Rome: A Marked Men Novel (26 page)

I could go.

“Yeah. What’s going on?”

“The place got robbed.”

I felt my eyes go big and I understood the underlying panic in his tone. He was really close to Brite, the

owner of the bar, and if something had happened to the older guy, it wasn’t going to be pretty for Rome. He

needed me to keep him grounded; I knew it even if he didn’t say it. He was asking for help and my heart

turned over in my chest.

“I’ll be there in ten.”

I felt him release a breath and he sounded less anxious when he spoke again.

“Asa called me, the cops are already there. I don’t know anything else.”

I frowned and stood as Shaw signed for the bill.

“Who would rob a dive bar on a Sunday in broad daylight?”

“I don’t know. But I sure as fuck don’t like it.”

I nodded even though he couldn’t see me. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Thanks, Half-Pint.”

“Anytime, Captain No-Fun.”

Shaw followed me as I hurried out of the restaurant. I was practically running to the Cooper when she

stopped me with a hand on my elbow. Her eyes were still big and unsure, but now there was a different

kind of understanding shining out of them.

“Are you in love with him, Cora?”

I didn’t know how to answer that, so I just stared at her for a minute. It was a question I was actively

avoiding asking myself every day. The answer scared me because if I was in love with him and he bailed

on me again, there was no way I would be able to forgive him for that and now our futures were inexorably

linked through the child I was carrying, so that wasn’t a viable option. If I kept my feelings in check,

denied how important he was, if he broke apart on me again, I could still move past it and not fall apart like

I had before. My kid deserved a parent who was always going to be present in every way possible.

“I’m having his kid, Shaw.”

“But do you love him?” Damn, she could be persistent when she wanted to.

“I don’t know. Last time I loved someone he nearly destroyed me and that didn’t feel half as intense or

as important as this thing with Rome does. I think loving him could be the end of me if it doesn’t work

out.”

“What if it does work out, though? What if he’s your imperfect Mr. Perfect?”

I pulled away because if I was in love with him or not, it was irrelevant to me right in this moment. He

needed me, and I wasn’t ever going to leave him hanging if I could avoid it.

“Then he’ll be the first to know. Call Ayden and tell her Asa just got robbed. She might want to check

in on him.” I didn’t bother to say good-bye; I was in too much of a hurry to get to my guy.

When I got to the bar, everyone was standing outside. Rome was with Brite talking to a couple of police

officers, a few of the regulars were huddled together looking lost and nervous in the bright light of day, but

what really had my attention was the fact that Ayden and Jet were also there. Only instead of worrying over

her brother, she seemed furious. She was pointing a finger in his chest and Jet was doing his best to hold

her back.

I walked up to Rome and put an arm around his waist. He had on black track pants and a black T-shirt.

Clearly, he had been at the gym. He looked like he should be on the cover of a men’s fitness magazine.

“What’s that all about?”

“I don’t know. She laid into him as soon as she got out of the car.”

He gave me a squeeze as I pulled away.

“I’m going to see what’s going on. You okay?”

He nodded and Brite just grunted.

“I’m getting too old for this shit. Bar brawls with bikers, armed robbery on a Sunday, this is getting to

be too much.”

I saw Rome wince a little but the older guy just clapped him on the shoulder and shook his head.

“I’ll finish up with the cops; you go check on the Southern Casanova.”

I took his hand in mine and led him across the parking lot. He nodded at a couple of the regulars and

looked down at me.

“Thanks for dropping everything and racing over here. I couldn’t get ahold of Brite. I was worried

something happened to him. Asa only said he was robbed and then hung up. Every worst-case scenario I

could think of started running through my head.”

I bumped his shoulder with my own and grinned up at him. “But instead of going off the deep end, you

called me and asked for help. That’s all you can do, big guy.”

He looked like he was going to say something back but ended up grunting in surprise when Ayden

shoved Asa in the chest with both hands so hard that he actually stumbled back a few steps into us. Jet

swore and wrapped his obviously angry bride up in a tight grip.

“Ayd, cool it. There are cops everywhere and I don’t need to spend one of my few days home getting

your fine ass out of jail.”

She was breathing hard and her light eyes were glowing in a way only pure fury could provide.

I grabbed Asa’s elbow and turned him around to look at me. His mouth was pulled down tight in a

frown, and he was meeting his little sister glare for glare.

“Hey now. What’s all this noise about?”

He pulled away from me and shoved his hands through his tousled blond hair.

“Ask her. It’s not bad enough I just had a gun shoved in my face and had to hand over the entire till to

some asshole in a ski mask, but Miss Perfect Timing has to show up and accuse me of being in on it.”

Jet swore, Rome frowned, and Ayden stood stubborn, with her arms crossed over her chest.

“I know you better than anyone, Asa. I know it isn’t beyond the realm of possibility.”

“Ayd.” Jet’s tone was warning, but he was running soothing hands up and down her arms. “Maybe not

the time or the place, yeah?”

She shook her dark head and continued to glare at her brother.

Rome looked at Asa out of the corner of his eye.

“What exactly happened?”

Asa sighed and started to pace back and forth in front of us. I knew he had a shady history, a spotty

reputation at best, but this seemed pretty terrible. I didn’t want to imagine he could have anything to do

with it, but Ayden’s stony expression made me have my doubts.

“I was setting up the Bloody Mary bar just like I do every Sunday. There were only a few regulars

sitting at the bar and Brite told me he had to run a couple errands, so I was on my own. I went in the back

to get a case of vodka, and when I came back to the front a guy in a black mask, wearing a flannel shirt and

jeans, was behind the bar messing with the register. I was confused, so I asked him what he was doing

there, and when he turned he had a freaking Glock pointed at my face.”

