Page 76 of My Rose

I broke the silence, trying to clear the chokehold he had on me from deep within my throat as if I could dislodge my own heart. “So, is this where you come when you’re alsonot trying to be an asshole?”

He chuckled as he shook his head, his lips rolling in as his eyes lit up. “No, baby. This is where I come to let it all out.”

Chapter 28

Briggs

“Carpe diem.” ? Horace

There was something different in the way she was looking at me now. I couldn’t quite decipher what it was, but those baby blues tore through me a lot harder than usual. Yet I knew that little viper was still in there—she was still mad, flustered at me and possibly herself and the events thatunfolded.

“Stay right here,” I whispered against the shell of her ear, recalling a few days ago when I pulled her into the billiards room. I took a few steps to the right, found the light switch, and turned it on. She blinked at the brightness, so I reached over and turned one of the sections of lights off. “Better?”

“Yeah. Thanks.” She blinked at her surroundings. “So this is where you come to let it outandget incredibly ripped?”

I couldn’t hold back the laughter that escaped me. “I guess you could say that.”

Her eyes roamed my body, lighting a fire inside of me that shot right down to my dick. But that would have to wait.

“Why here?”

My fists clenched at my sides as I was brought back to what I’d just witnessed. Rose was close to being raped. She might not have fully come to terms with that yet, but I knew what kind of man August was long before he had the chance to show it. It just so happened he chose to break free from what little control he had and test those waters on the wrong girl.

My girl.

I hadn’t planned to kill him then. Wasn’t entirely sure if I still could with the way she thought I would go to jail over it. I didn’t lie to her when I said I hadn’t killed anyone before—but that didn’t mean I hadn’t brought them close to it, that the urge to do so wasn’t sitting right at the precipice of my sanity, especially when I thought about August and the rotten things he no doubt had in mind for her.

“I know you, baby. I saw your hand in your pocket, curled in a tight fist as I pulled up.” I cocked my brow up at her as I closed in on her. Tucking my fingers under her chin, I forced those beautiful eyes of hers right up to meet mine. She leaned into my touch again, my jacket she still wore beginning to slouch off her slender shoulder. I reached up with my other hand and readjusted it instead of ripping it right off and taking her like I so desperately wanted to do. The past two days had been pure agony without her touch. “Your tongue has bite, but I want the rest of your body to have that ferocity, too.”

“You want—” Her words were breathy until she cleared her throat, pressing a hand to her neck. “You want to teach me how to fight?”

My lips curved up. “In a way, yes.” I took her hand in mine, bringing her knuckles to my lips. Her body bowed in closer to me as I brushed my lips over the back of her hand. I told her she was mine, and she seemed to accept that in the car. Rose being aware that I owned her in ways no man ever would was only part of the battle. Now, I just needed others to fucking know, too. “I want to teach you how to punch.”

“And how do you know I can’t punch?” she snapped back like the little viper she was, making me smile more.

I made a show of flipping her hands over, inspecting them for scrapes and bruises I knew I wouldn’t find with her lack of experience. Still, I humored her, which she didn’t seem happy about. “Show me how you were making a fist in your pocket.”

She made a cute little sound of annoyance and rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t going to punch him. I was going to…um…”

Curiosity overcame me. “What were you going to do with your hands then?”

She reached into the depths of her pockets, shifting my jacket to the side to do so, and then her eyes snapped back up to me. “Don’t say it, by the way. I know you’re thinking it.”

I put both hands in the air, unable to wipe the smirk from my face. She thought I was going to judge her for the amount of times she’d been caught wearing that very jacket, but that wasn’t where my thoughts went whenever she wore my clothes. Rose looked damn hot in it, but her wearing it while she was out of the house made something akin to pride bubble to the surface. It was one of the small ways she showed she’d been mine all along.

When she pulled out her house key, my smirk turned up more. “You were going to stab him with your key?” I tried to keep my voice neutral, but the amusement burst through.

She crossed her arms. “Says the guy who put a gun to another guy’s head.”

“A gun that wasn’t loaded,” I reminded her.

She looked me over as she put her keys back. “I don’t get it, Briggs. My grandpa taught me that was the best thing to use in a situation like that.” Good thing I gave that man a Bentley. Definitely deserved it. Possibly needed another. “But your first instinct is to pull out a gun? And what was up with August’s face? Are you going to tell me why he referred to you as mydog?”

Huh, I kind of liked that.

I reached a hand to cup the back of my neck as I looked down at the little viper whose voice was much clearer now and full of thatvenom I loved to get from her. Rose’s arms crossed tighter over her chest as she waited for me to answer, while I just couldn’t stop feeling so hopelessly obsessed with her.

“You told him that he didn’t listen the first time, Briggs. So what the hell happened the first time to warrant that kind of—”

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