by Huss, JA
I don’t blame her. Even Ronnie has lost interest in that shit. She’s all about babies now. She gave up tattooing. Not because of the blood and not because she did actually have a little nerve damage from the gunshot wound that sometimes interferes with her inking. She gave it up because she started a new business. Edible body art.
This is the brain child of Carson Reed, if you can imagine. I added on to the Shrike Bikes building and gave them their own little studio. She paints people with colored sugar now.
I stop in there at least once a week to fuck her with frosting. That shit gives candy pussy a whole new perspective.
I’m still building bikes, mostly because I love building bikes. But if that show was canceled tomorrow, eh. I’m fine with it. I have a new definition of success these days and it has nothing to do with reality TV.
My idea of success is Bombshell’s fat stomach. I smile at her as she comes back down the stairs with her shoes and sweater on.
“What’s got you looking so guilty?” she asks.
“Not guilty, Bomb. Just happy.”
She leans up and wraps her arms around me. “I love you for your smile.”
I kiss her head. “I love everything about you, Veronica Vaughn. And that wedding day can’t come soon enough for me.”
She sighs. “I know, me too. But I’m not getting married while I’m pregnant. Ashleigh never had a real wedding, so I’m trying to talk the girls into a triple wedding next spring.”
“I’ll see what I can do on my end.” I’m so pussy-whipped. But so are Ford and Ronin. These girls mean everything to us. If they want us to dress up in suits and tell a shitload of people we love them… well, we’re on board.
We drive into Fort Collins talking about Ford and Ash. They don’t know what the baby’s sex is, Ford wanted to be surprised, so this is pretty exciting. When we get to the hospital I hold Ronnie’s hand up to the maternity ward and then we stop at the nurse’s station to get the room number. I’m just looking around when Ronin comes down the hallway. “Hey,” he calls out. “Ronnie, the room’s down here.”
“Where’s Ford?” I ask Ronin as he walks up to me.
Ronin points down a narrow hallway that ends at a little alcove with a large picture window that overlooks the mountains. “I think you should go talk to him. He’s freaking out and Ash is starting to ask what’s wrong.”
“OK, I’ll meet you guys in there.” I kiss Ronnie and then walk down the hallway towards Ford.
He’s got his hands in his pockets, his chin up. Like he’s just taking in the view and not having a baby today.
“Hey,” I call out when I get close.
He doesn’t turn, so I just walk up next to him and wait.
He swallows hard. So hard it’s audible. Something is wrong. “It’s genetic, you know.”
“Huh? What’s genetic?”
He lets out a long breath of air. “What’s wrong with me. It’s genetic.”
“Dude, there’s nothing wrong with you.”
He looks over at me and I can see the fear on his face. “Spencer, you’ve always said that. And I just want you to know, I appreciated that you treated me like I was normal my whole life.”
“You are normal—”
“No,” he interrupts. “I’m not. I’m defective. And all these months with Kate, parenting a child who accepts love and touch like all other children, well…” He breathes deeply again. “I’m just afraid, Spencer. That this baby will not let us touch it. I’m afraid the baby will be like me.”
I squeeze his shoulder but I don’t know what to say so I opt for technical stuff. “You don’t know it’s genetic, anyway. You have no clue what caused your issues.”
“It is genetic, Spencer. I’ve studied everything about my symptoms since I was eight years old. I’ve cross-referenced every research paper done on neurological touch syndrome.” He throws me a sideways glance. “I even coined the term for it. I have commandeered grad students at the medical center in Denver to figure this out. But these things take so long. I’ve run out of time. The baby is coming today.”
Ford looks over at me now and God, I feel so bad for him. I try to give him a smile but he looks away.
“The baby is coming today and I have no answers. I’ve failed.”
“Ford?” Ronin calls from the hallway. “She’s ready, dude. Ash wants you with her.”
