’s bruised eye—it’s turning different shades of green and black and my stomach sinks so far down in my abdomen that it might never feel whole again. She hasn’t spoken about the incident for a few days, and I’m okay with that. I don’t want to be reminded that my best friend cold-cocked my girlfriend, either.

  Oh, and not to mention his little crush on her.

  I put my arm around her and she snuggles into my body. I like tucking her underneath my arms; she fits perfectly next to me like a puzzle piece. I smell the new lilac perfume she’s using and the scent wafts around my nose, driving me wild.

  “Did Casey know you were asking me to marry you before all of this?” Her fingers move around in a small circle in front of us. “Is that why you aren’t speaking?”

  “No, it’s just because of what he told me about my—our—mother.” I narrow my eyes. “Do you know how Casey feels about you? I want to rub it in his face that you’re going to be Mrs. Oliver Jackson.”

  She doesn’t want to say yes.

  But I know her better than that.

  It’s nearly midnight and we sit on the edge of my bed in our apartment. I know she has no clue what she does to men, but something’s not right here. I want to pull her down into this bed with me and I don’t give a shit what that doctor said about it. It’s a risk I’m more than willing to take, but something’s bothering her…I can feel it. I try not to draw attention to the negative as she sighs and loops her arms around my neck. The way she gazes deep into my soul is terrifying…and completely unraveling.

  “I wonder if Lucy is okay after all of that earlier.” Julie’s voice is small. “She can’t be thrilled that her new boyfriend was brawling outside of a bar like that.”