“I need to keep her away from this. We should have thought about the fact that Kennedy knows about Poison.”
“I did think about it,” Keys told her sharply. “The club is down in Mississippi, but I planted a trail that said they were up towards Canada.”
Rose frowned. Since arriving in Mount Grove, Keys had been acting as MV to give Rose time to acclimate her and Oscar to the apartment. Additionally, Rose did not realize just how poorly she slept when it had been her and Oscar on their own until they arrived here, a place where she felt extremely safe. She wasgrateful Keys was able to act on her accord without theNon Crasbeing the wiser.
“I still don’t like it,” Rose commented, her eyes on Oscar. He was so engrossed in his painting that he hadn’t yet realized she was no longer sitting next to him.
“Why don’t you come down to my lab? You can look over everything I’ve done, and if it’s not to your satisfaction, then we can figure something else out.”
Rose’s attention was immediately on the door to the apartment. Neither she nor Oscar had left the apartment since arriving. “I shouldn’t.”
“Rose,” Keys’ voice was soft and encouraging, but also firm. “No one is here. While my brothers do have access to the building, they can’t enter without my knowing.”
Why did it seem like such a momentous task? Like this apartment made her invisible to the outside world, and beyond that doorway, she would be visible.
“I don’t know…” she murmured. Oscar made a noise, which brought her eyes back to the kitchen table and the mess her son had made. “I can’t,” she said more firmly. “I can’t leave Oscar alone.”
Keys spoke without hesitation. “I can send Thorne down to watch him, or you can clean him up and bring him.”
Crap. She’d been hoping he would take the hint. “It’s fine. I trust what you’ve done?—”
“Rose. Baby. I’m sending Thorne to you. He’ll watch Oscar while you come down here.” After a second, he added, “Please.”
Double crap. “Fine,” she gritted out. “Just…” She glanced down at herself. “I need to get cleaned up, too, so it’ll take me a bit to get down there.”
“Thorne is heading down to you now. Shower, change, do whatever you need to do, and then come to me.”
Needing to lighten the mood, Rose quipped, “Wow. You really will do just about anything to get out of a run.”
Keys snorted. “I fucking hate running.”
There was a knock on the apartment door. Excited, Oscar leapt to his feet and ran to answer it, leaving splatters of paint as he did.
But when he saw who was at the door, Oscar frowned as only a four-year-old could as he turned away and started back towards the table. “It’s only Mr. Thorny.”
Perplexed, Rose reminded her son, “You like Mr. Thorne. Don’t be rude, Oscar.”
Climbing back up on his chair, Oscar argued back, “I thought it was Keys with another present for me!”
The laughter on the other end of the line as well as her son’s indignant expression had Rose dropping her face into her hand. “You’re spoiling him too much!”
Through his laughter, Keys defended himself, “You are never going to convince me to stop. Both of you deserve to be spoiled.”
“You can’t make him like you through gifts and toys,” Rose argued.
“The hell I can’t. He’s a kid, Rose! He deserves a life filled with love, laughter, and toys. We can still teach him to be responsible and respectful while also spoiling him.”
Picking her head up from her hand, she greeted Thorne with a shy wave. “Let me get situated here,” she told Keys into the phone, “and then I’ll be down to you.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
* * *
Feelinglike she should put some effort into her outfit and appearance without wanting to seem like she was trying too hard, Rose put on her nicest pair of jeans, a baggy tunic with a spaghetti strap on her right shoulder, and a pair of black flats. The graphic on the tunic was that of a plate of nachos, and underwas text stating the belief that nachos were just tacos that didn’t have their life together.
Back in the main room, she saw Thorne was trying to help Oscar write his name using fingerprint dots.
“Don’t look, Mommy!” Oscar exclaimed, trying to use his little body to block her view of the table. “It’s a surprise!”
