34

♦𝕭𝖑𝖆𝖐𝖊♦

"Hand it over!" Isaiah yells from across the room.

"Never! I'll protect it to my death!" Rose hollers back, clutching a jar of peanut butter. I'm actually not quite sure what's going on, I think Isaiah is trying to throw the peanut butter out for some random reason, and Rose is against it.

I'm not sure, they don't make sense a lot of the time.

"Isaiah, go home. It's ten already." I grumble from my spot on the couch. I love seeing Rose like this, but she also has deep bags under her eyes from the lack of sleep she's been getting.

"Can I stay over? The apartment above mine flooded. The office is letting in contractors to have my floors redone early tomorrow." Ace yells from the bathroom.

He's taking a shit and can't wait to get done before he asks. Boy do I have the best of the best when it comes to friends.

"Oooh! Can I say over too?" Isaiah asks.

"Aren't you supposed to be with your girlfriend or something?" He's been spending all his time with her, but today he's been here alone.

"Nah, she's out of town visiting family for a few days. You got me all to yourself." He flops himself across the couch.

"Great." I mumble unimpressed.

"Can they stay? I'll make cupcakes!" Rose bounces up and down on her toes.

"Please?" Damn her and her cute ass self.

"Yeah, they can stay" I heard the words come out of my mouth before I registered that I said them.

When it comes to her it's almost impossible for me to say no. Anyone else can go jump in a river with a wedgie, but I'd be damned if I made her sad.

She's getting her appetite back as well, so that puts me at ease. She barely ate anything for a week, in fact she was completely out of it for that week.

She assured me that she just wasn't feeling good that week, but she still isn't sleeping well. I offered to take her to the doctors, but she declined.

I want to know what's wrong, but she's stubborn and won't take help from anyone, not even a doctor.

"Yes!" She hoots, pumping a fist in the air.

She turns to Isaiah and holds up the peanut butter. "Guess what kind of cupcakes I'm making." She taunts. "Chocolate peanut butter, with extra peanut butter. Maybe I'll do a peanut butter filling too. I'm gonna use the whole jar" She laughs running to the kitchen.

"Do you have milk?" Isaiah asks with wide eyes. "We're gonna need a lot of it to wash down cupcakes with a whole jar of peanut butter in them."

Luckily we do have milk, a gallon of regular and some coconut as well. Rose has been into milk alternatives lately, coconut is her favorite so far. Ace walks out of the bathroom and Rose is on him in an instant.

"Blake said you can stay! Want to make cupcakes with me?" She says excited.

"Isaiah can't help, he doesn't like this peanut butter." Her little face peeks around the corner and sends a glare at Isaiah.

Ace's loud laughter bounces off the walls, "Sure, what do you want me to do?" He asks.

"Can I help?" I ask walking in. No way am I letting Ace have all the fun.

"Yeah!"

And that's how the rest of our night went. Ace and I measured and mixed ingredients while Rose tried to help.

She was constantly having to drop what she was doing and run after Isaiah every time he stole the peanut butter though, so she didn't end up doing much else.

We did end up using the whole jar, and they were surprisingly not overwhelmingly peanut buttery. Probably the best cupcakes I've ever had.

After they were done and the kitchen was cleaned it was after midnight so we all decided to call it a night.

Rose tried to offer up her room like usual, I don't know why she doesn't understand that I'd kick them out of the house if they accepted.

She went off to sleep in the bedroom and the three of us guys scattered around the living room with piles of blankets and pillows.

⇼♢⇼♢⇼♢⇼♢⇼

I'm startled awake by the sound of the front door creaking. My mind immediately jumps to Conway trying to get his hands on Rose.

I'm shooting up out of the bed and throwing a light switch on in under a second.

Rose stands there wide eyed, one foot out the door and face pale.

"Rose? What are you doing? It's-" I check the clock. "Three o'clock in the morning." Her mouth moves but no sounds come out.

"What the fuck, turn the light off." Ace grumbles, stirring from the bright light. I don't say anything, keeping my eyes on her. She looks beyond nervous and it sets me on edge.

Her eyes darted around the room, unable to look directly at me. I see her chest start to move faster as her breathing picks up.

