by JA Huss
I don’t say a word. Just carry her out the bedroom door and down the back staircase.
“Spencer?” she asks, as we get to the bottom of the steps. She’s so tired it took her all that time to properly wake up. “Where are we going?”
“You’ll see,” I say back, walking down the long hallway that leads to the indoor pool. We are accosted with the smell of chlorine as I kick the swinging doors open with one foot and carry her over to a long patch of fake grass near the doors that lead to the outside.
I set her down and her legs straighten so she can hold herself up. But her eyes are everywhere. She’s looking at everything I have laid out on the grass.
“It’s a stupid inside pool and not a buckeye tree. Plus the grass is fake, so it hardly counts. But I was informed by our daughter that this is what you need to snap out of your funk. She went and picked it up from the shop when she was in Fort Collins with Five today.”
Ronnie’s still looking at all my supplies as I finish this statement. But then she looks up and her lip trembles. “You’re going to… paint me?”
At first I think it was a mistake because of the trembling lip and the threat of tears. But then I realize they are good tears. The smile is late to the party, but another moment and it’s there too.
“Rory did this?” she asks.
I nod. “She’s got you pegged, Bombshell.” And then I let out a laugh of relief.
“We had fun, didn’t we, Spencer?”
We’re caught in the same moment from the past. The day I painted her up as a fairy and we waited for nightfall so I could take her picture as we made love under the moonlight. It was in my gran’s old atrium. The one I had to demolish in order to save the buckeye tree trapped under the glass.
“We’re still having fun, Veronica. I think you just need to be reminded. So I’m gonna do one more masterpiece on your beautiful body. And then I’m going to fuck the shit out of you as the camera takes our picture.”
She throws the blanket off and stands there on the grass in a pink and white nightie. “What will you paint on me, Spencer?”
“You’ll have to wait and see. Now sit here and eat cookies.”
She smiles and a chuckle bursts forth. But she takes a seat next to the plate of newly decorated cookies, and picks one up that says, Mommy.
“I know baking cookies makes you happy. And I’m pretty sure eating cookies makes everyone happy. So you’re gonna sit here and eat cookies and be happy.” She looks up at me, those bombshell eyes finally—finally—bright again. “Because if you’re not happy, then I’ve failed you, Veronica Shrike. And I’m not a guy who likes to fail.”
She draws in a deep breath. “Do you want me naked?”
“I always want you naked.”
She pulls the nightie over her head and then slips her matching panties down her legs. “I’m ready then.”
“Me too.”
I’ve never painted this design on her and looking back, I should’ve. I should’ve done it a long time ago. I start with the airbrush filled with black paint and before long, her thighs look like latex. Her arms are kept bare, but her middle becomes a red corset, painted to perfectly accentuate her amazing cleavage and waist, complete with little satin ribbons crisscrossing their way up her stomach until it looks like the corset is so tight, her girls are spilling out.
I give her red boots that end just past her knees, and golden bracelets that I stole from Wonder Woman.
I paint a white triangle on her bosom, and she breathes deeply as she waits to see what I will put in the center of the diamond of white.
An S, of course. In the Shrike Bikes font.
“S for Shrike?” she asks.
But I shake my head as I clean up the airbrush, put everything away, and then take out the camera and set it up on the tripod.
I silently drape the red blanket over her shoulders and fasten it at her neck with a ducky-headed diaper pin. No,” I finally answer her question as I take off my shirt, unbuckle my belt, and let my pants drop to the ground. “An S for super. Supermom,” I say. “Superwife,” I whisper as I walk towards her and wrap my arms around her middle.
The camera starts beeping in intervals, just like it did back when we were in college.
“Superbomb,” I say, right into her mouth as I kiss her. “You’re my Super Bomb. You’re perfect. And I love every inch of you. I don’t ever want you to forget that, Mrs. Shrike.”
