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“Listen to him,Rosalie.” The way Edge used my name chilled me to the bone. He was wearing a worker’s uniform and a cap that sat low and shaded his face. He was hunched over like it was painful for him to just be standing. Bruising marred his face and bare arms—someone had beaten the crap out of him. The signs were obvious, and I should know, I’d looked exactly like that once too.
“Let me put the kid down, Edge,” Blizzard spoke slowly and softly, but his body was wound tight, I could see in the way his muscles bulged.
Edge laughed, a low deep chuckle that was anything but comforting.
“Please,” I pleaded. “Is that how you really want to get your revenge? By hurting a child?”
“You don’t get to make demands!” he roared, his voice echoing in the now empty store. He quickly calmed his temper, though. It was like he was two different people, the sporadic mood changes so clear now.
I flinched and my heart broke as I watched tears roll silently down Jayla’s cheeks. Blizzard stared directly ahead at me. His body never moved but his lips started to form the words—‘Stall him.’
How the fuck do you stall a mad man?
“You came here for me didn’t you?” I didn’t try to hide the fear in my voice. He wanted to hear it. He wanted to know that I was scared and that he had the power. “I hurt you.”
Edge smirked like my words didn't faze him. “You hurt yourself. I saw it in your eyes, the pain. I thought it was because of your dad and what he did to you, but it wasn't. You hated that once again you were pretending to be something you weren't.”
I flinched and his dark eyes brightened.
“Do you have nightmares, Rosalie? Is it destroying you inside every time you think about how many people you’ve hurt with your lies? Does it burn you down to your soul?”
I felt tears burning in my eyes. It did hurt, every single fucking day. I’d hurt Blizzard and Chelsea and the club. Then I'd gone after Edge. Maybe I could have saved him before, helped him fight his way out of the darkness. But instead, I'd wormed my way inside his defenses like a fucking parasite and destroyed him from the inside out. I broke him, and now here he was and I'd once again put other people in danger due to my deception.
I felt a single tear trail down my cheek.
Jayla reached out to me with one hand, her face full of pain and worry—for me.
Blizzard squeezed her tighter, holding her firmly against his chest but in a protective stance that had his body turned just slightly, shading her from Edge.
My mind went to Lane. She wouldn't have the chance to hold and cradle her baby in her arms. The doctors told her it was possibly stress that had caused her miscarriage, but they couldn't say exactly.
Stress that was caused by Edge and his goons.
My emotions quickly changed as I remembered what they’d put her through. Edge had kept her locked in that room, screaming as she was losing her child. If I hadn't shown up that day, we could have lost her too.
My temper flared.
“You came for me? Then let's go.”
Blizzard’s eyes widened before a look of pure fury crossed his face. I knew he’d be angry, but this wasn’t about him. It wasn’t about the club. It was about doing the right thing. Standing for the people who couldn't stand for themselves. Holding each other up when it seemed like one was about to fall.
I’d lost so much in life, my mom, my dignity, my friends. I’d lost Blizzard too for a time. But now I had so much more. I had a family and people who cared for me—the real me.
I had Blizzard and Jayla.
Skins words rang out clearly in my head,‘If someone you loved was in trouble, to what lengths would you go to protect them?’
I’d give up everything I had gained.
I’d give up the opportunity of finally being happy.
I’d give up my life.
If I lost them now, it was meaningless anyway.
“My dad kicked me out of the club,” Edge spoke calmly. “But only until I came back withyou.”
This was the man I had met atThe Backroom.Focused, level-headed, smart. But it wouldn’t take much for him to turn, to slip off the edge into a rage. And I knew that was the only way I was going to get his attention away from Blizzard.
