The Rulebreaker

For the first time in a long time, I feel amazing.

Chapter Thirty-One

Maverick

“Misty,” Jo says, walking into the kitchen from the other side. “I cannot believe you are such a freaking baby. You called Mom?!”

“You guys put me in a room that literally looks like UNC vomited in it, so yeah, I called Mom,” Misty says, looking between Jo and Jagger. “What the hell?”

Jagger starts to laugh along with everyone else in there. I bite my tongue to keep from laughing because even though we’re not in the kitchen just yet, hearing the commotion is hilarious. Misty attends a rival university, and that makes this even funnier.

“Unbelievable.” Misty shakes her head, and as we walk into the kitchen, we see her turn her glare toward Mitch. “Keep laughing.”

“Nope.” Mitch straightens. He looks like he’s dying to laugh, but is trying really hard to hold it in. “I’m good.”

“Such a baby,” Jo says again. “Mom and Dad think it’s hilarious, by the way.”

“Of course, they do. You’re all traitors.”

“You’re the only one who chose Duke over UNC! You’re the traitor,” Jo shoots back.

“Oh, I see you kissed and made up,” Mitchell taunts as Rocky and I walk into the kitchen hand in hand.

“You told them?” She squeezes my hand and looks up at me.

“Yeah, pretty sure no one here is surprised by this development,” Mom says.

“I’m surprised,” Dad says. “I mean, really, Rocky, you could do so much better.”

Rocky laughs loudly and grips my hand again. “Honestly, Roberto, I gave it a lot of thought but after seeing what’s out there, I somehow kept coming back to him.”

“I joined a dating app recently, so I feel this on a deep level,” Misty adds.

“You joined a what?” Mitchell shouts. “When? Why?”

“I got tired of going on dates with the same three guys.” Misty shrugs a shoulder. “Jo put me on one, so blame her.”

All eyes turn to Jo, who gasps. “You guys are so judgy. She needs a man in her life so she can stop calling me at one in the morning when she has all her high musings.” Jo laughs. “Sorry, Misty. I guess everyone knows you smoke now.”

“It’s for anxiety,” Misty says, eyes wide.

“Hey, you don’t owe us an explanation,” Mom says. “I smoke once in a while.”

“What?” I roar alongside my brothers. “Mom, no!”

“My, how the tables have turned,” Dad says with a laugh. “I told you they’d think you’re a pothead.”

“Not that there’s anything wrong with being a pothead at my age.” Mom shoots each of us a pointed look. “But it really does help me with my aches and pains once in a while, so, sorry, not sorry.”

Rocky tries and fails to fight a laugh, especially when Jo and Misty start laughing uncontrollably, because admittedly, my brothers and I are in complete shock.

“This day is wild,” I say after a moment. “Wild.”

“Ma, we don’t even drink!” Mitchell says, then corrects himself when all of us look at him, “I mean, not a lot anyway.”

“We definitely don’t do drugs,” Jagger says. “I just can’t believe that after all of those lectures you gave us . . . ” He shakes his head.

“Relax.” Mom rolls her eyes. “I dedicated my life to raising three healthy, yet annoying boys and started a couple of companies. If I want to relax once in a while with something that’s not only legal, but natural, I’m allowed, dammit.”

“It’s not legal in this state,” Jo adds. “Not that it stops Misty, as you can see.”

“It’s not my fault some states are behind on the times and would rather keep feeding big pharma and letting them control us and make us addicted to the opioids of their choosing,” Misty argues.

“Holy shit. I need a drink because after this conversation I have a feeling we’ll all need a little weed in our lives,” Dad says, walking over to the small bar. He looks over at the chef, who has been laughing at our entire exchange the whole time. “I’m sure you’ve heard worse things.”

“Much worse,” the chef says.

“Let’s talk about something less triggering,” I say. “Like Jo and Jagger’s wedding.”

“Less triggering?” Jagger shouts with a laugh. “Dad, get me a drink, please, before Bridezilla starts going on her rants.”

“I am not a Bridezilla, Jagger, what the fuck?” Jo says, crossing her arms over her chest.

“You sure you want to be part of this forever?” I ask Rocky, looking down at her. “I mean, you’ve already been part of this forever, but it’ll be next level.”

“I like next level.” She reaches up and kisses my chin because that’s as far as she can reach without heels. “I definitely like next level with you.”

“Good.” I let go of her hand and squeeze a handful of her ass. “Because I still have a few things on that list to cross off.”