When I turned onto my side, she automatically turned in her sleep so that we were spooning. Yeah. I kissed her wet hair. This was it.
And I’d do whatever I needed to protect it.
Chapter 11
Rose
My apartment didn’t feel like home anymore. I came to the realization almost a week after we got back from Seattle. I didn’t feel relaxed when I sat on my couch or want to veg out in front of the TV. I didn’t sleep well in my bed. Everything felt too quiet now. Lonely.
It didn’t help that I felt like I was looking over my shoulder all the time. Nobody had heard a thing from Copper in Oregon or Sacramento, which I wasn’t sure was a good or a bad thing. I hoped that he was embarrassed by the whole debacle, so he was laying low for a while, but I wasn’t counting on it. Copper was a coward. He only said shitty things to me when we were alone, knowing that he could twist the truth if anyone ever called him on it. Now that someone else had seen him being a dick, I wasn’t sure what he’d do. It wasn’t like he could play it off. Maybe if it had ended before he’d charged at me, he could have apologized, but that wasn’t even an option anymore.
My phone rang just as I was pulling a frozen pizza out of the oven.
“Hey,” I answered, tucking the phone between my ear and shoulder.
“Hey, yourself. Whatcha doin?” Lily asked. She’d been calling me every day, which wasn’t unheard of, but wasn’t super common since she and Leo had hooked up.
“Just eating before I have to leave for work.”
“I wish our schedules weren’t completely opposite,” she complained, making me laugh.
“You make your own schedule,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, but if I’m working at night, I barely get to spend any time with Leo and Gray.”
“Can I just point out, again, that it’s hilarious that he’s called Gray?”
“Yeah, yeah,” she muttered good-naturedly.
“I mean, Gray White? Really?”
“His mother named him Gregory,” Lily said in annoyance. “Leo told me he was saving up his vetoes for bigger things later on, even though he thinks it makes his son sound like an accountant.”
“You’re an accountant,” I pointed out.
“I’m not a dude,” she shot back.
“But Gray?” I teased.
“Well, he wasn’t going to call him Greg,” she replied.
“How about calling him by his middle name?”
“Might be confusing with two Dracos running around.”
“Well, at least she got that part right,” I murmured. Draco was Leo and Trix’s brother that died when he was a baby. Apparently, they’d both named their sons after him.
“Gray suits him,” she said, a smile in her voice. “He totally looks like a Gray.”
“Like Gray White.”
“Shut it, already.”
“Are you going to name your baby Black when you guys finally decide to start procreating?”
“You’re getting annoying,” Lily griped. “Knock it off.”
“Fine.”
“Maybe I’ll come see you at work tonight,” she said with a hum. “I haven’t done that in a while.”
“I don’t need a babysitter.”
“I’m not going to babysit you.”
“Oh, really?” I asked around the pizza I’d stuffed in my mouth. “Yesterday was Tommy. The day before that was Cam and Trix. The day before that, it was Will and Molly. And the day before that, my parents came in and sat at the bar.”
“Maybe we just want to see you,” she argued. “You’ve been hanging out with Mack all the time.”
“Pot, meet kettle,” I muttered.
“Fair enough.” She sighed. “We just feel better when we know someone has your back.”
“There’s always at least one regular at the bar,” I pointed out. “It’s not like I’m alone.”
“Yeah, and they don’t even know what’s going on, or who to look out for,” she said.
“I’m sure that would be fantastic for tips,” I replied sarcastically.
“Just enjoy the company, alright?” she said in exasperation. “Because you’re not going to be able to stop us.”
“Fine.”
“Fine.”
“So, I’ll see you in a couple hours?”
“Yep.”
“Fantastic. Bye.” I hung up, knowing it would annoy her.
I packed a bag, just in case I ended up staying at Mack’s again, and headed to work. Leaving my apartment was fine, it was still daylight and there were usually neighbors all over, but when I got off work, I dreaded going home. My shift usually didn’t end until most people had been asleep for hours, and it was dark even with the parking lot lights. There were too many places for someone to hide.
I hated that I worried about shit like that now.
I’d always been brave to the point of stupid, at least that’s what my dad said. I’d never really worried that something would happen to me, because I’d been wrestling and fighting with my brothers my entire life. I knew how to defend myself, and I was good at it. But I’d also never been put into the position where I’d need to fight off more than a drunk frat boy before.