Page 77 of My Rose

“I know what he tried to do to you,” I finally answered.

“You…” I watched her throat work as she swallowed to get to the rest of her words. “You know what, exactly?”

Taking a step closer to her, I pressed my palm to the wall above her head, making her arch her neck to stare up at me. My molars clenched, and my vision flashed red, but not because of her. I reassured her of that by holding the soft curve of her face in my palm. “I know that he thought he could just go to your house and do things to you that you didn’t want him to do.”

Her eyes narrowed, her hand pushing on the front of her throat like she needed the support to find her words again. “You were following me? Watching me in my house?”

I shook my head. “No, Rose.”

“Then how do you know—”

“Jim.”

Her brows scrunched up. “Jim?” She rolled her lips in, confusion filling her perfect features.

“Yeah. Jim.” She looked close to reaching down for her keys in her pocket to use them on me. I knew I was being vague as fuck, and that was one of her biggest pet peeves, but I wanted to try to be open with her as much as I could without scaring her off. Yet, I was failing. I exhaled deeply, my words going with it. “Jim called mewhile August was out in the parking lot of the gas station that day. That fucker was being pretty loud about what hisplanswith you had been and what he believed had happened between you. Talking to his friends about it, too.”

“What…what did he say?” she whispered, her fingers tapping along the side of her neck, her fair skin turning red with the touch.

“Vulgar things.” It wasn’t completely vague, but I was sure repeating what he said wasn’t going to get her imagination going. It was already there, in gear, churning away. I leaned down to kiss her forehead, wanting to comfort her. She didn’t pull away, her body bowing into my lips just like she did with my hands. I pulled back, lifting her face to meet mine. “So, I put him in his place and warned him to stay away.”

Not that he fucking listened.

“You…but, we weren’t…” Her mind looked like it was running on empty. As if the idea of someone other than her grandparents and Jasmine caring that deeply for her and being there for her at every turn just wasn’t adding up. Like I needed to be close to fucking her in order to beat the shit out of anyone who disrespected her because if her body wasn’t mine, then why even bother? She’d be wrong to think that, but that’s what being friends with a guy like August Coleman will do to you.

It was crushing my chest almost as bad as the day she made me take her home and told me it was over.

“I said it before, and I will say it again—you haveneverbeennothingto me.” I bent down, brushing my lips against her cheek. “Let me be everything for you, Rose. Tell me you’re mine.”

She hesitated, goosebumps flooding her skin as I dipped my fingers into the curve between her shoulder and neck. “I’m still really mad at you, you know,” she said on a breath, one she seemed to struggle to catch. I loved the way she reacted to me.

“That’s okay,” I replied. “I’d be upset if you weren’t mad at me. Did I mention you’d be practicing those punches on me?”

Her brows lifted, her plush lips curving at the thought. “Do I have to be yours for you to teach me?” There was a hint of a taunt in those words.

I chuckled because, of course, she was going to be mine, regardless of what she believed. “Of course not. But if you knock someone out, and they ask who taught you to throw a hook like that, you better tell them it was your boyfriend.”

“Was,”she replied as she pushed me away slowly.

I groaned as her palms lingered on my shirt, right above my chest. My heart was pounding, there was no way she couldn’t feel it. When she flushed over and started shrugging off my jacket, I knew the past tense of her one word wasn’t going to last long.

She was mine and would be forever more.

She knew it just as much as I knew one thing for certain—I was completely gone for her.

I reached for her and pulled her back to my front, making her gasp. Leaning down, I took her earlobe into my mouth and bit it gently. Her moan wasalmostenough to make me forget all about teaching her how to protect herself. “Let loose on me, baby. Let me give you that release you need.”

Her head bobbed against my chest. “Okay. Teach me.”

I released her, ignoring the way my cock was about to break through my fucking jeans against her ass. “Be right back. Don’t go anywhere.” I ran back out to get my duffle bag from the trunk, and when I came back in, she was standing beside my most frequented spot. I had to bite my tongue from asking if she was wearing the black lace bra I envisioned ripping from her body. The one that black bag always brought the memory of to the surface.

“Sit down over there,” I said, pointing to the bench along the back wall, not far from the punching bag. Rose put her hands on her hips, but then she dropped them and obeyed as I approached the bench myself.

I could almost envision pushing her down along the bench and eating her sweet cunt until she told me she was mine. I wanted to hear those words from her like I needed to breathe. Desire for something you couldn’t have for years was one thing. But wanting her so bad it made my chest feel like it was cracking in half going two days without her? I was pretty sure I knew what that was. Dean was the one who’d put that into perspective real quick for me.

I slid in beside her and opened the bag. “Let’s start with protection.”

Chapter 29

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