♦𝕭𝖑𝖆𝖐𝖊♦

Rose sleeps curled up in my arms. It's early into the morning now and I haven't been able to wind down, or manage to get any sleep at all.

While Cash had Rose distracted, Max said some things. He admitted to some stuff that has my gut twisting and turning.

The only thing that's keeping me sane is that Rose is no longer in that house, her brother is in jail and Max is scared shitless after I broke his arm and fractured his jaw.

I wanted to do more, in the moment I wanted to make him take his last breath. Ace had to pull me off of him before I did, in hindsight I'm grateful that he did.

I was beyond mad in the moment though, I wanted to do whatever it took to make sure Rose is safe and him six feet under would make the world a little safer for her.

But the cops will ignore people with their faces bashed in around there on a day a fight is happening. A dead body is forcing them to step in, and nobody's happy with that.

So while I might have eliminated one threat for good, I'd be sitting behind bars leaving her vulnerable to the rest.

"What time is it?" Rose's soft morning voice fans across my chest.

"Nine." I grumble back. If she's asking what time it is, that means she's going to be getting up, and I just want her to stay in my arms for the rest of the day.

"Nine?" She gasps out, pushing off my chest and sitting up. I let out a groan of annoyance. Get back here you little fucker.

My hands reach out for her but she skillfully dodges them. "I'm supposed to be at Bella's right now!"

Rose is out of the bed in seconds, grabbing clothes and running to the bathroom. I forgot it's Saturday, her and Bella have deemed Saturday morning a friendship breakfast day.

They make a new fancy looking meal every time and I'm not invited, but Rose always brings me back a plate. That's how I know she hasn't got tired of me yet, even when she's hanging out with her friend she thinks about me too.

I grab the blanket and pull it to my chest, rolling over on my side with what Rose would call my pouty face.

"I'll be back in a few hours." Rose says from the bedroom door as she tries to leave. All she gets is a moody huff back from me, my arms feel cold now and this blanket isn't doing shit for me.

The only way they'll be satisfied is if she hops back in bed with me. But no, she has to go hang out with her friend and leave me here all alone.

The brush of soft lips on my cheek has my heart stop and my eyes opening. Rose is leaning over me, kissing my cheek and suddenly I feel like a new man.

"Get some sleep, I'll bring you breakfast in bed later." She whispers then places another kiss on my cheek.

She leaves, but not before smirking at the wide ass smile I have on my face now. Fucking hell that girl makes me feel so many things I never thought possible.

I thought people were talking out their ass when they said stuff about getting butterflies. Now a whole swarm of them attack me whenever she's near.

I close my eyes again when I hear the front door shut. Might as well try to get some sleep again since I have nothing better to do now.

⇼♢⇼♢⇼♢⇼♢⇼

"Blake!" The voice sounds urgent but far away, like I'm dreaming but awake at the same time.

"Blake!" I know that voice, it's Bella's. I must have fallen asleep, but why would Bella be here?

The sounds of my door crashing open pulls me fully out of the deep sleep I was stuck in.

"Blake! Get up! Someone broke into my apartment and threw me out. Rose is in there, I couldn't get back in!" She yells hysterically. She's ripping the blankets off me before she finishes her sentence.

My body moves before my brain fully comprehends what she's saying. When my feet hit the cold floor the words drill into me.

Rose is in trouble.

This better be a fucking nightmare and Rose is still tucked against my chest completely safe.

But it's not, Bella grabs the baseball bat Rose keeps behind the door and runs out of the room throwing cuss words out like no one's business.

I'm running past her before she makes it out of my apartment and when I reach her door anger pulses through me.

First I hear Rose scream, then I hear him. Conway is on the other side of the door with my girl, and he'll be lucky if he leaves alive.

"Conway! Open this fucking door right now, motherfucker!" I bellow as my fists pound against the door. I try to twist the knob, but like Bella said it's locked so it doesn't budge.

That only leaves me with one choice. "I'm gonna break your door." I inform Bella, I'll pay her for any damages but nothing is going to stop me from getting to Rose.

