I could sit here and watch Rose all day. Especially when she throws her head back and laughs at something Hannah says. I’m jealous that I’m not there to hear the joyful sound. Rose is happier than I’ve ever seen her. The shadows are gone from her eyes, and she’s full of life. I’m about to say fuck it and go to her when my phone rings.
It’s Luca, the manager of my Vegas club. Of all the times for him to call in on time. I click away from the security feeds and answer the call.
34
Rose
“You’re terrible,” I swat at Hannah laughing.
“It’s true, though! Master Gunner is hot as fuck.”
I quirk an eyebrow. “Not as hot as Master Slade.”
Hannah’s smile falls. “No, not as hot as my master.”
She says it so forlornly that I instantly feel guilty for teasing her. I pull her into a hug. She freezes in my arms for a second, then returns my embrace. Accepting the comfort I’m offering. “I’m sorry, Hannah. I didn’t think.”
“It’s okay. Really.”
“It’s not okay. What is his freakin’ problem anyway?”
Hannah pulls away and pats my arm. “He has his reasons. I’m going to go grab some more linens. I’ll be back.”
I distract myself from the Slade-Hannah conundrum by taking inventory of the next room. The whole recovery suite is a mess. It’s obvious that the rooms haven’t been properly stocked in weeks. Which is strange because Nancy is super anal about making sure everything runs smoothly. The clinic is her domain, and she runs a tight ship. I hope she’s okay.
I’m looking through the small fridge and cabinet that are filled with snacks for when a submissive goes through sub-drop. Sugar helps, so there are always snacks and juice on hand in every room.
“What are you doing here?”
I jump, holding my hand to my heart. “Holy shit, Nancy, you scared me half to death! Hannah and I were just helping out while you were out sick…” I let my words trail off because Nancy sure doesn’t look sick. “Are you better?”
“Yeah… better.” She laughs, but it sounds off.
“Well, that’s good.” I shut the cabinet and grab my clipboard. “Well, that’s all done!” I say cheerily trying to hide that something about Nancy being here is making me uncomfortable. “I’m going to go to the storeroom and get some things.”
I move to walk past Nancy, but she takes a step to the left, blocking my exit. The hair on the back of my neck stands on end. “Is there something wrong, Nancy?” I try to sound calm, but I’m not sure I pull it off.
She snorts. “You know. I really don’t understand what’s so special about you. Master Bennet fawns all over you like you’re a fucking goddess. You have Master Daniels and Master Slade wrapped around your little finger.” Nancy shoves me back into the room. “And then I find out that the only reason Nelson is interested in me is to get to you!”
“I don’t understand.”
“I don’t understand,” she mocks. “Of course you don’t understand, you stupid little girl! Master Bennett was supposed to be mine! Then you had to come all broken and needy and steal him away. The others didn’t bother me. They were temporary. He helped them and sent them on their way. I knew you were a problem the first time I saw him with you,” she rants. “He refused to leave your side. Even after Dr. Martinez sedated you, he didn’t leave.
“And then I finally find a good man, and I find out he wants you too!” she laughs bitterly. “I was so mad I wanted to kill him for using me. He explained everything, though.”
The door opens the rest of the way, and Nelson Grant—Mr. Perfect—steps into the room. “You’ve been a very bad girl, Tessa. It’s time for you to come home.”
Nancy looks up at him with adoration. “I told you I could get to her without any problem.”
“I thank you for that.” Nelson turns cold eyes on her and holds out a hand, beckoning her to join him. Blinded by whatever lies he fed her, she doesn’t see his intentions until it’s too late.
He pulls her against his body, her back to his front, then with one quick swipe, he slits her throat wide open. I stand frozen as I watch the smugness disappear from Nancy’s eyes as shock takes over. Her hands go to her neck, and she tries uselessly to staunch the blood flow. Dark red flows through her fingers, spilling onto the floor in a red river. It’s over in seconds. Once she’s limp in his arms, he flings her body to the side as carelessly as he would a piece of garbage.
