WiseWave620: I have Church soon.
Fuck. Rose knew that meant a club meeting and not a religious church. They were mandatory, especially for Keys as an officer.
Gl!tch.OS: It’ll just have to wait until later.
Oscar wasn’t sick often, but when he was, he clung to her like a koala. And as much as Rose loved the idea of extra hugs, she hated when they came at the expense of his health.
WiseWave620: Please, Rose. I don’t care where you are or who is with you. I just need to know you’re okay.
Rose stared at her screen, wondering where he thought she was and who was with her. But she couldn’t video him right now. Putting aside that she looked like shit, she had Oscar on her lap.
Gl!tch.OS: I’m sorry. I can’t.
WiseWave620: Fuck. Rose, I’m really worried about you. You have NEVER disappeared like this before. No notice, no communication. Even Poison says she hasn’t heard from you at all.
Gl!tch.OS: You talked to my sister??
Oscar started to fuss a little, so Rose switched to typing one handed while keeping the other on his back, doing small circles.
WiseWave620: I talked to Poison about MV.
Rose sagged a little at the clarification.
WiseWave620: I would never betray your secret, Rose. You should know better than that.
Gl!tch.OS: I do! Really.
Gl!tch.OS: I’m sorry I panicked.
WiseWave620: Please.
Fuck. Rose closed her eyes, and simply breathed for a moment. She didn’t know what to do. She could simply say ‘no’. It was her right and choice, and if Keys had a problem with it, then it washisproblem. But… But the fact that she was hesitating, the fact that there was even a consideration of turning on her camera, showed just how much she wanted to.
And that spoke volumes.
Gl!tch.OS: Are you alone?
Fuck, what was she thinking? Why was she even considering this?
WiseWave620: Yes.
Rose took her free hand and tried to straighten out her hair. After making the connection, she placed her hand over Oscar’s face and waited for Keys to pick up.
* * *
Keys didn’t thinkhe’d ever answered a call so fast—or been struck speechless so quickly. Rose was… Fuck, she was beautiful. Amess, and clearly sleep deprived, but beautiful. He’d seen pictures of her from her youth, school portraits and social media posts, but nothing since her mugshot when she was seventeen.
Thick blonde hair with an elven face and large round glasses framing breathtakingly blue eyes, she likely turned heads no matter where she went.
It had not passed Keys’ notice that over the past year and a half of their friendship, she was constantly able to look in on him, while he’d been unable to check in on her even once. And while the argument had been made to him several times over the past several days—by numerous people, including Rose’s sister—that people had a right to privacy, Keys found that he did not like the complete blackout of communication between Rose and him.
Not even a single fricking text.
Keys didn’t mind helping out, even though Poison was intimidating enough to scare the shit out of a pissed-off grizzly bear. What he didn’t like was not knowing where Rose was, why she was there, and who she was with. And yes, he was aware he was jealous.
Rose wasn’t his romantically. Not like Lucky and Harper, and Bear and Tessa, and all his other club brothers who were paired up. But she felt like his, or at least, his person. In the year and a half since he’d picked up that modulated phone call, she’d easily become the most important person in his life.
Keys didn’t want to delude himself into thinking he was falling for her when clearly she didn’t feel the same way.
