Page 34 of Bedding Rose
“Thanks,” I tell her stiffly, though I have absolutely zero intentions of drinking tonight. I’m ‘on duty.’ Besides, the last time I drank with her … Nope. Not thinking about it. I quickly shove aside the image of the frat house that pops up in my head, blaring with loud music, colored lights, and my own sobbing pleas. “I’ve got to go mingle for a little, but I’m so glad you’re here. It would suck without you.”
“I’m glad to get out of Albuquerque for a night,” Lily confesses. “Every single noise I hear around the apartment wakes me up. I keep thinking it’shim.” She chews on her glossy lip as she shakes her head, a far-off look in her gaze. Her stalker just got out of jail and it’s keeping her up at night.
Guilt invades my system. “Hey, if you ever need to stay over …”
She shakes her head. “No. No. I’m good. Just being paranoid, I’m sure. Like, I thought I saw a guy following me yesterday when I went to the coffee shop.” She rolls her eyes. “It was a delivery guy. So embarrassing.”
I put a hand on her arm and squeeze. “It’s okay to be paranoid after what happened.”
She swallows and nods, before shaking her flask discreetly. “I’m going to go freshen up. Anybody want to join?”
I shake my head. “No. I really do have to mingle or Mom will freak out.”
Violet’s lips thin. “Can’t.”
Lily saunters off with a tiny wave, smiling at a few older men who pause in mid-conversation to gape at her.
I used to envy that about her. But ever since her psycho-stalker, I can see the downside. Now, I only want one guy looking at me that way. Shit. No. Don’t even think it. My cheeks heat up as my thoughts betray me.
A hand grips my arm and saves me from the awful revelation going on inside my head. I turn to see Violet has stepped closer. She whispers in a low voice, hardly moving her lips. “My parents have invited a potential match tonight.” She rolls her eyes and gives a disgusted shudder.
“Wait. What?” I’m taken aback. Violet’s always known she’s going to have an arranged marriage. But we all thought she was going to have more time. Graduate college first. I blink at her, a little shocked. She’s only nineteen. Her twentieth birthday isn’t even for a couple of months. They want to marry her off already?
She glances around, chewing on her lip as she ensures no one else is within earshot. “Katie told everyone she was pregnant last night. And it’s not Finn’s.”
I fight to keep my expression neutral even though my eyes want to expand to the size of dinner plates. Katie is the little princess of the family. And by princess, I mean her dad runs the whole shebang. She was born and raised in Boston, though she’s been out enough times that all the Wild Flowers have met her. If Katie is rebelling and “disrespecting the family,” then no wonder Vi’s parents are cracking down hard.
“I’m so so sorry,” I pull her in for a hug.
Her fingers dig into my back as she whispers in my ear, “If I give you the high sign later, I expect a full rescue mission.”
“On it,” I reply.
“Thanks,” Vi gives me a grateful look before stepping back, taking a deep breath, and marching off through the crowd.
I stand where I am, hoping to soak in a tiny bit of silence before I have to paste on a happy face, when a low voice behind me chuckles.
“Nipple pasties, huh?” The man’s voice is like a dull knife sliding into my skin, sending a painful trickle of blood down my spine as the room seems to lose every single molecule of oxygen.
I turn only to see my nightmare in the flesh. I can’t breathe as my fingers clench and I stare up into the smug brown eyes of Nick Roybal, one of the fraternity guys who turned my night out with Lily into a torture session as long and drawn out as getting pressed to death.
My knees buckle.
ANGELO
Isee Rose stiffen from across the lobby, and though there is a crowd of people milling like cattle between us, at the sight of her clenching her dainty fingers into a fist, I’m off like a shot. Something’s wrong. Something’s terribly wrong with my girl. Instinct tells me she needs me and I heed it, not stopping to wonder what’s going on or if it even makes sense.
I push aside a tall gray-haired man standing between me and her, ignoring his gruff, “Watch it!” as I surge forward. All my focus is on the stiff set of Rose’s shoulder blades, clearly visible in her backless dress. They pull back toward one another unnaturally.
She turns to face a young guy behind her and goes from stiff as a board to drooping in under a second. It’s almost as if an invisible hand squeezes the air from her body. Rose’s legs slide out from under her and she starts to fall. To faint.
Fuck.
What happened?
My heart smashes into my ribs frantically as I extend my arms, leaning forward, reaching as far as I can, stretching and straining to get to her before she collapses and her head smacks into the hard floor.
My fingers wrap around her arm just enough to yank her toward me and her head smashes into my chest, bouncing once. I quickly wrap my other arm around her torso and pull her into me, eyes dropping down to examine her face, which looks pale.
