♦𝕭𝖑𝖆𝖐𝖊♦

"Fuck you." I spit at the sorry excuse of a man who just finished telling me he's going to press charges against me for resisting arrest.

"I'll press charges right back." If this fucker thinks for one second that he won't pay for what he did to Rose, the dudes delusional.

"You can't do Jack shit from the inside of a jail cell." He threatens.

"You better hope that's where I end up then." I'm getting tired of looking at his face, it's too normal. Needs a makeover of bruises and blood, add a crooked nose in for some spice.

"I'll make sure of it." He smirks.

I'd be pummeling him if I wasn't cuffed to the table.

I've been in this room for hours, someone came in at the beginning and asked questions, but other than that the only person I've seen is the bastard standing in front of me.

Oh man, how my blood boils every time I lay eyes on him. I can't stop picturing him throwing Rose to the ground like she was a fucking murderer or something.

The fact that he didn't stop when she was obviously panicking had my heart beating like I just ran a marathon.

I will say I'm impressed that they actually treated my wrists before they stuck me in this room.

All the fighting I was doing trying to get to her cut them open, I didn't feel it. Nothing matters more to me than making sure Rose is safe, and I've done a pretty shit job of it today.

"Let me see her." I ask for the tenth time.

"Oh, will you look at that? Time for me to go." He mocks and slips out of the room.

Goddammit, I want to beat the shit out of him. Break a leg, an arm, maybe even every bone in his Goddamn body.

Ace and Isaiah were dispersed to their own rooms and I haven't seen them since.

But in the squad car they were very vocal about how pissed they were with how the cop treated Rose, and that whoever got out first needed to check in on her before anything else.

Plus this isn't our first time being arrested, so they'll be fine.

I slam my fist against the table, I told her it would be ok. That we would keep her safe, but I couldn't do anything when that cop was forcing her face into the ground.

I fucking hate myself right now, what if he hurt her on the ride to the station? My stomach twists and my heart clenches at the thought.

I'll fucking kill him, I'll rip every finger that he touched her with off one by one.

The door opens and my hands clench into fists.

Back so soon Ian? I'd love for you to get just a little closer so I can strangle you with the chain attached to my wrist.

My eyes trail up to the door, and instead of seeing the fucktard with the mismatched socks, I see a lady with a small smile on her face and a pile of papers.

Finally, maybe she could clue me in on what the fucks is happening.

"Where's Rose." The words leave my lips fast. I didn't even mean to say them, it's an instinct at this point to make sure she's ok.

"Rose is fine. She was released about fifteen minutes ago. Your other flirtatious friend was just released as well." She rolls her eyes as she speaks about Isaiah.

Ha, leave it to Isaiah to flirt with the first girl he sees after being locked up for a couple hours.

"Whats going on?" I question roughly.

"Straight down to business with you I see. Ok, I'll give you the rundown." She starts off telling me that it was a prank call.

But I know it wasn't, Conway was trying to get me arrested so I miss the fight tomorrow. And he was willing to bring down my whole group to do it.

She explains that it's all been cleared up and charges won't be filed against me because Ian can't get another officer to back him. By the time she finished explaining I was itching to get out of my seat, to see Rose in person is the only way my nerves will settle.

Even though they say she's ok, I don't trust them. There is no way she is, I saw the blood dripping down her knees when he pushed her onto the car.

"An officer will be here in a second to unlock the cuffs. I'm going to go check on that grumpy friend of yours so he can meet you out front." She says with a kind smile.

"Grumpy?" She has to be talking about Ace.

"Yeah, hasn't said a word since he got here. Just glares at everybody. Poor guy who tried to question him nearly shit his pants." She laughs.

Yeah that sounds like Ace alright.

She leaves the room and just a few seconds later a man I haven't seen before walks in dangling keys. He doesn't say a word to me as he unlocks the cuffs and motions for me to leave the room.

Fucker.

He's punching a code onto the keypad when I hear muffled yelling coming from the other side of the door.

"What's all that yelling about?" Ace's voice speaks from behind me.

