Roses & Thorns: Women

by Bry Ann

  ROSES & THORNS:

  WOMEN

  ROSES & THORNS: Women

  This book is a work of fiction, the characters, incidents, and dialogues are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  ISBN – 978-0-9995318-7-7

  Let’s get right into this one!

  Thank you to everyone who read Roses & Thorns… <3

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Chapter 1:

  Chapter 2:

  Chapter 3:

  Chapter 4:

  Chapter 5:

  Chapter 6:

  Chapter 7:

  Chapter 8:

  Chapter 9:

  Chapter 10:

  Chapter 11:

  Chapter 12:

  Chapter 13:

  Chapter 14:

  Chapter 15:

  Chapter 16:

  Chapter 17:

  Chapter 18:

  Chapter 19:

  Chapter 20:

  Chapter 21:

  Chapter 22:

  Chapter 23:

  Chapter 24:

  Author Note:

  ROSES & THORNS: MEN

  BOOKS BY BRY ANN:

  Chapter 1:

  Lacey:

  “Hi, daddy.”

  My eyes flicker over to Rose. She looks like she’s on the verge of having either a seizure, a nervous breakdown or both. I put my hand on her lower back to ground her. Connect her to something real. How Rose is feeling right now is exactly how I felt the day I was taken away. So many emotions were coursing through me that I felt sick. I eventually find a connection through cutting, but I'm hoping Rose can find hers right now through my comfort.

  Rose’s father's cold eyes look over at her like she is a treasure specially delivered for him. I can’t understand his feelings for her. Despite the fact that he has the eyes of a killer, and a heart made of stone, he does like his daughter.

  I don’t know if that is a blessing or a curse for Rose, but right now it’s a miracle.

  I rub small circles along Rose’s back.

  “Rosie, what are you doing here? I haven’t seen you in… years.”

  Rose tries to swallow. She’s shaking so hard I'm finding it hard to keep my hand on her. I lean forward and grab a chair so she can use it to steady herself. Her father’s eyes flicker over to me. Chills run down my spine. I try to blink back tears. I try to keep the memories at bay, but his eyes are so cold. They are like ice. Looking into them is like looking into the eyes of the men who hurt me.

  I have to step away from Rose. I lean against the cold metal door and subtly try to dig my nails into my skin. I have to ground myself. Nausea swirls around in my stomach. My hands shake rapidly against the frame of the doorway.

  It’s done, Lacey. It’s done. You’re okay.

  Tears swell in my eyes. I want to be in Adam’s room, under the covers… safe. But it wasn’t safe. I don’t know! I want to scream.

  “Lacey? Lacey!”

  Rose’s footsteps echo in the room as she runs over and pulls me into her shaking arms. She holds me until I am able to gather myself. I hate being touched. Her fingers on my skin make me cringe. They make me want to crawl my eyes out, but I let her try and comfort me in the only way she knows how. When reality finds me again I pull away.

  “Thank you,” I whisper.

  “Of course,” she says meekly.

  She’s back to the Rose I first met. The one with an innate desire to please. Sven, as sick and power hungry as he is, helped her find her voice and the confident woman that’s buried deep inside her. It’s such a shame. It’s a cruel trick of fate really. I can’t imagine being desperate for love and then having the only people who truly love me be cold-hearted criminals. It’s the worst of temptations. Rose is a beautiful angel for fighting it. Standing her moral ground.

  “Who is your friend?”

  Rose turns around. Her shaking starts again. It’s not fear. It’s emotion. She still loves him very much.

  Rose looks to me for approval. I give her a subtle nod.

  “Lacey. She… dad…” her eyes water, “Dad, I'm in trouble. I… need help.”

  His eyes go wide. He looks over to me. Although I am fully covered, it’s like he can see right through my clothes to my scars, cuts, burns, and bruises. My healing face gives some of it away. People rarely have facial injuries without ones on their body to match.

  “What’s going on?”

