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“You’re gonna have to give me a little more than that, J.”
Hmm, I bet something did happen with Ian. He seemed to be in such a good mood when I talked to him not that long ago. We had all been speculating that something had to have happened between them. Who in the world goes to Kade for relationship advice though?
Okay, self-reflection is important. I can see why she wouldn’t come to me. But Kade? That’s an odd choice no matter how I look at it.
“Oh,” he slowly drawls as if he’s all knowing. It’s not an exaggeration to say that the curiosity is killing me. He smirks at me. “So you and Ian finally slept together?”
Yes! I fist pump silently but hold back the cheer. They both deserve each other. Deserve something so good in their lives, especially amidst all the other bullshit. If he can keep making her smile the way he has been, that’s all I really care about.
“Never mind,” he murmurs, shaking his head. Never mind? Never mind what? Did they not sleep together? I cock my head. “You two slept together?” he asks again. Okay… so they did sleep together? I push my lips out and raise my brows to him suggestively.
He smiles and tries to hold back a laugh, I can’t hear what she says, but he pushes my face away and mutters for me to knock it off. It’s like he doesn’t even know me.
He gets up off the couch and walks away as he asks her what the issue is. Hmph. I sit back on the couch and pout as I start sorting through some of the paperwork we left. The days have all been going by too fast with too much to still get done.
Kade is gone for only a few minutes before he comes back into the room. “Jade has really changed,” he says softly, a small smile on his face. He sits down and pulls me back onto his lap, smacking the papers out of my hand.
“I think she’s just finally learning who she is,” I agree. Jade’s journey has been a long and unique one. We’ve never kept any other survivors so close to us. Sure, I’ve always kept an eye on them from afar. Done my best to give each of them a new start. I’ve watched from the shadows as some found their footing and flourished, while others…well, I try not to think about those.
Sometimes the claws of evil are dug in too deep to ever recover from. To ever put the pieces of yourself back together. I’ve always done my best, but you can’t save someone who doesn’t want to be saved. Sometimes the best I can do is just get them out of hell.
I push those thoughts aside as I focus back on Jade. She’s been getting stronger and with every training session, more and more of her confidence and personality bloom. Ian has been good for her. Pushing her to do things, she probably wouldn’t have done herself.
“So,” I raise my brows at Kade again, wiggling them. “Did they fuck?”
He cracks up and flicks my nose. I half expect a dirty comeback, but instead his face settles into a slightly more serious expression. “She’s been curious but unsure about sex,” he says, instead of answering me.
“I know,” I respond. “That’s why you gave her books.” It was a clever and totally Kade tactic to help Jade figure out a safe and comfortable way to explore.
“She didn’t say if they fucked or not, but they did something.”
There’s a hesitancy in his voice that I’m not liking. “Do I need to go skin Ian?”
He half coughs, half laughs as he shakes his head back and forth.
“I don’t think anything like that. I just feel like I’m still missing pieces. But it seems like something happened between them and Jade was just feeling awkward about what to do next.”
“That’s pretty cute, actually,” I laugh. Everyone else I know has lost that innocence long ago. It’s kind of sweet that Jade still has that after everything else she has been through.
He runs his fingers through my hair again. “I’m sure you’ll get all the details soon enough.”
Scar enjoyedhertime off and away from all things Romano as we spent the entire day yesterday not thinking about it. It reminded me of the days when I first reconnected with her, when nothing was as busy or as crazy as it is now.
We had a lot more lazy days where we sat about in a daze and did nothing. Well, I did nothing. Scar was always working on something. A new routine for her girls, looking into buyers, sellers. Checking in on the other people she has saved over the years to see how they’re doing. Talking to Josie about business decisions for Mending Hearts.
None if it seemed as pressing back then. Nothing that was do or die. I could sit back and watch her for hours as she worked through one problem at a time. The stress of it all never touching her. Not even for a moment.
I could steal her attention at any moment with a fun adventure or the promise of alcohol and a good time. Nowadays, it’s a mission on its own to get her to eat and sleep regularly.
We all needed yesterday. But exactly no one is surprised that she’s back on the grind today.
She spent the afternoon with Luca and Declan at Steel Roses talking to all of her dancers and breaking the bad news to them. She talked to each girl and had them email her their resumes and interests so she can find a new job for each of them. It’s one of those things that no one would expect of her, but she would never be able to do anything less.
She could have easily paid these girls while we were closed, but she knows that for most of them being a Rose is much more than just a job. These girls depend on this job for more than just a paycheck.
Luca told me there were a lot of tears between them as Scar broke the news. I wasn’t exactly shocked. Scar turned Steel Roses into a place for people to belong. A home for them to plant their roots. For roses to bloom while their thorns were sharpened. Everything it has been for her, she’s created for all her dancers. She’ll spend the rest of the week finding new places for each of them. By Saturday when the club closes its doors, each of them will feel better. Hopefully Scar will too.
I should have been prepared when she got back home and dragged me into the office to plan out this run. I don’t know why I hadn’t expected it. Fuck, I miss the days when she used sex to distract me and herself from emotions. Now she just fully throws herself into murder and mayhem.
