Roses & Thorns: Men

by Bry Ann

  He shakes his head, realizing how much he’s saying.

  “Anyway, we need a night. Mirial can’t stay with her all night. She’s been with her all day. We aren’t those parents who toss their kids around and avoid raising ‘em. It’s just been a weird day. Usually, Lacey or I will pick her up super early.”

  “And I’m sure after everything that went down with Ricardo today, you two need—” I stop talking when I see the way Boss’s eyes darken. Fuck, I overheard some shit with Lacey and Ricardo in the hallway today, and got the rest of the information from Cut. I was too far to intervene or fully gather what happened, which is why I spoke with him. I needed to be sure Lacey was okay. I figured Boss knew. I mean, why wouldn’t he? But seeing the way he’s looking at me right now, like he’s ready to wring my fucking neck, I realize I made a grave mistake.

  “What thing with Ricardo today?”

  He’s vibrating with anger. I can see his suit shifting against his skin. His watch glistens a little brighter, reflecting the light in the room.

  “Look, Boss, you should really ask Lacey.”

  Before I can blink, I am slammed against a wall and he is front of me with a knife to my dick.

  “No, I think you’ll tell me.”

  Well, alright then.

  “Get the fucking knife off my dick and I’ll tell you what I know.”

  I can tell he wants to dig it into my skin, but by some miracle, he finds the strength to pull away.

  “Look, all I know is that, for a reason I am not yet aware of, Ricardo pinned Lacey to a wall, and she…” I glance up at Boss. It would really suck to be Ricardo right now. “She freaked a little. It brought stuff up for her, ya know? Cut caught it and intervened. Apparently, he spoke with Lacey afterward. Helped her out a bit, I assume.”

  “Bring Ricardo to the main room,” Boss says with an eerie calmness, twirling the knife between his fingers.Because I have a death wish, I find myself speaking up.

  “You sure you want that, Boss?” The knife spins in my direction. I raise my hands. “Hear me out. Find out from Lacey what happened. If it was a misunderstanding, and you kill him… Boss, I’ve seen Lacey speaking with him before. They seem friendly.” I grab his knife.

  “Ask her before you go slicing him into pieces.”

  He yanks the knife out of my hand, slicing my palm in the process. Considering his anger level, I’m glad I got off with just that.

  “You’re watching Rose tonight! You fuck that up, I’ll kill you.”

  He slams the door so hard on his way out that it vibrates the walls. Guess I’m watching a baby tonight. Just great. I hope he makes the right choice with this Ricardo thing, but I said my piece.

  I hate children.

  Lacey

  “Hey, Jamie.”

  “When am I gonna see you again?”

  Well, let’s get straight to the point.

  “Yeah, bro, I promise to see you soon. Life’s just been crazy since Rose was born. I know it’s been a while and you want to see her again too.”

  “Are you gonna come see Mom and Dad?”

  His voice is so small and innocent, it makes me feel bad for avoiding them.

  “I will soon. I…”

  The door practically ricocheting off its hinges makes me nearly drop the phone as I leap out of bed.

  “I have to call you back, Jamie. Love you.” I snap my phone shut and drop it on the dresser.

  “Adam?” I say tentatively. I can’t help the fear roaring through me. I haven’t seen him this mad since…

  “Adam,” I squeak. “I’m scared.” I plaster myself against the wall. I can’t help it. “I was just going to get Rose. I just got out of therapy. I wanted to say hi to Jamie first.”

  I’m rambling, and I know it’s fear. Adam knows it’s fear, too, because he runs a hand through his hair in an effort to calm himself.

  “Ricardo.”

  That’s all he says. One word, but he doesn’t have to say more. My mind is spinning. Does he know? He can’t know. Cut said he wouldn’t tell. Maybe Adam’s telling me he helped him with his daughter? Not likely.

  “What about him?”

  “Don’t play stupid with me, Lacey. He laid his hands on you.”

  “It was a misunderstanding.”

  My cheeks are on fire. I’m so embarrassed!