As he told his sister the rundown he refused to look at anyone but her. It was like he was trying to force

her to believe him, even though it was doubtful she would.

“He told me to get on the other side of the bar. He emptied out the register and took off out the front

door. It happened in like a minute.”

“He didn’t say anything else?” Rome’s voice was gruff and I could tell he was struggling with the

robbery happening while he wasn’t there. He cared a lot about this place, cared a lot about Brite. This was a

surefire way to get all that guilt he struggled with on a daily basis churning up inside of him.

Asa shifted those glittering gold eyes in our direction. “He said, ‘Payback’s a bitch.’”

I looked up at Rome, who was now scowling.

“You know what that means?”

He grunted. “Did you tell Brite that?”

Asa nodded. “Yeah, and he told me not to mention it to the cops.”

“What? Why?” Rome wrapped his hand around the back of my neck and dropped a kiss on the top of

my head.

“I think he knows who was behind it.” Rome switched his attention to Ayden. “Lay off on your brother,

girly. People change, sometimes not always for the better, but they do change. You’re never going to be

able to move forward if you’re always thinking the worst of each other.”

He flicked his gaze down to me.

“Give me a couple minutes to talk to Brite and we can head out. Rule dropped me off.”

I chuckled a little. “You’re going to ride in the Cooper?”

He groaned and walked away without another word. I’m not going to lie: I watched his ass the entire

way until Ayden’s voice broke through my reverie.

“Asa.” Her tone was half conciliatory and half resigned.

Asa held up a hand and shook his head. I thought he looked sad, or maybe reconciled to the fact that

Ayden was only ever going to see him one way.

“Just don’t. I appreciate all you have done for me, that you could have just left me in that hospital, that I

will never, ever be able to repay you, Ayd. But I’m not always going to be the bad guy. I like it here. I like

this bar, and believe it or not, I respect the hell out of Rome. He is a good guy. I wouldn’t want to do

anything to screw him over. I know you think I’m only capable of looking out for myself, but almost dying

gave me a slightly new outlook on life. Having your little sister save your ass endlessly gets old.”

Ayden seemed stunned into silence, so Jet tried. “Asa, man, come on. You guys can work this out

later.”

The blond head shook in the negative.

“No. Obviously there is nothing left to work out.”

He turned those liquid-gold eyes on me and I could practically feel the sincerity shining out of them.

“I’ll be out by the end of next week.”

I sighed. “You don’t have to do that.”

“Yes, I do. Besides, you’re going to need room for that baby at some point.”

Well, crap. Why hadn’t I thought of that? Rome and I hadn’t talked about that part of our future. It still

seemed so far off; besides bigger boobs, mood swings, and the barest little rounding in my belly, I didn’t

look or feel that different, so I guess it was easy to forget I had a baby I needed to be preparing for. We

switched back and forth between his place and mine, but neither was really an ideal environment for a

newborn. I mean my house was great and had the room, if it wasn’t currently all occupied.

“I’m sorry.” Ayden’s voice was strained and sounded tiny. Jet just held her closer and muttered soft

words into her dark hair.

Asa gave her a sad smile. “I’m sure you are and I am, too, but I can’t be around you if you always think

I’m going to be up to something.”

She gave a broken little laugh. “You always are.”

“I always
was
.”

With that, he turned around and walked over to where some of the grizzled regulars were still gathered.

I watched as they all shook his hand and clapped him on the back. Clearly, just like they had done for

Rome, they had welcomed Asa’s lost soul into their fold.

“You okay?” Jet’s voice was light as he kissed Ayden lightly on the mouth. She put her arms around his

waist and rested her forehead on the center of his chest. They just looked like the perfect matched set.

“I don’t know.”

“He’ll get over it.”

“But he’s right. I do always think he’s up to something. I thought he robbed your studio, I could totally

see him being behind the robbery of this place. There isn’t much I don’t think he’s capable of doing if he

thinks it benefits him. I love him but I just don’t trust him.”

“You’ll work it out.” I looked down at my phone as it beeped an incoming text message.

It was from Shaw and all it said was:

I’m in.

I breathed a sigh of relief and put the phone away.

“We are all family, Ayd. Good, bad, and ugly, we figure it out.”

“With our history, I don’t think it’s that easy, Cora.”

I was reminded of Rome and how everyone had such an easy time caring for him before he came back

lost within himself. Everyone still loved him, they just had to find a new way to do it to get around the

what-was. Asa was the same way.

“You can love him, Ayden. You just need to find a way to love the new him that’s different from the

love you had for the old him.”

She didn’t answer me, but Rome came up behind me and asked if I was ready to go. I nodded and Jet

bundled Ayden into his Challenger and peeled out of the parking lot.

“What was that all about?”

“She’s having a hard time aligning Denver Asa with Kentucky Asa, which is silly since she had to do

the exact same thing with herself not too long ago.”

He didn’t say anything but made a face when we got to the Cooper. It made me grin.

“Hey.” He looked at me over the top of the car and lifted that dark eyebrow that arched under the scar

on his forehead. It made him look sexy and slightly sinister at the same time.

“We need to talk about what we’re going to do when this kid is here.”

He frowned and folded his massive frame into the tiny front seat. I had to admit he looked ridiculous.

So I snapped a picture on my cell in case I needed it in the future. He swore at me and scooted around until

he found a comfortable position in the limited space.

“What do you mean? We have it, we raise it, we send it to school, keep it from getting eaten by wolves

or becoming a stripper, and we’re good.”

“Don’t call it an
it
.”

“What should I call it?”

“I don’t know, but not
it,
and I meant where are we planning on raising him or her? My place? Your