“Craig Lowe showed up and by the looks of him he’d started his drinking long before he got here.”
“Did he hurt Tyler?” Jack asked with concern.
“No, Tyler took care of Craig without any help.” Drew smiled thinking about it. “I got Terry to take him home. But Craig said something to Tyler that set her off. If it's possible, the look she gave me was even nastier than usual.”
“I’m sorry Drew.” Jack felt for his friend. “But what could be so bad that she couldn’t wait to tell them?”
“I don’t know but I think we’re about to find out.”
Dani and Tyler returned, but Rose wasn't with them. Dani was looking worried; Tyler pissed. Jack just wanted to know where Rose was.
“Rose wanted to get some fresh air,” Dani told him before he could ask. She stopped him when he would have gone after Rose. “Give her a few minutes, Jack.”
“A few minutes to do what? What is going on, Dani?” When she didn’t answer Jack gave up and headed for the door. Whatever the problem it wasn’t safe for Rose to be outside alone. If she didn’t want to tell him what was wrong, he could live with that for now. But he wasn’t going to stay inside and worry about her safety.
Drew watched with concern as Jack pushed his way through the crowd. He couldn’t imagine what had happened and hoped Jack would be able to straighten everything out. As he raised his beer to his lips, he suddenly became aware of Tyler. Truth be told, he was always aware of Tyler, but at the moment she was right next to him, her eyes fixed on the door that Jack had just left through. Drew shifted, for some reason feeling slightly uncomfortable. Tyler always avoided him like the plague so why was she suddenly standing a mere inches away?
“Listen,” she said, her voice flat and unemotional. “In all the years we've been friends I’ve only seen Rose cry twice. Once, just after we’d met, when a stray cat she had adopted was run over by a car. The other time was when, after months of chemo and radiation and prayers, we found out Dani’s mom was cancer free.”
Drew started to speak, but Tyler cut him off.
“This is not a conversation; this is you listening to me.” Seeing that he understood she continued. "Rose has had plenty of other reasons to cry, reasons that are her own private business, but believe me there were times that if anyone deserved a good sob it was her. But she never did. She keeps it together as well as anyone I’ve ever known. I’m telling you this because tonight she came as close to tears as I've seen her in a long time. She was starting to trust Jack, not an easy thing for her. Your drunk friend let out enough details for me to figure out that you and your juvenile buddies made a bet and without telling her Jack has pulled Rose right into the middle of it.” Tyler paused to gauge Drew’s reaction. His grimace and whispered shit told her she was right on target. It sounded just like something the Drew she used to know would have thought up. And it seemed, at least in that regard, he hadn't changed.
“So I’m going to stand here,” she said matter-of-factly "And I'm going to wait for Rose to come back. If I see she's been crying, hell, even if she looks overly upset? I’m going to rip off your balls, put them under the heel of my boot, and grind them into dust.”
Several of the crew who had been listening shifted uncomfortably in their seats. You could almost hear their silent groans. Talk about the ultimate ball buster. Tyler, whom they had all been secretly lusting after had suddenly gone from sexy to crazy ass scary in thirty seconds flat. They waited expectantly for Drew’s response. There was no way he was going to take that from anyone, not even someone as gorgeous as Tyler.
But Drew just nodded slowly and said, “Fair enough.”
He saw the guys exchange astonished looks. He understood their reaction. But he had his reasons for not having a harsher reaction and for him it was a damn good one. What the crew didn't know was that for the first time in almost ten years that Tyler had said more than five words consecutively to him. And on top of that it was also the first time since he was eighteen that he’d been this close to her for any length of time. It might have been all kinds of twisted, but he couldn’t have cared less what she was saying as long as he could listen to the sound of her voice. And if she went for his balls? Well, he was almost positive he could stop her. But, he thought as he noted her well-toned arms, she would undoubtedly do some damage first.
