Page 51 of Rage’s Rose

I look at my friend and pray that she will actually have my back on this instead of letting my dad put more people around me to control every aspect of my life. I am not the mafia princess, I am not used to bodyguards and people being around me all the time. Abby looks up at me with a guilty expression on her face.

“I think it's a good idea Rose. You don’t know who this is. The messages have been threatening. You don’t only have yourself to look out for, but you also have Reid. I’m so sorry that I broke your trust and told them about everything, but I’m worried about you.”

I look at her and roll my eyes, “Yeah everyone always seems to be more worried about shit than I am, but it still was not your place. I get where you were coming from, but it’s wrong that you took matters into your own hands again like what I want doesn’t matter.” She looks down after I finish talking and I look back at my dad. “So what, I have to be babysat all the time because some freak thinks he can have something that doesn’t belong to him?”

“Yeah, Rose. That’s exactly it. You don’t know what this person is capable of and who might be helping him. Abby told me there were photos from some of the girls at that club your baby daddy is from. So that means he has the ability to be involved in all areas of your life. I am not going to sit back and let anything happen to you or my grandson. So until this asshole is taken care of that is what is going to happen. Also what did you mean when you told him you would send him your address?”

I sigh, “He’s Reid’s father. He will be staying in the guest house with his other son. At least until Reid is older. It’ll work for now.”

“He has another son? Did he abandon this one as well? I don’t remember you telling me he had a son.”

“No dad, the woman didn’t tell him about Mason. He only found out after she died. I don’t know all the details, just what Liza has told me. I haven’t had any of that conversation with Rage. The longest we talked since that phone call after I heard and saw him with that bitch was today.”

“Alright. Well your siblings want to see you and meet their new family member. Are you up to seeing everyone in the hospital or do you want me to set them up in a hotel and they can meet you at home when you are released?”

“Can you set them up, I’m really tired and honestly had my fill of visitors today. I will see them when I get back home.”

“Of course baby girl. I love you.” He then turns to Abby, “Make sure you send me pictures. I am sure you’ve taken a bunch.”

He kisses me on the forehead and I whisper that I love him before he heads out of the room. I’m sure to make his obnoxious phone calls giving me limited privacy and to even chew out Finn for not telling him what was going on. I look at Abby.

“So what all did you share with him?”

“The important stuff, Rose. Shit he needed to know. You two have so much to share with each other it’s ridiculous and honestly I hope he looks more into the shit about the nights he was too fucking drunk to remember shit. He might not have made statements about being there for you or in a relationship with you out loud, but that man was one hundred percent in a relationship with you in his mind.”

“It wasn’t your place to tell him anything! You had no right to share personal shit with him. You are one of my best friends and I love you, but sometimes you step over the line! It’s so crazy to me, Abby, that when you heard that shit go down you were totally against him, but now all the sudden you are willing to believe that he’s a good guy.”

“I am sorry you feel that way! I really did not intend to upset you, I just felt like if your life is in danger, he needs to know! Your family needs to know. You can’t keep these things from people when you need to protect yourself and that precious baby. As far as everything else, when you were in Texas I saw a change in him. He was beat down. Rose, he has this darkness that he doesn’t hide well. He’s been through shit you can see that. You knew he was hiding parts of himself, but you still kept going there because you knew deep down he was a good guy. He had to be somewhere you felt like you could be safe to fall in love with him. So yes, parts of him had to make you feel that way. He’s not like the other nasty fuckers you’ve dated. He’s messed up. When you were in Texas I saw how torn up he was. How much you not being here broke something in him. I may not have liked the shit he did and said, but I can recognize trauma when I see it.

But from what I understand, he didn’t do anything with anyone until Missy died and that’s if he actually did. He talked a big game from what I heard at the clubhouse trying to deny everything, but when women tried to get with him they complained that he never could do anything with them. I’m thinking that those photos and those nights were staged to make him think he did shit. For multiple reasons, I think one was to get you to leave him and I think the other was for him to feel so guilty or even feel like ‘well shit I guess I can fuck other women’ so he does it more. I wanted to believe the worst in him when this happened because what I heard made my blood boil. But I’ve seen the way he was when you left town, I’ve seen the way he was when you came back, I’ve heard about how he’s been different since everyone found out about Mason. He’s trying. He’s trying to change and I think it’s not just for those two boys. I think not having you and fearing he won’t have you again is making him want to change for you and for the two of you. I just recognize the trauma responses he has. He has childhood trauma, he doesn’t need to tell you that, you can just see it. The way he reacts to things, you can’t predict it. You can see the walls he tries to put up, Rose. But he’s trying for himself, for you and for his sons.”

I ignore everything she said because she can’t keep butting into my business while she keeps secrets of her own from me.

“You seem to have a lot of information from the club. Are you going to tell me who the hell is providing you with that information?”

“It’s no one anymore. So don’t worry about it.”

“Anymore? So there was someone. I mean I knew you were hooking up with someone in the club. Why are you so insistent on being in my business when you won’t tell me who it is that you’ve obviously fallen head over heels for?”

“Because that’s done, it doesn’t fucking matter, Rose.”

“It matters to me that my friend is hurting and instead of leaning on me you’ve felt like you’ve had to hide everything. Yet another thing these dumb ass bikers do. You can talk to me, you know that. No matter what I am going through I’m never not going to be there for you.”

She walks over and sits on the bed next to me.

“I know that Rose, but I want to work it all out in my head before I share it with everyone else. Okay? I just don’t want to give you half of the story now.”

“Fine. I’ll accept that for now. But I’m going to keep bugging you until you tell me.”

“Deal. But you need to not get mad at me when I give you some hard truths about your baby daddy biker. Yes, I am angry at him for what he said about you. But somewhere there are more misunderstandings that we need to figure out and I think eventually, Rose, you are going to have to push past some of that hurt and talk to him. Really talk to him. Find out his hang ups and everything. You might not want to be his and that is fine, but I have a feeling that he is not going to let go of you now that he knows what he lost. Men are idiots. We all know this, but I think that bikers seem to be more idiotic. I don’t know why. Especially since I have seen and heard about their fathers and let me tell you, I think this group should be smarter than they are when it comes to women.”

I just laugh and shake my head because really what do you say to that. It is true, for whatever reason this generation of this club seems to not have their shit together. All of us seem to have some sort of issue with one of these men and whatever is going on with Abby and her mystery biker is just another thing that proves they do not learn.

“Try and get some sleep. I’ll hang out with our boy here.”

I hand off Reid to Abby and try to put everything out of my mind and focus on what I need to focus on and that is sleeping and being ready to be the best mom I can be.

Chapter Twenty-Four