diff --git a/app/src/main/java/com/discord/simpleast/sample/MainActivity.kt b/app/src/main/java/com/discord/simpleast/sample/MainActivity.kt
index e149fc2..03e0855 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/com/discord/simpleast/sample/MainActivity.kt
+++ b/app/src/main/java/com/discord/simpleast/sample/MainActivity.kt
@@ -35,7 +35,11 @@ class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
     setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)
 
     parser = Parser<RenderContext, Node<RenderContext>, ParseState>()
-        .addRules(UserMentionRule(), CustomMarkdownRules.createBlockQuoteRule())
+        .addRules(
+            // Allow callers to escape markdown commands such as code block ticks
+            SimpleMarkdownRules.createEscapeRule(),
+            UserMentionRule(),
+            CustomMarkdownRules.createBlockQuoteRule())
         .addRules(CustomMarkdownRules.createMarkdownRules(
             this@MainActivity,
             listOf(R.style.Demo_Header_1, R.style.Demo_Header_2, R.style.Demo_Header_3),
@@ -43,7 +47,7 @@ class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
         .addRules(
             CustomMarkdownRules.createCodeRule(this@MainActivity),
             CustomMarkdownRules.createCodeInlineRule(this@MainActivity))
-        .addRules(SimpleMarkdownRules.createSimpleMarkdownRules())
+        .addRules(SimpleMarkdownRules.createSimpleMarkdownRules(includeEscapeRule = false))
 
     resultText = findViewById(R.id.result_text)
     input = findViewById(R.id.input)
diff --git a/simpleast-core/build.gradle b/simpleast-core/build.gradle
index 1da3157..6f14e36 100644
--- a/simpleast-core/build.gradle
+++ b/simpleast-core/build.gradle
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ android {
         minSdkVersion 21
         targetSdkVersion 30
         versionCode 28
-        versionName "2.1.3"
+        versionName "2.2.0"
 
         testInstrumentationRunner "android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner"
 
diff --git a/simpleast-core/src/main/java/com/discord/simpleast/code/CodeRules.kt b/simpleast-core/src/main/java/com/discord/simpleast/code/CodeRules.kt
index 9548dd9..6a75550 100644
--- a/simpleast-core/src/main/java/com/discord/simpleast/code/CodeRules.kt
+++ b/simpleast-core/src/main/java/com/discord/simpleast/code/CodeRules.kt
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ object CodeRules {
       Pattern.compile("""^```(?:([\w+\-.]+?)?(\s*\n))?([^\n].*?)\n*```""", Pattern.DOTALL)
 
   val PATTERN_CODE_INLINE: Pattern =
-      Pattern.compile("""^`(?:\s*)([^\n].*?)\n*`""", Pattern.DOTALL)
+      Pattern.compile("""^`([^`]*?)`""", Pattern.DOTALL)
 
   private const val CODE_BLOCK_LANGUAGE_GROUP = 1
   private const val CODE_BLOCK_WS_PREFIX = 2
@@ -272,6 +272,9 @@ object CodeRules {
       override fun parse(matcher: Matcher, parser: Parser<R, in Node<R>, S>, state: S)
           : ParseSpec<R, S> {
         val codeBody = matcher.group(1).orEmpty()
+        if (codeBody.isEmpty()) {
+          return ParseSpec.createTerminal(TextNode(matcher.group()), state)
+        }
 
         val content = CodeNode.Content.Raw(codeBody)
 
diff --git a/simpleast-core/src/main/java/com/discord/simpleast/core/simple/SimpleMarkdownRules.kt b/simpleast-core/src/main/java/com/discord/simpleast/core/simple/SimpleMarkdownRules.kt
index 92c4bc5..dffe42b 100644
--- a/simpleast-core/src/main/java/com/discord/simpleast/core/simple/SimpleMarkdownRules.kt
+++ b/simpleast-core/src/main/java/com/discord/simpleast/core/simple/SimpleMarkdownRules.kt
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ object SimpleMarkdownRules {
   fun <R, S> createEscapeRule(): Rule<R, Node<R>, S> {
     return object : Rule<R, Node<R>, S>(PATTERN_ESCAPE) {
       override fun parse(matcher: Matcher, parser: Parser<R, in Node<R>, S>, state: S): ParseSpec<R,  S> {
-        return ParseSpec.createTerminal(TextNode(matcher.group(1)), state)
+        return ParseSpec.createTerminal(TextNode(matcher.group(1)!!), state)
       }
     }
   }
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ object SimpleMarkdownRules {
         val startIndex: Int
         val endIndex: Int
         val asteriskMatch = matcher.group(2)
-        if (asteriskMatch != null && asteriskMatch.length > 0) {
+        if (asteriskMatch != null && asteriskMatch.isNotEmpty()) {
           startIndex = matcher.start(2)
           endIndex = matcher.end(2)
         } else {
@@ -98,9 +98,11 @@ object SimpleMarkdownRules {
   }
 
