Beautiful Rose (Beautiful Rose 1)

. He shrugged and glanced at Rose, then back at me. I saw something in his eyes. Realization. That I wasn't fucking around. He had really pissed me off, and now he thought he knew why.

Fuck him.

Whatever he thought he knew, it was wrong. So I didn't want Rose ending up in his clutches. That didn't mean I wanted her. She was just some girl I was attracted to. So what? It didn't mean anything. But even as I thought the words I knew there was more to it than just attraction. I'd been attracted to pretty girls before. Hell, I was attracted to Harmony, but what I felt with Rose was different.

The mood in the room completely changed. Suddenly it was serious, as everyone focused on the cards in front of them like they were the most interesting things on earth. I caught a look exchanged by Benj and Darcy and shot them a deathly look.

"You play this hand, and I'll watch you," I murmured.

She glanced at me, and nodded. God, there were so many things I wanted to watch this girl do, and playing cards was way down the bottom of that list. Unless the card game was strip poker. Now there’s an idea. A really bad one. We would all end up naked except Ash.

After a few more hands, she seemed to have the hang of things. Enough for her to play on her own anyway. I moved my chair back. Our proximity was beginning to make me perspire. Fuck it was hot in here. I pushed my chair back. I needed another drink, and more importantly I needed a few seconds away from this girl. She was clouding my thoughts, and she was sending each and every one of my senses into overdrive. The scent of her perfume, the sound of her voice, the way I felt when her skin brushed past mine, and god, how I longed to taste those lips. I'd been in the same room with her for less than an hour and it was driving me fucking crazy.

"Anyone want a drink?" I called out. Responses came in thick and fast, everyone requesting something different. My question had broken the awkward silence. I rolled my eyes. I shouldn't have asked.

"I'll give you a hand," Rose said, jumping up.

Before I could answer she was beside me. My fingers trembled as I clutched on to a glass. Placing it under the tap, I filled it with beer. She stood beside me carefully pouring out two glasses of wine. All I could think right then was that if it weren't for the table full of people to our left, my body would be pressed up against hers my mouth finally tasting those sweet lips.

"Thanks for this, Jack. For giving me a chance. I promise I won't let you down." She took the beer from my hands.

“Thank Alex, but I’m glad you’re here. I’m looking forward to getting to know you, Rose.”

She flashed me a smile. “Really? That’s not the feeling I got before.”

“Something you will learn pretty quickly around here is that I can be a huge ass sometimes. But I’m not past admitting when I’m wrong,” I chuckled.

She tilted her head and smiled. “I’m glad to hear that. Maybe, if you’re free for lunch one day I can take you to experience the best Tacos Brooklyn has to offer?”

Her proposal came out of nowhere, knocking the wind out of me. Suddenly, I was right back where I was before, my shame for being attracted to this sexy beauty beginning to take over. I glanced away, feeling guilty about the dirty thoughts that were circling through my brain. How the fuck was I supposed to focus when all I wanted to do was drag her up to my room, throw her down on the bed and fuck some sense into her? Of course, she didn't know what she was doing to me. She had no fucking idea just how much I wanted to feel myself inside of her, and even less idea why that could never happen.

Just tell her no. Tell her it’s a confliction of power, being her boss and all. “Sounds good,” I choked out. Bugger. Now I was fucked. I was taking direction from my dick rather than my brain, and if past experience had taught me anything, it was that my dick knew fuck all when it came to doing what’s right.

Chapter Seven

Rose

I shifted uncomfortably, the headrest cutting into my neck as I struggled to find a position that would allow me at least a few more hours sleep. Mom and Dad had threatened to kick me out if I didn't 'comply' with their treatment plan, but the fact that they'd done so had shocked me. I never thought I’d be sleeping in my car.

What the hell was their problem? I was getting help, I just couldn't stand being in that god forsaken place a moment longer. Locking me up was not the answer. Did they expect that leaving me in that place for twelve weeks would leave them with a brand new daughter?

I wish it were that easy.

I didn't have a problem that could just be fixed with therapy or drugs. It was hard to describe how I felt. Most of the time I could work through the anxiety and get on with life, but eventually it would get on top of me. It was like I was running too fast and I knew I needed to slow down but my feet wouldn't listen. I could see the wall getting closer and closer and I knew I was going to hit it and it terrified me, but there was nothing I could do. What scared me the most was not knowing what was behind that wall.

Still, it had to be better than living.

Thank god for Alex getting me this job. That meant in a couple of weeks I could get a cheap place to rent. But in the meantime, I'd need to make the most of my car. I tried to stretch out my legs in the tiny foot well of the convertible.

Why hadn't I listened to my father and gotten something more practical?

Opening my eyes, I gave them a moment to adjust to the sunlight that was glaring through the windshield. Shit, and it wasn't even six in the morning yet. A garbage truck moved slowly past me, clambering along loudly, stopping every few meters to empty a bin. Somehow, I didn't like my chances of getting anymore sleep.

I'd parked just down from the bar, off a side street where I thought I was least likely to be bothered. The police were the least of my worries. I was more concerned about having my window bashed in and being raped and murdered and having my naked body dumped in a trashcan.

And who said Law and Order wasn't informative? That would teach my parents though. How bad would you feel having to go down to the morgue to identify your only daughter hours after you kicked her out for being too mentally unstable?

As I chuckled at the thought, my stomach growled loudly, demanding to be fed. I spied a coffee shop across the road where a girl was carrying out tables and chairs. That had to mean they were open, right? My mind wandered back to the night when I was seventeen I got hungry after studying all night. I’d ducked down to the twenty four hour grocery store…Or at least I’d thought it had been twenty four hours. After about fifteen minutes of being stared at by staff, I was informed they were actually closed. I’d dropped the basket and run out, completely mortified.