Roses & Thorns

by Bry Ann

  “Make it stop. Help me.”

  Tears are falling down my face so quickly. It hurts so bad. Looking at it makes me scream more. It’s so gross. It’s bloody. That’s my foot. Torn apart. Sven grits his jaw.

  He throws Lacey forward. The Boss immediately lets me go, sending me crashing to the ground and catches Lacey. I can faintly hear her crying and fighting him. She wins because in a second she’s by my side touching me all over. Her cold hands feel so good. She shakes when she sees my foot. She turns to Sven, who she’s got to hate.

  “Get her to a hospital. Now. She needs a hospital.”

  Sven looks to Boss. Like they didn’t just have an epic showdown.

  “No hospitals.”

  I practically shriek. Lacey uses her calmest voice to shush me and brushes some of my sweaty hair back.

  “Shh, it’s okay. It’s okay. They’ll help. I’ll make sure.”

  I'm crying so hard. Sven, help me.

  “Get her to your room. I’ll send the doctor over. But Sven, lay a hand on Lacey again and I will kill her in front of you. Slowly. Understand? Don’t forget you have a weakness now.”

  I tuck my head into Lacey, trying to hide my tears and fear. I feel her tears fall on me as she continues to brush my hair back.

  Strong arms go under me. I practically jump into them. I may hate him, but I need his strength and protection right now. I'm lifted off the ground. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. Sven turns to leave when the Bosses voice rings through.

  “Rose, I guess he picked you, didn’t he?”

  I tuck my head into Sven’s chest. He shot me. Just the sound of his voice terrifies me ten times more than it did before.

  Because now I know for sure. He would actually hurt me. Because he just did.

  Chapter 29:

  Sven:

  A Week Later:

  Well, that backfired.

  I had it all planned out. It would have worked too. I didn’t think Boss would get back to the house so fast, and I’ll be honest. I severally underestimated my feelings for her. When I saw the gun to her head I nearly lost it, and I never ‘lose it’. Then he shot her. In the foot. With medical care, we both knew she’d be fine, but I didn’t hesitate to throw Lacey back. When she looked up at me with tear-stained, red-rimmed eyes and asked me to help her… yeah, fuck the plan.

  That said. Rose hates me. She’s so mad. I know she’s got shit from her past she’s dealing with too and she’s in pain, but she hates me. She’s back to thinking I'm a monster. I'm not the only one. Boss is dealing with it too. Lacey is furious at him. Not that she ever stopped being angry, but it was starting to die down. Until he shot Rose. Now he just wants to get her better so he can free her. Boss is tired. He meant what he said about slaughtering Rose if I touched Lacey again, but other than that I think he finds it entertaining that I am able to stand up to him. He likes the challenge and earning his title. And I have to say, I do respect the man and we work well together.

  Boss and I both agreed that letting Rose and Lacey see each other freely is for the best. They are both suffering. Lacey from her severe injuries, thoughts of self-injury and PTSD and Rose emotionally. And her foot. Lacey comforts Rose, and Rose grounds Lacey. We couldn’t deny them that, especially since we are the reason they are suffering in the first place. Lacey is furious Rose got hurt. I mean she fucking hates us all. Probably more than when we got her back from the Castello’s.

  I stand in the doorway. Rose is leaning against the headboard, with her foot up. She did end up having to have surgery. She spent a day at the hospital, it was necessary, then we brought her back where she spent several days with a live-in doctor then nurse, now people check in on her regularly. Lacey is sitting on the edge of the bed, fully covered in clothes, talking with Rose. They aren’t laughing. Both of their eyebrows are pulled together. Rose jumps when she sees me. Lacey turns slowly, hatred written all over her face. She fucking hates me. Maybe more than Rose does. Rightfully so.

  “Hey Lacey,” I say calmly.

  “I suppose I have to go,” she says coldly.

  “Yep.”

  She looks at Rose. Her face softens. She kisses her cheek and whispers, ‘hang in there’. As Lacey turns to leave I see Rose looking at her as if to say, ‘don’t leave me’.

  When Lacey’s gone Rose grabs a pillow and places it in front of her like a barrier. Her eyes go cold and distant.

  “How’s the foot?”

  “It feels like I got fucking shot.”

  “That good, huh?”

  “Yeah, that good. Not as bad as knowing the man I had sex with kidnapped my friend for his own selfish gain. Life is just swell!”

  “I have apologized. I never intended for you to get involved.”

  “As if that makes this better! You’ve gutted me, Sven. I'm done with this conversation.”

  She turns on her side, being extra careful with her foot. She pulls the pillow between her legs and snuggles it. As I'm getting ready, I hear her crying silently into her pillow.

  And, well, it kills me.

