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He fucking loved that. Waking up to a different Rosie every day. But the same in all the ways that mattered. He loved that she would never be happy stationary. That to her, everything in her life was fluid, except the people she loved. With Rosie, that was forever.
“Well,” she said, “I was making room for some more of my clothes and I found a rogue pair of handcuffs.”
Luke’s cock pulsed again and he hissed out a breath.
Her eyes flared. “Yeah,” she whispered, feeling his cock pressing into her stomach. “Now you get why I don’t like it? We don’t get to use them.”
Luke yanked his mouth to hers, kissing her like he wanted to fuck her: hard, rough, and with no mercy.
She blinked dreamily when he stopped, her face flush.
“We’re gonna fuckin’ use them,” Luke growled. “I promise you that.”
She smiled again. “I’ll hold you to that, Crawford. And I’m thinking I get to do the handcuffing.”
She winked and sauntered away. He watched the sway of her ass, his balls crying out to him to fuck her brains out. Now. But he didn’t. Because he had shit to do and she’d be there later on.
But she wasn’t. And now Luke might never get to fuckin’ see her bite her lip, watch her face flush after he kissed her. He wanted to rip his own skin apart for how trapped he felt inside his own body.
“Son.”
Luke’s head snapped up. He’d been sitting in a chair in church, on his own, head in his hands in a rare moment of stillness. He cursed himself for getting lost in that, even if it was for a few seconds. That was a few seconds he would never get back. That was a few seconds that could mean everything to Rosie.
His father stood in front of him, face unreadable. He looked very old all of a sudden. It was strange. He and Rosie had just seen the man and the lines on his forehead hadn’t been there. He hadn’t looked like that.
Luke stared at his father. “I failed,” he choked out. “I swore, since that day in the car, I swore I’d protect her, and I fucking failed,” he hissed, not caring that his father wouldn’t remember the very day he decided to bring down the club to protect Rosie.
And now the only chance Rosie had was the club.
Luke’s father walked in unhurriedly, clapped his son on the back. “No, Luke, you didn’t fail her,” he muttered. “You givin’ up?”
“Fuck no,” Luke said fiercely.
“Then you haven’t failed her,” Bill said firmly. “You know she don’t need protectin’. You know she’s strong. She’s gonna be whole and well when you find her. You’re gonna find her, Luke.”
His father’s voice was firm, but there was something beneath it. Desperation. Because Luke knew his father understood that if they didn’t find her, he’d lose his son forever.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Rosie
They kept me in that house for twenty-four hours.
Fernandez was true to his word. No one touched me. They fed me. Gave me water. Bathroom breaks.
Very polite kidnappers, all in all.
But then again, they didn’t need to starve me or beat me. Physical violence only went so far. They landed the deepest of blows without touching a hair on my head. Those photos worked better than anything else would have.
I got snatches of sleep, for handfuls of minutes. Then I saw Belle’s beautiful locks, matted in blood. Gwen’s sightless stare. Bex enduring more horrors. Bull meeting the Devil truly, without anything to bring him back.
But when Fernandez came back in, I was wide awake, ready.
“Ah, I’m glad to see you’re looking so refreshed,” he greeted warmly.
I glared at him.
“So you’ve considered my proposition?” he asked pleasantly.
“What do you want?” I hissed. “You went to all the trouble to kidnap me, surveil my family, threaten them. You’ve shown me how large your dick is, I get it. What’s with the theatrics?”
“I hear you are a rather… unpredictable young woman,” he said.
I snorted.
“I just need assurances that, on your next holiday, you do not choose to come to my country,” he said smoothly.
“Ah, so you want to make sure your business isn’t disrupted again,” I spat.
He nodded once. “We are in understanding.”
“Yeah, asshole. Congratu-fucking-lations.”
He shook his head, smiling. “Unpredictable, brave, or stupid? I’m not sure which.”
“Well you think on that real hard. Till your head explodes, even,” I invited.
“Brave, I think,” he surmised. “But brave or not, it’s not you I kill if I hear of you being unpredictable again. I’ll kill all of them.” He nodded to the photos.
“I get it, Hannibal Lecter,” I seethed.
He glanced at his hundred-thousand-dollar watch, bought with stolen innocence. “Ah, they should arrive soon.”
I didn’t answer.
“Your family is quite effective,” he continued. “I didn’t expect them to discover this location until later.” His eyes moved over me with the first show of real interest since this thing began. It made me sick to my stomach. “Pity,” he said. “But oh well. It has been a pleasure knowing you, Rosie. May we never meet again.”
