by Eva Ashwood
My lips curl into a grimace as I read his message several times. I wish I could do more for him, but I’m glad to know he’s still alive. The Black Roses have kept their word about that so far. It’s something, at least.
Fuck, I wish I could hear Dad’s voice and have him hug me and tell me everything’s going to be all right. But since there’s no way that’s gonna happen, I do the next best thing and call Scarlett.
She answers on the second ring, her voice shockingly light and happy. “Hey! How’s it going?”
She doesn’t know any of what went down last night, so she has no idea how dramatically my life has changed in the past twenty-four hours. She probably thinks I’m calling to see if she wants to go get a burger or something.
I fucking wish.
“Not good.” I don’t bother sugar coating things or beating around the bush. We’ve known each other too long and have seen each other through too much bullshit for that. “I’ve got a story for you. Are you sitting down?”
“Oh, shit. Let me go to my room.” I can hear her moving through her apartment and then settling on her bed. “Okay, I’m sitting. Go.”
I hesitate for just a second, not sure where to even start, but then I just start talking. Scarlett is my best friend. She’s been there for me since I was a little kid, fresh off losing my mom and growing up with just my dad in the kind of neighborhood we lived in. She was right there with me for everything, and I never have to pretend with her.
So I let it all pour out. I start from the second she split last night, telling her about walking in to see my dad getting jumped by the Black Roses, and how the three guys she was so hot for were a part of it. I tell her about trying to stop them from hurting my dad, about being captured and taken to that gas station place, and about the ultimatum I’m now a part of.
“Basically, I’m a glorified prisoner,” I tell her. “They’ve got me at their house, which is honestly probably one of the nicest places I’ve ever been in, but that’s not the point. Until Dad finishes whatever deal he’s made with them, I have to stay here, and it sucks.”
“Oh my god.” Scarlett mutters. “Holy shit. Oh my fucking god.” I can hear the surprise and anger in her tone, and it feels good to know I’m not the only one who’s outraged by the turn of events. “That’s so shitty, Mercy. I mean… it could be worse, because gang members or not, those guys are fucking fine.”
“Jesus, Scar, can you focus for like a second?” I flop back on the bed, rolling my eyes.
The worst part is… she’s not wrong.
I can’t fucking stand them, but that doesn’t change the fact that they’re three of the sexiest guys I’ve ever met. Even Sloan, pissy and irritable as he is, has an undeniable appeal to him, and just being in the same room as them is hard. Hence why I’m hiding away.
But I don’t have time to daydream about dangerously gorgeous guys. I have a mission here—protect my dad and find vengeance for what they’re doing to my family.
My father is all I have, all the family I’ve got left, and I’ll be damned if I let them take him away from me.
“Sorry, babe.” Scarlett sounds genuinely chagrined. “I shouldn’t even be joking around about that shit right now. I’m just still trying to process all of this.”
“Yeah. Me too. And you’re right. They’re fine as hell. I just can’t let it blind me to what’s beneath all that, you know?” I murmur. I don’t want to scare Scarlett, but we’ve both lived in this city our whole lives, so she has to know how serious this is. “You know how the Black Roses are.”
She sighs. “Yeah, we hear rumors about the stuff they get into all the time. Please be careful, Mercy, okay? I know you’re doing this for your dad, but these fuckers are no joke.”
“You don’t have to tell me that.” I snort, chewing on my lower lip. “And I can take care of myself.”
“I know, hot stuff. And you know I’ve got your back no matter what happens.”
I smile, feeling for the first time since I woke up this morning like some of my equilibrium is coming back. Scarlett has always had my back, and I’ve always had hers. If I need her, she’ll come running. I miss my dad, but just hearing my best friend’s voice is enough to make me feel better, and I gaze up at the ceiling with a little sigh, feeling some of the tension drain out of me.
I can hear Scarlett moving around on her own bed and then the sound of typing.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“Research,” she replies. “On your guys.”
“They’re not my anything,” I insist.
“You know what I mean. Tell me their names again?”
I do, filling her in on the little I know about them, which is mainly what they look like and the fact that they’re in the Black Roses. So nothing she doesn’t already know.
I hear her typing frantically for a little bit and then she sucks her teeth, clearly annoyed. “There’s not much available here on any of them.”
“That’s not surprising. It’s not like they go around broadcasting the shit they do. They keep a low profile.”
“There are some pictures here, though.” She lets out a low whistle. “Goddamn, Mercy.”
“Scar, please.”
“I’m just saying! This Sloan guy? He looks like he stepped off the cover of GQ. That jawline, yum.”
I roll my eyes, but once again, she’s right. I made the same judgement when I first saw him myself. I flash back to how he looked when he was leaning over me, angry and in my space, and I can feel myself flushing again, heat moving through me slow and thick.
No, no, no. For fuck’s sake, Mercy!
I shouldn’t be fantasizing about any of them. Least of all Sloan, who looks like he would kill someone without a second thought.
“Rory’s an interesting character,” Scarlett continues, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“Rory’s a pain in the ass,” I mutter. “What did you find?”