He takes a step closer and another. My heart is pounding like a trapped thing in my chest, and I have to fight for every breath I take as panic sets in.
“Ah, there’s my girl. I’ve missed you. I think I’m going to have a little taste before I hand you over to Mr. Brown. You do remember Mr. Brown, don’t you?”
How could I ever forget the most sadistic of the men who frequented Red House? I don’t answer because it’s a rhetorical question. He knows I would never forget Mr. Brown. He’s the one who let Mr. Brown cut me, permanently scarring me so that I would always remember ‘our time together’ as he liked to call it.
“Mr. Brown has paid me a lot of money for you. It’s a rather tragic story. His personal slave recently died from an unfortunate accident, and he just hasn’t been able to find a suitable replacement. He was thrilled when I told him I located you.” Mr. Perfect reaches out to tuck a piece of hair behind my ear, and I flinch away. “Look at it this way, you wanted away from Red House… now you’ll never have to go back. Though, you might wish you were back with us after living with Mr. Brown. He likes to break his toys.”
“No!” I scream and shove him away from me. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t have been able to budge him, but he’s not used to me fighting back so I catch him off guard. He stumbles away, knocking over a chair.
“You little bitch!” he seethes as he gets his footing again.
He lunges at me, but I dodge out of the way. Adrenaline fueling me. I frantically look around the room for a way out, but he’s still between me and the door. I force back my panic, refusing to let myself be weak in front of this monster.
Never again.
I won’t be taken. I’ll die fighting if I have to.
Mr. Perfect lunges at me again, and I skitter backward, putting a little distance between us. My eyes dart around the room, looking for a weapon. Then I see it. Each of the recovery suites is decorated to the nines, and this one is no different. Sitting on a side table is a bronze statue. I put another foot between him and me. I’m standing within arm’s length of the statue.
“It’s useless to fight me, Tessa. You’re never going to win. I would really rather you not be damaged when I hand you over to Mr. Brown.”
I force my breaths to come in rough pants. I curl in on myself slightly looking every bit the meek, terrified woman he expects me to be. It’s easy enough to pretend that I’m in the throes of a panic attack. I’ve had enough of them to fake one convincingly.
He reaches for me, and I move. I grab the heavy statue and swing with all my might at him. I’m not sure what I expected to happen, but other than cursing me and holding his arm while he backs away, he doesn’t show any sign of damage.
It pisses me off.
He should hurt for all the suffering he’s caused. Not only to me but all the other girls too.
I hold the statue like a baseball bat and follow his retreat. I get close enough, and I take another swing at him. He jumps back, and I miss. My vision goes red. Even though I’m aware of the knife in his hand and the danger he presents, I keep advancing on him, swinging my weapon with determination.
He’s so focused on me that he’s not paying attention to where he’s stepping. His eyes widen with shock as he slips in Nancy’s blood. The blood he spilled. He crashes to the ground, and I rush him, pushing him to his back. There is a sharp pain in my side, but I ignore it as I crack the statue down on his head.
I hit him over and over and over again. I scream as I hit him, letting out years of anger and fear a
nd pain. I hit him until my arms ache, and his face is unrecognizable.
Strong arms wrap around me from behind, and someone pulls the statue from my hands. I struggle against the arms holding me, but exhaustion wins, and I collapse against a strong chest.
“Jesus Christ.” I look towards the voice and see Kisten standing in the doorway, looking at me in horror.
Gunner is beside me, holding the bloody statue. It’s Matthew that has me wrapped in his strong arms. Because, of course, it is.
I blink down at what used to be Nelson Grant. He’s not so perfect anymore, I think to myself, then start laughing. I laugh until tears flood my vision. I laugh until my side hurts.
“Is she okay?” Kisten asks, looking worriedly from me to Matthew.
Gunner sets the statue down and squats down beside me. “Rose, I need you to stand up. Can you do that?”
