12. Rose
ROSE
Alcohol flows, music floods the air from the harpist near the entrance all the way to a live band at the back of the ballroom, dancers weave on poles and stages, and the carefully selected girls paid extra for their services wander the room with roses in hand, seeking out the general I've paired them with.
My heart runs nervously beneath my chest, sending an uncertain tremor through my hands even as I wrap them around the single blue rose clutched in my hands.
It's for Kon, whenever he gets here. The longer he takes though, the more I worry that he won't be here in time and it'll end up looking suspicious that he's not attending a party hosted for so many important people in his organization.
"He'll be here." Calvin steps up beside me and lightly brushes his shoulder against mine. "He'd also kill me for saying it, but you look beautiful."
I glance at him with a small, nervous smile. "You think so?" I smooth one hand down the glittering sky-blue bodice that falls into the sleek, floor-length skirt of my dress. "Do you think he'll like it?"
"He picked it, didn't he?"
I nod. "Sure, but seeing a dress on a mannequin is very different from seeing it on a person."
"True. Knowing Kon, he'll be more enamored by your desire to look good for him than the dress itself. That's just how he is."
Despite Calvin's kind words, the nerves fluttering in my stomach don't ease, so I clutch at the rose again and gaze out over the crowd.
Counting in my head, I map out where the generals are around the room.
Two of them have already made contact with the girls, and the flirting seems well underway.
Once the other four are on the hook, it'll take no time at all to bug their phones.
"Anything from my father?" I glance at Calvin again and he shakes his head, sending my heart into my gut.
"Nothing."
"Everyone is fashionably late," I mutter under my breath.
"Am I supposed to feel this stressed? I feel stressed.
There's so much riding on tonight and if it fails then I get the blame and I don't want to make Kon angry because I said I would help him but now that I think about it, this might have been a bad idea and what if—" I turn and grab Calvin's arm.
"What if this goes wrong and someone works out what we're doing?
What if I end up putting Kon in danger?"
"Rose," Calvin says sternly. "Take a breath."
He holds my gaze as I do just that.
"Now listen to me. Kon is a man of many talents.
While this party is a great idea and presents an opportunity for him, it's not the only one he'll be working on.
His plans have plans, okay? There's nothing that can go wrong tonight that he won't be able to handle.
" Something subtly buzzes in his chest and Calvin pulls out his phone. "Speaking of, he's here."
"He is?!" I immediately perch up onto my tiptoes and gaze out over the crowd, seeking out even a hint of his handsome face. "Where is he? Does he want to meet at the sculpture?"
"No." Calvin's brows dip. "Ethan says they're in the kitchen. Come on."
"Does he want to start with food?" I muse as Calvin begins escorting me through the ballroom. There are countless members of Kon's organization still technically on duty, and they all move like ripples along the surface of water to create a smooth path for me through the ballroom.
Once outside, the coldness of the hallway brushes against my bare arms, alerting me to just how warm the ballroom was with all those people.
I gather my skirt in one hand and hurry after Calvin's long strides down the hallway toward the kitchen. As soon as we enter, my heart squeezes.
Kon stands topless near the sink with blood seeping down his abdomen from a wound at his side while Ethan does his best to patch him up.
"Kon?! Oh my god, what happened?"
"Rose?" His head snaps up. "You should not be here."
"Bullshit," I mutter, all but pushing Ethan out of the way. "What happened to you?"
"Ethan?" Calvin's voice drifts behind me. "You're bleeding."
"Not my blood," Ethan says and then yelps. I glance over my shoulder to see Calvin pulling Ethan's shirt aside to reveal a bleeding graze along his shoulder.
"A bullet?" Calvin asks.
"Bullets?!" I spin back to Kon and press both my hands to his abdomen. “Tell me what happened right now!"
"What is this?" Kon's brow lifts as he glances down at the rose petals now tickling his chest.
"What? Oh." I pull my hands away. "It's dumb."
"Tell me."
"Well… all the ladies I hired are giving the generals roses as a token of affection, and I thought to add to the cover, I'd get you one. I had a blue one dyed after I saw the dress and wanted to give it to you."
"It is beautiful." Kon reaches for it with a blood-stained hand, and I immediately snatch it out of his way.
"Tell me what happened," I demand, gazing up at him. "Why are you bleeding?"
"It is nothing for you to worry about," Kon says, but he hisses and drags air through his teeth when I set the rose aside and apply pressure to his wound.
"I worry," I mutter softly. "Because I care." And because without Kon, there will be no way to save my family.
Despite that, the worry that fogs my chest is real.
Despite my best efforts, affection bloomed in me for Kon and I hadn't planned for it at all.
It surges up now as he lifts his hand and grazes his knuckles against my cheek, then tucks a strand of hair behind my ear.
"You look beautiful."
I glance up at him through my lashes. "Less compliments, more truth please?"
Kon sighs and then hisses again as I resume cleaning the ragged gash with the antiseptic Ethan left behind.
