Chapter 10
Rose
I smile re-reading the message Cage sent this morning as I wait for Donna to get her sweet ass here so we can begin our girls’ day, and my heart races seeing the words, still not believing that man is mine.
My Cage:
I miss you already, red. I love you.
Damn, his words…
I know it’s corny, but I am so madly in love with this man. He consumes me in a sickly kind of way, like if I was looking in on someone else like this, I’d probably vomit. The fact he has my name, mine, tattooed over his heart…
Gah, I am one lucky girl, and being away from him is so fricking hard.
When Donna demanded a girls’ day because this was our only day off.
I was hesitant, and that was only because I knew Cage was going out of town on business, but I couldn’t say no to her.
We haven't managed to have one of these days in a while, so I owe her, even if it means I won’t see my boyfriend.
I freeze for a second, a thought hitting me.
“Crap, I’m one of those girls whose whole life revolves around a man…” I whisper, my eyes wide.
I hear someone move to my right and look to see the young college guy a floor below me looking at me like I have two heads, and yeah, alright, I know, talking to myself is not a positive sign and could look crazy, but come on, I’m becoming one of those girls I said I wouldn’t be.
Shaking my head, I put my phone away as I try to calm my beating heart while ignoring 3B, my thoughts all over the guy that stole my heart.
Five months, and I still can’t see my life without him, and somehow I think that was his plan.
Every chance he gets, he’s here with me, even if my sister is around, he’s here, showing me and her that I’m his, that nothing will keep him away, including romcoms and facials.
Every day he ingrains himself in my life, and every day I fall deeper for him. I can’t even regret turning down New York, something my parents cannot understand, and that is mainly because they haven’t met him yet.
They want to, mainly to grill him about my staying in Louisiana, but Cage has mentioned he isn’t ready, that he’d rather both our parents meet at the same time. Which is sweet to be honest, I just don’t know when that will happen.
I sigh as I lean back against the brick wall and eye down the road. Donna is late, as per usual, even though this was her idea and she demanded it.
I knew I should have met her at the diner, at least that way I could have had an extra half an hour with Cage.
“I’m sorry I was late,” Donna says for the fifth time as I climb out of her yellow convertible Beetle sixty-eight minutes later and snort.
“Over an hour, Donna,” I remind her as I raise a brow.
“You were getting laid and were more than hour late to pick me up when this was your idea,” I say crossing my arms over my chest, “You spent forty minutes at work berating me because I spent most my time with Cage, claimed I’ve neglected you,” she winces, “You literally made me feel like crap because I fell in love and there you were, over an hour late for the friends date you organized because you were getting your rocks off while I stood outside waiting.”
Donna wrinkles her nose before she eyes me, then confirms, “So dinner is on me then?”
“Uh, yes, dinner is on you,” I reply with a roll of my eyes before I continue my trek towards Rebel’s Grub Diner, and Donna giggles, quickly catching up with me, linking her arm through mine, and I smile.
Will the guy she was late for be the love of her life? No, but am I happy she’s finally out of her rut so she’ll give me a break about my relationship. And how much time I try to spend with him when I’m not working and he isn’t away? Hell yes!
“I am starving,” Donna exclaims as I open the door to the diner, the bell notifying people of our presence, and I snort and return, “Well, what do you expect after a sex fest?”
Donna wiggles her eyebrows as she grins widely, and I laugh before looking towards the counter, and instantly my grin disappears, the laughter gone, while my heart falls and a gasp leaves me.
“Is that….” Donna’s words trail off as I grip her hand hard, my breathing picking up, and pain consumes me, destroying me at the sight before me.
A bottle-blonde, tall woman, dressed more for clubbing than the town’s diner is clinging onto my boyfriend’s arm, looking up at him like he hangs the moon while he looks at her with a raised brow.
Just when I think he’s going to push her away, just when I think maybe some woman just came onto him, Cage smirks the smirk I love oh so much, the smirk that would basically have me naked within seconds and wraps his arm around the woman’s waist making her grin wide at him.
