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I gave them a wave. Brad offered his middle finger inreturn.
I sure as hell wasn’t going to tell those idiots where I was going, which was to check in on Mom. I didn’t care about much around here, but I’d be damned if I was going to turn my back on the woman who’d raisedme.
I climbed up the rickety back stairs to her apartment on the second floor of the divided townhouse. After a quick knock of warning, I pushed open the door. “Hey, Mom, I broughtsome—”
My mouth snapped shut in shock. It wasn’t just Mom sitting at the formica table that marked the division between the tiny kitchen and the almost-as-tiny living room. Rose was perched across from her. Rose Hallowell with her pert little ass in that nicked chair, her dainty feet on the cracked linoleumtiles.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Idemanded.
“Damon!” my mother said, her faceblanching.
“It’s okay, Mrs. Scarsi,” Rose said. She pushed back her chair and stood up. “You just think about what I said and let me know,whenever.”
She turned that angelic face of hers toward me. Jin always liked to call her Briar Rose, but if we were talking fairy tales, Rose was all Snow White. Ebony hair, pale skin, ruddy lips. Lips she was biting right now, sending a rush of heat I didn’t like at all through me. And those dark green eyes, holding my gaze, cautious but not even slightlyapologetic.
“Come on,” I said brusquely. “We’ll talkoutside.”
Rose followed me down the steps onto the patchy back lawn. Such a far cry from her family’s perfect gardens the sight of her standing on it made me grit myteeth.
“I’d have told you I was coming if you’d been answering any of my texts,” she said. “I got the impression you didn’t want to hear fromme.”
“I don’t,” I said. “And that includes not wanting to see you in my mother’sapartment.”
Rose crossed her arms over her chest. Which of course emphasized the curves of her breasts in a way it was very difficult to ignore. My hands balled at mysides.
She tossed back her hair. “It is yourmom’s home. She didn’t mind mecoming.”
“I don’t care. There’s no reason for you to behere.”
“I think I had a pretty goodreason.”
“I don’t think you’re really in a place tojudge.”
Rose sighed, her expression softening. “And I don’t really want to fight. Damon, you’re obviously mad at me. I don’t even really know why. But if it’s about your mom getting fired—which I know was completely unfair—I’m trying to make that right by cominghere.”
“It isn’t your problem anymore, angel,” I said with an edge of sarcasm. “You have no idea how things have been since you’ve been gone. You’ve got no businessinterfering.”
Couldn’t she see how little she belonged here? Couldn’t she see how little she mattered to me? I wasn’t some dumbass thirteen-year-old chasing along at her heels anymore. I could be fucking dangerous if I needed to be. I drew myself up taller, letting the muscles in my armsflex.
Rose didn’t look remotely impressed. She just looked sad. “I’m trying,” she said. “That’s all. And…” She ducked her head before meeting my eyes again. “I missed all of you, all those years I couldn’t be here. I missedyou, okay? You can act like a jerk as much as you want, but that’s stilltrue.”
My heart squeezed despite myself. I kept my voice gruff. “Well, great. Don’t expect me to return thesentiment.”
“I didn’t.” Her shoulders drew up. For a second she looked almost breakable. Our Rose had never really been fragile. But suddenly the question was spillingout.
“That thing you were worried about, when you wanted us all to meet up the other day—did you and the rest of the crew get it sorted out?” I wasn’t going to admit how often I’d wondered about that since I’d seen thetext.
“Not exactly. But it’s okay if you don’t want to get involved.” Rose sucked in a breath. “Look, Damon… We don’t have to be friends again, but I hate feeling like you see me as an enemy. If there’s any way we can talk it out, or I can make things up to you, just tell me. I wouldn’t ask for anything more thanthat.”
Friends.Friends. When she looked at me like that, all I could see was the girl I’d been in love with back then in the woman I couldn’t help wanting—wanting her mouth against mine, our limbs tangled together, her voice moaning as I made her feel more than I’d bet that fiancé of hers everhad.
But she hadn’t been mine back then, not really, and she sure as hell wasn’tnow.
“Good,” I made myself say. “Because I’ve got nothing togive.”
“Okay. I’m sorry.” She offered me a small smile. “You know how to get in touch if you change yourmind.”
She slipped away around the house, and it was like she took all the sunlight and warmth with her. My throat constricted with the urge to call her back. I clenched my jaw and smacked my fist against the side of the steps. Then I hissed at the pain that radiated through my knuckles. Very smart,Damon.
