37

❦𝓡𝓸𝓼𝓮❦

We didn't hear anything from Isaiah that night. So when morning came without a word I was starting to get worried.

But then Blake knocked on my door telling me Isaiah called, he was on the way over as we spoke.

"Did he sound ok?" I bite my lip nervously.

"I don't know. He sounded really tired, that's for sure." Blake says as he hands me a plate of food.

Even though I've gotten back on track with my eating, Blake hasn't lost the habit of making me breakfast.

It's something I used to do before I became a drug dealer, and when I stopped eating he quickly took it up and hasn't stopped.

Geez, I still can't believe I was a drug dealer for a few weeks.

Never thought I'd be able to say that sentence.

I'm not sure if Blake enjoys making breakfast, or if he's just scared that if he doesn't I won't eat. He's great at making breakfast foods, other than smoothies anyway. Never let that man near a blender, you might lose your whole house.

A knock at the door has my heart racing, I try not to think of the many ways that this could go.

"Go sit at the island, I'll bring him in." Blake says, no room for argument. I nod my head, both hands on the plate full of waffles and walk to the kitchen.

"Hey." Isaiah's voice floats in from outside.

"Hey man. How're you doing?" Blake asks carefully.

"I'm ok. Is Rose here? I wanted to talk with the both of you." I don't like the way his voice wavers.

My heart clenches at the thought of him being hurt over something I'm involved in.

"Yeah, she's in the kitchen. She hasn't eaten breakfast yet." I hear the warning in his voice telling Isaiah I need to eat and he better not ruin that.

"Ok." I hear the front door close and footsteps closing in. I quickly shove a bite of waffle in my mouth. I know the look Blake will give me if he comes back and I haven't touched the food.

I try not to make him worry over me, but I'm either really bad at it or he's someone who gets worried easily. Probably a little of both.

"Hi." I smile at Isaiah when I see him walk into the room.

"I'm so sorry." He says, shaking his head. I hug my knees to my chest when I see the pain in his eyes. He looks like he's been crying, the bags under his eyes indicate he didn't get any sleep either.

"I'm sorry too." I can feel his heartbreak, it seeps into my soul and covers it in sorrow.

"She was always so nice to everyone, or at least I thought. But when I pulled her away last night her true colors showed. God, she said so many nasty things and I hate her for it, but breaking it off still hurts." His voice trembles, hands gripped together trying to stop them from shaking.

"I'm really sorry, Rose. I thought I could trust her and I told her things in confidence. She was always so curious about why we never wanted to leave you alone at the house so I told her. I know I shouldn't have and I'm not trying to make excuses, but I never thought she would use it against you like that." His words bring tears to my eyes.

The way he looks at me, full of despair, his body slouched, it pushes the tears out of my eyes and down my cheeks. I'm out of my seat as fast as I can, running over to him. I wrap my arms around him.

"I understand. I'm sorry for not telling you, I thought at first she was just mean to me but Bella made me understand that it was more than that." I sobbed into his shirt. Bella was right, in the end I caused more heartache, I shouldn't have hid the way she treated me.

"Shit, don't cry, Cupcake. You're gonna make me cry again." He mumbles, he's trying to hold back the tears, but the moment I feel one drop on my head I know he lost that battle.

His shaky arms wrap around me and my heart breaks for him. I release one arm from around him and wave it around where Blake was, beckoning him over.

"Come on, your bro needs a group hug." I cry.

Blake walks over without any hesitation and wraps his arms around the two of us.

He lets us cry it out, like the true friend he is. I can never explain how grateful I am for him, I don't think he understands how amazing he is.

When Isaiah and I pull ourselves together and dry our faces, Blake gets us huge bowls of Ice-cream and lets us watch a movie without complaining about it.

He really is the best.

When evening came and it was time for him to go to the gym. Ace stopped by to hang out here so I wouldn't be alone.

But since Isaiah wasn't leaving anytime soon and we were currently on a movie marathon, they decided to go to the gym together like old times.

Isaiah convinced me to make cookies and now we're getting sick off sugar and bouncing around the house.

