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ChapterSeventeen
Bailey was barking – that in and of itself was odd, as he was generally very quiet and well-behaved. Stranger still, it didn’t seem to be at any one thing. He was just zooming all over the house growling.
“Maybe the officers yesterday night spooked him?” She suggested when Blake tried in vain again to quieten him down.
Blake ran his hands through his hair. “I’ve got no idea what’s wrong with him. He’s never been like this before. Maybe all the tension finally got to him? Do you think I should call the vets?”
Rose paused, surprised that he’d asked for her opinion. “Animals are supposed to be more sensitive than humans, right? But if it’ll give you peace of mind, you could call them for some advice.” Rose shrugged, mostly just wishing Bailey would shut up soon. She loved the pup but damn did his bark echo.
“Bailey,enough,” Blake groaned, and then they both sighed in relief when Bailey finally stopped, sinking down on his bed in the kitchen with a whine.
They’d been sitting at the kitchen island for the last two hours and Rose’s ass was now numb. She missed the plush stools that Maia had picked for their breakfast bar in the suite – she’d been able to sit and drink margaritas for hours in those.
Another photo had arrived earlier that day and now sat innocuously on the counter like it wasn’t the most worrying of them all. On the surface it wasn’t that bad. It was a photo of a house. Nowhere near so bad as Blake’s beat-up face, looking like he was dead.
The problem was that it was Blake’s house, and it looked like the photo had been taken from inside the gates, but it was far enough away that it was hard to tell. The cops had, of course, taken it as another sign that things were escalating and were staking the house out again. It was no wonder Bailey was on edge. They all were.
“What are you going to do when you get your freedom back?” She grinned at Blake and was surprised when he didn’t smile back.
“I haven’t thought much about it.”
“Really?” God, it felt like it was all she was thinking about lately. Unbidden, she remembered the way she’d called his name last night, the way he’d slipped fromprincesstobaby. That was… intimate, right? It had definitely felt intimate.
Blake shrugged. “It’s been nice having the more permanent type of company.”
She blinked, not expecting any variation of that sentiment to ever come out of Blake’s mouth. What was it he’d said to her before?Just because I don’t date doesn’t make me a fuckboy. It just means I already know what I want.So if Blake wasn’t looking forward to resuming normal practice with his rotating door of women, whatdidhe want?
Rose drank the last of her soda and stood up, intending to head for bed, and was surprised when Blake did so too. She raised an eyebrow at him, but he just shrugged nonchalantly as they made their way up the stairs.
Bailey had settled down, now only softly growling as they made their way upstairs, and as she turned away to go into her room, Blake’s hand slid around her waist.
She’d expected a cocky smile, or even a dirty remark, and instead found a thoughtful look on his face as he pulled her a little closer.
“Sleep with me again tonight.”
“Justsleep?”
He frowned like he was thinking about it again, before he nodded and then came the cocky smile she’d been expecting before. “If you want.”
She could only assume she was so taken aback that she’d found herself in a temporary state of madness because she hesitated only for a second before saying, “Okay.”
It had felt natural the other night. They’d been through something crazy together, and sometimes you just needed to not be alone. But this… sure, things were still crazy, but it just felt less about that and more about… them.
Blake’s eyebrows flew up like he’d expected her to say no but, instead of replying, he just gripped her waist tighter as they made their way to his room, releasing her only when they got inside so he could take off his shirt and she looked hastily away from his chest.
She did her teeth in his bathroom and took her evening dose of medication without feeling self-conscious and when they settled down into bed, she was shocked at howrightit felt, falling asleep in the dark almost immediately.
* * *
Blake was gonewhen she woke up, his side of the bed still warm and smelling faintly of his cologne. He was an even earlier riser than Rose, and she suspected that was when he usually worked out because she hadn’t seen him do so much as a press up since she’d been here, but there was no way he looked likethatif he wasn’t doing some serious upkeep.
Rose sniffed delicately and then propped herself up in confusion at the lack of bacon-smell that usually wafted up the stairs. The only times Blake hadn’t cooked her breakfast was when he’d been recovering and was too sore to leave the couch. But he’d cooked for her yesterday and had no trouble. Maybe he was simply busy and she had been spoiled, getting used to the smell of cooking food waking her up instead of her alarm clock.
She swung her feet out of bed and something crinkled under her heel. God, if that was a condom wrapper…
It was a photograph. There was nothing written on the back and face down it could have just been Blake’s, but dread started in her stomach and began to clog up her airways as she slowly reached down to pluck it from the floor.
It was the TV room. Blake was reclined on the sofa, his arm stretched out and tangled in a familiar blonde head of hair. Her hand flew over her mouth as she realized that this was from the other night and in the photo she had Blake’s dick in her mouth. From the angle it looked like someone had grabbed a quick shot in between a gap in the slats covering the glass door. Someone had been there, watching them, that whole time.