  His posture straightens protectively. This is his daughter and his whole stance says no one fucks with her, even though she hasn’t spoken to him in years.

  “Daddy…” she plops down in the chair and scoots it so she’s sitting across from him. Her lower lip wobbles, her face, and the body becomes childlike. Desperate for acceptance. It happens right before both of our eyes. My heart burns for my friend.

  “I got kidnapped….” her eyes begin to water, “he’s in the Mafia. I need you to help me, please.”

  She squeezes her eyes tight, balls her hands into fists and pushes them into her eye sockets. I keep my eyes open so I notice the way her father’s eyes widen. His handcuffed hands twitch to comfort her. He looks to me like I have answers. I subtly shake my head.

  “Rosie?... My precious flower? Can you look at me?” When he’s with her it’s hard to believe he’s a serial killer. When he’s not speaking to her, it’s easy to see. “Rose. Come on. You’re strong remember?”

  She slowly peels her eyes open. “I'm sorry.”

  He shakes his head. “What do you have to be sorry for?”

  Rose drops her face in her hands and starts to cry. “I'm so sick! Something’s wrong with me. Something’s so, so wrong with me.”

  She sobs into her hands. Body wracking sobs. That’s when it hits me. Both of us. Both of our eyes go wide.

  Oh my God. She slept with him.

  I practically leap from the spot I'm standing on and go to her. I run my fingers through her silky hair. She’s unnaturally beautiful. It’s really not fair.

  “Rose, you were kidnapped and locked in a room. Things happen. Things you would never choose under different circumstances.”

  She sniffles and gives me a half-hearted nod, but it’s clear she’s hiding from her father. He looks baffled.

  “Rose, sweetheart, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I'm in prison. I'm not judging you. I don’t know enough about you to judge off of anyway, and you’re my baby. You’ve made it all on your own.”

  She sniffles and looks at him. Her eyes are drowning in pain. She lets it all show for the first time since she got here. I see his breath hitch for a moment before the coldness takes over to protect him from what he sees.

  “Dad. Why?”

  There’s a pause where nobody speaks. Rose searches him. He tries to find the words but comes out with none. When he doesn’t say anything, Rose explodes. Absolutely loses it. She stands and throws her chair back. The sound of it crashing alerts the guard, but I run over and let him know it’s okay. He nods, but his eyes narrow and I know he’s keeping a closer eye on us.

  “Why?! How could you do this to me! You were my dad. I was your warrior princess. Your precious flower. We took on the world together. How could you KILL PEOPLE! You destroyed me. Ruined my life. I got into this mess because of you, you know? Because I'm so fucked up! There’s science to back me up on this. Girls with shitty fathers attract shitty men. I had the shittiest father so I attracted the shittiest man! Fuck you!”

&nbs
p; Everything is silent. I'm terrified of what’s going to happen. I watch her father closely, ready to protect Rose at all costs, but it turns out to be very anticlimactic. Despite the fact that her father does look hurt, he is pretty calm. There’s very little anger evident in his eyes.

  “Rose, killing is in my blood. It’s what I do. What I’ve always done. I never wanted to hurt you. I wanted better for you. I was hoping to hide it from you. I was hoping if I got arrested it would at least be after you turned eighteen.”

  “Well I wasn’t eighteen!” she shrieks.

  “I know. That kills me. Really does.”

  There’s no emotion in his voice, while Rose is nothing but a ball of emotions.

  “Can you help me or not? Are you any good to me at all?” Rose screams.

  “I have some ideas, but…” finally emotion flares in his eyes, “Did he hurt you? Did that prick hurt you?”

  “Other than kidnapping me… no. He didn’t. But I was shot. In the foot.”

  His eyes flare with rage.

  “That’s nothing. They can’t find us, dad.”

  “How the hell did you two get out?”

  Rose looks to me and the smallest of smirks appears on her lips. I don’t want credit. It was her plan.