The real smile appears then. The one I was looking for all day each time my eyes found hers. The smile that says we still like all the same things. We still like our farm, and our pack of children, and the pound puppies we’ve adopted over the years. We still like the buckeye tree, and motorcycles, and leather jackets.
We still like each other. We still like each other and it will always be that way.
Chapter Seventeen
I text Rory from the great room, standing in front of the tree. Come down here, I say. And bring your phone.
But I don’t get an answer. She might be asleep.
I hear a creak on the old wooden stairs and my eyes shoot up to the top, where Princess Rory Shrike stands in a pink nightgown that almost reaches to the floor. I’m still wearing my suit from the ballet tonight, and it feels wrong somehow. Kate was right, the suit is all wrong.
She is still a girl and I already feel like a man. It will never work out the way we want it to. It will never be the same once I go to school for real.
But then she smiles and her feet are flying down the steps. “What are you doing out here, Five?” She’s beaming with happiness, and it makes me feel like every doubt I just had was false. That we do have a chance, but we have to take it now. It makes me feel like this is our one moment to get it right.
I’m going to do it right, I silently promise her.
“I talked to your dad a few minutes ago.”
“Oh, my God, what did he say?” But she’s not worried about what he said. She’s excited that we are down here alone. That we aren’t done with each other yet.
“He said,” I say, my own excitement building with hers, “you were disappointed with something.”
“I loved our date, Five. Every minute. I’m not disappointed.”
“No?”
She shakes her head and her golden-blonde hair shakes with it.
“So you weren’t unhappy that we didn’t get our first kiss?”
She covers her mouth with her hand, but that smile—that smile that will keep me going for the rest of my days—peeks through her fingertips.
“Because I would very much like my first kiss to be with you, Princess. In fact, I can’t possibly have a first kiss with any other girl. It would spoil my whole life.”
This makes her draw in a deep breath. “I’d never kiss anyone, ever, if you left me without doing it, Five.”
We stare at each other for a few moments. I want that kiss so badly. But I have something else for her first. “I got you a present. Give me your phone.”
She looks down at her phone like she’s just remembered she has it in her hand. But then she holds it out for me and I take it. I flick away her sleep screen and take a small hard drive out of my suit pocket. I plug her phone into it and she looks at me quizzically.
“What are you doing?”
“I made this app and I was going to release it on Valentine’s Day. It’s for people who want to say mushy things to someone they like, but don’t know how to say them. It’s called Love Notes. But I decided I’m not going to release it. I made it for us. I’m giving it to you so whenever you get lonely or wish I was here, all you have to do is push a button and it will send me a love note.”
“I don’t even have to write it?”
“Nope,” I say. “And that may sound like it’s not personal, but it is, Rory. Because I wrote all the love notes myself and I wrote every one with you and me in mind. So if you send me one, I’ll know it’s real. And if I send you one, you’ll know it’s really from me. It’s just for us.” I look at
her as the phone beeps, and then I disconnect the two devices and hand hers back. She takes it in her palm, and our hands touch, making an electric feeling shoot up my arm.
We lock eyes and I keep my promise to Spencer and place my hands on her shoulders as I lean in.
She holds her breath as our lips touch.
It’s a small kiss. It’s a teenage kiss. It’s a first kiss.
But it’s all the things that make a kiss perfect.
“I made it for us, Rory. Because I’m going to make sure, no matter what happens, there will always be an us.”
To be continued….
If you want to know what happens with Five & Rory start The Mister Series!
ALL BOOKS IN ROOK & RONIN WORLD
If you want to know the complete story of this world from start to finish, here are all the related books and characters (with ages).
ROOK & RONIN AND THE COMPANY ARE THE TWO SERIES YOU JUST READ.
BUT THE STORY CONTINUES WITH THE OTHER SERIES LISTED AFTER THE COMPANY SPINOFFS.
Rook and Ronin Series
The entire Company beginnings start in this series. But each series is its own entry point. You can jump in and read them out of order as long as you follow the specific series reading order.