He's developed the art of walking quietly, used to scare the shit out of me but I've learned to sense his presence without notice.

"Don't know, it kinda sounds like Isaiah though." I point out.

The thing that concerns me is I only hear his voice, no Rose. The door is unlocked and I'm the first to step through.

"You have no idea how much shit you just caused! She's an adult, you can't just give her information out to anyone you want!" Isaiah yells, his hands thrown up in the air as he passes back and forth in front of a desk.

"Sir, please calm down. We followed protocol and informed the person who made the claim. A legal guardian put him as the contact and she was under age when it was filed. Plus she didn't seem too worried about it herself." A lady with short curly red hair says in an aggravated voice.

"She left her fucking stuff here! I don't think that says she was ok!" He growls, holding up a bag and pointing at it. My eyes scan the room and notice one very important thing is missing.

Rose isn't here.

My fingers tingle as I speed walk across the room.

"Isaiah." I say. It's all I have to say, he knows I'm wondering where Rose is. Our agreement was whoever was out first would stick with Rose, that was him, but she isn't here.

"Can we get our stuff?" Isaiah ignores me and asks the lady working the desk, bitterness dripping from his tongue.

"Isaiah." I say coldly, clenching my fists at my side.

"Now!" He demands.

Something is really wrong. The lady slides our belongings through the gap in the glass without a word. Isaiah grabs it all and shoves it in the bag he had in his hand.

"Isaiah!" I snap.

"Outside." Is all he says, then turns around and marches out the doors. Ace and I follow swiftly behind him until he stops at the corner of the building.

"Isaiah, where the fuck is Rose?" I'm losing it, I'm fucking losing it. Where is she?

"She's gone. Left before I got released, didn't even wait to grab her stuff." Isaiah's eyebrow twitches as he speaks, he's pissed.

My mind starts to run, what if she hates me now because I got her arrested?

"Why." Ace says composed, I know he's freaking though. His shoulder is all jacked up from trying to break through the squad car door when he saw Rose get yanked out of my car.

"Her fucking bastard of a brother filed a missing persons report when she ran away. They ran her through the system and informed him that she's here. Some fucking protocol thing that I don't understand because she's an adult now and makes no sense to me, but they did." My body stills, becoming ice cold as the words spill out of Isaiah's mouth.

I'll kill him if he lays a hand on her.

"The lady in there said she seemed fine when she informed her, but bolted before she got back with her stuff."

A strained laugh leaves my lungs. "You've got to be kidding me."

I hate that Rose doesn't rely on us when things are hard for her, but I also understand.

She's been alone for a long time, and dealt with her problems the best she could. It probably didn't help that the three of us were all locked up for who knows how long and she couldn't even talk to me if she wanted to.

"Where would she go?" Ace flicks his thumb, eyes scanning the streets.

"I don't fucking know. But we have to start looking. Where's my car?" I have no clue what possessed that girl into thinking that it's a good idea to take off when Conway and her brother might be after her.

"They left it on the side of the road. My mom is on her way through, she can give us a ride back to it." Isaiah mumbles.

Shit, we're in for a long talk with Olivia. Especially because we got Rose involved, Olivia has taken a liking to her and she made us promise not to scare her off.

Now she's God knows where with people out to get her, she has no phone, no wallet, nothing but the clothes on her back that are grass stained and dirty from when she tackled Isaiah and when Ian threw her to the ground.

"Boys." Olivia's stern voice caused us all to tense.

"Hi, Mrs Brown." Sweet talking Ace has made an appearance. Doesn't usually work on Olivia, but I applaud him for trying.

"Shut up and get in the damn car." Her voice isn't angry, but it is disappointed. We all slide in the back seat, wanting to be as far away from Olivia as possible.

We all hate disappointing her, she knows just the right words to hit us where it hurts the most.

"Where's Rose?" She asks the question that makes my heart squeeze. She knows one of us is always with Rose, Isaiah let her in on that tidbit of information last week.

"She took off before we were released." I force the words out, they taste sour. Olivia turns around in her seat with a tight smile on her face.

