Chapter 49
ROSALIE
Isat on my bed, watching as Ellis danced around. Her nails were sparkly pink, and she insisted I send pictures of how they turned out to Cole. I did, and he was quick to call her.
I knew he was in a hurry because he told her that he loved her nails and couldn’t wait to see them when he got home. He’d disconnected the call soon after.
The effort he made blew my mind.
Or maybe it didn’t.
I knew how much Cole wanted a family. It made me feel guilty that I’d kept Ellis away from him, but in my defense, I had no idea what was going on in his life and wanted her safety above all else.
So when Ellis finally went to sleep, I wandered downstairs. Ryder had fallen asleep on the foot of my bed, and I didn’t have the heart to wake him. The nails he’d picked out looked incredible, and I loved them.
I was wearing my short sleep shorts and a white camisole. I’d put my hair up into a high ponytail and pushed my feet into a pair of fuzzy slippers.
Ryder had brought us a few things to eat since I didn’t feel comfortable eating anything the guys had purchased. Knowing my current favorite ice cream was cookies and cream, Ryder had made sure to get me a small container of it.
I pulled it from the freezer and sat at the kitchen island, eating it slowly, thinking about the song “Gun-Shy.”
I didn’t even realize Enzo was here or that he had company, but I found out soon enough when he came out looking heart-stoppingly gorgeous in an all-black tailored suit.
A pretty woman with blonde hair, in a red dress, came out with him.
Judging by where they’d come out of, it had to have been his office.
My heart jumped into my throat, and my stomach turned at the sight of the pair together. I had no idea who she was, but she clearly had a thing for him as she wound her arm through his and smiled up at him. Judging by his not pulling away, I knew the feeling could very well be mutual.
They laughed together but stopped as they spotted me sitting at the island.
“Sorry,” I muttered, wiping the ice cream from my mouth. “I-I didn’t know you had company.”
“Who is this?” the woman asked, looking to Enzo as he stared at me. His dark eyes ran up my bare legs and paused at my chest before he looked at my face.
“Uh, this is Rosalie,” Enzo said, clearing his throat. “Rosalie, this is Jade. She’s my assistant.”
“And probably future Mrs. De Luca if the evening goes well,” she said, laughing.
Enzo’s brows crinkled at that as she swept toward me.
“You’re the singer,” she said, eyeing me.
“Um, yeah. I’m just visiting—”
“Of course.” She gave me a big smile.
Enzo’s phone rang, and he sighed.
“I need to take this. I’ll be right back,” he said, leaving me alone with her.
“I saw your video,” Jade continued.
“Oh? With Fabian or Riley…?”
“The sex video with Enzo,” she said, narrowing her eyes at me.
I swallowed. “That was a long time ago. We’re… we’re barely friends these days. I’m just visiting Cole.”
“Right.” She tittered. “Let me make something clear to you. I don’t know why you’re here, but Enzo is mine, got it? You had your time with him. Now it’s my turn.”
“Uh, OK. Well, congrats on that,” I muttered, clutching my container of melting ice cream.
“I don’t think he’d want you these days anyway,” she continued. “You’re a bit… used, aren’t you? He was bored with you and left, right? Found someone else to marry? She passed, and he’s been lonely ever since… until me. Now I get to keep his bed warm while you’re just an old sex tape to him.”
My face heated at her words.
“And if you keep eating that ice cream, you’ll end up alone. No one wants to fuck, let alone date, a pork chop. Hollywood is fickle like that, right?”
It had been years since I’d had to listen to a woman degrade me.
I breathed in, my hands shaking.
“I’m sure you’re just struggling with your own insecurities right now, Jade, because you’re only an assistant while I’m the center of everyone’s world and was once the center of Enzo’s.
I get it. That sucks to know you lack talent and have to marry rich because you can’t hack life on your own.
I am happily married, and I’m not here to intrude on Enzo’s life. He’s all yours.”
She scoffed at me, her cheeks red.
“Listen, you little bitch. The last thing I am is insecure. I’m the one Enzo wants to fuck. I’m the one in his bed. If he didn’t want me, I’d not be on his arm tonight. You were his pity fuck. He told me himself.”