I grasp his shoulder again and squeeze. “Come on, it’s time. There’s no sense in worrying about it now, you’re gonna know soon enough, right? I mean look, Ford. You really need to learn to just… let go, man. I get it, you’re worried. But you can’t control everything.”
“Says who?” he asks, all serious.
“You’re such a dick. You know that? But you’re not defective. You’re just… a special snowflake.”
I get a real laugh out of him for that remark.
“Really, Aston. Think about it. God would not put another Ford on this Earth. There’s no way he’d do that to humanity.”
Ford laughs again. “True.” He turns to look at me. “God is so damn serious. He needs to learn to go with the flow.”
It’s my turn to laugh and I clap him on the back. “Right. Come on, it’s time to meet your kid.”
He turns and walks down the hallway. I follow him as far as the waiting room where Ronin, Rook, and Ronnie are waiting. Kate’s at home with Ford’s mother, so it’s just the Team here today.
Ronin and I pass the time drinking coffee and talking shit about the Broncos on the TV while the girls talk about babies. Rook’s not pregnant, but she’s almost ready. I can tell because she’s never looked so happy. She wasn’t the world’s greatest model. Or the world’s greatest student. But Rook is a damn good filmmaker. She entered her first short in a film festival and got an honorable mention.
She’s figuring it out. And that’s all you can ask for, really. Just an opportunity to figure it all out on your own terms, in your own way.
About an hour later a nurse walks up. “Aston family?” she asks, looking down at her clipboard.
“Yes!” we all say together.
“You can see the baby now.” The nurse beams a bright smile at us and then walks off.
But my stomach is doing a little flip inside. Like I’m nervous as all hell. I want to take a moment to figure out what it means, but I have no time. I wipe my sweaty palms on my jeans and grab Ronnie’s hand. She’s excited, as is Rook. But both Ronin and I are worried about Ford. That short walk down the hallway feels like miles, and when we finally turn the corner and enter the room, I realize I’ve been holding my breath.
The girls rush in first. They are chatting and squealing with Ashleigh, who is looking pretty tired, but she’s beaming a smile at us.
My eyes scan the room until I find Ford. Sitting in a chair next to the bed. Holding a little blue bundle with dark hair. A little blue bundle that is sleeping happily in his father’s arms.
“It’s a boy,” Ford says softly, like he’s trying not to wake him. He leans down to kiss the baby’s cheek. “And he’s perfect.”
I’m not sure, because Ford is holding the baby close to his face. But I think I see a tear.
I nod and shoot Ford with my finger. “Just like you, dude. He’s perfect just like you.”
“What’s his name?” Rook asks excitedly. Neither Ford nor Ashleigh ever disclosed the names they were throwing around.
“Rutherford Aston the Fifth, of course,” Ash says.
And then Ford looks up at me and Ronin and grins. “I shall call him… Number Five.”
We all laugh. Fucking Ford. My serious friend is a major goofball. I pull Ronnie into a hug and whisper in her ear. “Just picture it, Bomb. Kate and Number Five growing up with little Princess Shrike. They’ll be friends from birth.”
“They’ll be a team, won’t they?” she says, her beautiful face smiling up at me.
“They will, Bombshell. The old team might be gone, but a new one was just born.”
Epilogue 2 -
Five
Six years later—first day of school—St. Joseph’s, Fort Collins.
I tap my finger on my tooth and Kate reaches out to slap it away. I frown up at her. She’s still taller than me even though we are in the same grade now. They made me skip first grade after my IQ test came back.
Can’t a man just enjoy himself? Relish in being six instead of being rushed into the realm of seven-hood?
I resume my tapping, but not on my tooth. Kate says that gives me away. Tells people I’m nervous. So she won’t let me do it anymore. So I tap my toe inside my shoe. No one can see my toe tapping, so it’s OK.
I glance over at my father as he talks to Sister Nemesis. I know I’m not supposed to hate people, but Sister Nemesis tries my last nerve. She has so many rules. And honestly, I’ve been reading since I was two. Why should I have to sit cross-legged on the carpet and listen to stories like kids who can’t?