  “There is absolutely no reason one of my men should be touching you in a way that makes you uncomfortable. I made a promise to you a couple of years ago that that would never happen again, and I damn well fucking meant it. And they know that.”

  I feel myself slinking back.

  “Please, don’t hurt him.”

  “Lacey, he knows better. He joined….” He shakes his head and walks a little closer to me, now that he is not a walking ball of rage. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine.” I turn my head to the side and grumble in a voice he can’t hear, “How do you know about everything?”

  A quiet chuckle has me turning my head. Of course he heard me. Of-freaking-course. He walks over with a grin and cups my face.

  “You still don’t understand who I am, little dove.” “I do.”

  His mouth turns up in a dark smile. He kisses me lightly, before pulling away. He runs his hand over my hair before going to the closet and pulling out a bag.

  “Uh…. what are you doing?” “We’re going away for the night.”

  If I had water in my mouth, I would have choked on it.“I’m sorry. You’ve been busy lately, but we have a daughter. We can’t just go off to a hotel.” “I have it handled.” I’m really getting mad now. I feel my fists clench. Today’s been a bad day, and he’s annoying me by being so vague.

  “Care to share with me?”

  He spins around. He stops immediately when he sees how tense I am.

  “Yes. I’m sorry. I asked Sven to watch Rose after Mirial leaves.”

  “Sven?! No way, José. Not gonna happen.”

  I’m shaking my head frantically. Adam reaches over and grabs both sides of my head. “Talk.”

  “He’s not watching her!”

  “Why? You don’t trust him?”

  “I trust him fine. I’m just not ready to leave her overnight yet.” Adam’s hand reaches out and cups my cheek again. He has a way of pulling my emotions to the surface with just one touch. My lower lip quivers. He runs his thumb across it.

  “Just don’t trust the world in general, yet, do you, little dove?”

  I lean forward and tuck my head into his chest.

  “Not with her. She’s too important.” “Alright, Lace.”

  His strong hand comes around and cups the back of my head.

  “Then we stay here and plan our wedding in bed, with Rose in the crib.”

  I pull away with a smile.

  “You want to start planning our wedding?”

  “Yes. I want you to be my wife. I’m sick of this fiance stuff.”

  He says it so possessively that it makes my heart smile.

  “You know I’m yours and you are mine.” I kiss his head. “I’ll go get her.”

  “Woah, woah, woah. Can’t just leave me like that,” he calls after me.

  He grabs my arm and pulls me back. His hands come around and his lips land on mine. His tongue slips into my mouth. He groans as our kiss intensifies. Just as it’s about to go further, he pulls away.

  “Okay, go get her.”

  I gape at him.

  “You’re evil.”

  His deep laughter fills the room as I walk out, admittedly in a haze. I’m nearly to the playroom when a voice stops me.

  “Lacey,” it calls quietly.

  I spin around to see Ricardo lurking behind me. My heart picks up. I glance around the hallway. Nobody. Cut’s words ring through my head. None of these men are your friends.

  “What do you want, Ricardo?” I muster up all my strength to sound pissed, and not scared.

  “Look, Lacey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

&nb
sp; Reality smacks down on me like a brick. I spin around, throwing my shoulders back, like Rose always used to do when she was mad.

  “You’re not sorry that you scared me; you’re sorry you ever laid a finger on me, because you know your boss is gonna kill you.”

  “Seriously, Lacey, he will!” He stumbles over his words, panicked.

  I throw my hand up. “I have to get my daughter, but you didn’t want me to intervene, remember? I’ll honor your wishes.”

  I spin on my heel and start to walk off.

  “I swear, if he maims or kills me, I’ll make sure that Rose…”He doesn’t even get a chance to finish before I’m flying over. The sound of my fist slamming into his face rings in the hallway. “Don’t you ever threaten her! Do you hear me? I swear to God! I will kill you myself!” I lift to swing again, but his hand wraps my fist. There’s a moment of pause before force is being applied to my captured fist and I’m thrown to the ground. My head slams into the stone, sending shockwaves through my body.

