Craving Rose (The Aces' Sons 5)

Knowing that Copper was about to hit me, or worse, and planning for that eventuality? It had fucked with my head big time. Even worse had been the look on Mack’s face when he’d said that he was scared. Finally, after years of my dad and brothers telling me over and over again that I needed to be careful, all that it had taken was the look of helplessness in my man’s eyes to put that fear into me.

Work was slow, even with Lily and Leo there to entertain me. There weren’t enough customers to keep me busy, and I could do restocking and cleanup in my sleep. By the time the last customer left, I was yawning into my hand.

“You headed to your place or Mack’s?” Leo asked as I waved to my boss across the room. Of course he came in after everything was done, just to lock up and check my receipts. I rolled my eyes.

“Home, I guess,” I said, checking my phone for the fifth time. Mack hadn’t responded to any of my texts.

Leo and Lily were playing grab-ass as I pushed the front door open and stepped outside, and for less than a minute, I was alone in the dark.

I barely held back a scream when I saw Copper leaning against the building. He had a butterfly bandage on his cheekbone, another on the side of his nose, and the rest of his face was bruised a rainbow of colors.

“Hear me out,” he said, raising his hands in surrender. “You gotta say somethin’ to—”

“She doesn’t gotta say shit to no one,” Leo barked as he shoved past me.

“It’s none of your business, man,” Copper replied, full of bravado. I was comforted to see he’d taken a step backward, though.

“Call your pop,” Leo ordered me.

He must have told Lily to stay inside, because the door swung closed behind him and she was nowhere to be seen.

Leo stepped forward and said something to Copper, but I didn’t catch it because I was already putting my phone to my ear.

“Rose?” my dad answered. “Everything okay?”

“When I got off work, Copper was waiting outside the bar,” I said shakily, staring at Leo’s back. His shoulders straightened, and everything inside me went on alert.

“I’ll be right there,” my dad said immediately. “Leo with you?”

“Yeah.”

“Be there soon, baby girl,” he said. “Hold tight.”

As soon as my dad hung up, I called Mack, almost crying when his phone went straight to voicemail.

“This is bullshit,” Copper spat. “Rose, tell them it was just a misunderstanding.”

I kept my mouth shut.

“Oh, come on,” he said, throwing his hands in the air. “You get up in everyone’s shit when they have a fight with their woman?”

“She ain’t your woman,” Leo replied calmly. “Hasn’t been for a long ass time.”

“It hasn’t been that long,” Copper scoffed.

“Rose has a man,” Leo said. “Seems like you’d be reminded of that every time you take a look in the mirror.”

“Oh,” Copper said nastily. “We gonna compare fucked up faces?”

My stomach twisted in disgust, but Leo just laughed.

“Got mine protectin’ my family,” he said. “How’d you get yours again?”

“Got jumped,” Copper snapped.

“Yeah, when you were goin’ after a brother’s old lady,” Leo said. “You’re fucked, man.”

The sounds of Harley pipes filled the night around us, and when I turned to look, I wasn’t surprised to see four bikes pull up. My dad, brother Tommy, cousin Cam and Uncle Cody immediately climbed off their bikes and headed toward us.

“You good?” Tommy asked, pulling me against his side as they reached us. He held onto me as the others moved forward.

“Where’s your bike?” my dad barked, his tone so cold that I looked his way in surprise.

“Stashed it,” Copper said.

“Good.”

“Come on,” Copper complained as Cam grabbed him by the neck of his cut and yanked him toward Lily’s car.

“Leo, take Lil on the bike,” Cam ordered.

“Will do,” Leo replied, tossing Cam Lily’s keys.

Then the whole thing was over almost as fast as it had started.

“Probably thought he had a shot since there were no bikes out here,” my dad said, pulling me away from Tommy for a hug.

“You’re a smart fucker,” Tommy said to Leo. “Wish I woulda thought of that.”

“Good thing you didn’t,” my uncle said, giving me a soft smile. He looked at Tommy. “We woulda needed a cleanup crew.”

“That’s fair,” Tommy conceded.

“You alright?” my dad asked quietly.

“Yeah.” I shook out my arms and stepped back. “He just startled me. Leo was right behind me, so it was fine.”

“Jesus,” Lily said as she stomped outside. “That guy is a fucking dumbass.”

“Tell us how you really feel,” Uncle Cody replied with a chuckle.

“Your boss tow ya if ya leave your car here for the night?” Dad asked.

“No, it should be fine.”

“Alright.” He slung his arm over my shoulders. “You can ride with me to Mack’s.”