The seriousness in his voice squashes my laughter. I look from him down to the body I’m still straddling and feel a desperate need to get up. The reality of what I’ve done starts to sink in. I try to stand, but fumble. Matthew steadies me, and Gunner reaches out to help. I put my hand in his and almost puke when I see the blood covering my hands and arms.
“Oh, God,” I say shakily.
“Don’t look at that. Look at me,” Gunner commands. He’s got one of those dom voices like Matthew something inside me revolts at the idea of taking orders from anyone but Matthew, but I listen anyway.
With Gunner’s help, I get to my feet and step over Nelson Grant’s body. Matthew is there a second later, pulling me into his arms, not caring that I’m covered in blood and gore. He hugs me close, and I gasp at the sharp pain in my side. I vaguely remember being hurt, but adrenaline and anger overrode the pain.
Now that the adrenaline is wearing away, all the little and not so little aches and pains make themselves known.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Matthew asks, holding me at arm’s length and looking my body over for any sign of injury.
I put a hand to my side and nearly double over at the intense pain. I hear Matthew curse, and then darkness swallows me whole as I pass out.
35
Rose
I wake up to a familiar beeping sound. Only this time, I’m not afraid. I open my eyes and search him out. I smile when I see him sitting at my bedside in the same chair he occupied all those weeks ago. He’s asleep, but based on the dark circles under his eyes, I’m guessing he hasn’t slept much.
I move to sit up, and gasp as pain radiates from my side. The sound wakes Matthew and he looks relieved. Though that relief quickly turns to frustration when he realizes that I was trying to move.
“Don’t move, sweetheart. You’ll rip out your stitches.”
“What happened?”
A worry flashes through his eyes. “You were hurt…”
I roll my eyes. “I know that. I want to know why I’m not in handcuffs for… for…” I swallow as I struggle to say what I did. Nelson Grant was an awful person, but that doesn’t change the fact that I killed a man. He deserved to die, but I never thought I was capable of something like that.
“For killing someone,” Matthew finishes for me.
I bite my lip and nod. I feel like I should feel bad for what I’ve done. There should be some level of guilt or remorse, but I feel nothing. I’m completely indifferent to the fact that I killed someone in cold blood. I shudder as I remember all the blood. I look down at my hands, expecting them to be permanently stained by what I’ve done, but they are clean.
“You’re not going to be arrested, love. Gunner and Kisten took care of it.” He says it as if it’s a common occurrence and no big deal to dispose of dead bodies.
“And Nancy?”
Matthew sighs. “She’s been taken care of too. After what she did to Hannah, she’s damn lucky Nelson got to her before Slade had a chance.”
“Is Hannah okay?” I ask panicked that my friend was hurt because of me.
“Calm down, love. She’s fine. Just a bump on the head. Though with how Slade is being, you would think she was practically decapitated.”
“Where is she?” I move to get up, wanting to see for myself that she’s fine.
Matthew puts a hand on my shoulder and keeps me in place. “She’s right next door. If I get her, will you stay put?”
“Yes.”
With a shake of his head, he leaves. My side aches, and I wonder just how badly I’m hurt. I push the covers down and pull up the gown I’m dressed in. There is a white bandage covering the wound. I pick at the tape and pull the bandage away. I’m surprised that the wound is only about three inches long. It feels so much bigger.
“Amara Rose Thompson,” Matthew snaps. “I leave you for one minute, and you’re pulling your bandage off.”
“I just wanted to see.” I look down at the small wound with disgust. “It feels so much bigger than it is. Why does it hurt so bad?”
“The wound is deep. You’re lucky he didn’t hit any vital organs.”
“Oh,” I say dumbly. I didn’t even think about that. I killed him, but he very well could have killed me too.
I don’t have time to dwell on it because Hannah and Slade walk in. Well, more specifically, Slade strides in with a very put out looking Hannah in his arms.
I give Matthew a dirty look. “You said she was fine!”
He rolls his eyes but doesn’t say anything.
“I am fine,” Hannah says petulantly.
