Twelve of Roses

“Maybe introduce myself to that cute brunette you work with. Maybe have a nice chat with Max. Maybe surprise Molly. Don’t worry; I’ll be in touch after I’m done.”

The phone beeped, signaling he’d ended the call. I stood rigid, chewing my lower lip and clutching the poker like I wanted to mold it with the flesh of my palm.

“Fuck.” I sank down and sat in the middle of the hall. What was I going to do? It wasn’t as simple as going to the police.

Con thought of everything—he assumed the ball was always in his court. Rushing off to do something brash would cause a disastrous domino effect.

I’d played with him before, but during those times I’d been prepared for whatever was coming. I hadn’t planned for this. I didn’t expect this. I could leave—move to somewhere new and start over again. A city this time, where it would be harder to find me. Going off the grid clearly wasn’t going to work.

I was broke as hell and had no savings, but if I had to survive in my car and scrape together coins for a doughnut a day, I could get by. I’d gone without food before. Con used to chain me to a doghouse and make me sleep in the cold.

Pushing off the floor, I stood and jogged back down the stairs, taking them two at a time. When I got to the bottom, I took a second to regulate my breathing.

The emotions in my chest were going haywire. I looked around my house and felt a gravity defying heaviness settle on my shoulders.

This was my home.

The only one I’d ever had. It wasn’t pretty or shiny, but dammit, it was mine. Molly’s too. Black Pine was supposed to be a safe place. I had a job. I could make friends here. He was fucking everything up.

All I wanted to do was live. Why couldn’t he let me do that? Why couldn’t he finally live without me like I’d begged him to?

It was a rhetorical question, and I already knew the answer. It was the same reason I woke up thinking about him and went to sleep doing the same. Whether I liked it or not, we were tied together by barbed wire embedded beneath our skin. I had no idea how to go about removing it, but I had to do something.

My past needed to stay in the past—even if some screwed-up part of me wanted it to be my future. He had successfully clipped and pruned me into everything he wanted.

Darkness spilled from him. Spilled from him and seeped right into me. I stood conflicted, torn between love and hate, joy and dread. Not for the first time, I thought I might’ve been better off dead.

Could a finger stay intact inside a freezer? That was my dilemma when Max knocked on my front door. The sound caused me to jump. In turn, I dropped the disgusting thing on the floor for the second time.

“Rose, I know you’re in there!” he yelled.

Shit. Did he know the killing was related to me? I contemplated ignoring him, but that would only make me look suspicious.

After tossing the finger in the back of my freezer, I swiped the vase off my table and tossed it in the trash as I left the kitchen. I smoothed my hair and pulled the front door open just as he was about to knock again.

“Sorry, I was using the bathroom,” I lied.

“I didn’t want the food to get cold.”

He walked in and made his way to my kitchen. The mouth-watering aroma of Chinese take-out trailed after him.

My stomach chose that moment to remind me that I hadn’t eaten anything since that morning. I stared out into the dark, wondering where Con was. I wouldn’t be surprised if he were watching me that very second.

This would enrage him.

With a sigh, I shut the door and locked it.

I found Max setting up the food on the table, completely unaware about who he was really sitting down to dine with.

“You didn’t have to bring me food. It’s late, and I’m sure you’ve had a long day.”

“I can’t let a pretty lady go hungry.” He looked up at me with his signature smile on his face.

How did he do that? How was he so happy all the time?

I settled in the same chair I had earlier that day and picked up one of the wine coolers he’d brought with him.

“I wouldn’t have gone hungry, ya know?” Quirking a brow at him, I snagged a pair of chopsticks and scooped up some of the lo-mein he’d just sat in front of me.

“I know, I know. You’re a strong, independent woman that don’t need no man,” he teased.

After he sat in the seat across from me, we ate in silence for a few minutes.