Jack shoved his way through the door, his eyes searching for Rose. Luckily she hadn’t gone far. She was standing a few feet away with her arms wrapped around her body; her head tipped back as she breathed deeply in and out. Jack took a step towards her then stopped. His first instinct was to pull her into his arms, to find out what was wrong and how he could fix it. But he held himself back. Something had upset her and he didn’t want to do anything to make it worse.
“Rose, sweetheart, what’s wrong?”
She turned slowly and looked him straight in the eye. Her voice was flat and emotionless. “Tell me about the bet.”
Well, shit, he hadn’t been expecting that. Jack’s brain did a swift assessment of the situation, analyzing how best to come at the problem. But in the end he did the only thing he could do, he told her the truth, every bit of it, from the very beginning. It only took a few minutes and during that time Rose's expression remained blank. Jack had no idea what she was thinking.
"I know how it sounds.” He said when he'd finished. In fact, it sounded even worse than when he was running the explanation around in his head. And it had sounded awful in his head.
“So it had nothing to do with me?” Rose asked. Her voice was almost unrecognizable. She didn't sound anything like the happy, expressive woman he'd gotten to know over the past two weeks. It wasn’t very encouraging—it was scaring the hell out of him.
“No, I promise you, the whole mess was just crazy bad timing.” Jack lifted a hand. He wanted to touch her, to feel a connection. But the look she gave him left no doubt that if he wanted all his fingers he'd be smart to keep them to himself.
Jack finally understood what it meant when some said the silence was deafening. If she didn’t say something, anything, soon he was going to jump out of his skin.
“Okay.”
Well, something more than that.
“I believe you, Jack.”
Jack felt the weight of the world lift off his shoulders.
“Thank you, sweetheart. I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you trust me that much.” Then realizing what all this meant, Jack grinned. “What do you say we get out of here, go back to my place and spend the next week in bed?”
“Absolutely not.”
“But, Rose…”
“After all this do you think I’m going to let you lose that bet?” Rose asked in amazement.
Now Jack was confused. “There is no more bet. Once you found out, I lose. Besides, I deserve it for making the stupid thing in the first place.”
“But you haven’t lost,” Rose told him. “The bet, as I understand it, was that you couldn’t tell anyone. Well, you didn’t. I found out from Tyler, who found out from your drunken friend. So—”
“So I didn’t lose the bet,” Jack finished. His Rose was very clever, indeed. “I regret making the bet, Rose. And I’m sorry I dragged you into it. But,” Jack took her hands in his, “it did give me the chance to get to know you and I wouldn’t trade the last two weeks for anything, blue balls and all. I couldn’t care less about losing the bet.”
“Well, I care,” she exclaimed. “I don’t want Drew and those other assholes to win. One more week, Jack. And to make it easier for us both I’m going to spend it in New York.”
“That seems a bit drastic,” Jack frowned. “I might not like it, but I can keep my hands off of you for seven more days.”
“I got a call this morning from a friend of mine who’s recording one of my songs,” Rose explained. “Things aren’t going very well; she’s clashing with the producer. So I agreed to fly in and help. I’d only planned on being gone one or two days, but I think it would be best
if I stayed the week.”
“You are mad.” Jack knew it had been too easy.
“I’m not,” she assured him. “But I do need a little time to sort it all out in my head. It just feels a little strange, Jack. I can’t tell you why because I don’t know myself. But I promise you this isn’t some passive/aggressive move to punish you. I’m not trying to get the upper hand. Games like that are nothing but destructive. I would never do that to you.”
Jack held open his arms and Rose sank in gratefully. He lifted her chin and gave her long, hard look.
“One week,” he said in a voice that brooked no argument. “This thing ends at eleven thirty next Sunday morning.”
“That’s pretty precise.” Rose grinned up at him.
“I have it engraved on my brain. Now,” his voice was warm and affectionate. “Can I at least have a kiss?”
“Make it a week’s worth.” Rose pulled his mouth down to meet hers.
“Now that’s hot. Want to share?”