Pain, so much pain hits me right in the chest, but bile rises when I notice the black wedding ring.
“He’s married?” I choke, not sure how to even focus right now, and Donna murmurs, “Worse, Rose, he’s a brother, and that woman by the looks of things is his old lady.”
I blink and look over his figure, and lo and behold, he’s wearing a cut just like Doc’s, something I must have missed seeing as a woman is hanging off the man I fell in love with.
“Wait, that’s the same cut as Doc’s, the Rebel’s MC…
Doc knew?” Donna growls, “Son of a bitch!” I notice her look at me from my side eye while Cage tightens his grip on the woman, and Donna snaps, “Doc encouraged you to go to the club, he knew Cage would be there because he’s a fucking brother. Doc encouraged your affair.”
All the dates we had, all out of town coming back to me, the secret phone calls...
“Get me out of here, Donna,” I choke, the urge to choke building, breathing becoming difficult as everything he said, every look he gave me flitters through my mind.
Lies, lies, lies, all lies.
“Please, Donna, get me out of here!” I panic, and she quickly pulls on my arm and drags me outside just as a few customers come into the diner, looking at us with furrowed brows.
Just as we get outside, my first tear falls, and Donna curses and drags me to her beetle, opening the passenger door, then shoving me inside, and just as she shuts the door, gut-wrenching sobs tear from me so hard I can’t breathe, and my stomach aches.
He’s married.
Donna curses again and quickly puts her car in reverse and speeds off down the road just as the door to the diner opens, my boyfriend and his wife most likely exiting.
Wife, he has a wife.
“I need to leave,” I whisper, my first instinct to run and run quick an hour later, breathing still difficult.
I know I’m going to have to leave my sister, my parents, but I-I can’t stay here, I can’t see him every day knowing he used me, that he has-has…
Donna replies, “Are you sure you want to –”
Her words cut as I look at her, my tears blurring as I choke, “I need to leave,” and whatever she sees in my eyes, whether it’s the downward spiral that is about to come out, or the pure agonizing pain, she repeats, “You need to leave.”
Nodding to herself, she grabs her phone and presses a few buttons before the ringing echoes in her car.
“Hello, Sally Millies speaking,” Sally answers, and my bottom lip wobbles.
“Hey Sally, it’s Donna,” my friend replies, putting on her quirky fake voice while she squeezes my hand. She lies, “I’ve got some good news for you, I’ve managed to convince Rose to take the course in New York.”
More tears fall, and I lie my head on Donna’s shoulder, grateful she’s taking charge.
“Seriously?” Sally gasps with excitement.
Donna hums and states, “I did, but we need to act quickly before she changes her mind, like in the next day or two quickly.” She side-eyes me, then fake giggles, “All it will take is one look from her sister and she’ll change her mind.”
More like one lie from Cage because of how much I’ve allowed myself to fall in love with him.
“They’ve still got the place for her,” she instantly agrees, “and there’s an apartment with her name on it. Leave it with me, but tell Rose to begin packing for the year, I won’t have her change her mind. I’ll text her the flight details later.”
Sally hangs up without a word, only an excited squeal, and I can’t even laugh. Heck, my lips don’t even tilt.
Donna lays her head on top of mine and whispers, “I’m going to miss you,” just as my phone beeps.
I check it, and a sob releases as I turn my phone and show it to Donna.
My Cage:
I love you, my red, see you in a few days
“If he loved you, he wouldn’t have a wife, he wouldn’t have lied about being a brother or put your life in danger by beginning an affair,” she growls as she grabs my phone and snaps, “Let me change your number. You need a fresh start, and hopefully, his old lady doesn’t find out about you.”
Old lady, he has an old lady, a wife.
More tears fall as my heartbreak makes it harder and harder to breathe. I sob, allowing my friend to hold me in my pain, knowing in the next few days we won’t see each other for a year, but I need this.
I need to leave.
He branded my name on his chest, and when his wife finds out, I’ll have a bounty on my head, even though I had no idea he was married, that he was taken. I had no idea he made me the other woman.
Damn, he made me the other woman…