They figure moving me up a grade will help that. But they’d have to move me into college to satisfy my academic pursuits here in this little school. That’s not gonna happen. I’m gonna make sure that never happens.
And as if on cue, I hear it.
The low rumble of Uncle Spencer’s nineteen sixty-nine Camaro. My heart thumps with excitement as he pulls up to the curb on the far end of the playground. “Be right back, Kate,” I call out as I rush towards the car.
Aunt Bombshell is gathering up the backpack from the backseat and then…
I see her.
Princess Shrike.
I waited all last year for her. And they think they can just shoot me up a few grades and keep her out of my reach?
Never!
I sigh as I take her in. She’s got on her little blue and green tartan skirt and her white shirt is pressed smooth. Her long blonde hair is up in two flowing pigtails. She looks over at me and waves and my heart flutters a little.
She’s mine now. Ha ha ha.
“Aunt Ronnie.” I beam up at the Bombshell after she kisses Princess Shrike with a sappy tear in her eye. “I’ll take it from here.” And then I grab her little pink hand and lead her down the sidewalk to the playground.
Her parents follow, but they make their way over to my mom and dad now, so I relax a little. I look down at my best friend. “Are you nervous, Princess?”
She stops walking and puts her hand on her hip. “You’re not allowed to call me that, Ford. My name is Rory. You have to call me Rory!”
I nod. “Sure thing, Princess. And it’s Number Five. Now, are you ready?”
“Yes,” she says with a smile. “I can write my name and I know my address.”
“Hmmm.” I’m not impressed. “In how many languages?” My toe begins to tap inside my shoe again. This might be more difficult than I thought.
“What?”
“Princess Rory, I can see my work is cut out. We will meet every day at lunch and you will learn French. That way you’ll know what the grownups are saying when they are talking about secret things.”
“Why do I need to know secret things?” she asks innocently.
The bell rings and kids begin gathering their things for class.
I lean in to her ear. “Because, Rory. You are on the team now. So we gotta stick together. It’s all for one and one for all. Now listen,” I say as I grab her hand again and begin walking her inside the building. “I’m a whole five months older, so I’m the boss of you, Princess. OK?”
“You’re not the boss of me,” she says in her sweet little Princess voice. “My mom says I’m the boss of me.”
“No, your mom is wrong. Every team needs a boss, and that’s me. Because I’m the smartest. You’re the youngest, so I’m the boss of you.”
She continues to argue with me all the way to her classroom, and then all the parents are there, interfering with my plans of playground domination.
But I’m not worried.
Because Kate, Number Five, and Princess Rory are gonna take this podunk school into science fair greatness.
You. Just. Wait.
Wanna keep going? There’s more books to read. The next series about these people is called The Company. It picks up where “Bobby” and Merc left off. After that it’s Meet Me In The Dark, then Wasted Lust. And when you’re all done with those, I’ve got a sweet surprise for you called Happily Ever After. Don’t forget about that one!
MEET JAMES NOW!
End of Book Shit - Bomb
WELCOME to the End of Book Shit. I’m kinda cheating on this new EOBS because I actually wrote this in 2015 right before 321 released. But it was such a cool afterthought about the series, and it was on my book blog, not even my JA Huss blog, so practically no one saw it.
So I’m resurrecting it for your pleasure today!
Spencer is in every single book in the Rook & Ronin series. He comes in late in Tragic, but boy does he make an impression. He scoops Rook up when she needs a friend, and just when you start to think this might turn into a triangle, Spencer Shrike does a 180. He’s not what he appears to be. But then again, that was the whole point of the series.
Sometimes when I’m writing a later book in a series I recall a little detail in an earlier book that changes everything about the story. This happened with Spencer and Veronica in Bomb. That novella is supposed to be the first book about Spencer, but instead it introduced Veronica the Bombshell Bomb—Spencer’s long-time love-interest who has been dumped.