“You are not fine,” Slade barks. “You could have been killed.”
Hannah sighs and pats him on the chest. “But I wasn’t, and I am fine.”
Slade sits in Matthew’s vacated chair, arranging Hannah on his lap. I pat the bed beside me, and Matthew carefully sits. My heart squeezes when he threads his fingers through mine, then kisses them.
Hannah tells me all about how Nancy clocked her over the head with a clipboard and stuffed her in the linen closet. “The only thing I don’t understand is why in the world Nancy would help that man,” she says.
I fill in the blanks on how Nancy was jealous of me and that Nelson Grant took advantage of that. We all avoid talking about what I did, and I’m grateful for that. I don’t know if I will ever be ready to address the fact that I’m a murderer. Sure, you can argue that it was in self-defense, but I remember a moment when I thought, “oh, he’s down, I can escape now” and not stopping. Whether it was a conscious choice or not, the fact is that I beat him to death and beyond. It took Matthew and Gunner to make me stop.
I am definitely not ready to explore the fucked-upness of all that.
After the third time I yawn, Matthew chases Hannah and Slade out of the room, declaring I need rest. I don’t argue because I’m exhausted. Matthew moves to sit back in his chair, and I stop him. “Lay with me?”
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
I smile at him sleepily. “Don’t you know by now that you’ll never hurt me?”
He carefully lays on my non-injured side, and everything is right in my world.
Epilogue
Hannah
“There. All done.” I set the leftover bobby pins on the counter and admire my work.
Rose gasps when she takes in what I’ve done. Her makeup is done to perfection, and her long blonde hair is braided and twisted into an intricate updo with little gems pinned here and there. I really did outdo myself this time.
“You’re a magician!” Rose exclaims. She stands and throws her arms around me. “Thank you.”
I hug her back, loving that my friend is so happy. There for a while, we all worried that her past was just too much for her to overcome, but she’s resilient and now look at her. Three months pregnant and having a shotgun wedding. Well, not really, we just like teasing Matthew. The wedding date was set a week before Rose found out she is expecting.
“Let’s get you in your dress. If we’re late, Matthew will bulldoze his way in here.”
Rose laughs at that. “He was so mad when I told him I wanted to
stick to the tradition of the bride not seeing the groom before the wedding.”
“Yeah, but you had fun convincing him to not be mad,” I tease.
Rose blushes. “You bet I did.”
I help her into her wedding dress, and she claps when it zips. “I thought for sure it wasn’t going to zip.”
“I told you not to worry, you haven’t even gained a pound.”
She snorts. “I’ve gained ten! Ten pounds in three months all because my husband-to-be is stuffing food in my face every time I turn around.”
She’s not wrong. Matthew is constantly making sure that Rose is eating properly and getting enough sleep and not stressing out. It’s adorable, and I feel so guilty because I’m extremely jealous of my best friend.
She doesn’t deserve my jealousy. Rose deserves all the happiness in the world after everything she’s survived. That green-eyed monster doesn’t care about that, though. I do my best to hide it, but sometimes I think Matthew suspects just how hard it is for me.
I help Rose slip on her ballerina flats and hand her a bouquet of white lilies and white roses. “Ready?” I ask.
“Yep. Let’s go get me married!”
I’m still in awe over the way Matthew managed to transform Black Rose from sinful BDSM club to princess wedding chic. Rose insisted that she didn’t need fancy and that she only wanted Kisten, Slade, me, and surprisingly the very stoic Gunner there. Matthew being Matthew wasn’t having it. Even though it’s just us and an officiant, he went all out to give Rose a dream wedding.
And if her beaming smile and the tears in her eyes are any indication, I would say that he succeeded. I do my best to focus on the ceremony. Matthew and Rose wrote their own vows, and they are mushy and sweet and utter perfection, but I can’t concentrate. Not when he’s standing just a few short feet away staring at me with hungry eyes.
Unforgettable (Black Rose Doms Book 1) Page 21