Page 79 of My Rose

“What—” He looked to where my hands were falling along the sides. “What does that mean?”

“There are ways to deal with people like that. It means Dean wouldn’t hesitate to pull the trigger.” His face angled down to the floor, his eyes no more than fine slits as they met mine. “Most men in our position wouldn’t.”

“But—” Pain spread along my forehead. I didn’t even notice that he moved back to stand behind me and started positioning my body to fight all over again. “So what you were going to do to August…”

“I’ve contemplated killing him before.” He said it casually, like that was a normal thought to have. “I wanted to drown him at the party when he was talking about fucking you like you were some discarded piece of trash that he could find use for againifhe so desired.”

I swallowed, shaking my head. “No, he—”

“I wanted to kill him when he went tomy storeand said you were nothing more than a slut.”

“No…”

“I wanted to bash his fucking skull in and watch all the blood drain from his body when he refused to go to your parent’s grave to support you. Could have happily watched the life fade from hiseyes when he didn’t show up at the downtown theater, making you alone and vulnerable.” He bent in over my shoulder and I turned my head toward him as he whispered, “I didn’t give two fucks when he slept with Clarissa, but when he hurts you? Touches you? Thinks he can haveyou?” He kissed my neck, my body in the position where I was supposed to be punching something right after as I melted for him. A soft whimper passed my lips as his teeth grazed my skin. “I didn’t lie when I said I’ve never killed before. But I’d gladly take his life if it meant you weren’t ever going to be hurt by him again.”

“How…” A tear rolled down my cheek. How did I not see the reality of someone I thought was my best friend for so long? How did I not know August was such a terrible human being? “How did I not know?”

Briggs’ thumb wiped away my tear, the press of his lips on my cheek replacing it with warmth. “He’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing—a narcissistic man-child hellbent on destroying everything good and pure around him. And you were the most pure thing he knew of to corrupt. The long game he played on you points to how calculating he can truly be.” He adjusted my fists from behind me this time, then raised them a little higher in the air. My arms went taut, my shoulders rolling back. “That’s my girl. Ready to let it all out?”

I nodded, my lips pressing in a tight line while the pillow on the floor grew a body, a face, and a name: August Coleman.

Briggs stepped around me, smiling as he took me in. “Fuck,” he murmured, then used his hand to shift the front of his jeans. It would have been hot had I not also been pissed off at him. Atthis point, all men could go straight to the fiery gates where they belonged.

“I’m still mad at you, you know. You aren’t getting off that easily.”

“I don’t like getting off easily, Rose baby. I like it hard, rough, and to leave marks on the way, and you know it. Willing to bet you actually like it like that, too.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m serious, Briggs.” My thumb slipped on my left hand, and I fit it under the rest of my fingers. “I could make a list of all the very valid reasons I have to be mad at you.”

“Keep the thumb out.” He stepped in closer, repositioning my thumb on the outside. “Thumb in—you break bones.” He eyed my other fist, nodding when he saw the thumb was still out like he’d put it before. “As for your list”—he stepped in so close, I could feel his breath on my forehead. He tucked some of my hair back from my face as he said, “I can’t wait to hear how angry I’ve made you. Just means I’ll have to find a resolution for each of those things on yourlist.”

I was getting flustered, my breathing working overtime as I pictured each of his methods to fix my list. He was hard, the bulge in his pants was evidently a lot more difficult to hide than he believed, or maybe he didn’t care that it was showing past his efforts to push it down earlier. I knew exactly what he was trying to hide down there, and those pants had no hope.

My filthy, rotten mind screamed for me to forget it all—the anger, the sadness, how I’ve felt over the past few days, and the way he slid in that he’d been following me for who knows how long. But that wasn’t how I learned to cope—pushing things down thatbothered me wasn’t going to get me anywhere. I wanted answers just as much as I wanted to rip his clothes right from his chiseled—

“Rose, are you still with me?” The amusement in his eyes when I finally glanced up at him had me pushing my thumbs to the sides of my fingers harder.

“Just tell me what to do and stop doing...that.” My eyes danced around his body, telling himthatwas basically all of him. He needed to cut it out. His classic black leather jacket, nearly matching the one I toted around, was discarded on one of the benches, his veiny, carefully-sculpted arms covered in ink on full display with the sleeves of his black sweater rolled up. I sighed in frustration as I took in the fine details of his arms. “Promise not to laugh at me and tell me something.”

“Anything.”

“Have you ever been on the cover of a magazine or done some kind of shirtless interview? You’re stupid rich and stupid hot, and that combination just isn’t really fair.”

His cheeks turned pink as he pressed his fingers to cover his lips. “Do you want a few copies?”

“You can’t be serious.” My head cocked, my mouth slipping open at his silence.

Shit, he was serious.

“I’ve been called one of the most eligible bachelors before, and my father made me eat that up publicly for the business.” He shrugged a shoulder.

“You could have anyone you want, and yet, you’re here with me.”

His dark brow arched. “Is that a statement or a question?”

“Both.” I steadied the tremor in my arms from keeping them in position and shook my head when he noticed. “No. Nevermind. It isn’t important.”

“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be and no one else I’d rather be with. The media said I was eligible, Rose. Not me.” He bent down and scooped up the circular pillow as my stomach fluttered with what that meant. “Let’s continue before you lose the position I put you in, which has a purpose just like your thumbs. I need you to bend your knees a little and relax them.” I dropped a fraction, and he smiled. “Just like that,” he purred his praise and the butterflies in my stomach took to flight, reaching into my throat. “You want to keep your body turned like how I put you before and not shift. The more body you put in front of whoever you are fighting, the more opportunity they have to grab you.”

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