"Goddammit, I'm trying to get some beauty sleep." Isaiah grumbles, he throws the blanket off him and sits up rubbing his eyes.

"Rose? Where are you going?"

I'd like to know the same thing, buddy.

"I'm just- I was just going to get some fresh air really quick." I smell bull shit. She's fully dressed, even has her backpack with her. She's sneaking out, and I don't know why. I never stop her from doing anything, I never want to be that guy.

She could have easily said she wanted to go somewhere, I would have taken her there in a heartbeat. I've expressed how dangerous it is with Conway wanting to get at me, and she agreed with one of us shadowing her all the time. I didn't think it bothered her because she never said, or acted like it did.

So why the hell is she trying to sneak out in the middle of the night.

"Bull shit." Isaiah scoffs. Leave it to him to say it like it is. Her eyes keep flicking to the clock, like she's late for something.

"What's going on?" I question again, stepping closer to her.

Her head shakes frantically, "I can't tell you." Her eyes plead with me to let it go.

"Yes, you can." Something had her acting differently lately, what of this is tied to that?

"I can't!" Her voice squeaks. "He'll kill you!" She didn't mean to say that, I can tell by the distant look on her face.

I close the gap between us, "Rose," I grip her face, making her look at me. "Who."

Someones messing with her, that much is obvious now. But who, and how long have I let this slip past me.

"No... I have to go. You have to stay here." Her eyes are disturbingly distant, causing my heat to squeeze painfully.

"I have to go." She whispers, trying to get out of my hold.

"Rose!" I bellow, trying to snap her out of it. She flinches back and I feel like a piece of shit. But then her bright green eyes blink up at me. She's back.

"Blake, you need to let me go." Her voice is urgent, but her eyes hold contact with mine now.

"And I need you to tell me what the fuck is going on." I keep my voice even. I don't want to scare her, but she's scaring me.

"Please, please." She begs, her hands trying to get my hand that's holding her to let go. "I can't let him hurt you." She whimpers, tears in her eyes.

I'm torn between trying to get answers from her, or doing anything in my power to make her stop crying. The guys are out of bed now and fully awake.

"Tell me." I demand, but keep my voice soft as I do. My free hand twitches at my side, I have no fucking clue what's going on. The only thing I do know is that it's not good.

God, if anything has happened to her.. I'm not sure what I'll do. I told her I'd keep her safe. The pressure in my chest is building every second she doesn't answer. I pull her back inside, shut the door behind her and guide her to a seat.

"Tell me who." I repeat, holding eye contact with her. She's scared, but there's also a fire in her eyes.

"I won't let him hurt you!" She yells frustrated. I've never seen her get upset like this before, her chest heaves and her nose is flared.

"That's my issue to worry about." I argue back. I can hold my own, she's seen me do it time and time again.

She yells back, "But he's my brother!" A gasp escapes her, hands fly to her mouth as she realizes her mistake.

Her brother? Her fucking brother is messing with her? How the fuck did I miss it, I'm such a dumb-ass. I should have realized when her nightmares increased.

"Your brother is here?" I grumble. If she was sneaking out it was probably to meet him, and it sounds like I was used as motivation. My heart breaks as thick tears trail down her perfect cheeks.

"Please, you have to let me go. I have to meet him soon." Her voice is laced with hiccups.

"Or what?" I pry.

"He'll kill you, please just let me leave." She looks so broken, yet so desperate and determined.

She promised me she would lean on me more, and now she wants me to let her go meet that bastard alone? Like the fuck I will. I'd like to see him try to kill me, the rage I have building inside me is begging for a fight.

He's put his dirty hands on her when she's been with me, and he'll pay dearly for it.

"Were at?" I growl. Ace and Isaiah are quickly putting clothes on. I'm sure they would love to get a few punches in on this son of a bitch.

"You can't!" She panics, "He has a gun!" Her tiny hand grips onto my shirt.

A gun would make things tricky, but not impossible.

He isn't laying his hands on her again, I'll teach him that whether he has a gun or not.

"I can handle it, Blake. I've been handling it just fine." She tries to convince me. But it's all lies, the bags under her eyes are proof.

The words make my gut twist, how long has she been handling this fucker?