"What was that?" Her eyebrows raise, eyes blinking so fast while she keeps the smile on her lips.

The whole look makes me sick to my stomach, she's fucking pissed at us but doesn't want to yell. I'd rather she yell at us than torture us like this though.

"Does that mean she was with you lovely boys when you got arrested." Her voice is unlike anything I can explain. Makes me want to run for the fucking hills, but also beg for forgiveness.

"Yes." I grimace.

"Oh, how lovely." She turns around to face the front of the car, her fingers tapping the wheel.

"Where did she go?" The blinker flicks on as she merges back into traffic.

"We don't know, she left her phone at the station, and left without telling anyone." Isaiah mumbles meekly.

"Amazing." She grits.

The ride to my car is filled with awkward silence, each moment weighing heavier than before.

When we reached my car Olivia told us all not to bother coming home until we found Rose. We were supposed to have a barbecue at their house tonight, but none of us would enjoy it without Rose anyway.

We searched for hours, Isaiah looking out the passenger window, Ace the drivers side and me driving and scanning around as I did so.

We checked everywhere we could think of, the old place she stayed, the waterfall, the library, the park, all the places we've ever hung out or she talked about.

Tension was high and the three of us were fighting every time someone would open their mouth.

"What if she left the city?" Isaiah worriedly asks.

"Goddamnit, shut the fuck up." Ace growls.

"I'm just asking! She could have, or maybe her brother found her or some shit like that!" Isaiah yells, breathing heavy his eyebrow twitches.

I stay silent in my seat, but the words hit me like a sledgehammer.

I promised I would protect her, I promised myself every day that I would never let anything bad happen to her again.

I don't understand how one person could mean so much to me, and not only me but the people surrounding me as well. Ace and Isaiah are always checking in with me about her.

I mean who wouldn't love Rose, and the fact that she's so important to me makes them ultra protective of her.

We all lose our shit when anything remotely bad happens to her.

The other day she cut herself while she was chopping vegetables for us all to dip in hummus, I nearly fainted and Isaiah almost called 911. Ace was worried, but he's able to keep his composure better.

Rose slapped a bandaid on it and called it good, she said she's had way worse. That did nothing to calm the three of us down.

Ace took over chopping the vegetables and I distracted Rose so she wouldn't make a fuss about it. The cut wasn't that deep, but bled enough to be covering her whole hand when we walked in.

I thought she lost a finger at first. It did make me realize I needed more first-aid kits around the house though, just in case she needs them.

That led to a night of researching basic first-aid, which led to me realizing I don't know how to do the heimlich maneuver if she chokes on something.

I booked a class to learn. I never had someone I cared about so much that I was worried about them dying in ways like that.

Sure I was worried about Ace when he got in fights or occasionally I would think about how miserable I'd be without having them both in my life.

But I never once thought about them choking to death, accidentally cutting a main artery while cooking, or anything like that.

We did stupid shit, and if one of us died the others would be devastated. But I never held my breath when they got close to the edge of a cliff, or constantly needed to know that they were ok to feel ok myself, I never got an itch on my hand and desperately need to hold theirs while we crossed the street so they wouldn't get hit by a Goddamn car.

Fucking hell what is she doing to me?

"I said shut up! She's fine!" Ace bites out causing Isaiah to snap his mouth shut and lean back in his seat.

His phone rings, "It's my mom." He mumbles before answering.

"We haven't found her yet." He says as a greeting. "Why? We aren't going to stop looking, plus you said not to come until we find her." Silence. "What? Are you kidding me? Ok, we'll be there in a few." His voice is rushed, hanging up the phone as soon as the last word comes out.

"Turn around! Rose is at my mom's house." The tires squeal coming to an abrupt stop on the empty street we are on. My head whips around to stare at him.

"What? How?" My voice is shaky.

"I'm not sure, mom just said she's there." I hastily turn and speed to their house. I can only assume she's ok, Olivia didn't confirm if she is or not though so my heart just about beats out of my chest as we make it to their street.

I don't bother knocking on the door, I rush inside expecting to see Rose in the living room or kitchen but Olivia sits alone at the dining table sipping a cup of tea.