Jack stiffened but didn’t pull away from Rose. Instead he slowly raised his head, getting a good look at what he was dealing with. Four burly bikers, arms heavily tattooed and muscled but a bit flabby around the middle. He could tell they’d had quite a bit to drink but were still pretty steady on their feet. Carefully and with deliberation, Jack pushed Rose behind him, shielding her with his body. He breathed a sigh of relief that she didn’t protest, didn’t speak. He needed to get her back into the bar and out of harm’s way. Pulling himself up to his full height he shifted his stance, inching a bit closer to the tavern door.
“I don’t share.” He wanted to tell Rose to get ready to run. But that was impossible so he would have to count on her knowing what to do when the time came.
One of the other bikers stepped closer. He was a little taller than the rest and a lot more ripped. “What makes you think we were talking to you?”
“I don’t share, either,” Rose called out. She tried to give them her best tough girl sneer, but Jack's body was blocking her efforts.
“Why don’t we go inside and I’ll buy a round of drinks.” Jack knew it was a lame attempt to avoid the inevitable, but he figured it was worth a try. He could handle the four of them, probably. But he had Rose’s safety to think about, that was his first priority.
“We can buy our own drinks, pretty boy. Right now, I have me a craving for some fresh ass, and I don’t care which of you gives it to me.”
Great, Rose thought, equal opportunity rapists. She knew what Jack had in mind, so she grabbed the waistband of his jeans and started backing up toward the door. They weren’t more than ten feet away and they were both fast. Just a few more feet and they could make a run for it. And if they were lucky somebody would come out and cause a distraction. Damn it, it was a busy place. Why hadn’t anyone come out? It seemed they wouldn’t be able to count on that, so they were on their own. Come on, just a little farther. Unfortunately, the bikers decided they’d had enough talk.
“Run,” Jack shouted. He gave Rose shove towards the bar then threw a hard punch, breaking the nose of the guy unlucky enough to be the closest.
Rose didn’t hesitate. She heard the crunch when Jack’s fist connected and gave a silent cheer as she threw herself into the noisy tavern. She needed to get Drew’s attention and fast. Luck was on her side because it seemed the whole crew had been watching for them to return. Waving like a crazy women she gestured for them to come outside. Relief surged through her when she saw six powerfully built men carving a path through the crowd. She didn’t wait for them to reach her, Jack was in trouble and needed her whether he knew it or not.
Bursting back the way she came, Rose saw Jack was causing a lot of damage. But this wasn’t like the movies where the thugs came at the hero one at a time, the others standing by passively until it was their turn. These assholes were attacking all at once and getting in a few punches of their own. No matter how good a fighter he was, and she could see that Jack was amazing, it was still five against one. Rose decided to do her best to improve the odds.
Jack caught sight of Rose out of the corner of his eye. Damn it, why hadn’t she stayed inside. These guys were big, but they weren’t trained fighters. They got in the a few good licks that he was going to feel tomorrow, but he knew he would eventually take them out. He didn’t need the distraction of worrying about Rose.
Suddenly one of the bikers howled in pain and hit the ground. Giving a quick glance Jack saw Rose, fierce and beautiful, standing over the guy with a block of wood in her hands. She was poised to cold cock another one when the cavalry arrived. Once he had Drew and their security team on his side, the fight was over in less than minute. Three of the bikers lay on the ground bleeding, but alive, the other two had stumbled off before the fight was even over leaving their friends to fend for themselves.
A crowd had gathered around the combatants. Where had they been when they could have been useful? Rose wondered. She threw down the piece of wood and rushed to Jack’s side.
“There’s my warrior woman,” Jack said pulling her to his side. “Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”
“Me?” Rose shook her head in amazement. He was the one with the split lip and scraped knuckles. “I’m fine, not even a broken nail. But we should get you to the hospital and let a doctor check you out.”
“It's just a few bruises.” Jack kissed her cheek, wincing slightly. “Nothing a hot shower and some antiseptic won’t cure.” He leaned close to her ear so only she could hear. “And by the end of the week, I’ll be healed and waiting for you. If that’s what you still want?”
She just smiled and whispered, “Eleven thirty-one, Sunday morning.”