"Since when?" I grit. "Since when have you been handling it?" I want to rip his fucking face apart.

All the days she wouldn't eat, the nights she couldn't sleep and the smiles she had to fake. All because of him, all because he somehow managed to get to her while I wasn't around.

"Just a few weeks." She says like that isn't anything to be worried about. It's a few weeks that I could have prevented if I had paid closer attention.

"What did he do to you?" Her stories from when she lived with him pound in my head. Was her mind thrown back to those times too. Is that why she stopped eating, because he used to starve her?

God, I'm so fucking pissed right now. She would have walked out the door if I wouldn't have woken up, just to protect me. Chances are he's a lying piece of shit and wouldn't do anything to me, but Rose wouldn't be able to detect that because of the horrible things he's done to her.

People like him use words to manipulate the people they abuse, and sometimes that's all it is. Just words, their a bunch of fucking cowards who run when things get scary for them. But then again, sometimes they don't, and if that's the case I'm ready to shed some blood tonight.

Rose isn't being cooperative, I understand, she's between a rock and a hard place right now. But I want to get my hands on this bastard tonight.

I try to place a comforting hand on her arm, but when I do she flinches away in pain.

Oh fuck no. I'm such an idiot, it's summer and the last few weeks she's not worn anything but long sleeves. I just figured she was cold from the lack of food in her body, but that flinch told me otherwise.

Before she can react I have her sleeve pushed up. "Fuck." I grit, dropping her arm. I pace the kitchen, trying to calm my breathing so I don't completely lose my shit right now.

Her arm is covered in bruises of all different colors, some new, some old and healing.

"He better be fleeing the country right now. Because if you don't put him six feet under, and I get my hand on him, I will" Ace spits when he gets a glimpse at her arm, she's already trying to cover it up again.

"Should we call the cops?" Isaiah worriedly asks. But Rose yells no before he can even finish. I stop my pacing and look at her, the way her whole body is shaking tells me I need to pry some more.

I understand not wanting cops involved, I don't particularly like dealing with them. But the terror in her voice was strange, it wasn't a suggestion, it was a plea.

"Why." I walk back over to her, caging her between my arms and the counter forcing her to look at me.

"You can't, he made me- he made me" She hiccups. My grip on the counter tightening until my knuckles turn white.

"Made you do what?" My voice is deep.

"I deal drugs for him!" She squeaks, closing her eyes like she can't bear to look at us now. Like she's not fucking worthy to do so anymore. I think I might have popped a blood vessel in my eye, all I can see is red now.

"He said just for a while though. I'll move out, I'll go so you guys aren't involved." Her voice cracks, pain leaking from it.

I grab her and bring her shaking body to my rigid one and hold her tight. "You won't be going anywhere. If you're involved, I'm involved. Leaving won't change anything." I murmur into her hair.

She must understand that he's lying, he won't just have her sell for a few weeks and be done. If he does he'll have something worse in store for her. He doesn't care about her in the slightest, I don't doubt he'd go as far as to sell her.

Her phone rings in her hand. "It's him! I'm supposed to be there already!" She gasps, trying to stand up.

"Answer, tell him you're running late, but ordered a ride and will be here soon." This fucker is going down tonight.

She answers the phone shakily telling him exactly what I said to say. I can hear his voice on the other end threatening her, the muscles in my arms start to twitch in anticipation.

"He said I have five minutes." She says after hanging up the phone.

He actually said, "You're a worthless piece of shit. Get here in five minutes or I'll carve a chunk of your arm out." She has the volume up to high on her phone so I heard everything he said.

I roll my shoulders and crack my neck. I'm looking forward to my hands breaking bones tonight.

"Let's get a move on it then." I reach my hand out for Rose to take. Thankfully her shaky hand accepts, I need her touch right now. It calms me down just enough so I can see in full color again.

⇼♢⇼♢⇼♢⇼♢⇼

The ride to the store was quiet, the only sounds were heavy breathing and Ace cracking his knuckles.

When we pull into the parking lot I understand why he picked this place to meet Rose. This store is known for its failing security system, the only camera that works outside is the one pointing directly at the door.