Tragic
Manic – Vaughn Family and Sick Boyz appear here.
Panic – Vaughn Family and Sick Boyz appear here.
Ford – Sasha Cherlin (age 12) and Merc first appear here
Spencer – James Fenici first appears here – Five is born, Vaughn Family and Sick Boyz appear here.
The Company - Rook & Ronin Spin-offs
New entry point into the series. This is the true beginning of the shadow government called The Company.
The Company – James and Vincent Fenici age 28, Sasha Cherlin age 13, Nick and Harper Tate age 18. This is the full story of the “Santa Barbara Incident” where Adam and Donovan’s fathers die (Creeping Beautiful).
Meet Me In The Dark – Merc, Sasha Cherlin age 21, Sydney Channing (Company Girl like Indie and Sasha)
Three, Two, One – STANDALONE BOOK – Jax Barlow first appears
Wasted Lust – Sasha Cherlin, age 24, with Jax Barlow.
Nick Tate, age 29, plays a major role and the rest of the Company characters also show back up. First appearance of Angelica Fenici and “other Adam”. Wasted Lust takes place DURING Creeping Beautiful. Specifically when Indie is 15 years old and the “Company falls” and when Nick meets Adam in Daphne, Alabama. Vaughn Family and Sick Boyz appear here.
Happily Ever After – last book in the Rook & Ronin series many years later.
THE MISTERS
THESE STORIES TAKE PLACE WHEN THE ROOK & RONIN KIDS ARE GROWN UP.
The Mister Series – Rook & Ronin/Company Spin-off – new entry point into the series
Mr. Perfect
Mr. Romantic – First appearance of the Silver Society – i.e. The Company
Mr. Corporate – First appearance of “Five”
Mr. Mysterious – Spencer’s daughters
Mr. Match – All the Rook & Ronin Kids come back to play.
Mr. Five (or just Five) – Ford’s son and Spencer’s daughter
Mr. & Mrs. – Ford and Spencer show back up with all the kids. – Vaughn Family appears here.
THE BOSSY BROTHERS
THESE STORIES TAKE PLACE AT THE SAME TIME AS ROOK & RONIN, BUT IN OTHER PARTS OF THE COUNTRY
The Bossy Brothers Series
Rook & Ronin/Company Spin-off – new entry point into the series
In to Her – STANDALONE BOOK – Logan first appears
Bossy Brothers: Jesse – First appearance of The Way – i.e. The Company
Bossy Brothers: Joey
Bossy Brothers: Johnny – Logan shows back up Indie first appears at age 14, Chek’s first appearance
Bossy Bride: Jesse and Emma – Chek and Wendy mentioned
Bossy Brothers: Alonzo – Chek and Wendy mentioned, Vaughn Family and Sick Boyz appear here.
Bossy Brothers: Tony – Vaughn Family and Sick Boyz appear here.
Bossy Brothers: Luke – Nick and Lauren Tate show up.
CREEPING BEAUTIFUL
Creeping Beautiful – Rook & Ronin and Company Spin-off – new entry point into the series. THIS STORY TAKES PLACE AT THE SAME TIME AS 321 AND WASTED LUST.
The complete story of Nick Tate, James and Vincent Fenici, “Wendy”, “Chek”, Indie Anna Accorsi, Adam Boucher, Donovan and Carter Couture, Core McKay, and Nathan St. James.
Creeping Beautiful (book 1)
Pretty Nightmare (book 2)
Gorgeous Misery (book 3) – Coming fall 2021
Lovely Darkness (book 4) – Coming fall 2021
Kings of High Court College
Standalone Duet with no crossover characters but is still inside the “Company world”.
Bully King
Ruling Class
END OF BOOK SHIT
Well, shit. Going back into this world was the best. I had the most fun writing these seventeen chapters and I fell right back into their make believe lives. Its feels short to me. It went by so fast, but that was the idea. Just a little epilogue to see how the whole Team fared at the game of life. We should be so lucky, right?