I swallowed hard at her words. I knew they weren’t true, or at least part of me did. But he even said sex with me had been mediocre. And who knew? Maybe he’d just been with me because the guys wanted me, and they had this all in bullshit they did.
“Truth hurts, huh?” Jade smirked. “He told me all about your mediocre pussy. I just didn’t expect to find it sitting in his kitchen.”
Before I could disengage from the conversation, her hand shot out, and she knocked my ice cream against my chest. It made a mess on my top.
The fact that she’d called me mediocre made me realize Enzo truly did talk to her about me since he’d basically said the same thing to me days before.
“Hey, Red,” Ryder said, sweeping into the room.
I squeezed my eyes closed at his words. He was trying to protect me like he always did.
He must have heard the things she’d said.
His arm winding around me immediately relaxed me, and I sagged against him.
“I don’t think we’ve met. I’d have remembered someone so fucking hideous,” Ryder said, giving Jade a dazzling smile.
Jade sputtered at him, but he moved to stand in front of me, blocking me from her.
“Listen. You’re clearly here for Enzo. That’s cool, but what’s not cool is accosting his guests and belittling them.
I’m pretty sure he’d hate to find out that the woman warming his bed is giving his guests trouble.
Especially Rosalie, who was, despite his insistence, the love of his pathetic life.
So you are free to take Lorenzo back to whatever hole you crawled out from and keep him there.
Rosalie doesn’t need, nor does she want him.
Keep your claws to yourself because now you’re fucking with me, and I don’t mess with claws.
I’ll shoot you in the fucking head before I fuck your corpse. Got it?”
She visibly swallowed before she backed away, a hard glare on her face as I peeked around Ryder’s arm to look at her. Ryder turned back to me and immediately grabbed a napkin to clean me.
“Pay no attention to her, Red. If you want her dead, just say so. I’ll beat her bitch ass to death with her ugly as fuck shoes.”
I let out a blubbering laugh, my hands shaking. He paused and thumbed my tears away.
“Eyes up here,” he murmured.
I stared up at him, swallowing hard.
“Nowhere else. Just on me. I got you, OK?”
I nodded, my throat tight.
“What’s going on?” Enzo demanded, sweeping back into the room. He moved past Jade and came right to me. “Rosalie. You’re crying. What’s the matter?”
“Eyes on me,” Ryder murmured.
“Nothing,” I whispered, not looking away from Ryder. He always kept me grounded like this. I couldn’t count the number of times I’d stared into his eyes as stage fright gripped me or any sort of anxiety and panic. It was always the same.
Eyes on me, Red.
“Let me help.” Enzo clearly understood I’d somehow made a mess with my ice cream. If I had to guess, he was thinking I spilled on myself and was embarrassed in front of Jade.
“This isn’t a big deal,” Enzo said, reaching to finish wiping the mess from my chest.
With lightning speed, Ryder’s hand shot out, and he gripped Enzo’s wrist.
“Don’t fucking touch her,” Ryder snarled. “Take your fucking date and get away from Rosalie.”
Enzo stared at him, not saying a word. I really thought they were going to fight.
“Enzo, Rosalie had an accident. Let… whatever he is… clean her. We need to go so we aren’t late,” Jade said, winding her arm around Enzo’s.
Enzo didn’t move for a second as he had a silent staredown with Ryder. A muscle thrummed along Enzo’s jaw. His free hand tightened into a fist.
Finally, Ryder released his arm, and Enzo backed away.
“Cole is on his way home,” Enzo said gruffly. “Don’t let him see whatever the fuck this is.”
And that was it. He left the room with Jade on his arm as Ryder stared down at me.
“Ryder?” I whispered, staring up at him.
“Red?”
“What is this?”
“It’s just me protecting you like I always have. Like I always will. Come on. I’ll run you a shower.” He pulled away from me and helped me to stand, and led me back upstairs, where he did exactly what he said he was going to do.
As much as I tried to fight the feelings, I knew they were turning into something dangerous.
And if I had to guess, Ryder felt the same.
And that… that could be a problem.