This is a spot where people's belongings get stolen out of cars all the time and the cops can't do anything with no evidence.

"That's his car." Rose says, her finger shakily points to a red car park to the side of the store.

"You guys ready?" I look in the rear view mirror at Ace and Isaiah.

They both have hard looks on their faces as they nod. "You stay in the car. I'll leave the key, if anything goes wrong you get out of here."

I don't give her time to argue with me. My foot presses on the gas heading straight for his car. Pulling the E-brake I slide to a stop right next to his car, making sure that Rose is on the opposite side. If he does have a gun and starts shooting I want her farther away.

I throw the car in park and jump out of the vehicle, Ace and Isaiah following close behind. His windows were down, he was smoking a joint. But as soon as he realizes what's happening he frantically tries to roll the window up.

He would have tried to drive off, but Ace already had a knife deeply impeded in his front tire. The dumbass forgot to lock his doors first, making it easy for me to rip him out of the car and onto the ground.

He doesn't have a fucking gun on his person either, I can tell by his body language. This man is unarmed, my lip twitches up into a smirk.

"Fuck, fuck. That fucking whore." He grits.

Realization flashes in his eyes now that he's got a good look at us. He knows us, if he's been keeping tabs on Rose he knows all three of us. And now he's about to become very acquainted with my fists.

I grip the collar of his shirt and lift him up off the ground, smashing his back into his car.

I see Isaiah on the other side opening the passenger door, I don't know what he's doing and I don't care.

"I don't know what possessed you to think we wouldn't eventually find out." I growl, pushing my arm against his chest making it hard for him to breathe.

Good, I don't think Rose has been able to breathe freely since she was born because of this fucker.

"But all this shit ends tonight." With that I clock him across the face, the impact causing his head to fly sideways and his body to slouch against the car.

I give him a second before I strike again, then I feel his nose break beneath my fist. He tries to block, to hit back even. But he's shit against a fighter who's hungry for blood.

Seeing the man who tormented my girl her whole life brings a level of rage out of me I didn't know existed. I've never wanted to kill someone more than I do right now.

I lost count of how many times I hit him, but by the time I step away his face is swollen and bloody. His arms hold his ribs I broke and his lungs suck in short pants of air.

"I won't kill you tonight." I say crouching down next to his beaten body. "This is only a warning. You're going to get in your car and leave. If you so much as contact Rose again, I'll finish the job and you won't see the light of day again." I growl.

I don't need a murder charge on my head, but if he tries to come for Rose again he'll leave me no choice.

The fucker nods his head frantically scooting away from me. He crawls into his car and shuts the door as groans of pain leave his mouth. I watch as his car wobbles out of the parking lot with a flat tire.

"Do you think he'll leave her alone?" Ace questions, flicking the knife around in his hand. "He won't have a choice." Isaiah snickers from beside me.

"What did you do?" I knew he was up to something but I was too focused on beating the crap out of that piece of shit.

"I set him up." He says proudly. "I knew he'd probably drive east since we came from the west. There's a cop who sits a few blocks down from here." He explains and I start to grin.

"He'll get pulled over because of the tire, I dumped his bag of pills on the seat. He's also driving high so if we see cop lights come on in the distance that guy is going to jail." Police sirens blare in the distance, red and blues flash.

"Don't worry, I checked the car for anything linking Rose. I took his phone, so there aren't any messages between them. I found a gun while I was searching, I doubt he has a license so he's probably going to get charged with that too." He says proudly as we watch the lights flash down the road.

I think he's trying to flee, he won't make it far, but he'll end up getting another charge.

With a smile I turn to my car. I don't know why, but I expected to see Rose smiling back at me. Happy that her brother is out of the picture and she doesn't have to worry about him anymore.

But my smile drops when I see her curled up and shaking in the front seat. I rush over to her door and fling it open, dropping to my knees.

"Rose, sweetheart, are you ok?" My voice betrays me and wavers. Her face shoots up off her legs, I get a glimpse of her tear stained cheeks before she lunges herself at me.

Her arms wrap around my neck and legs around my waist, she cries into my shoulder. "I couldn't watch, I was so scared he'd hurt you." She hiccups against my neck, shivers run down my spine.