Page 39 of My Rose

“Do you have more to discuss than telling me I’m desperate or reminding me to keep my mouth closed around Father?” SayingFathermade me wince. Not Dean’s slap to my shoulder, not the pain on my side. It was always that word like I could feel the pain that came after seeing him as if it was some twisted Pavlovian response.

He tapped two fingers to his lips as he scanned the ceiling. “Nope. But I did tell Jasmine about your date and I thought she was going to faint with happiness. Something about some guy named Auburn or Audi—”

“August.” My fingers curled around the phone before I turned and put it away.

“Yeah. Sounds like a real asshole.” He chuckled faintly like that would ease how much I hated the guy.

“That’s because he is,” I replied flatly. I didn’t want to point out how August fucked his daughter because that would put a literal hit on him, and he was still Rose’s friend, so I had to play nice.

“Well, I’m glad she settled on the likes of you, then.” He rubbed his knuckles into my head as I walked by. He was the only person I’d ever allow to touch me like that. Well, him, and now Rose. Although the ways I wanted her to touch me and the places I wanted her delicate hands to wander to were much more indecent. Preferably while she was nude.

“Yeah. Sure.” Unless, of course, she realized I wasn’t lying about being no good, and that was why I wasn’t being replied to.

Dean’s brows furrowed together as I walked back up to the punching bag. “So what’s your game plan, then?”

I exhaled deeply, my eyes glued to the bag like it held all the answers. “I’m trying not to lose my shit and go track her down.”

“You haven’t put a tracker on her phone yet?”

My brow arched as I slid my gaze to him. “No.” But why the fuck hadn’t I? Probably because to do that, I’d have to be in possession of her phone for longer than two seconds, and it’s not like she’d let me take it from her to do that. “You have one on Jasmine’s?” I already knew the answer since he was suggesting it.

“Yep. And the car I bought her and every single one of her purses.”

“Thorough.” Dean had no idea I’d tracked Rose for years, but with people who ended up unable to do the job I needed them to do. As much as I wanted to be the one to follow her around and make sure she was safe at all times, it wasn’t plausible. I mentally added tracking devices to my list of shit I had to get.

“Have to be with what we do. Thatandoverbearing. You see the people we deal with, what if they find the things we care about?” Little did he know that’s exactly why I’d stayed so far away from Rose in the first place, but it was too late to turn back now. She was mine, and I wasn’t keen on ever letting her go.

Dean’s hand cupped the back of his neck, his face now giving way that he’d become deep in thought. “Just don’t fuck it up, Briggs. Jasmine is perfect, and you’re lucky as hell that she has a best friend who seems to like you as well, for whatever reason.” I threw a sweat-sodden towel that had been draped over my shoulder at him. He laughed. “Yeah, I should just call Jasmine and have her tell Rose what a piece of work you really are.”

I rolled my eyes over to him, fixing the wrapping on my knuckles. “Trust me, she’s aware.”

He grabbed his duffle bag and flipped me off as he walked away.

Another hour later, I sent a few more messages to Rose and then drove to Jim’s. I needed to discuss a few things with him, mostly how grimy his damn floors were. There was no way I was going to let a business I bought a few years ago take a dump. The only reason I purchased it was its favorable proximity to Rose’s house, and at the time, it was as close as I could get without raising any red flags to myfather, who told me it was a terrible investment. But I didn’t do it for the money pit that it was.

Now that the team I hired to keep tabs on her was no longer, I started having Jim report to me if he heard anything about Rose or saw her. Really, anything about Rose Fields. He didn’t ask questions. He did what he was supposed to, and his business stayed afloat because of it. And since Rose still wasn’t answering, I figured I’d give her a little more time before I just showed up to ask her what was wrong.

A few minutes before I was to pull up to Jim’s, he called. And what he said made me push the pedal to the floor.

August and his crew of chauvinists and future rapists were taking up space in the parking lot, drinking beer they must’ve gotten elsewhere because August and his friends were banned from my store. Jim wasn’t above using the gun I placed behind his register to scare them off, but I told him I wanted to handle it personally.

So as Jim stood behind the glass with a mop in hand, staring out at the assholes, I strode up to them.

“Hey, hey, speak of the fuckin’ devil! It’s my boy, Briggs!” August’s arm slouched back against his shitty car while one of his friends passed him a shot. He tipped his head back, taking the shot and shaking his greasy hair as if he believed he was Fabio.

I closed the distance between us casually, folding up the sleeves of my jacket. His eyes fell to my fists right before I raised one and slammed it into his nose. I’d never felt a more satisfying crunch in my life.

“What the fuck, dude?” He stumbled to the side, blood pooling down his face, and if I’d never seen Rose in that dress, his blood would be my favorite shade of red.

I pulled him up by the collar as his feet scraped against an icy patch of pavement. “I let it slip before at your house, but I won’t ever make that same mistake again.” I drove another punch into his gut as I pinned him against his car, the pain in my torso screaming momentarily, but I ignored it.

“Is this about Clarissa?” His tone was hysterical, sputtering through his pain.

I punched him again. “Try again,” I growled.

“Rose. Rose. I meant Rose, fuck.” He spat out more blood as fear took over his beady little eyes. I pushed my forearm into his neck right as the alcohol must’ve short-circuited some part of his brain because a sinister smile spread over his mouth. His head lolled over to his friends. “Should I tell him, guys?”

His friends remained quiet on the side, one of them taking several steps back.

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