Page 60 of Regal Queen

“Tell me what you know, Coulter."

He took another sip, taking in a breath anad shaking his head as he put his glass down on the table. "No, I don't think I'm going to. Not un--"

"Coulter." The word was a dark growl, a warning to stop fucking with me.

"Not until," he continued as if I hadn't interrupted him, “you tell me what you're going to do when you get there. You can't just storm in there, throw her over your shoulder and drag her back here like a caveman."

"Oh, now you’re thinking rationally." God, he was such a hypocrite.

“You're right," he nodded. "And what did I learn? That it was a stupid move. It got us in a crapload of trouble and people had to die for it. It was idiotic, and I'm trying to stop you from doing the same thing."

"I'm not an idiot."

He grinned, meeting my eyes with a cock sure gaze. "You sure about that, brother?"

Rage incinerated me from the inside out. I slipped my hands in my pockets to force myself from wrapping my fingers around his neck, and gave him my calmest look. “Do you think I am?"

Coulter knew me well enough to know when to push me. He also knew that right now, when I was the calmest, was when he needed to back off.

"Look," he stood, walking towards me, "let me ask you one question. Answer this, and I will help you with what ever you want okay?"

“Fine," I grit out.

"Let's say we go there. We interrogate her about Paradiso. How do you think Rose is going to react? We're only a couple of the men who've drug her around like she was some kind of doll. Her whole life, men have manipulated and brutally controlled her life. From when she was a child, her whole life was changed by Dimitri, who killed practically her whole family. Then her own adopted father treated her like she was only there to fulfill his ambitions. Dimitri bought her back like she was some kind of cattle, and then we kidnapped her again.”

He came to stand before me, and I could see the guilt in his eyes at his next words.

“And then, to add everything on top of all that, she left with Dimitri again, all because she was trying to protect us. Only to be tortured by him. So tell me, Bourbon, how is she going to feel if we barge into her life again, demand she do as we say, then drag her back here and kicking and screaming?” When I didn’t answer him, he put his hand on my shoulder, looking into my eyes. “Is that what you want? To have that kind of relationship with her where you force her to do everything you want her to do? Do you think that she's going to be a willing participant in your relationship?”

My throat was suddenly dry, the knot formed there so tight, I could barely breathe through it.

Never. Those were her words to me the other night at the pizza place. She never wanted to be locked up again, and if I did, she would never give her heart to me.

God, Coulter was right. When did he get to be so wise?

The tables were suddenly switched, and Coulter was the one looking out for me, protecting me from making the worst decision of my life.

Suddenly Lucas stood up, a strange, soft look on his face as he glanced at me, then began to walk towards the door, slipping his phone into his pocket.

Within seconds, the door to the apartment opened, and Penny walked in with a smile that lit up her face when her eyes landed on Lucas.

"Baby," he murmured, his hand going to her waist as he pulled her to him, kissing her softly. She leaned into him, whispering something I couldn't hear but the look on her face was everything I ever needed to see.

She was truly in love with Lucas, and this had been an arranged marriage. She hadn't come to him willingly, in fact, she'd fought strongly against it.

And yet, here she was, melting under his touch like soft butter.

I wanted Rose to look at me like that.

I turned to look back at Coulter, the realization that both he and Luas were right.

I needed to trust Rose, trust that what we had was special, that she would come back to me.

Give her the freedom to make the decisions in her life.

It was absolutely going to kill me to stand back, and I wasn’t going to go down without a fight.

I was going to fight for her like I'd never fought for anything in my whole life.

But, I was still going to let her make that final step back into my arms.

And, if necessary, to confront her demons, and determine her own path in life.

“Do you know why they went to Cuba?” At his nod, I took in a deep, shuttering breath and, holding Coulter's gaze, nodded. "Okay. you're right. Tell me what you know, then we’ll make a new plan."

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