“He’s done some fighting before. Like your dad, but not as serious, it looks like. Sloan’s apparently the son of the current leader of the Black Roses. Some guy named Gavin Kennedy. He’s next in line to take over.”
That makes sense. I remember the man who seemed to be in charge last night, and the resemblance between him and Sloan. Shit. That means the leader of the Black Roses himself is involved in whatever’s going on with my dad. That can’t be good.
So they’re skilled, these assholes who I have to live with for the next… however long. Rory’s built like a fighter, muscular and quick under all that teasing, so that makes sense, and Sloan’s ruthless and probably good in a fight himself if he was raised by the leader of the Black Rose gang. They’re hot and badass on top of it, the kind of men I definitely would go after if I saw them in a club or at a fight and didn’t know who they were.
But I hate them anyway.
Because I do know who they are.
Nothing I hear from Scarlett changes the things they’ve done to my dad, and I have to stay focused on that.
“Thanks for looking into it,” I tell Scarlett. “I’ll just have to figure out more about them while I’m here.”
I don’t tell her about my plan to find out enough about the Black Roses to give myself some kind of bargaining chip if it comes down to that. I’m not sure it’s a good idea to talk about that anywhere in this house, including my new bedroom. I highly doubt the room is bugged or anything like that, but it would be stupid to get complacent.
“Keep me posted,” Scar replies. I can hear the worry in her voice. “And like I said, be careful.”
“I will,” I promise. “On both counts. Take care of yourself.”
“Always, babe.”
I feel better when we hang up. Bolstered by the extra bit of confidence, I finally creep out of my room. The house is quiet, and I wander around downstairs for a bit, poking around here and there. The living room is neater than I would’ve expected with three dudes in their twenties all sharing the space, and I peek at their collection of DVDs
and games, not surprised to see it’s all action movies and shooters.
Like they don’t get enough violence in their real lives?
The couch is leather and plush as hell, but I resist the temptation to sit down on it. I don’t want to be comfortable here, and I definitely don’t want one of them to come in and see me making myself at home. With my luck, it’ll be Rory, ready to make some stupid jokes about what he’d like to do on the couch with me, and the calm I’ve managed to hold on to will be shattered.
Bored with my exploration, I head back upstairs and follow the sound of music to a closed door that’s a little way down the hall from my bedroom. I remember Levi pointing it out as Rory’s room, and I smirk, getting an idea.
It’s stupid.
Fucking with any of these guys is like playing with fire.
But clearly, he needs someone to show him what it feels like to be barged in on. If I’m going to be living with these three assholes for who-knows-how-long, they all need to learn to have a bit more respect for other people’s personal space.
So, just like he did to my room earlier, I open the door wide and step inside.
And then I freeze, my eyes almost popping out of my head. The snarky comment I was about to make dies on my lips.
Standing in the middle of the room, fresh from the shower and wearing only a towel slung low around his waist, is Rory.
For a second, all I can do is gape at him. Everything is on display, from his damp golden brown hair to the thickness of his arms and the tattoos that wind their way up both arms, over his biceps and shoulders in two full sleeves.
I’ve got a half sleeve on my right arm, colorful swirls of ink that I saved up for months to get done. I can admit I’ve got an affinity for tattoos, and his are fucking stunning.
His pecs are well defined, just like his abs, and it all leads down to his hips and the cut lines at his hips that point like a damn arrow to his crotch, barely covered by the towel around his waist. A thin trail of brown hair forms a path leading right to what is probably a big ass dick if the rest of him is any indication.
My mouth literally waters before I can do anything to stop it, and I’m definitely frozen in place, staring like a fucking idiot.
Rory’s surprised expression melts into a smug smirk in a matter of seconds, and he puts one hand on his hip, drawing my gaze right back down to his crotch again. Dammit.
“If you’re starting a tit for tat, you better be prepared for the tat,” he says, one eyebrow lifted and mischief sparkling in his bright green eyes.
“I can handle you any day of the week. You’re really not that impressive,” I retort, not even sure what I’m saying as I slam the door closed and lean against it for a second, trying to catch my breath.
My heart is racing like I’ve just run a marathon, and my face is flushed as hell. Again.
Fuck. This is getting out of hand.
Just when I’m about to go back to my room and not come out for the rest of the day, Rory’s voice startles me from the other side of the door. “I know you’re still out there.”
“Fuck you,” I mutter and stalk off quickly, trying to put as much distance between myself and his door as humanly possible.
But even when I’m safely ensconced back in my room with two doors between us, it’s not enough distance. It’s nowhere near enough. I’m not sure any amount of space between me and Rory could erase the images of what I just saw from my mind’s eye.
Well, that fucking backfired.
7
The next morning, I get up early. Maybe it’s just because I’m awake before Rory is, but there aren’t any surprise walk-ins, so I can consider that progress, at least. I get dressed and throw my books in my bag, thanking whatever higher power might be out there that it’s Monday and I have a reason to get out of the house.
It’s quiet when I go downstairs into the kitchen, and I breathe a sigh of relief, rummaging around in the cabinets and refrigerator until I come up with some nice bread to make toast with butter and jam.