   @JvmOverloads @JvmStatic
-  fun <R, S> createSimpleMarkdownRules(includeTextRule: Boolean = true): MutableList<Rule<R, Node<R>, S>> {
+  fun <R, S> createSimpleMarkdownRules(includeTextRule: Boolean = true, includeEscapeRule:Boolean = true): MutableList<Rule<R, Node<R>, S>> {
     val rules = ArrayList<Rule<R, Node<R>, S>>()
-    rules.add(createEscapeRule())
+    if (includeEscapeRule) {
+      rules.add(createEscapeRule())
+    }
     rules.add(createNewlineRule())
     rules.add(createBoldRule())
     rules.add(createUnderlineRule())
diff --git a/simpleast-core/src/test/java/com/discord/simpleast/code/CodeRulesTest.kt b/simpleast-core/src/test/java/com/discord/simpleast/code/CodeRulesTest.kt
index a8db940..6facc79 100644
--- a/simpleast-core/src/test/java/com/discord/simpleast/code/CodeRulesTest.kt
+++ b/simpleast-core/src/test/java/com/discord/simpleast/code/CodeRulesTest.kt
@@ -1,8 +1,11 @@
 package com.discord.simpleast.code
 
+import android.graphics.Color
+import android.text.style.BackgroundColorSpan
 import com.discord.simpleast.assertNodeContents
 import com.discord.simpleast.core.node.Node
 import com.discord.simpleast.core.node.StyleNode
+import com.discord.simpleast.core.node.TextNode
 import com.discord.simpleast.core.parser.Parser
 import com.discord.simpleast.core.simple.SimpleMarkdownRules
 import com.discord.simpleast.core.utils.TreeMatcher
@@ -21,15 +24,51 @@ class CodeRulesTest {
   fun setup() {
     parser = Parser()
     val codeStyleProviders = CodeStyleProviders<TestRenderContext>()
-    parser.addRule(CodeRules.createCodeRule(
-        codeStyleProviders.defaultStyleProvider,
-        CodeRules.createCodeLanguageMap(codeStyleProviders))
-    )
-    parser.addRules(SimpleMarkdownRules.createSimpleMarkdownRules())
+    parser
+        // Duplicated in `getBasicRules` but required to occur before block + quotes
+        .addRule(SimpleMarkdownRules.createEscapeRule())
+        .addRule(CodeRules.createCodeRule(
+            codeStyleProviders.defaultStyleProvider,
+            CodeRules.createCodeLanguageMap(codeStyleProviders))
+        )
+        .addRule(CodeRules.createInlineCodeRule(
+            { listOf(BackgroundColorSpan(Color.WHITE)) },
+            { listOf(BackgroundColorSpan(Color.DKGRAY)) })
+        )
+        .addRules(SimpleMarkdownRules.createSimpleMarkdownRules(includeEscapeRule = false))
     treeMatcher = TreeMatcher()
     treeMatcher.registerDefaultMatchers()
   }
 
+  @Test
+  fun inlined() {
+    val ast = parser.parse("""
+      `inlined`
+      `inline extra``
+    """.trimIndent(), TestState())
+
+    ast.assertNodeContents<CodeNode<*>>("inlined", "inline extra")
+    ast.assertNodeContents<TextNode<*>>("inlined", "\n", "inline extra", "`")
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  fun inlineNoContent() {
+    val ast = parser.parse("""
+      ``
+    """.trimIndent(), TestState())
+
+    ast.assertNodeContents<TextNode<*>>("``")
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  fun inlineEscapedBlock() {
+    val ast = parser.parse("""
+      \```test```
+    """.trimIndent(), TestState())
+
+    ast.assertNodeContents<TextNode<*>>("`", "``", "test", "``", "`")
+  }
+
   @Test
   fun noLanguageOneLined() {
     val ast = parser.parse("""