So I hope you enjoyed this little Christmas story. It’s really hard for me to decide on a favorite part because it seems like every single chapter had some little gem that just made me smile. Kate was the biggest surprise. She was so small in Ford’s book and in Guns. She really had no personality, just a heavy genetic inheritance. So I love, love, loved her chapter at the ski slopes. It really shows whose daughter she really is. Ford’s. For sure. His mini-me, even though at first glance, everyone thinks that title goes to Five. He’d like another Kate. And good thing too. Twins, right? Ford can’t do anything without overachieving. Plus, Ashleigh deserves another round of babies. She met Ford and a year later was settled with 2.5 kids, a house, and a pack of face-eating dogs. Did she slip up on her pill? I’d like to think so.
And Spencer, so perfect as always. It took me a while to come up with the right gift to make Ronnie feel better. I was saying the same thing in my head as Rory was. There is nothing in any of those Village shops that will make Ronnie feel special. I almost did give them the limo, but what kind of people keep a limo driver on call on Christmas Eve? Not Ford and Ashleigh. ;) So the body painting was really the only way to set her right. I always pictured Spencer as a family man and it’s so much karma that he got four little princesses before he got his mini me, Oliver. But his girls will know how to change the oil on a bike and they will pass down all those Small Frye boots until the soles fall off. I think I love Spencer the most. And that’s funny, I barely liked him in Tragic. I never thought he could carry a book. But people started asking about him almost immediately and with each part he played, I loved him a little more. “Tell me what we like, Bombshell,” is still one of my most favorite scenes ever.
Rory was exactly how I pictured her – Princess, right? But don’t let her fool you, there’s a lot more going on in that head than cheerleading and horseback riding. There’s more to her than blonde hair and big tits. She’s the original Baby Bomb and she takes after her mother in more ways than one. ;)
I love that Ronin had a little life check. Does he work too much? I doubt it, but who cares. I’m sure Sparrow and Starling are grateful I gave him a mini mid-life crisis so they get to see him more. And the modeling—well, Sparrow is too smart to bank on her beauty. I bet she does become a veterinarian. I love that Rook found her voice and stood up for what she and the girls needed from Ronin. Rook has come a long, long way from Tragic and she probably has the near-perfect version of the HEA.
I love that Ford did all he wanted to do with the movie production stuff. I love that he quit doing it on his own, even before he realized he was just bored. And I love that he and Ashleigh started skiing after things settled down back when the kids were little. I picture Ford taking those kids to the Olympics on
e day. I think Olympic ski coach suites him. Maybe he will make that documentary? I’d watch it.
And how fitting that this books ends the team right back where Rook started it. Lots of things happened on Christmas Eve in these books. Rook decided to wish on a star back when she was with Jon. Ford met Sasha and had that whole day in a life Slack book. Ashleigh, if you were paying attention, got off her plane from Japan with baby Kate on Christmas Eve, the same one where Ford was having a Rook crisis. And James and Harper took Sasha to live with Ford on Christmas Eve after all that Dirty, Dark, and Deadly stuff was over.
I hope you all have a Merry Christmas. Thanks for reading, thanks for reviewing, and thanks for making 2015 spectacular. See you in the next book!
Julie
And Five. Is he the New Ford? You’ll have to wait and see. Because if you want to know the whole story of Five & Rory you have to start The Mister Series!
About the Author
JA Huss is the New York Times Bestselling author of 321 and has been on the USA Today Bestseller's list 21 times in the past four years. She writes characters with heart, plots with twists, and perfect endings.
Her books have sold millions of copies all over the world, the audio version of her semi-autobiographical book, Eighteen, was nominated for a Voice Arts Award and an Audie Award in 2016 and 2017 respectively, her audiobook, Mr. Perfect, was nominated for a Voice Arts Award in 2017, and her audiobook, Taking Turns, was nominated for an Audie Award in 2018.