  I groan and try to stand.

  “You have a fucking death wish,” a calm voice says.

  I get myself seated and blink a few times to clear my vision. Sven is standing there, holding Ricardo lazily around the neck. He glances down at me.“Nice punch. You good?”

  “He threatened Rose,” I say frantically.

  Sven smirks and looks down at his chest, shaking his head.

  “He won’t be around long enough to hurt her.”

  I try to ignore that comment and the guilt I feel for not wanting to defend him. I want him away from me and Rose.“He said he’d send someone.”

  Sven extends a hand and pulls me to my feet.

  “Ricardo?” He laughs. “Lacey, seriously, don’t stress over it. Ricardo here is a nobody,” Sven says, grinning.

  “Promise you, Lace,” Sven says with emphasis. “Come on Ricky, let’s get you to a holding room.”

  That’s a euphemism for cell. He’s being considerate of me. Which is… surprisingly nice.

  Sven throws me a look letting me know that he’s got it. I rub my head, trying to make the blurriness fade. When I’m sure I’m good, I walk into the playroom. Rose is on the floor crawling around, her butt wiggling all over the place. My face lights up.

  “Rosie, Mommy’s here.”

  She smiles, hiccups, and starts crawling over. Mirial looks at her lovingly before glancing up at me.

  “You okay, Lacey? I heard what went on out there. I just didn’t want to go out and leave Rose alone. Not after what he said.”

  “You did the right thing, Mirial, thank you. Most people would have gone out there. Thank you for putting Rose first.”

  “You’re welcome, señorita. I know you’re tough.”

  I laugh and scoop Rose up in my arms.

  “Hardly.”

  Lacey

  “Bzzzzzz…. Pop!”

  I tap Rose on the nose. The sound of her giggles fill the entire room. Adam is laying on the bed, looking way more exhausted than normal, but happy. He’s shirtless in grey sweats. My favorite. I’m trying to keep my mind clean with Rose in the room, which is proving difficult. We rarely get time alone anymore.

  “She’s got your laugh.”

  I spin back around and smile at Adam. Shyly, I tuck my head and look away. She does. My little ball of magic. Her yawn snaps me out of my fairytale.

  “Time for bed, pumpkin.” I scoop her up in my arms and tuck her safely into my chest. Adam rolls himself out of bed. We both take her to her room nearby. Tenderly, I reach down and place her in the crib, tucking her all up. She starts to cry, of course. She hates going to bed. If she’s anything like her father, I’m sure she feels like she’s missing out on life. Life’s too short to sleep, and there’s too much to see. If she were like me, she’d be reveling in the chance to rest.

  Adam runs his large hand over her tiny face.

  “Tomorrow will hold plenty of adventures. Go to sleep, angel.”

  I watch how tender he is with her in awe, then I sing her a little song. The same one I sing to her every night. Her eyes start to flutter closed with each melodic word I sing. When I’m sure they are shut, we slide on out of there. As soon as the door is closed, and we are headed back to our room, I’m gripped with overwhelming panic. I freeze right in the middle of the hallway.

  “Lacey? Lace, babe?” Adam is staring at me, looking concerned.

  Ring! Ring! Ring!

  His phone starts to ring. He furrows his eyebrows, like he doesn’t want to answer it without knowing what’s wrong with me, but he has to. He always has to answer his phone for reasons I don’t even want to understand.

  “Yep,” he answers, not taking his eyes off me. I immediately know who it is by the growing rage filling his gaze. It’s controlled, like him, but a darkness from hell builds up in his body. I watch it rise.

  “Leave him there. Sven, you aren’t watching Rose tonight, so see to it personally that he doesn’t leave those chains, and you follow every lead to make sure that there is nothing valid about those threats.”

  He slams the phone shut. I see him struggling to control his anger.

  “Come.”

  That’s all he says, but I scramble behind him like a lost puppy. When we get to our room, he slams the door shut and stalks over to the baby monitor, smacking his palm down on the power button, watching it for a second before turning to me.