  “Your daughter is very smart,” I whisper. Rose frowns but doesn’t embarrass me by arguing.

  “Well, escaping capture from the Mafia is exceptional Rose.”

  Rose’s frown deepens. “Lacey got us out. It was only my idea to seek you out in hopes you could help us.”

  His eyes soften slightly. “I'm glad. I do have a place you can go, but the problem is the key is with the items the police confiscated.”

  Both me and Rose smile at that.

  “It shouldn’t be a problem,” Rose says, smiling at me.

  For some reason that turns her dad’s full attention to me. My breathing picks up. His kind eyes are only reserved for his daughter.

  “I’d like to know more about you.”

  “I…”

  “That’s Lacey, remember?”

  “I know that Rosie. I mean how did you two meet?”

  “She was…. kidnapped too.”

  “Prisoner,” I jump in. Rose’s eyes go wide. I don’t know what’s happening with me. “I was a prisoner. And tortured and sent off to use as bait between two rival families. Rose was bait between the Boss and Underboss. We need to know where this house is at. I’ll get us in. We just we need a safe place.”

  Her father’s eyes rake over me, scrutinizing me. I try to be brave, but I'm so scared. I'm terrified.

  “You’re dangerous,” he finally says, not breaking eye contact with me.

  Rose scrunches her face, amused.

  “Dad…” she laughs.

  I give no reaction whatsoever.

  “I'm just a girl, and I want to be free. That’s it. I'm not a weapon,” I say firmly.

  “Hmm.”

  That’s all he says. I look down at myself, trying to work out what he’s talking about. He turns to back to his daughter.

  “Five minutes,” the guard rings out.

  Panic grips me. I look to Rose and see she shares my fear.

  “Please, dad.”

  Rose pushes a paper forward. Her father leans forward to jot down the address. Before he picks up the pen, he looks back up at the two of us.

  “You know they’ll find you eventually, right?”

  Rose freezes. Tears spring to my eyes, but it quickly morphs into a glare. I slam the pen down.

  “Just write the address, Mr. Marketta!”

  His cold eyes drill into me. He spends a few minutes writing. When he’s finished he pushes the paper back towards me.

  “Since I'm pretty sure you have no transportation I also wrote down how to get there. I'm assuming you are smart enough not to take a taxi all the way up there. Too easy to track.”

  I know that already. I roll my eyes. I don’t like this man at all. I don’t trust him either.

  “Thank you,” Rose says, eyes tearing up. Their time together is up.

  “Will I see you again?”

  “I don’t know. I… don’t think so.”

  Rose chokes and has to hide her face in her hands to get herself together.

  “I never hurt you, Rosie. You’re my precious flower. Please. Don’t push me away anymore.”

  “I…”

  I go and wrap my arm around Rose’s shoulder.

  “What do we do if they find us?”

  “Survive.”

  “Any tips on how to do that?” I squeeze my arm tighter around Rose as she cries. Her father stays quiet.

  “You know your daughter has dedicated her life to helping people with addictions. She had the world at her fingertips before she was taken. I will ask you one more time. What do we do if they find us?”

  “You outsmart them. Any of the men in love with either of you?”

  We both freeze.

  “I’ll take that as a yes.”

  “They can’t love,” I say.

  Even monsters can love Lacey.

  “I love Rose,” he says matter of factly.

  “There are always exceptions.”

  “Well, if those men find you and you two are the exceptions, you’d do best to play on that.”

  “I’d rather die,” I grit out.

  He raises an eyebrow and looks to Rose.

  “I don’t know,” she mumbles.

  He nods. “Well, if that is the case. Hmm…” he puts a hand on his chin, deep in thought. Then he turns to Rose.

  “I can’t lose you again. Promise me you’ll visit. At least once more before I die.”

  “I can’t…” she cries.

  “Then I can’t help you.”

  She whimpers and goes limp in my arms. I glare at him. Is he really blackmailing her right now?!

