Page 16 of Their Dark Rose

“Briar Rose Nightingale.” His walls broke down all right, just not how I planned them to. “This is the last time you disrespect me like that.”

Mason’s disappointment and disgust gutted me. I dropped the apple to the floor. “I’m sorry, I only—“

“You’ll complete your classes for today by yourself.” A vein pulsed in his thick, mouthwatering throat. “I’ll switch places with Falk tomorrow to check on your progress.”

“Mason, I’m—“

“Enough,” he said from the doorway. “We care for you, but…”

I wanted to laugh at that. They had a strange way of showing me they had.

The sensible, non-teenager side of me begged me to shut up. This wasn’t the moment to tell them that love didn’t equate to frowns.

I’d been hugged one time by Finn in the past five years. One.

My logical side won out. I shut up.

“But what?” I asked when I couldn’t tolerate another one of his perpetual silences.

“But nothing.” He raked a hand through his cut-short, black hair. “Nothing. We’ll always care for you, period. Get to work.”

And out he went.

This morning, it doesn’t seem as though Mason will budge an inch.

I don’t have to see him to know. I just do.

“Get that apple out of my face.” Mason’s low rumble doesn’t have to be loud to rattle me.

Shit, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear he woke the dead in the nearest cemetery.

“Sensitive this morning, aren’t we?” Finn’s smile reverberates through his words.

“I’m sensitive to contempt.” Mason’s voice settles back to his unperturbed cadence.

I should go down. To announce myself and let them head to work already. Problem is, I’ve been eavesdropping on them for so long, that I’m struggling to break the habit.

The secrets I’ve come to learn about through listening in on them have been extremely eye-opening. About my past. The shit they protected me from. Like my parents.

I’m sure there’s more. They just avoid discussing it here. Saving it for when they’re at the office. Out of earshot.

“After everything we just discussed, the contract and the fucking apple are your biggest concerns?” Falk’s angry timbre catches me off-guard, and I stumble backward. “Speaking of…Briar, come here!”

Thump, thump, thump, his dress shoes go on the marble floors. He puts them on when he stays home to exude his authority as my teacher.

As if his stern gaze isn’t enough.

Same as the one he’s directing at me now after I rush forward, pretending I haven’t been spying on them.

He sees me, nods once, and returns to his brothers.

Hesitantly, on bare feet, I descend to the first floor. I pull myself together, holding my head up high as I stride into the rectangular kitchen. The alluring scents of bacon, eggs, and coffee carry to me.

But the smells are gone in a heartbeat the moment I step past the doorway.

If intensity was a living thing, my skull would’ve exploded.

My lips part as I wordlessly gauge the three men. I need to figure out what the hell’s going on before I say a single word.

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