  For once, I don’t know how to fix this.

  Boss:

  I'm pulling my tie off when I hear Lacey’s footsteps. She doesn’t hear me or feel me in the room. She walks to the bathroom with her pajamas on, covering her entire body. When she sees me standing there she gasps loudly and leaps back, scratching at her throat trying to get air. I lift my hands.

  “It’s just me, little dove. It’s just me.”

  She slowly drops her hands and relaxes, going back to her usual scowl. Sven’s stunt set her back several paces in her recovery. If someone comes in a room unexpectedly or sneaks up on her, Lacey freaks. The self-harm thing has been super hard to manage as well. She’s now refusing to talk during therapy. I could kill Sven, but I’d rather see him suffer knowing he shattered his girl's heart. That shit hurts worse than death. I’d know.

  “I didn’t know you were in here,” she says dryly.

  She starts to walk out, but I catch her attention.

  “It’s okay. I'm just leaving. Do what you need to.”

  I walk past her. As she walks into the bathroom, I catch her arm. She looks at me. Her eyes look hurt and dead.

  “What Adam?”

  “Thanks for never spilling my name. I never thanked you for that. You have no reason to stay loyal to me, but you have and I thank you.”

  “I made a promise. I know how to keep one.”

  Ouch. That’s deserved. I nod. She scoffs and shakes her head back and forth quickly.

  “It’s all too late Adam. Way too late. It was too late after you whipped me. After you threatened my family. After I got tortured and raped at the place you sent me too! But if there was any hope of me forgiving you, you ruined it when you shot my friend.”

  My throat feels like it's closing. I grip her wrist tighter and spin to face her.

  “Don’t fight,” I warn.

  I lift her sleeves. She stiffens. All traces of life disappear from her eyes. She used to do this all the time when I held her as a prisoner. Disconnect completely.

  Large red cuts run up and down her forearm and upper arm too. I have to swallow to hold back tears when I see she carved words into her skin. Literally cut words into her own skin with a knife. They are mixed in with all her other scars from her days with the Castello’s. Ones she had forced upon her.

  “Gross.”

  “Ugly.”

  Remnants of the word “Filthy.”

  “Lacey,” I say, tucking my head into her arm. She remains frozen like ice.

  “Can I have my arm back now?” she asks, sounding more robot than human.

  I let her go and go in my room, mainly because I wait to hear the sound of her locking the bathroom before I let my tears fall.

  An hour later we both crawl into bed. Lacey is turned away from me curled into the tightest little ball. I have to live my own form of hell as I listen to her have heart-wrenching nightmares. Ones she won’t let me help her with.
<
br />   Because I caused them.

  Chapter 30:

  Sven:

  One Month Later:

  I'm sitting in the media room filtering through incriminating footage of our men. Deleting it. Replacing it with new footage. Footage that works in our favor. Rose is where I left her. Her foot is loads better, but her mind. Yeah, that’s the same. Or worse. She still fucking hates me and is empty like the day I met her except worse because I took her work from her.

  Everything changes in an instant.

  Everything we are working on gets shoved to a spot so far away. None of it matters.

  Boss throws the door open with a look on his face I never thought I’d see on him.

  Helplessness.

  I know before he even says it.

  “They're gone. I don’t know how, but… they are gone. The girls. They got out. They left. And I don’t know where. Or even if she’s okay.”

  I flash back to Rose and I’s conversation before sex over a month ago. She knew. They’d been planning this all along. Right under our noses.

  “Then we find out,” I growl, shoving my chair aside and snatching my jacket off one of them. “We fucking find them.”

  Boss looks down at his feet. There’s pain in his eyes. He gets a handle on it and looks back at me.

  “Should we though?”

  Chapter 31:

  Rose:

  “Lacey, are you okay?”

  I look over at her. We are in a taxi driving away, to the one other place that can make my stomach feel like a Laffy taffy machine. My foot feels like it’s on fire. We bolted from the property. I had the general plan, but it’s Lacey who got us off grounds. She has a natural gift for hacking security systems and locks.

  Looking over at Lacey, I realize how sad and guarded she looks. She looks scared and unsure. I hope she didn’t just leave for me.

  “I'm fine.”

  She gives her best attempt at a fake smile, but it’s clearly not genuine.

  “Lacey, do you want to go back? It hasn’t been long. I know the Boss will take you back and nothing will happen. He’ll probably be happy you came back.”

  “No. I have to leave. My brain’s just a little… confused right now.”

  “I understand. I really, really do.” My gut tells me to change the subject, so I do. “Lacey, how did you get money? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I'm so glad you have it, but, um, not to be insensitive, but how did you get it? You’ve been kinda…”

  Her bitter laugh cuts me off. “It’s obviously not mine. I stole it from Ad… Boss. I know where he kept an extra stash. He always keeps a spare couple grand there. A ton for us. Nothing for him. He’ll live.”’