"Hey, crazy question." He starts, making my eyes squint at him.

"I got invited to a party by one of my buddies at college. It's only a ten minute drive from here, would you want to go?" I didn't even know he had friends other than us.

I'm a really lousy friend.

"Uh, I don't know about that." I've never been to a party before.

"Ok, we don't have to." He says, but I can see the disappointment in his eyes.

I feel bad that after everything, I'd be the one holding him back from going to a party he clearly wants to go to.

"We can go." Hesitation is heavy in my voice, but he doesn't notice.

"Really? Awesome, I haven't seen these guys since the semester got out." His whole demeanor brightens.

"Let's go! The party started an hour ago." I'm completely conflicted, going to a party wasn't ever anything I've been interested in. But Isaiah wants to and I think I'll be able to handle it.

As Isaiah pulls me out of the apartment I text Blake telling him we're going to a party.

Part of me wants him to call Isaiah and tell him he's being an idiot and that we should just stay home.

But by the time we reached the house neither of our phones had gone off.

As we walk in the door instantly I know this is a bad idea.

I thought this would be a low key party with some of his friends from college. But the house is more like a mansion and it's packed with sweaty body's.

Music blasts from the speakers set up all around and the floor crunches beneath my feet from the plastic cups littered everywhere.

I'm completely out of my element and I hate it.

"Isaiah! I thought you weren't going to show!" A guy slurs, his feet stumble and he almost falls over but he catches himself on a white pillar in the middle of the living area.

"Jimmy, this is Rose. Rose, this is Jimmy." Isaiah grins.

I feel slightly jealous of his ability to be comfortable in a room full of people like this.

"Pleasure to meet you, Rose." He winks at me.

"She sure is a pretty thing, where did you find her wandering around at?" Jimmy questions Isaiah like I'm not standing right here.

"Careful with your words. She's Blake's girl." He warns, causing me to frown. Does Blake know these guys too?

Jimmy's face goes pale, he looks absolutely terrified. I would be too if I was worried about Blake wanting to hurt me, I've witnessed him break more noses than I care to keep track of.

"We're playing beer pong by the pool, come join." He still doesn't look in my direction, and it starts to irk me. He's pretending like I don't exist.

My nerves are already running high with being around alcohol again, the only thing keeping me from freaking out is that Isaiah is with me.

"Show us the way." Isaiah hollers.

I frown when he doesn't ask me if I want to or not. I'm getting worried that he came here to get rid of his feelings from the breakup.

He's trying to forget and in the process of that he'll probably forget that I'm here too.

I wouldn't have agreed if I knew it was going to be a party like this.

Blake still hasn't texted me back, I'm hoping that once he realizes what kind of party Isaiah took me to that he comes and gets me.

But then again, if Blake's not worried maybe I'm overreacting.

I put my phone on vibrate and put it in my pocket, there was no way I would hear it ring over the music.

The room that beer pong is being played in is small and feels cramped with all the players in it. I declined when they tried to get me to participate.

I'm not interested in drinking, or making other people drink.

Isaiah didn't even have a drink yet, but I realized that he's already dazed. Probably from the lack of sleep and emotional pain he's been going through the last twenty-four hours.

It makes my stomach turn, he's not noticing anything about me anymore.

At first he would glance over and shoot me a smile making sure I was ok, even though I wasn't and he didn't notice.

But at least he acknowledged I was there.

Now with a few drinks in his system he hasn't looked my way for the past ten minutes. The smell of alcohol makes me sick, the way everyone is talking makes it worse. These people have really foul mouths and not just with cussing.

The longer I sit in this corner the darker the place starts to get. Maybe that's because the sun is setting, or maybe it's because I'm starting to realize how alone I am here.

Isaiah laughs with his friends as they tell jokes, he looks happy, but it's a drunk happy.

I watch people outside the room from the door that was left open, girls grind on guys while other guys watch and holler.

I've watched six people spill their drinks on people, one of them got pissed and slapped the boy who did it. He smirked at her and they ended up making out seconds later.