Jack grinned back, no grimace this time. One week. After everything they’d been through it was going to be a piece of cake.
CHAPTER NINE
“THE FINAL TESTS show no glitches in the program. We should be able to have it on the market by September. This release is going to be huge, the biggest we’ve ever had.”
Jack and Drew grinned at each other like little kids on Christmas morning. They had been developing their latest security software program for over three years, and finally it was done. Nothing was one hundred percent hack proof; cyber thieves were getting smarter all the time. But H&W Security was about to provide protection that was as close to impenetrable as possible, head and shoulders above anything else on the market. And as a result they were going to get a whole lot richer.
“Remember out goal back in college?” Drew leaned back in his chair with a satisfied sigh. “Millionaires by the time we were twenty-five, billionaires by thirty.”
“Cocky little shits, weren’t we?” Jack shook his head when he thought of the two of them, huddled together in a tiny work space, bursting with ideas and ambition. They hadn't even consider the possibility of failure. And here they were ten years later, just months away from getting everything they'd always wanted. Who ever said be careful what you wish for was a fucking idiot. They’d wished and dreamed and worked their asses off. And it was better than he could have imagined.
“To our first billion."
“A whole year ahead of schedule.” Jack tapped his cup against Drew’s.
“Thirty seemed liked such a foreign concept back then. Now I can hardly remember what eighteen felt like.”
Jack looked at his friend trying to picture him back then. It was harder when you’d spent almost every day with someone, worked and played beside them. They had pictures, however. The one that hung in the lobby showed the two of them, arms slung over each other’s shoulders, fresh out of college and ready to take on the world. They couldn’t have known just how quickly everything would change, that success would come first as bodyguards then as software moguls. But as they sat here, about to accomplish one of their biggest dreams, they were just as eager to push towards new ones. Jack knew that no matter what else changed Drew would always have his back. If, God forbid, they lost it all tomorrow, the two of them could dig in and build it up agai
n just like they always had, together.
“I got a visit from Terry this morning," Drew said, reaching over to refill his cup.
“Is there a problem?” Terry Moss was one of their best bodyguards, in high demand and reliable.
“He took Craig home Saturday night and stayed with him until he was dried out. When he couldn’t get him on the phone yesterday he went to check on him and he'd gone.”
Jack frowned. “I know he and Terry are friends but I can’t work up a lot of concern for Craig. We tried to help and he paid us back by causing trouble. I hope he gets help, but it’s no longer out responsibility.”
“I agree.” Drew stood, needing to stretch after sitting for so long. “Terry’s main reason for stopping by was to make a confession. It seems while he was visiting Craig in rehab he told him about the bet. Terry thought it would give Craig a laugh and help him feel like he wasn’t out of the loop, that he was still a part of the crew. Terry was sick that he’d been the one to spill information that Craig used against you.”
“Terry can’t take responsibility for Craig’s actions. I’ll call him later and make sure he knows I’m not angry with him.”
“Good.” Drew lifted the cup to his mouth then thought better of it. He needed something solid in his stomach, not more caffeine.
“Any word from Rose?”
“Nope.” Jack looked at the calendar on his desk. Still Wednesday. He found himself checking several times a day as if he could will the time to pass. Rose had promised to be at his house on Sunday morning, but she had also insisted they not talk while she was in New York. She said she needed to sort everything out in her mind. Jack had agreed, what else could he do? Craig had dropped a bombshell and Rose had left town before Jack could begin to clean up the mess. At least he knew she was coming back, this was her home. He just had to hope she was coming back to him.
“Damn, Craig,” Drew said disgust.
“The timing could have been better,” Jack conceded. “And it didn’t help to have it come from someone else. But to be honest I hadn’t figured out what I was going to say. I didn't know how I was going to explain why I hadn’t told her from the start or why we’d made the stupid bet in the first place. It all came out—wrong place, wrong time—but Rose was amazing. She believed me and forgave me. I’m just afraid she’ll spend the week we’re apart deciding I’m not worth any more of her time.”
If I Loved You (Harper Falls Book 1) Page 11