  My eyes bug out. “You stole that from the Boss!”

  She lets out a sad smile. “It’ll be fine.”

  “Fine! This plan isn’t guaranteed to work. What if they catch us? He’ll be so mad. He’ll hurt you again. You stole from the Boss of the fucking Mafia Lacey!”

  I see the driver give us a ‘what the fuck’ look, but I can’t pay him any mind in my current state of total fucking panic. My foot throbs reminding me the smallest bit of what he’s capable of.

  “He won’t hurt me anymore. It will be fine Rose. Trust me.”

  “You really think he wouldn’t hurt you anymore? Even if he got mad.”

  “I don’t think so, but I mean,” her mouth pinches tight and she pulls at the sleeve of her sweatshirt, “you never really know with the Boss. I think he’s done hurting me though. I really do.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want to go back?”

  “Rose. Seriously. Please stop asking me that. Sven’s never purposely hurt you, yet you are still leaving. I need to leave. It’s just… hard. It’s for the best. We’ll never be safe there. Their positions will always come first, and we’ll always be in danger. He’ll always hurt other people. I won’t stand by that. Ever. I’ve been there. I am there. I'm leaving. So stop making it harder.”

  I shut up. She’s right. Sometimes worry makes me ask stupid things. I just can’t imagine the horrors she’s been through, and I really hope I'm doing the right thing for her.

  No. What am I saying? I know I am. They are Mafia men. The Boss hurt her. Several times. I shake my head as pull up to the building I have only been to once before. My blood turns to ice in my veins. I freeze.

  “Rose? Rose? Hey…” Lacey whispers softly, taking my hands in hers. “Survival remember? Just survival. You got this. You’ve been shot. This is nothing right?”

  I feel her shoulder nudge me in a teasing little bump. How she is so helpful and supportive when she is clearly breaking apart at the seams is beyond me?

  “Right. Nothing.”

  She laces her fingers through mine and gently pulls me out of the taxi. She pays the cabi with her ever so ballsy stolen money.

  “Come on,” she encourages when I dig my feet into the dirt.

  “I think I’d rather…”

  “No. Don’t even finish that sentence. You’re scared. I understand. But we need to do this.”

  When we reach the doors my body breaks out in full on tremors. I can’t communicate at all. Lacey goes to the front desk and handles everything for me. We wait in the waiting area for an eternity. Lacey doesn’t say anything, but she gently squeezes my leg once in a while trying to encourage me.

  “Rose Bellemore. Lacey Kincaid.”

  “Kincaid?” I ask with a trembling voice.

  It’s the first thing I’ve said since we arrived, but that name doesn’t seem to fit her.

  “Fake,” she mumbles.

  How she pulled that off here I don’t even know, but I’ve stopped questioning her. I’ve come to realize she’s a hidden genius.

  Lacey pulls me to my feet. My heart is hammering like a rocket in my chest, and my eyes are pulsing.

  Beat. Thump. Beat. Thump. Beat. Beat. Beat. One foot in front of the other. One at a time.

  We are pulled into a tiny room. All the air leaves my lungs. A man in an orange suit, with thinning grey hair and tired eyes, stands with a gasp.

  “It can’t be,” he says in a breath. “My precious flower? Is that really you?... Rose.”

  “Hi daddy.”

  Part two coming very soon ;) Don’t hate me!

  ROSES & THORNS: WOMEN

  Follow BRY ANN on Amazon for Updates!

  Coming May 2018!

  “Women have power too.

  Truly underestimated power.

  Want danger? Want Violence?

  Go fuck yourself.

  Want cunning? Intelligence?

  Well, welcome.

  We all won’t survive this one.”

  Other Books by Bry Ann

  (X and Aly’s Story)

  (Sam and Logan’s Story)

  (Dana and Gunner’s Story)

  (Rex and Alex’s Story)

  (Saving Her Conclusion)

  (Saving Her Box Set)

  Author Notes

  I first want to thank my mom and Sarah. You two have been so immensely supportive of my writing, and it means the world to me.

  To everyone who has read my books and left good reviews. You don’t know how much that means to me, and how excited I get!

  This book is the one I'm most proud of. I think it’s my best writing. By far. It’s so crazy because the story started out as just Sven and Roses story. Boss was a side character. Lacey didn’t exist. What’s funny is Adam and Lacey are now my all time favorite couple. I love Lacey so much. You guys are not ready for the sequel! I meant it in the teaser when I said not everyone survives this one. It’s going to get insane and emotional and… everything else that Roses & Thorns is.

  Just. Wait.

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