  “Okay,” she whispers. Her warm tears fall onto my arm. My heart squeezes.

  “I can send someone down Rose. Someone who will help you.”

  I freeze and pull away from Rose. I wrap my arms around my midsection. I walk so far back I bump into the wall. Rose looks at me curiously. So does her dad.

  “I… I… You guys set it up. You have two minutes,” I say quickly.

  I grab the doorknob and throw it open. I run out of there. I don’t stop until I am outside and the fresh air is washing over my face. I run to the side of the building and throw up. My hands shake. I'm terrified to be around anyone new. Anyone unfamiliar. Especially, someone Rose’s dad is sending around.

  I frantically roll up my sleeves. I grab a stick, snap it in half and drag it down my forearm. I revel in the relaxation it brings as the blood I drew drips down my forearm. The sting calms my racing heart and mind.

  What did her dad mean when he said I was dangerous?

  Chapter 2:

  Rose:

  I stare at the door. My heart burns for Lacey. She’s so scared and having to be so strong. My dad’s voice snaps me back to reality.

  “How’d you meet her?”

  “She was there when I was brought in. There. Imprisoned. I went looking for her, and we’ve been friends ever since.”

  “Hmmm. Stay by her. She doesn’t realize her power yet, but she will. You two stand a chance… with her.”

  He talks like Lacey is a superhero. I mean Lacey’s amazing, but… dangerous? No chance.

  “Alright, dad.”

  He smirks. “I know you don’t believe me, but you will.”

  I nod. What else is there to do? That’s what you do when dad’s say silly things. My heart slowly starts constricting in my chest.

  “I am sending someone to the address I gave you. He’ll do what he can to keep you safe. You can trust him. Despite everything, you know I’d never hurt you. You’ll always be my precious flower.”

  Little Rose. I shake my head trying to wipe the memory.

  “I know,” I choke.

  “Then trust this man when he comes. He knows all about you. I’ll rep
eat. He’d never hurt you.”

  My head snaps to him. “How does he know all about me?”

  “Because you’re my daughter. My precious girl. And he’s… someone I know well. Trust I’d never hurt you… or your friend by default. Trust that.”

  “I have no choice.”

  “Times up.” The guard pops in making me jump.

  “Come back, Rose. Remember our promise.”

  “I said I would. I'm no liar.” Like you.

  “Like I said,” he leans back in his chair, “you’re precious. Special. Survive Rose. Stick close to your friend.”

  “I will.”

  The guard starts to usher me out.

  “I love you,” I whisper as the doors close.

  I don’t even remember how I got to the front door of the prison. My feet moved and that’s all that I remember. I never planned on seeing him again, and the overwhelming sadness coursing through me is the reasoning for that.

  “You alright ma’am?” the guard asks as he holds the door open for me.

  I nod blindly. My head is shaking of its own accord. Lacey pushes off a pillar with her foot and comes over to stand next to me. She squeezes my hand.

  “You did so good Rose.”

  “Thank you, Lacey. Can we go?”

  As far away as we possibly can.

  “Yes.”

  She grabs my hand and pulls me to the curb. Her hands are cold and soft. Even her touch is gentle and small. We hail down a cab. I have no clue what’s happening. All I see in my head is my dad and the way he comforted and loved me. Why do I have to give up everyone I love?

  “Train station,” Lacey says to the driver.

  Then she turns all her attention back to me. She squeezes my hand, tells me how good I did. I cherish her comfort so much. I most definitely cry the whole way to the station. Lacey handles the payment, directions and getting me out of the car. That makes me feel shittier than I already do. Lacey’s the victim. She’s the one who was tortured. Okay, so I was shot. Given the circumstances, that’s nothing. In a normal life it would be a big deal, but compared to what Lacey endured, it’s really no big deal. I'm struggling because I slept with Sven. That seems like a reason to be distressed until I think about the fact that Lacey was raped, yet still, still, I'm the one she has to help.