Page 8 of Gang of Roses: Rebel

Crow gently slid one hand beneath my chin. “Look at me.”

Without any questions, I listened. His hazel eyes searched my face, taking in every bruise, every cut, every swollen spot.

“Damn, Rain.” They did a fuckin’ number on you.”

Before I could come up with something smart to say, he carefully pressed the cold towel against my swollen cheek.

I hissed. “Shit!”

“I know.”

“But hold still,” he spoke gently.

He kept the ice against my face, adjusting it every few seconds to cover the worst of the swelling. Surprisingly, his touch was gentle for a man whose hands spent all day working on motorcycles.

I watched Crow quietly, and his jaw was still clenched. Every now and then his eyes drifted to the bruises circling my neck before tightening with anger all over again. He wasn’t saying much. However, I knew exactly what was going through his mind. He wanted Titan.

“I’m gonna pay him a visit.”

I reached up and grabbed his wrist before he could pull away.

“No.”

His eyes met mine. “Rebel⁠—”

“I said no.”

“You expect me to look at you like this and do nothing?”

“Yes,” I admitted.

“The fuck I am,” he said with his nostrils flaring.

“You hardheaded as hell.”

“Says the woman who walked into a bar by herself looking for a fight.”

“Touche,” I grinned.

As I watched him take care of me, one thought quietly settled in the back of my mind. Honestly, I didn’t know what the hell I’d do without Crow in my life. He had been there since grade school. While a lot of people disappeared, he never stopped showing up for me. I was damn grateful God had given me a best friend like him.

Chapter 3

Cario “Crow” Domingo

Areal man protected women. He didn’t beat them. Titan wasn’t anything but a coward with a heartbeat. Ever since I was a kid, I couldn’t stand that grimy motherfucker. Every time I looked at him, all I saw was a bully who got off on terrorizing women and anybody too weak to fight back. No way was I gonna allow him to disrespect Rebel. Yeah, she was the toughest woman I knew, but even the strongest women deserved to be protected. Titan crossed a line the moment he put his hands on her. He hadn’t just attacked another woman. That sucka nigga put his hands on somebody I cared about, and that was a mistake he was about to pay for, and I put that on my life.

The fucked-up part was that Titan shared the same blood as Rebel. A father was supposed to be his daughter’s first protector, not the very monster she spent her whole life trying to escape. Instead, Titan became the reason Rebel always had one eye over her shoulder and one hand ready to fight. That bitch-ass motherfucker had been getting away with that shit for far too long. He was finally gonna answer for every woman he ever put his hands on. His luck had run out the second he laid another hand on Rebel. Today, he was about to learn the difference between a bully and a man willing to bury one.

The bar he owned wasn’t open yet, which worked just fine for me. That gave me plenty of time to make my statement loud and clear before the first customer walked through those doors. Usually, I was calm. I stayed out of trouble, ran my shop, and minded my own damn business. But when you fucked with someone I loved, all that calm shit went straight out the window.

I turned to face Rebel, who was sitting in the passenger seat. She had tried to stop a nigga from confronting her bitch-ass father. Matter of fact, he didn’t even deserve the title of father. The sorry motherfucker was nothing more than a coward who put his hands on women because he was too weak to pick a fight with a man.

Just as I opened the driver’s door, Rebel clutched hold of my tattoo-covered arm. She had a look in her eyes. It wasn’t fear; it was something else. Something that made me stop. It was the look of someone who knew exactly what I was about to do but hated what it would cost me. She didn’t say a word. She didn’t have to. The grip she had on my arm said everything.

“I don’t think you need to do this.”

“Rain, I already told you I wasn’t playing. That nigga’s gonna have to see me.”