"We're out of beer!" A girl yells when she finishes the last cup from that round of the game. Her tight dress hikes up showing her neon panties, she doesn't care, doesn't even attempt to fix it.

I look away when she smiles at a guy who loops his finger around the side of them and pulls her against his chest.

"I'll get it." Isaiah's voice is almost unrecognizable as he volunteers.

He's not slurring words or stumbling around. If it wasn't so visible on his face you wouldn't even know he's been drinking.

Look at me Isaiah, remember I'm here.

Please look at me, I want to go home.

But he doesn't, I contemplate going with them when Jimmy and him leave the room. But I was worried that I'd end up getting lost so I stayed in my seat.

I don't understand why he even invited me to come along if he was just planning on getting waisted. My stupid brain imagined this was going to be a pizza party with some friends, maybe a few beers but nothing like this.

"Hey, cutie. What're you doing over here all by your lonesome?" A gruff voice asks. He's tall, his long dark hair covers one of his eyes. He licks his lips as his eyes rake over my body.

Harnessing my inner tough girl I grit out, "Fuck off."

I'm not scared because Isaiah will be back any second, he'll stop anything from happening like he did that one night at the fights.

"Bitch." The guy spits on me before turning and walking away.

I wipe the spit off my arm in disgust, when Isaiah gets back in this room I'm demanding we leave. I'm done with this, I don't care how much fun he's having.

But then ten minutes turn to twenty and twenty turns to thirty and he's still not back. By this point I'm starting to freak out. What if he isn't coming back for me?

I pull my phone out of my pocket to call Blake. If Isaiah wants to stay here and party, so be it. But I'm going home.

When I try to turn the phone on all I'm met with black screen. It's dead, I laugh to myself, of course it's dead.

Why would it not be?

I push off the chair, my new mission is to find Isaiah and call Blake from his phone.

Problem is I have no clue where he is and the anxiety is starting to build in my chest.

When I finish searching the whole first floor and come up empty handed my breathing is starting to get ragged. I'm on the verge of having a panic attack and I should have known this was going to happen.

Drinking is one of my biggest triggers, being alone in a big group of people is a close second.

I spot a girl who doesn't look completely incoherent and make my way over to her. I think I have Blake's number memorized, I won't know for sure until I try but at this point I'm running out of options.

I've already scanned the place for chargers too, nothing on site that wasn't already being used.

"Can I use your phone?" I try my best to keep my voice steady. But with the pending panic attack and just having to squeeze my way through a tight group of people, it's hard to do so.

"Sure, are you ok?" I shake my head and grab the phone she hands to me.

Typing in what I think is Blake's number I pray that I remember it correctly as I press call. It rings once before he picks up, his ruff voice bringing me a piece of comfort.

"Hello?"

"Blake." That's all I can manage to say, I don't know how to start this conversation.

"Rose? Holy shit, why haven't you been picking up your phone!? Where are you? Are you ok?" His voice rages through the phone in concern.

"I'm at the party." I say scanning the room for Isaiah still.

"A party!? What the fuck? What party, Rose?" He yells. I can hear shuffling in the background, and what I believe is Ace saying he's gonna kill Isaiah.

"The party I texted you about." I frown, my voice shaky.

I just want him to be here already, I want to go home.

The girl who I'm borrowing the phone from is looking at me uneasy.

"I didn't get a text from you, Rose. I came home to an empty house with no idea where you went, I couldn't get a hold of either of you." I can hear what I assume is a car door shutting then the rev of an engine.

"Where are you?" He growls. The anger in his voice isn't directed at me but it still causes my heart to hammer in my chest.

I don't like when he's upset and with my emotions already at a high, having him yell at me isn't helping the panic go away.

"I don't know the address, all I know is the guy who's throwing the party is named Jimmy." My hand shakes, making it hard to keep the phone pressed to my ear.

"You're at one of Jimmy's parties? Fucking hell, I'm going to beat the living shit out of Isaiah when I get my hands on him." I suck in a deep breath when his tone gets deadly.

"Where is he?" Blake hissed.

"I don't know." My voice breaks, "I've been looking for him but I can't find him anywhere."

