Chapter 14
ROSALIE
Iwoke to find Cole rattling around the small kitchenette area in sweatpants and a t-shirt, making breakfast.
I smiled, forgetting for a moment the circumstances. Then my ankle throbbed, and I gasped at the pain.
Immediately, he was at my side.
“Hey,” he murmured, cradling my face. “What do you need?”
“My husband,” I mumbled, wincing at the ache.
He frowned at my words, but thankfully didn’t argue.
“I’m sorry the pain meds don’t work so well,” he said. “I do have more if you’d like another.”
I nodded. “Please.”
He left me and went to his bag. I watched him mess around for a moment before he got what he needed and returned to me.
“Here. Open,” he said.
I parted my lips for him, and he dropped the pill in before handing me a bottle of water.
I drank, swallowing the pill, before I settled back against my pillows.
“What would you like to do today?” Cole asked as he sat on the edge of my bed and looked at me.
“Go home,” I muttered.
“I-I’ll let you when our time is up.”
“Aren’t we halfway through it?” I asked.
He smiled. “Not really. Close.”
I grunted. “Can you at least get a letter to Ani?”
His smile slipped away.
“Cole. I have a family, OK? I need the people in my life to know I’m OK. Can you please do that?”
He looked down at his hands. “How?”
“What do you mean how? Give me your phone. It’ll take one phone call.”
He frowned. “I-I can’t. Then they’ll know I have you. I-I just want my time, Rosalie. Everyone is fine. I’ve been watching.”
“Who is everyone?”
He shrugged. “Church. Anson. They’re all looking for you.”
I breathed out. “Cole. Please. Let me make contact with someone. Anyone. Then, I’ll entertain you. I’ll listen. I won’t fight you. Can we please do that? It’ll really help me to relax and be one hundred percent here with you.”
“Really?” He stared back at me, so much hope in his blue eyes that my breath caught.
I nodded. “Really.”
He pulled his phone out and stared down at it. “W-Who do you want to call?”
“Let me call my husband.”
He scoffed. “Anyone but Anson, Rosalie. Please.”
“Klaus heads my-my security. Let me call him.”
“No.” He shook his head. “He’s here in the city, helping Anson. Pick someone else.”
I blew out a breath, and then it dawned on me.
“Can I call Ethan?”
“E?” Cole’s brows crinkled.
I nodded. “Ethan. Yes. Please. He-He always got along with Ani. He’d get the message to him.”
Cole studied me for a moment before he nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, you can call E.”
He almost seemed happy I wanted to talk to Ethan. I knew that likely had to do with him hoping we all reconnected, so it was really the perfect person, since he clearly didn’t know I’d already spoken to Ethan.
“Just don’t tell him where you are or who you’re with. I do have a secondary location ready for us,” Cole said softly. “I don’t want to have to use it. I don’t mind leaving my life behind for you, Rosalie. I’d give everything up for you.”
I swallowed at his proclamation, my head getting fuzzy from the pain meds.
“OK,” I mumbled tiredly, the meds kicking in.
“I’ll block my number so he doesn’t know it’s me,” Cole muttered as he typed on his phone.
A moment later, he handed me the phone, fear in his eyes.
I pressed the phone to my ear and listened as it rang. I didn’t think anyone was going to answer, but finally Ethan’s deep voice came on the line.
“Hello?” he asked, sounding groggy.
“Ethan?” My voice cracked.
“Rosalie?” He was immediately alert. “God. Rosalie. Where are you?”
“C-Can you get a message to Ani?”
“Yes,” he said. “Where are you?”
I glanced at Cole to see a muscle thrumming along his jaw, his leg bouncing.
I breathed out and closed my eyes. This message needed to find Ryder.
He and I had little code words we’d use when I was having panic attacks before a show.
We’d made them up because I didn’t want to stress Ani out.
It had been Ryder’s idea. We’d mouth them to one another in some cases, or I’d sing a little tune using the words.
He’d get me whatever I needed. He’d hold my hand.
He’d whisper in my ear that he was there.
In retrospect, I knew it was he who kept me calm, since Anson was all over the place, trying to keep things running smoothly at shows.
“Can you please tell Ani to ask Ryder if he remembers the day that I wished upon a star? A-Ask Ryder to remember it.”
Cole looked at me, his frown carved deep into his face.
“Is that where you are?” Ethan asked. “You can’t tell me because whoever took you is nearby?”
“Yes,” I whispered. “Ryder will know.”
“O-OK. I’ll tell him. Rosalie, are you OK? Has the person hurt you?”
“I’m OK. I-I have a hurt ankle and can’t-can’t walk, but I’m OK. I think it’s a sprain.”
Ethan breathed out. “Can you see outside? Anything so I can try to find you?”
“No,” I whispered, wiping at my eyes.
“You sound awful, sweetheart,” Ethan murmured. “You’re mumbling. I-I can barely understand you.”
“It’s the drugs for my ankle. They make me not feel well.”
“OK. OK, I’ll tell Anson. I don’t want to hang up on you. Fuck. You have no idea how much we’ve all been searching for you. Please. Is there anything else?”
Cole stood and paced the room. He was getting antsy.
“Just that I am OK. I… can you tell my-my husband that I miss him? And to please have faith?”
Ethan was quiet on the line for a moment. “I’ll tell Fox.”
My heart lurched.
“Y-You know?” I whispered.
“Yes,” he said tightly. “He told me.”
“Ethan,” I wept softly. “Please…”
“Just…stay strong, OK? Don’t worry about shit here. I’ll make sure you’re brought home, Rosalie. I promise. I-I love you. I’m not mad. I’m not mad at you. Just please. Keep fighting for me, OK?”
I cried harder at his words.
Cole reached out and took the phone from me gently before disconnecting the call.
“I-I can’t… breathe,” I choked out, the panic setting in.
Evan told Ethan. Ethan knew Fox wasn’t dead. Evan had been desperate. He’d come to Chicago. God. I’d ruined everything.
“Hey. Hey,” Cole said, at my side and cradling my face. “Rosalie, look at me.”
“P-Please. I-I need to go h-home.”
“Shh.” A pained look crossed Cole’s face.
The meds were definitely kicking in now. I wasn’t sure what the hell he’d given me, but they felt stronger than the ones from last night. My words were slurring, and I didn’t know if my thoughts were my words.
“My family. Please. Please, Cole.”
He lay me back against my pillows.
“Rest, please.” He cradled my face gently.
“Cole. Please!”
“E will make sure Anson gets the message. He will. Please don’t worry.”
He let his hands fall away, but I reached for them. The move seemed to surprise him as he stared back at me.
“Do you love me?” I whispered, crying softly.
“I love you more than I’ve ever loved anything in this world,” he answered back, his words choked.
“I-I would rather die than be without you, Rosalie. You are in every breath I take. Every dream I have. You are what makes my heart beat so hard in my chest. When I say I love you, I don’t mean I love you.
My love means I would die for you. Suffer for you.
Take away the pain for you. All I ask is that you give me a chance to show you that.
To prove to you that you’re the only one I am ever going to want.
I would do anything to have you.” His voice cracked. “I fucking yearn for you, Rosebud.”
I cried harder at his words.
Damn him. Damn him to hell.
“Sleep, my sweet girl,” he whispered, his voice shaking. He pressed a tender kiss to my forehead. “I’ll get better pain meds for you, OK?”
“Don’t go,” I slurred out. “Don’t leave me again.”
I wasn’t even sure if I said the words or not because I was far too tired to keep my eyes open.
So I let them close as sleep took over.