"Do it. I'm gonna bash this man's face in." She growls, swinging the bat around in her hand with a hard look on her face.

Although I appreciate her enthusiasm to protect Rose, Conway is mine. If anyone is going to bash his face in, it's me.

I back away from the door to get a running start.

"Fuck you! You little bitch!" Conway yells. The heart shattering scream that Rose lets out after masks the pain in my shoulder as I ram it into the door.

"I swear to God, Conway! You better keep your hands off her!"

Why the fuck is Bella's door so strong? I back up to try again, every second I spend out here is a second that I've failed to protect Rose. If I don't make it through this time I'm busting through her living room window.

My shoulder slams into the door again, I hear a snap and then my body is tumbling through the frame and into the apartment.

When Rose's eyes meet mine I almost drop to my knees. The relief they show is a punch to the gut, a reminder that she was counting on me. It's something that would usually make me happy, but the blood she has smeared on her face tells me that I'm already too late.

She steps towards me, but before she can make it anywhere Conway pulls her back to him.

The knife he has pressed to her throat within milliseconds has me stopping in my tracks.

"You move, she dies." He spits the words out causing Rose to flinch. I see a trickle of blood fall down her neck from the blade slicing into her delicate skin.

"Drop the bat." I didn't even realize that Bella came in with me, but I hear the bat cling on the tile floor as she drops it.

My body aches with the need to run to Rose, but in doing so I might be ending her life. So I stay planted where I am, ten feet away from my girl with a knife digging into her flesh.

"You kill her and I'll kill you, slowly and painfully." I growl, teeth clenched and hands shaking.

If she's gone there's no need for me to stay out of prison, Conway would be begging for death by the time I'm done with him.

"Keep your mouth shut or I'll carve hers out of her face." He's lying, I can tell by the way he shifted his foot.

He won't kill her but that doesn't mean he won't hurt her, he already has.

Rose's eyes fall on mine, and the look she gives me makes my heart crumble. She believes the words Conway is spewing, she thinks he is going to kill her.

What makes it worse is that she isn't scared, the look in her eyes isn't one of fear. It's one of acceptance and it chills me to the bone.

I love you, she mouths. And it turns me inside out.

God, how long have I been waiting to hear those words from her, only to have them presented like this.

I feel cheated, jipped, completely conned. He forced those words out of her mouth before she was ready, now her first I love you, will forever be an image of her with a knife pressed against her making her bleed bright red.

The color of love and the color of death. To her in this moment the two mix creating a haunting shade that sweeps over her.

I can't take it anymore, why the hell is she just giving up. Because of me? Because she thinks that my life is more important than hers?

Bullshit, when will she understand that she means the world to me.

"What are you playing at Conway?" His motives are blurry, I know he wants to win the fight but he isn't laying down that demand.

"I just came to give your girl a message for you, but she decided to get feisty." That's when I noticed the bruise forming around his eye and the blood leaking from his crooked nose. My eyes snap down to Rose's hands and I see that her knuckles are cracked.

She fought him, my girl landed punches good enough to do damage to an underground fighter.

I fight the smile that wants to make an appearance, Conway still has a knife pressed to her throat and I don't want to set him off anymore than he already is.

"I didn't come here to do any physical damage, but she went berserk when I locked the door." Good, at least she listened when I told her to strike first when she felt threatened.

As Conway talks the knife slightly moves away from Rose's neck. It's no longer being pressed into her skin, Rose's eyes look at me confused.

Just moments ago she was awaiting death and now she's having to process that she might not die.

"What message?" I ask. I could care less about his damn message, but I know he won't let Rose go until I hear it.

"The fight, I want you to throw it." Like I didn't already know that.

"Ok." I agree without hesitation. All rules on keeping agreements go out the window when you have a man's girl at knife point. I'll agree to anything if it keeps her safe, and I won't feel a single tinge of guilt when I break said agreement.

"If you don't follow through I'll come back for her. I'll dump her body over a bridge when I'm done with her." His eyes are wild, I can't believe I just noticed it. He's on something and it makes my heart race painfully.