Taking a chance, I perch on one of the stools at the little breakfast bar and eat my toast, washing it down with some juice, keeping an eye on the time as I munch away. If I’m lucky, maybe I can get out of here before any of the guys are up. And then maybe they’ll all be gone when I get back, and I can avoid interacting with them for an entire day.
No such luck.
Less than a minute after I have that thought, Levi comes walking in, dressed and only a little bleary eyed. He makes a beeline straight for the coffee maker and pops one of the pods in.
“I’m going to be taking you to school.” He shoots a glance over his shoulder at me, then turns to lean against the counter while he waits for the coffee to brew.
“No fucking way,” I say immediately. “I don’t need a babysitter.”
It’s confirmation that they’re going to let me keep going to school though, which is something I was worrying about in the back of my mind. They could have just told me I had to drop out, dangling my dad’s precarious situation over my head until I agreed.
My plan was to just sneak out anyway and see if they tried to stop me, but apparently that’s not necessary because I’m going to have a goddamned escort.
“Look, I’m not thrilled about it either,” Levi says with a sigh. “There are other things I could be doing. But it is what it is, so you’re my baby for as long as this situation lasts, I guess.”
I hate the sound of that, especially the way him calling me his baby makes my skin heat up. Motherfucker. I’ve been doing so well this morning up until now, not letting my thoughts run away from me, but just hearing him say that makes me flash back to the things he said to me when we fucked last year.
I shove the last of my toast in my mouth and drain my glass of juice in one gulp just to have something to distract me.
“Fine.” I bite out the word, making it clear I’m not happy about it even if I don’t have a choice. “We need to leave in five minutes.”
That barely gives him enough time to finish letting his coffee pour into the cup and then transfer it into a travel mug, but I don’t care. If I have to suffer, then so does he.
We get into the same car from when they abducted me, but this time I sit in the front passenger seat. I don’t give him any directions, but once again, he doesn’t need them. I don’t like him and his goons knowing so much about me, but I keep my mouth closed for the moment.
“Not much to look at, is it?” he says when we get to the campus, glancing at me as he slows down to let a group of students pass across the street.
I scowl immediately, hackles up. I go to a community college on the south side of Fairview Heights, and it’s more than fine. It’s not like my dad had the money to send me to some fancy school, and I didn’t have the grades to get scholarships and all that. I’m not ashamed of it, but Levi’s comment gets under my skin.
“Where do you go to school?” I retort, turning my head to give him a look. “Somewhere fancy? Some Ivy League university? Because if not, then maybe you should shut the fuck up.”
He shakes his head. “I don’t go to school. It wasn’t in the cards for me. I’ve got other skills, another life path, you know. I’m fine without it.”
Unless I’m imagining it, there’s a slight sadness to his tone. Maybe something like regret, but it’s hard to tell for sure. I can’t get a good read on his expression as he keeps his gaze straight ahead and doesn’t let go of the steering wheel.
Interesting. Did he want to go to college? Did he have dreams of getting a degree and then going on to make something of himself?
I know that’s all my dad wants for me. For me to have a better, easier life than he had. For opportunities to come my way, and for me to take them and make the most of my life.
But there’s no real way I can ask Levi about his hopes and dreams for the future. It would be too fucking personal, and besides, I don’t want him to know I’m curious about him at all.
Honestly, I don’t eve
n think I can picture him sitting in a classroom, taking notes or asking questions like some kind of average student. There’s nothing average about any of these guys. So I just ignore his comment and file the information away for later.
He flashes me a cocky smile just a second later, glancing over and winking in my direction. “Besides, I don’t need college. I’ve got plenty of skills. You can attest to that, can’t you?”
I roll my eyes, letting the innuendo and the moment pass.
Once he parks the car, we get out and walk across campus. My first class is a good hike away from the parking lot, and I’m not looking forward to walking with Levi for the whole thing. It’s pretty clear he’s not just going to drop me off and leave, or wait in the car for me to be done for the day.
Before we get halfway there, I hear someone shout my name. I don’t even have to look to know who it is, and a second later, Scarlett comes hurtling up and gives me a hug so tight I can feel my ribs protesting.
“You’re here!” she says, squeezing me.
“I’m here,” I echo, wheezing a little. “Scar, you’re killing me. Lemme go.”
She’s still grinning when she steps back, but then her eyes dart to Levi and her brows shoot up into her hairline.
I watch as she sizes him up, and while he’s taller than her by a good bit, I can tell when she decides she can take him. Her hands go to her hips in a trademark pose I know well. It’s the stance she takes when she’s about to rip someone a new asshole, but I cut in before she can make a scene.
“Scarlett. Not now.”
“But—”
She looks at me, and I shake my head quick. Her lips turn down in a pout, and I know I’ve ruined some of her fun. She loves when she has a chance to verbally destroy someone, and it’s not like Levi doesn’t deserve it, but I’m already running late for class, and I don’t want to deal with this here.
Besides, with my dad still indebted to the Black Roses, I have to be careful how far I push my luck with these guys. Rory just seems entertained when I sass him, and Levi seems pretty unflappable, but Sloan already seems to hate me. The last thing I need is to push any of them too far and get myself or Dad into more trouble.