Page 1 of Breaking Rules

One

Alec

The day wasrainy and overcast, barely over fifty degrees, which made it a completely average Monday afternoon at the beginning of October. Well, in Seattle, Washington, anyway. For someone with my control issues and need for continuity, it was perfect. For someone from Scotland, it felt like home.

I’d come to the States as a child, but an old enough one to remember where I came from. I remembered becoming a US citizen, but I’d kept my Scottish citizenship too. I didn’t know if any of my siblings had kept theirs. I’d been the only one who’d returned to Scotland for university, but since receiving my degree, I’d only gone back for work.

Maybe it was time to plan a trip I could take my daughter on, let her see where her grandparents – the grand-da she knew, as well as the gran she didn’t – had met and fallen in love, where I had been born and spent the first nine years of my life.

Evanne would love it. I’d never taken a vacation in all my years as CEO of my family’s company, MIRI. A month over the next summer might be just the thing. And if it was summer, perhaps Evanne’s teacher could join us.

My dick pulsed at that thought.

“Mr. McCrae!” My assistant, Tuesday Boswell, burst into my office just as I was shifting in my chair. “Turn on the TV!”

I stared at her in complete surprise, my hard-on fading as quickly as it had come. Tuesday was the most level-headed, professional woman I’d ever met. Da himself had picked her out to be my assistant when I’d started at MIRI. She’d never come in without knocking or buzzing the intercom.

“I’m sorry, Mr. McCrae,” she said as she hurried over to the television I kept in the corner for emergencies, “but this is important.”

Only the fact that I knew she wasn’t one given to dramatics kept me from reprimanding her. She grabbed the remote and turned from the business report being presented to a local channel.

The moment I saw what was on the screen, I forgot that Tuesday had interrupted my lunch.

“…a series of gunshots at Kurt Wright School. Police are on the scene…”

I didn’t wait to hear anything else or to see anything more than a helicopter shot of the school. My daughter and the woman I…Lumen…I had to go.

Immediately.

I grabbed my car keys and phone, shoving the latter into my pocket as I practically ran to the elevator. My heart thudded against my ribcage, and the thoughts that raced through my mind piled up on each other, each one worse than the last, something I wouldn’t have thought possible. If I’d been thinking at all.

It took every ounce of self-control I possessed to keep from speeding through the streets. I had always prided myself on my ability to adhere to a strict schedule without needing to break speed limits and the like. This, however, was no simple meeting to which I was running late.

There had been gunshots at my daughter’s school.

The tragedy and horror that had plagued this nation for too long had finally struck my home. If an elite private school, funded by Seattle’s wealthiest and most influential inhabitants, couldn’t keep our children safe, could anywhere? How could we keep letting this happen?

The street was already closed off, Seattle PD’s finest lining up behind barriers and police tape. Cars were jam-packed and double-parked, more than half with drivers who looked right pissed at how impossible it was going to be to get out of here.

As much as panic tried to take over, I managed to keep my head long enough to find a parking spot another street over. I’d probably get a ticket, but that wasn’t important. I ran back to the line, ears straining to hear another shot. All I heard, however, were the shouts of the people who wanted to know where their kids were and if anyone had been hurt.

Excellent questions.

When I was in sight of the barricade, I slowed to a walk, not because I was any less anxious, but because if there was one thing I knew, it was how important appearance was. If I looked like I was in control, they’d be more likely to listen to me than if I looked to be a panicked parent.

The chaos inside had to stay hidden.

“Excuse me!” I shouted at one of the cops, pushing my way through the crowd. I’d never been so glad to be six-and-a-half feet tall as I was now. I doubted people would have moved out of my way as fast if I’d been a smaller man.

“I can’t let you through, sir.” The cop’s eyes widened as I reached the police tape. “Everything is under control, and statements will be made when the authorities deem it appropriate.”

“Don’t you be givin’ me the party line.” The one thing I couldn’t control as well as I could my expression was my accent. The more keyed up I was, the thicker it became. “I have a daughter in there.”

And a…lover? I didn’t know what Lumen was, exactly, but only Evanne was more important right now.

“I understand, but I have my orders.” The kid’s voice shook, and I almost felt sorry for him.

Almost.