I rolled my eyes. “We’re supposed to be faking an engagement.”
“And if it wasn’t more than that, you wouldn’t have added the word ‘supposed.’”
I clicked my tongue. “Tell me why I talk to you again?”
He stood to his feet. “Because I’m good at pulling people out of the shit situations they create for themselves. Look, Reaper, I respect the hell out of Fangs caring for our women. I really do. But at the end of the day, he’ll always look to reduce his workload because he’s a businessman at heart. Not a family man. He will always put the club over the women because that’s his woman. This club is his woman. Got it?”
My bones evaporated at the realization of just how deeply I had dug my own grave.
“You’re right,” I said breathlessly.
He nodded before taking a long pull from his coffee mug. “You’re damn right, I’m right. The question is, what the hell are you going to do about it?”
I shook my head. “I honestly don’t know. The damage has already been done. You can’t take words back.”
He set his mug down and bent forward, leveling his stare with mine. “Do you love her?”
“I—I don’t—”
“Think about it carefully, because sometimes it needs a second or two of silence to figure it out. Do you love Rose? Are you in love with her?”
As I stared into my best friend’s face with my cheek sizzling like it had been set on fire, the sting of my heart as it answered the question hurt even worse. Especially given all of the things I had said to Rose only minutes before.
“I’ve been in love with her since elementary school,” I whispered.
“So,” he said as he braced his hands against his knees, “why didn’t you do anything about it?”
“I—I don’t know, actually.”
He slapped my upper arm and barked with laughter. “Then, grow a set and go get your girl. Do the groveling. Do the arguing. Let her hit that other cheek of yours, if necessary.”
I rolled my eyes. “She left a mark, didn’t she?”
He pointed to his own cheek. “Pretty nice outline. It’s been entertaining to watch. It just keeps getting darker and darker and—”
I shot up from my seat, causing him to stumble backward. “All right, all right. I get it. She knows how to hit.”
“Probably because of her father.”
I winced at his comment. “Jesus, I’m a fucking screw up.”
He thumbed over his shoulder. “Go talk to her. Unscrew it up. Women are so much more understanding than we give them credit for. Just don’t make her regret taking you back.”
With a pat of my hand on his arm to thank him, I rushed off to find Rose. I needed to make things right. I needed to talk with her. I needed to start from the beginning and tell her everything, from how I felt the first time I had ever laid eyes on her to how my heart skipped a beat when I saw her come down those stairs at her best friend’s house for our senior prom. It was a moment that would forever radiate in my mind as one of the best night’s I had ever spent with my best friend.
Laced with a love I’d never once had for anyone else, man or woman.
“Rose!” I exclaimed.
I grabbed the open doorway and rocketed myself into the room. “Rose, we really need to… talk… Rose?”
My eyes canvassed the room, and I didn’t see her anywhere.
“Rose?” I asked as I rushed into the bathroom.
I ripped back the shower curtain and found the cavern empty.
“Rose! This isn’t funny! Where are you?” I called out.