  Before he can even speak, I’m opening my mouth.

  “I really was going to tell you. I just didn’t want to with Rose here. In the hallway…”

  He holds up a hand. “I know. I’m not angry at you.”

  He walks over and runs his hands all over the back of my head, searching for a bump or any sign of serious injury.

  “How’s your head? Any memory issues?” “Really, I’m okay. Just Rose. He threatened Rose.” I feel my body trembling, but not with fear, for once. Rage. Pure, unadulterated rage. I thought he was my friend. I tried to help him. How dare anyone threaten my daughter? How dare he? I will handle him myself. I’ll…

  “Lacey,” Adam says as softly as he can, given his own state of anger, “I got this. You hear me? You think I’d let anything happen to her? Never. Fucking. Never.”

  “You’ve been more tired lately.” He sighs and turns away from me.

  “There’s just a lot going on right now, Lacey. Nothing you need to worry about.”

  “Would there ever be something you feel I need to worry about?”

  His lips turn up in a barely restrained smile.

  “I’d say to worry if there were men with guns in our room.”

  “Not even if they were in the house,” I laugh.

  “No, little dove, not even the house. Wanna know why? Because if they got in our fucking room, I’m dead. As long as I’m living, no one would dare take a step in here. I’d never let it happen.”

  Several emotions flow through me at once. One, pain. I don’t like hearing him reference his own death, even in theory. Two, warmth. Safety. Three, passion. His possessiveness and confidence make me love him more, make me want him more, and make me respect him more.

  He’s mine and I’m his. Just like I said. Despite everything.

  I bite my lip. “I’m still gonna worry.”

  He turns around and grins over his shoulder. “I know. But I’m gonna keep telling you not to.”

  I walk over tentatively, and press myself into his chest. I run my hands along his chest and stomach, teasing him.

  “Why are you tired?”

  He groans, but it slowly dissolves into a smirk. He catches my hands before they go down any further and grins down at me.

  “Oh, little dove, are you trying to play me? You’re not playing fair.” “I’m not trying to play you.”

  Even I can tell that my voice is giving me away. Not to mention the blush on my cheeks. Adam scoops me up and throws me onto the bed, caging me in with his body.

  “You’ve always been my equal.”

  �
�No, I’m…”

  “Oh yes, you are,” he says sternly, nipping at my ear and kissing my neck. “You’ve truly scared me a few times. You’re too smart.”

  Has he lost his mind? It’s me. I’m really a nobody, but I need something from him, so I’ll pretend not to be so disbelieving that the mafia boss feels threatened by me. It’s almost laughable. Well, I guess maybe he’s referencing when he’s threatened my friends. Something happens to me when people do that. I change. Something fierce and protective takes over my body.

  “Okay, then, trust me. What’s going on with Rose’s murder? Why are you working so much lately? Why are you so tired?”

  He rolls off me and leans against the headboard. “Lacey…”

  “You make it worse when you keep things from me. There are things I don’t want to know, but what kind of danger we are facing, I absolutely want to know that. And Rose, I swear if you don’t start talking to me about that, I will go back to my cave and find out the information myself.”

  His face does this weird thing where it’s hard and soft at the time time. He looks at me tenderly.

  “See, threat.”

  “I…” I clamp my mouth shut. Really, it is a threat and he knows I can and will follow through with it.

  “There’re some organizations putting a little pressure on me right now,” he says cautiously. “It’s nothing to feel threatened by, but even so, I have extra protection on you and Rose.” “You do? I haven’t noticed.”

  “Good. Then those men can keep their jobs.”

  AKA probably their lives or limbs. I swallow.

  “Who?” His face becomes a mask of cruelty. “I have my suspicions.”

  “And…” He leans over and kisses my forehead. It’s a way to get me to shut up. It won’t work.

  “Adam, who?”

  “And about Rose…” That is the way to get me to shut up. “I’ve spent endless time on this, along with using my best men and contacts.”“Contacts?” “Cops., FBI agents, the like.”