Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
IAN
Cole would have insisted on meeting in person if it was bad news.
Or at least, that’s what I keep telling myself.
Rose can’t take another blow. She put so much hope into her idea of the pop-up show working, so much work planning it, making sure everything looked legitimate. “People need to believe this is real,” she explained the other day, as she typed up another press release. “Yes, it’s a pop-up show, but I need to make sure everyone there believes my story. That I’m back on track. That the news of my injury was exaggerated.”
If it turns out Diem wasn’t behind this, or if not her, Brand, then everything Rose put herself through last night was for nothing. The anxiety, the fear, the danger, being attacked…
That’s something I won’t forget for a long time. Maybe never. That crazy Diem going after my Rose, howling curses and threats and saying how much she hated her.
My sweet Rose. She won’t admit it, but I can tell how much it hurts her. That someone could hate her that much. That they could rejoice in her devastating injury. Her trauma. That this woman could very well have orchestrated all of it.
Fuck.
The hard thing about loving someone is when you can’t take away their pain. No matter what I do, no matter how much I comfort her, there are some wounds that have to heal on their own.
But there’s still this rabid need to protect her. I wish I could pull Rose inside of me, so anyone who might hurt her would have to come through me first.
“Ian. I’m ready.” Said with a heavy sigh, Rose walks over to the couch and sits down beside me. Her expression is carefully neutral, but I don’t miss the flicker of fear in her eyes. Her hand clutches mine, and she looks up at me, pulling her lower lip between her teeth. “You said Cole seemed okay? Not unhappy?”
Maybe I shouldn’t have said that. I was desperate to take away the scared look in her eyes, but if I was wrong…
“I can’t be sure,” I hedge, “but if it was bad, I think he would want to meet in person. But Rose. Remember, whatever it is, we’ll handle it. Okay?”
Her jaw sets and she lifts her chin; a little move she does whenever she’s getting ready to face something hard. “Okay. Let’s call Cole.”
I wrap my arm around her first, drawing her tense body into my side. Then I tap Cole’s name and switch it to speaker, and set the phone on the cushion between us.
In the moments before Cole answers, all I can think is, please be good news. Please.
“Ian. Hey.” His tone is jovial, which seems a good sign. “You have Rose with you?”
“I do.”
Rose forces a little smile and says, “Hi, Cole. I wanted to say… I didn’t last night. But thank you. And the whole team. For the support, and helping with the show, and just… I know it’s been a lot of work. So no matter what happens, I want you to know how much I appreciate it.”
“Ah, Rose. You don’t need to thank us. This is something we want to do.”
“Still… Did you sell the painting I gave you? If not, there were some potential buyers last night. I could put one of them in contact with you.”
There’s a brief pause. Then he chuckles. “Rose, we’re not selling the painting. It’s going to stay right at Blade and Arrow. Everyone is arguing over which apartment it’ll go in.”
“Oh.” This time her smile is genuine. “I’m glad. I mean, not about the arguing. But… if my hand gets better, I’ll do a painting for each of you.”
My heart squeezes. My Rose .
Emotion thickens my throat, and I give a little cough to clear it. “So. Not to rush things, but we’re a little anxious to hear your news.”
“I’m pretty nervous,” Rose confesses. “Ian thought it might not be bad, but…”
“It’s not.” He’s quick to answer, and Rose lets out a relieved sigh. “There’s still some investigation that needs to be done—on our end, and the police—before we have enough evidence to convict. But as of now, Diem’s the most likely suspect.”
I rub Rose’s arm as I say, “Okay. What do you have on her?”
“First, we have the attack on Rose, which was enough to put Diem in jail on assault charges. And the verbal threats she made, which are recorded, support the claim that there’s intent to harm.”
“What about the other attacks?” I ask. “She insinuated that she tried to hurt Rose before.”
“The judge will definitely take that into consideration,” Cole answers. “In addition to the other evidence we’ve found.”
Rose leans towards the phone, hope evident in her tone. “What evidence?”
“Some interesting things came out between yesterday and today. First, we discovered that Diem hired a private investigator to follow you.”
“What?” Someone was following Rose? And I never noticed?
Fuck.
“I never saw anything,” I grit out, pissed at myself. “I thought I was being careful. Shit.”
“Ian, it’s okay.” Rose touches my arm and says gently, “You were careful.”
“Apparently, he wasn’t following you regularly, Rose.” Cole sounds pissed off, too. “But we should have snagged him at some point. And that’s on me. I should have insisted on someone tailing you?—”
“No, Cole.” Rose is shaking her head. “Tail us everywhere? To the gym and back? The diner? The grocery store? And for weeks? That would have been too much.”
Cole huffs, and I can tell he doesn’t agree. But he just says, “Well. From what I understand, the PI didn’t get much information. Location of the gym, your studio, but that was about it.”
Rose gasps, and then her face falls. “The studio. She’d know I wasn’t working there, then. It’s still… Aside from calling the insurance company, I haven’t done anything to it.”
“Well.” Turning to face her, I say, “That’s not entirely true.”
“What do you mean? I haven’t even been there, Ian.”
“You haven’t. But—” I really hope this wasn’t a bad idea. “I got everyone to help clean it up. All the guys at the station. The ambulance corps. Thea and her coworkers at the library. Ari and some of her teacher friends.”