"Where is she?" I pant, I forgot to breathe once I stepped inside.

Olivia painstakingly slowly sets her cup on the table, her eyes glance up at me. A fire reages behind them, my feet falter causing me to stumble back a step.

"She's sleeping. I don't know what the heck happened, but she showed up here ready to pass out." She must have ran here, she didn't have her wallet so she wouldn't have been able to get a ride.

The police station is miles from here and the sun is showing no mercy today. She must have ran herself near death.

"She was talking in her sleep." Olivia's eyes burn as she looks between us guys.

"Was mumbling things about some guys who were going to hurt her, that she couldn't let them find her." Her voice is hollow.

"What the heck mom? You think it's us?" Isaiah's baffled voice rings across the kitchen.

"Well I sure hope not! But she ran from you guys, and from what you've been saying she only hangs out with you. So what am I supposed to think?" I can hear the heartbreak in her tone.

I know it breaks her to even consider the idea of us hurting someone like Rose. But we never told her anything about Rose's past, her brother or Conway.

"I can't say much, because it's Rose's story to tell. But we aren't the guys she's talking about. The police gave some information to someone she didn't want to have it. She must have gotten scared and took off before we were released." I fill in.

I can see tension leave her body as the words sink in.

"I'm sorry, boys. I know you would never do anything on purpose, but I thought maybe you accidentally hurt her somehow." Rose has a way of making people protective over her without trying.

She also attracts the scum of the earth who treats her like trash, which in turn makes the people who care about her that much more concerned.

"I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have assumed, I just-"

I cut her off. "Don't, it's ok. I can see how it might have looked that way." I say sincerely.

She's right about me hurting her, unintentionally anyway, Rose got all scraped up because of that cop. And she would have never been in that situation if Conway didn't want me out of the fight.

"Is she ok?" The question has been weighing on my mind. I didn't get a good look at her after Ian manhandled her.

"She's a little banged up and completely exhausted. I didn't get to talk to her, so I'm not completely sure. She fell asleep when I was getting her a glass of water."

Pain, pain in her voice and in my own heart.

"She's in the guest room if you want to check in on her." She suggests.

I want nothing more than to set eyes on her, to prove to myself that she is ok.

But it also scares the living shit out of me, what if she's not ok? What do I do then?

Do I seek out Ian and beat his face in, maybe her brother too? My mind races as I reach the door, hand floating in front of it, scared to knock.

Scared to see her.

Working up the courage I knock lightly, when no reply is heard I quietly open the door and peek my head in. There she lays, looking like the absolute beauty that she is.

Only her brows are furrowed, she looks troubled and that makes my mind buzz.

I'm at a loss at what to do for her, I say I'll protect her, but I couldn't do that today.

I watched, being held back in cuffs as that officer pushed her around, scrapping her body up, I watched her struggle to breath. I couldn't do anything, and it kills me to think that something like that might happen again.

I'm not invincible, no matter how much I want to believe it, I can't out-power everyone in every situation to make sure she's never harmed.

But I'll be damned if that stops me from trying.

My legs move me silently over to the bed, needing to be close to her is becoming routine.

Her lips part, moving slowly, but no words come out. She isn't sleeping deeply like she needs to be, still bothered by the events of today, of her whole life probably.

I'm sure the news of her brother knowing what town she's living in is anything but comforting.

Dirt is smudged across her cheek, I don't know if it's from before or after the cop. But it makes my blood boil all the same.

I reach out to wipe it off, as soon as my fingers touch her skin it sends sparks up my fingers.

She moves, causing me to start to panic, I didn't mean to wake her up.

But her eyes don't open, instead her hands grip mine and snuggles close to it.

"Blake." She whimpers.

My heart stops, God I'd do anything for this girl.

"I'm here." I whisper, using my other hand to gently run through her hair.

Her body relaxes, face digging deeper into the pillow and pulling my hand closer. She drifts deeper, breathes finally evening out.

I kneel beside the bed, face level with hers so I can gaze at her.