Unbroken Rules (Rules 3)

“What?” Her voice cracks.

“The doctor said his chances of waking up are pretty good, but we can only wait and see. The police are on the hit-and-run right now. They’ll want to talk to you tomorrow. We all need to go home and rest. Doctor’s orders.”

She pulls herself together and nods. “I’ll wake up Jay. He’s coming to sleep at our place tonight, okay?”

My mind is a whirlwind.

Did she just say our place?

As in I’m supposed to sleep there tonight, too?

I don’t dare question it in fear that she’ll realize what she just said and change her mind.

“Of course.”

“Kendrick and Allie can drive us. Jay doesn’t have any clothes. Would you mind stopping by my house, picking some up, and meeting us at home after? I don’t know how long he’s going to be living with us.”

“No problem,” I say. “Listen, I hate to bring this up, but… you know this might mean that something happened to Lauren, right?”

She sighs. “I know. If she doesn’t show up tomorrow, we’ll have to file a missing person’s report.”

She hands me her house key and wakes up Jaden to explain it all to him. He’s just as emotional as she is but fights to keep a straight face. Soon enough, Kendrick’s parked out front of the hospital with Allie. I watch Winter get into the vehicle with Jay, and we exchange small smiles. They’re “We’re not okay yet but we might still stand a chance” smiles.

I stride to my car and start the engine in a jerk. The drive to Winter’s house goes by quicker than expected. All I can do is smile like a complete fool, desperately clinging to the tiniest of chances that I may not be sleeping at Vic’s tonight.

I turn into Winter’s driveway and hit the brakes so fast my tires holler at me.

There’s a car.

Lauren’s.

It’s taking up half the driveway, carelessly parked sideways with the lights still on. I park in the street, kill the engine, and make my way to Winter’s house. I unlock the door and step insi…

What the fuck?

I lift my foot in the air.

Broken glass lies beneath my shoe. Two broken liquor bottles mark a path all the way down to the kitchen. Frowning, I follow the trail. I have a good idea of what I’m going to see when I enter the room, but it doesn’t make it any less disturbing.

Sitting around the kitchen table with her head hanging low is Lauren. A half-empty whiskey bottle sits next to her. She hasn’t noticed me yet. It’s when she brings the booze to her lips that she sees me and jumps. The glass bottle goes flying out of her hands and crashes to the floor.

“Haze?” Her eyes widen. She probably sees double by now. “You… You weren’t supposed to see that.”

Part of me wants to go upstairs, grab Jaden’s clothes, and get the hell out of here already. But the other is imploring me to throw Lauren off a building. Not an easy dilemma.

“Do you have any idea how many people waited for you tonight? How fucking miserable your kids were?” I spit. It doesn’t take a goddamn degree to figure out this is the reason she wasn’t at the hospital. How could she be so cruel? Her husband is in coma, and she’s here getting wasted.

She pretends to wipe away tears. “Haze, you have to understand. I couldn’t go. It’s too hard. I love him so much and—”

“Drop the act,” I growl. It’s 3:00 a.m. I don’t have time for her shit.

She’s shocked, at first. Then she curses and throws her hands up. “All right. Had to try.”

I don’t waste another second on her and head for the stairs. This woman is nothing but a reminder that some people shouldn’t be allowed to have kids. I go through Jay’s mess of a room and throw every piece of clothing I can find into his backpack. By the time I’m done and charging down the stairs, Lauren’s opened a new whiskey bottle. The one she dropped remains shattered on the floor. So much for being a neat freak.

I send her a look full of hatred as I pass through the kitchen. One second before I walk out, she croaks, “She looks like him, you know?”

I stop dead in my path but don’t turn around, waiting to see if her speech is worth staying for.