At some point, Calvin escorted Ethan out of the kitchen to tend to his own wound, leaving us alone.
"There were some bold idiots on my travels," Kon explains. “Yes, there was some shooting and Ethan was grazed. He did not realize it because of adrenaline. I, on the other hand, leaned out of a broken window with little care for the glass."
"That's so stupid," I mutter. "You hurt yourself."
"I did," he admits. "But I am alive. I survived. Ethan and I survived."
"Did anyone die?" I know what 'survived' means.
Kon's breath hitches and his chest lifts as I finish cleaning the gash and begin applying some butterfly stitches to the wound.
"I lost one car," Kon says and his voice deepens with the weight of those words. "I lost three men. Good men."
"I'm sorry." My fingertips skim over his skin and I glance back up at him. "That must be horrible."
"It is a fact of this life," Kon replies.
"No, don't say that."
"Why not?"
"Because…" My hands tremble as I press the last stitch over the wound and then cover the area with white gauze.
"Because it makes it sound like death is an inevitability and no one is safe from it.
Which means you aren't safe from it. Which means the next time you go out, it could be your car that gets lost and then I'll be…
" My voice turns waspish as I speak without taking a breath.
Applying the last of the tape to hold the gauze in place, I finish and finally look up at him.
Shadows cling under his angular features from the low kitchen light and my mouth runs dry. "I don't want you to leave me alone."
Kon's eyes slowly move back and forth between my own, then he looks down at the patched-up wound. A small smile flickers onto his face when he looks back at me. "Good job."
"Thanks."
"I will not leave you alone, Rose," Kon says quietly. "It is never my intention."
"No one ever intends to die," I mutter. "But it would kind of suck a lot if you did so maybe don't push yourself out of broken windows anymore, okay?"
Kon curls one finger underneath my chin and leans in, pressing a hard kiss to my lips. "I am not going anywhere. You do not have to worry about that."
But I worry.
As much as I shouldn't care, I do.
Not only is he the only thing standing in the way of Mathew slaughtering my entire family, he's the only thing keeping me here in this new life of privacy and freedom.
It's addicting how much he trusts me, how much affection he gives me and how, for the first time in my life, he gives without asking anything in return.
Even before the trouble with the Vasiliev brothers, my father always did things for me so I would be in his debt.
When Kon leans back, I lean in. Before I know it, my hands slide up his chest to his neck and I pull him back into the kiss as tenderly as I can.
All quiet concern about his wound, however, melts out of my mind as he suddenly dips and grabs the backs of my thighs, and lifts me up.
In the same second, he spins me and places me down on the counter while pressing between my spread thighs.
From there, things turn frantic.
Our mouths wave together in a rapid exchange of kisses with minimal time for a breath, his hands drag my dress up to my waist while my hands graze all the way down his chest to his belt.
Three twists of my fingers and the leather slides free, the zipper follows, and his half-hard cock rests in my palm as I drag it out of his boxers.
He nearly died. I need to make sure he always comes home to me.
More than that, I want him.
Seeing him standing here with blood running down his body was terrifying.
That numb sensation in my chest hasn't faded, but it lessens with each frantic kiss.
"Are you sure?" Kon grunts against my lips as his hips punch forward into my hand.
"I'm not wearing any underwear," I whisper back, grinning as our eyes meet.
Kon kisses me so hard I grow dizzy, and he wraps one arm around my back while I scoot forward on the counter and wrap my legs around his waist. The moment he enters me, peace sweeps through my chest and unknots all the tension in my gut.
My eyes roll back, my core clenches and I tighten my legs around his hips.
"Fuck," I gasp, wrapping my arms around his shoulders. "Oh my god."
"Rose," Kon moans out and he ends up with his face buried in my neck, lavishing attention over my throat as he starts to fuck me.
I cradle his head, stroking my fingers through his hair and moaning softly with every hard thrust.
It's fast and messy with clothes catching on each other, me sliding back and forth over the counter and Kon alternating between sucking my throat and biting at my shoulder.
Pleasure builds fast, faster than I'm prepared for and as I curl my toes, one of my shoes slips off my heel and falls to the ground.
I laugh and gasp, grunting with each hard thrust that drives my pleasure higher and higher.
Heat floods through me, hot goosebumps rush over my skin, and Kon's teeth sink into my shoulder as he suddenly comes without much warning.
It takes us both by surprise, but such a fast orgasm is unexpectedly erotic to me, and with a few more gasping thrusts, I'm crying out my own pleasure while clawing my nails down his back.
"Holy… shit," I gasp raggedly as Kon continues to grind into me while panting.
"You are… beautiful," he gasps, and he lifts his head to meet my eyes. We both freeze at the sudden awkward clearing of a throat.
"Sorry," comes Calvin's voice from the doorway. He's staring directly at the ceiling. "Rose, your family is here and your brother is demanding to see you. Sorry, boss."