Not only is Rose in the hands of someone who hates me, but he's on something so who knows what he's capable of right now. "I'll follow through, just let her go." Even though my voice is rough and demanding, the worry I have for her is laced between every word.

I don't know how I'm going to pull this off, if he comes after her again and I'm not around... I can't think about that right now. I just have to focus on getting her out of this one safely.

"I don't believe you." The words leave his mouth in an angry snarl as he presses the knife against Rose again making her flinch. Fire burns through my body settling in my fingertips as I curl them into my palms.

The urge to charge and beat the living shit out of him is taking over me, but I can't put Rose in any more danger.

"What can I do to make you believe me?" To make you get your filthy hands off my girl.

"Hmmm." He hums, getting cocky as a smirk lifts up on the left side of his mouth. "Maybe I'll just take her with me for reassurance. Don't worry, I'll take good care of her and return her to you unharmed, if you throw the fight." My heart clenches in my chest when Rose's eyes grow wide with panic.

Like hell I'm letting that bastard take her anywhere.

I need to get her away from him without getting her throat slit. But I don't know how to grantee that and it makes my blood boil.

My whole body starts to shake in anger when I see that Rose's hands are trembling out of fear. This fuckers going to die, I'm going to kill him.

"Like hell you will. Get your fucking grimy ass palms off my girl before I skin you alive!" My voice booms across the apartment, the walls shaking at the power.

My feet break the invisible glue that was holding them to the ground and I take a threatening step forward.

If I see that knife press anymore into her neck then I'm lunging for it, I'll rip it away before he does any major damage. I will, I have to, it's the only option.

I'll make sure she ends up ok.

Conway's eyes flash fear, he, for his own safety, foolishly pulls the knife away from Rose and points it at me.

Problem is, I'm not scared of getting stabbed, hell I'm not scared of dying as long as Rose is ok.

He realizes his mistake too late, and when he goes to hold it back against Rose she's already putting some of the moves I've shown her to use.

As she twists free of his grip she also knees him in the groin. By the time he starts to wheeze from the hit I'm already ripping the knife out of his hand and throwing it across the room away from everyone.

What happened next happened in slow motion.

The way that Rose looked at me, so proud of herself, gave me goosebumps. The look of horror on Conway's when he fully realizes that he's lost his weapon and the only thing holding me back from attacking him.

The way Bella celebrates in the background throwing all kinds of cuss words out in triumph. All the things I shouldn't have been paying attention to but was.

Because Conway noticed it too and used it as his chance for escape. He kicked his foot out, wiping Rose's feet out from under her.

She tries to catch herself, but it doesn't work and she stumbles back heading straight for the corner of the coffee table.

Fuck. I drop the grip I had on Conway and rush to Rose.

My brain does all these little calculations as I run to her. If I grip her hand and pull her to me it might be too late and she'll hit her head anyway.

If I put my hands behind her head so they take the blow instead of her, and I place them wrong or the corner slips between my fingers then she'll be bleeding out through her fucking skull.

So that leaves me with option three. I tackle her, like she's about to be hit by a car. I ram my body into hers so I can get her away from that stupid sharp glass edge Bella got for aesthetic reasons.

I wrap my arms around Rose, cradling her head to my chest as we go flying across the apartment at an ungodly speed. I somehow manage to flip us and when we finally hit the ground it's my back that makes contact with it.

"Fucking hell" I wheeze out as I cling desperately to the girl in my arms. How many fucking times is she going to get that close to death without actually dying?

"I'll come for her again if you don't throw the fight!" Conway yells as he scrambles off the floor and heads for the exit.

He almost makes it there too, but then Bella throws the bat at him hitting him in the back of the knees causing him to tumble and smack his head on the door frame.

Unlucky for me it wasn't enough to knock him out but he did leave a trail of blood as he crawled the rest of the way out of the apartment. Bastard.

"Are you ok?" I switch my attention back to my girl hugged tightly to my chest, she isn't moving and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't scaring the shit out of me.

"Rose, are you ok?" I can hear the panic laced words echo across the now silent apartment. Did she end up hitting her head anyway?