Blake cusses before I hear him take a few long breaths, "Are you ok?" He asks, his tone is much softer now, but still deep and angry.

I want to say yes, because that's what I do, but Blake said I need to lean on him more. When I see the man from earlier eyeing me from across the room I feel my chest start to tighten.

"No," I whimper. "I want to go home." I hear a horn honk through the phone, I don't know if it was Blake's or someone honking at him.

"Fucking hell, I'm on my way, ok? I'll be there in five minutes tops." All the anger left his voice and was replaced with worry.

"Where are you at? Where do I go when I get there? I'm coming straight to you, sweetheart." The man won't take his eyes off me, but the nice girl who gave me her phone notices and pulls me behind her.

I explained to him where I'm at, he's been here before so it made it easier.

"I'm almost there. You need to breathe, Rose." I try to suck in breaths but my chest is too tight, my lungs can't get the proper amount of air.

"I want to go home." I mumble into the shaky phone.

"I know, and I'm going to take you home in just a moment, ok?" I nod my head even though he can't see me.

"I'm here. Stay on the phone with me until I get to you." He demands.

I hear his car door slam shut, my eyes stop scanning for Isaiah and start to look towards the entrance for Blake. When my eyes land on his brooding body I finally feel like everything is going to me ok.

I hand the phone back to the girl when he gets close, thanking her for all her help.

The moment he reaches me his hands grip onto my face. "Are you ok?" His eyes scan over my body for injuries, when he finds none he brings me in for a hug.

"You had me so worried. When I came home to find you gone I lost my mind." He grumbles into my hair.

My body is still shaking, even with Blake here I still can't handle being around all this alcohol.

When Blake takes in my shivering form his eyes go dark. He lifts me up, my legs wrapping around his waist. I dig my face into his neck trying to block out the party around us.

"I've got you." He whispers. "I need to get her out of here. Do you think you can handle Isaiah on your own?" Ace must be here, I didn't see him before, but I was focused on my man angrily pushing his way through the crowd.

"Yeah, I can. Probably best you don't see him right now anyway." I agree. Blake is upset and so am I. That doesn't mean I want Isaiah to wake up in a hospital bed because Blake took his blind rage out on him though.

"Ok, call me if you need anything." He grunted. I don't know how he did it, but somehow Blake managed to walk us through the crowd without anyone bumping into me.

He deposits me in the front seat, pulling the seat belt and clicks it in place.

He rubs circles on my leg as he drives, I feel the panic slowly fade with every mile we put between us and that house.

"I texted you. I don't know what happened." My voice is still shaky as I speak. "Then later I tried to call you but my phone died."

As the city lights blur outside the window I feel guilt settling down on me.

"Why would you even go in the first place?" His hand tightens around my leg but he keeps his voice gentle.

He's trying his hardest to not upset me farther, but I can tell he's furious. Not at me, but at the whole situation.

"Isaiah really wanted to go. I thought it would be fine if he was there." I never thought that Isaiah would have taken me to a place like that.

But I should have considered that he was going through a breakup and wasn't acting right in the first place.

"Isaiah can be a fucking idiot sometimes." He sneers.

"No more parties, ok? I don't think my heart can handle another scare like that."

My own heart tugs, I really wish I would have stayed home. Blake doesn't need anymore stress right now.

Not only is he training for the fight against Conway, but he has to do that while constantly protecting me.

Blake keeps his hand on my lower back as we walk up to his apartment. He hasn't lost physical contact with me for more than a few seconds since we left the party. I think it's his way of reassuring himself that I'm ok.

The day has left me completely exhausted and when I crawl into bed to finally get some sleep I can't seem to shut my eyes. I'm still wound up from the party, even after a shower I can't get the smell of alcohol out of my nose.

Everytime I try to close my eyes I see that guy's eyes staring at me from across the room. I have to open my eyes to make sure he isn't here.

After countless times of trying I give up, I want Blake.

I felt safe in his arms. My heart aches for him even though I just saw him when we said goodnight.

I tiptoe my way out to the living room to see if he's still awake.

He sits on the couch, leaned forward as he types away angrily on his phone.