“What?” Her eyes go huge. “You cleaned it up? Fixed everything?”
“I wasn’t going to tell you until you said you were ready to go over there. I didn’t want to force the memories on you. But I didn’t want you seeing it like that. All… We couldn’t do anything about the paintings, but everything else, the easels… Grant fixed them all.” My stomach flops over nervously. “I wasn’t trying to deceive you, Rose. I just?—”
I couldn’t stand the thought of her having to face it.
“ Ian .” Her chin wobbles and her eyes brim with tears. “That’s so… thank you. Thank you.” And she lunges at me, burying her face in my neck.
After a few seconds of silence, punctuated by quiet sniffles, Cole asks, “Should we continue this later? If it’s not a good time?”
“No, let’s hear the rest of it.” Rose nods against my chin in agreement. “It’s fine.”
At least I hope the dampness on my neck is from happy tears, not Ian is the worst boyfriend ever ones.
“Okay.” Cole clears his throat, then continues briskly, “So we’re sending Zane to question the PI, just to see if he can get any additional information. Maybe convince him to be more forthcoming with us. But either way, the fact that Diem hired him is solid evidence toward proving she was behind all this.”
Rose lifts her head up and swipes at her eyes. “Is that all? Is it enough?”
“That's not all.” Sounding pleased, Cole says, “There’s a witness. A man who claims Diem approached him, offered him money to assault you. He turned it down, said he doesn’t hurt women.”
My teeth grind together. “Why is he only coming forward now ?”
“He says he was afraid the police wouldn’t believe him. Another one of those with some drug trouble in his past. But he saw something online about the pop-up show, saw Rose’s name, and he felt guilty. At least, that’s what he said. But we’re going to follow up with him.”
Hope balloons in my chest. “So you have the assault last night, the PI?—”
Rose jumps in. “And the guy she approached. Is that enough? To prove she did everything?”
“There’s one more thing,” Cole says. “Last night, Brand Collington revealed some interesting information. He said Diem’s been pushing him to sponsor her. He gave her some money, about ten grand. Which could be where she got the money to hire the PI. And the other assailants.”
“Could this be it?” There’s a little quaver in Rose’s voice. “Could it be enough?”
“It’s enough to keep her in jail. And it’s enough to bring before a judge.” Cole pauses. “I can’t tell you for certain, Rose. But it looks really promising.”
“It sounds it,” I agree. “But I don’t want to stop the protection and surveillance. Not yet.”
“Agreed. Not until there’s enough evidence to convict. Does that sound okay to you, Rose?”
She nods, looking both hopeful and nervous. “Yes. It’s fine. I mean…” Glancing at me, she asks quietly, “If it’s okay that I stay here? Longer?”
Where is that coming from? Have I given Rose reason to think I want her to leave?
But it’s not something to be discussed while we’re talking to Cole, so I just say, “Of course, hun. It’s more than fine.”
Cole says, “Okay. Good. So Ian and Rose, keep up the same precautions as before. We’ll still be continuing surveillance and investigating all the suspects. I’ll be in touch as soon as I hear anything.”
I lift my chin at the phone, an instinctive move. “Sounds good, Cole. Thank you.”
“Thank you,” Rose echoes. “For everything.”
“Of course.” His tone relaxes, no longer the team commander, but a friend. “You’ll have to come over to B and A soon. I think Maya wants to do a big barbeque.” He stops, then adds, “And Rose. That hammer strike? It was really good. Everyone watched the video of you hitting Diem, and they were really impressed.”
Once the call ends, we sit quietly on the couch for a minute, both of us lost in thought.
I’m hopeful that the threat against Rose is almost over and the person behind this is punished.
I hope she finally gets a break after a series of hits.
But why did Rose ask if it was okay to stay? Did I do something to make her think I want her to leave? Is she having second thoughts about me?
It’s the final thought that finally makes me blurt out, “Do you want to leave?”
Rose startles. “What?”
Shit. Now I wish I hadn’t brought this up. What if she does want to leave? But now she’s looking at me expectantly, and I’m a grown man and not a child, so I ask again, “Do you want to leave? You asked if it was okay to keep staying here. I didn’t think… did I do something? Have you changed your mind?—”
“No.” It’s quick. Emphatic. “No, I didn’t change my mind about you.” More softly, she continues, “I guess… I started worrying that maybe you didn’t want me to stay.”
“Why would you think that?”
“Because it’s a big commitment, Ian.” She stares at me, all her guards dropping, looking so vulnerable it makes my chest ache. “I love you. And I know you love me. But living together, long term… I’ve never done it before. But I know it’s a big deal. And I guess I’m… I’m scared.”
I cup her cheek, “Ah, Rose. Scared of what?”
“Well. I…” Her gaze meets mine, scared but so full of love. “I don’t want to leave, Ian. Not now, and not after this. But I don’t know if you?—”
How could she think I wouldn’t want her to stay?
“Rose.” I brush my lips across hers. “Of course I want you to stay. I’m sorry if I didn’t make it more clear. I love you. More than anything. I never want you to leave.”
“Oh.” A breathless moment passes. Then the most beautiful smile appears, filling me with joy. “I don’t want to leave, either. I want to stay. I want to make this our home.”
Yes. Yes .
As I frame Rose’s face, peppering it with kisses, happiness bursting inside me, an absolute certainty settles in.
I want her to be mine. Always.