My hands move from her back to her head checking for injuries, thankfully I find none. Finally her head tilts up and her wide green eyes meet mine.

"You're like a ninja." She whispers. She's going to give me a heart attack one of these days.

"Answer the question, Rose." Sometimes she's the master of changing subjects so she doesn't have to lie to me. Unfortunately for her I'm catching onto her ways and can tell when she's trying to pull one over on me now.

"Uhhh." She was going to try and avoid the question until she saw the stern look on my face. "I'm just a little bit hurt... I swear it's not a big deal, I'll be fine in no time!" Her body betrays her as another drop of blood leaves the cut on her face.

Honestly it was a stupid question on my part, I can tell she isn't fine. Conway will pay for this.

"Fucking hell." The curse leaves my mouth in a breath when I see her bruised and swollen knuckles. "Let's get you bandaged up."

I don't let go of her as I stand, cradling her against my chest is keeping my heart from beating wildly out of control in panic.

"Are you ok, Bella?" I know she didn't get physically hurt, but that doesn't mean she's ok.

"Yeah, mad I missed and hit him in the knees instead of the head, but at least he smacked his head on the way down." She says in a grumble as she swoops down and retrieves the bat from the ground.

Rose snorts in my arm and whispers a 'That's my girl' in approval.

"Come with us, you shouldn't stay here alone after that. I'll get your door fixed soon, but until then you should stay with us." I don't bother to ask Rose first, I know she wouldn't have it any other way. And when her bright green eyes smile up at me I know I made the right decision.

"Yeah, good idea." Bella mumbles as she pokes at the broken door that is hanging on by a thread with the bat. The light poke is just enough force to send the door crashing to the ground completely.

"Oops." She giggles at the pile of broken wood at her feet. Man, I'm so glad that Rose picked a friend like her. I'd be losing my mind right now if Bella was freaking out or bitching about damages.

Bella grabs her bag and swings it over her shoulder. It has to be the emergency bag Rose told me about, she thought it was such a good idea she made one herself. The bag contains a pair of pajamas, an outfit and basic toiletries.

"Ok I'm ready. Let's go so Rose can bleed all over your carpet instead of mine." She jokes, making Rose gasp.

"Hey! I'm not even bleeding that much. Plus you should be grateful that you get such a vital part of me." She tries to wiggle out of my arms, but I don't plan on letting her go until we get back to our apartment.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say sweet cheeks." Bella laughs as she steps over the pile of broken wood and out of the apartment.

Sometimes I wonder how that girl can have so much confidence in certain situations. Like right now, as she marches into my apartment like she owns the place and makes herself at home on my couch.

It's nice though, I don't have to worry about making her comfortable or anything. "I'm gonna watch TV unless you need me to help with anything. Need to fill this brain with some good thoughts before I fall fully into the dark side."

I go to speak but Rose beats me to it. "My watch list is full of cartoons if you want to get on my account. Just don't get on Blake's, his is all documentaries about how the world is going to end soon."

I frown down at her, she's the one who started a watch list on my account. "I thought you liked watching documentaries with me?" I thought that was one of our things, no one else likes to watch them with me. Has she been faking it this whole time?

"I do, but they don't exactly brighten the mood." She deadpans. Eh, yeah, that's a good point.

"Ok, enough chit chat. I need to patch you up before you bleed out." Every time she moves her neck the small cut from the knife breaks open and starts bleeding again.

"I did what you said." The proud smile she has on her face makes my stomach flip.

"How so?" I question as I place her down on the bathroom counter and dig out the first aid kit.

"I went crazy! As soon as he started coming at me and I felt unsafe I gave him the old one two spin kick." God, the names she comes up with for her combos.

"Did you now?" I hum. I grab a washcloth and wet it, then start to wipe away the blood that's drying on her neck.

"Yeah, then I kept going. My fists were flying so fast I'm sure they would have been blurry if anyone was watching!" The excitement in her voice is contagious, but it doesn't make me forget that he hurt her, and I should have been there to stop it.