In Bomb I start from the beginning and take you back in time to the day Spencer first saw Veronica on their college campus. He proceeds to woo her, and they end up back in his garage where he reveals his customs bikes. Well, he’s only got one custom bike at that point in his life.
That bike he shows Ronnie sort of existed in Tragic, but only as a casual detail. Spencer takes Rook to his bike shop where he has lots of custom bikes. This is his future. He’s Big Time now. He’s got a showroom filled with motorcycles he needs photographed. He wants something from Rook, and he’s willing to offer up something big to get her on his side. So he offers her a custom motorcycle.
Rook picks a Shrike Bike resembling a classic Triumph motorcycle that is just sitting in Spencer’s shop, so that’s the bike he pretties up for her and presents to her in Manic. The bike ends up being called the Shrike Rook. But it used to be something else before Rook claimed it…
I’m pretty sure no one ever thought about that bike again except me. Because when I had to go back to the time when Spencer was first dating Veronica, Spencer was in Veronica’s family tattoo shop asking her to give him ink. He drew the tat he wanted and it caught Veronica by surprise. Spencer was surprised too.
The Shrike Rook appears in Tragic, Manic, Panic, Slack, Bomb, and Guns. If I had really planned it better, it would’ve been in Taut as well. :) But I didn’t plan that bike at all. I pulled that classic Triumph design out of my memory for its first appearance in Tragic. I knew a guy once… he had one. But I had no idea Triumph made a model called the Blackbird when I decided to name Rook after a black bird. I had no idea that the Shrike Rook was modeled after the Triumph Blackbird when I put that random memory into Tragic. And the way the whole thing came full circle didn’t even hit me until I was writing Bomb and I realized what I had set up by accident.
I think that’s the best thing about writing a series like this. Moments when all the little back story details add up to something BIG just because you’re making it all up, and most of what you make up is based off things you already know.
The motorcycle means a lot to Rook. It’s her one true possession in Panic—something she takes with her on her final quest to put her past behind her. It means a lot to Bomb as well. She has her first Spencer experience on the half built model and she wants it back in Guns. And to Spencer, because it was the first bike he ever built—it was a symbol of his future, what he was capable of.
I resurrected that bike when I wrote Mr. & Mrs. I didn’t plan it then either. I had Oliver and Kat up in Five’s motorcycle garage, and Oliver was looking for so
me sexy times on a bike in true Shrike fashion, and Kat points to a dirty old thing propped up in the corner. And when she wipes the dirt off the tank and they see what it is… well, that’s when I saw what it was too.
I swear to God, I just stopped and thought about that for a second. How that bike came back over and over again. How it turned into much more than a bike for so many characters.
And there it was, out in a garage in the middle of the Caribbean just waiting for me to find it.
I think it’s the little things like this that makes the story come alive, and even though I didn’t really plan it out that way, sometimes it’s better to create by accident.
I think that might be the quote they put on my gravestone.
“She created stuff by accident.”
I’m OK with that.
Julie
JA Huss
There are two EOBS’s for the Spencer books.
Read the next one by paging forward
Wanna keep going? There’s more books to read. The next series about these people is called The Company. It picks up where “Bobby” and Merc left off. After that it’s Meet Me In The Dark, then Wasted Lust. And when you’re all done with those, I’ve got a sweet surprise for you called Happily Ever After. Don’t forget about that one!
MEET JAMES NOW!
End of Book Shit - Guns
Oh, my fuckin’ God, I forgot how cute Five was in this! So anyway, this is the End of Book Shit, commonly called the EOBS. Now back to Five…
So I just now, like just two seconds ago, finished formatting this eBook for Guns and two things happened at the end of that.
ONE – MERC! Haha! I totally forgot he was in this book! So I make these headers for the chapters, right? And I click on the next chapter, ready to put in either Spencer or Veronica and it’s MERC! I laughed out loud at that. Then I quickly went and made a new header for him, slapped it in, then got back to Spencer’s epilogue.