Page 19 of Lack of In-between
Before he could say or do anything, before he could even approach, Rose stood out of her chair, lifting one finger to the girl prepping her color on the other side of the narrow table. As she moved towards the two girls, he sped up and had just gotten close enough to overhear when she lit into them.
“If I ever hear you talking about my girl like that again, I’ll have your butts in a sling faster than you’ll know what hit you.” Head lifted high, Rose was tall enough to look down on the girls where they sat in the elevated chairs. “I know both your mommas, and they would be mortified to know you were turning into mean girls. If you think for one minute that kind of behavior will get you anywhere except ostracized, then you’d better take another stab at thinking.” She flung one hand out towards the rest of the salon. “See all those people watching this go down?” Neither of the girls moved; they sat frozen, eyes wide and locked on Rose. “I won’t even have to tell anyone anything. They’ll make up a story and it’ll be talk of the town by nightfall.” She stepped closer to them, and he closed the distance, putting his hand on her back as she hissed, “Erika is sweet and kind, and if you don’t want that in a friend, fine. But there’s no way you can justify being so ugly to her. Shame on you.”
Rose whirled and then stutter-stepped as her gaze landed on him, and he watched as she willed away the angry tears gathering in her eyes.
“I love you more.” He saw her chin wobble at his words and shook his head, lifting a bent knuckle to steady it. “None of that now. You’re a momma bear when riled up. Momma bears don’t cry.”
“They do if someone’s hurting their babies.” Rose rolled up on her toes and brushed a chaste, sweet kiss across his lips. Voice lowered to a whisper, she told him, “They were quiet, and she didn’t hear what they said, but the way she acted when they walked in told me enough. All I did was put a little fear into them.”
“My Rose.” He kissed the tip of her nose and stepped back, guiding her back towards the manicurist’s station. “Finish getting girlied-up.”
Lying in bed with Rose that night, a dance-exhausted Erika under the same roof, Wolf felt settled, filled with a peaceful contentment he hadn’t felt in a long time.
Rose twisted around in his arms, turning to rest her head against his chest, auburn hair in a cloud across the pillows. He tangled their legs together, clasped her hand in his, brought it up between them, and fell asleep.
Ten
Rose
The ringing phone first registered as a sound in her dream, a fuzzy scene that splintered as she heard Paul’s sleep-roughened voice answer, “Yeah?”
He grunted in response to the humming voice she heard on the other end of the call, and then the air in the room changed, vibrating with energy.
Rose twisted to lie on her back, reaching out to trace the curving lines of Paul’s back as he leaned up on one arm, the other holding the phone. The covers had puddled at his waist, and she slipped her palm up the broad expanse of skin available to her. Muscles shifted under his skin as he leaned back into her touch, telling her without words it was welcome.
Abruptly he lurched upright, moving away from her with legs swinging off the side of the bed as he barked, “The fuck you say?” The vibration she’d felt a moment ago was eclipsed by angry energy rolling off him. “How in the hell did something like that happen?”
He was silent a moment, and she again heard the buzz of whoever was on the other end of that call. She slipped closer, curling around Paul’s back until she could rest her head on his thigh. One of his hands dropped to her head, and she felt his fingers begin to thread through her locks, slowly and softly, as he had a hundred times since they’d been together. She’d woken up to him playing with her hair more than once, and the man’s fixation seemed to be working in his favor this time as she watched him take a deep breath and visibly calm himself.
When he spoke again, he was no less angry but sounded less like he wanted to murder someone.
“So what you’re sayin’ is he’s in the wind, and you’ve already turned over the rocks you know about to find him, but you’re comin’ up blank?” Silence from the caller, and Paul grunted, then spat, “I find him first, you’ll never know.” That stirred up the conversation, and she overheard pieces of shouted words. “Nope. No premeditated anything, I’m just informing you that if I find him first, you’ll never get to stop lookin’ for him. You know what I did, so you know I’m not boasting when I say that.”
He didn’t wait for any additional rejoinders, disconnecting the call and tossing the device to land on his nightstand with a rattle. His chin dipped, and he stared down at her for a long moment, fingers moving in long sweeps from the top of her head down her neck. A muscle in his jaw ticked, and then he gave her shoulder a gentle nudge. “I gotta pee, baby. I’ll be right back.” She watched him gather up the phone as she moved towards the middle of the bed, saw his sideways glance at her as he disappeared into the bathroom, and then stared as the bathroom door slowly closed, settling into place in the frame with a quiet click.
Eleven
Wolf
After texting an alert to the club’s officers, Wolf took a moment to stare at himself in the mirror. Eyes clear, chin high, he showed no fear and would suffer no regrets if things went down the way he hoped. If the cops caught the asshole, then he’d leave it up to the law. If they didn’t, he’d own the man for threatening Rose. No other way to do this, not and be the man he was.
Shaking the tension from his arms, he palmed the phone and turned the light off before opening the door, intent on not disturbing Rose any more than she had been by the call. He needn’t have bothered.
Seated on the foot of the bed, legs folded underneath her, she kept her gaze on him as he made his way the short distance to her.
“Couldn’t go back to sleep?” He murmured the question against her mouth when he bent to kiss her, the softness of her lips calling him like a siren. She hummed a response, and he wrapped a hand around the back of her head, drawing her up for another firm press of his mouth to hers.
When he made to pull away, her palms cradled his cheeks, holding him still. Her thumbs brushed across his cheeks, up his temples, across his mouth still damp from tasting her.
“Putnam called me, too.”
Fucking asshole.
Her eyes narrowed. “What are you going to do?”
This answer didn’t have to be censored. She’d lobbed him an easy pitch to start. “Keep my family safe. Beginning to the end, that’s what I’ll do.”
Lines that had appeared between her brows smoothed out, and darkness he hadn’t realized was edging her eyes receded. “That’ll do.” Her eyes shifted side to side, taking in his whole face and expression. Whatever she saw there must have sealed the deal for her, because she visibly relaxed. “I love you.”
