22. Enzo
TWENTY-TWO
ENZO
“ I f I want him, I will take him,” she snarled softly into my ear. “I decide when, where, and how. Not you. It’s never been your choice to make. The fact I haven’t should have shown you long ago where my devotion is.”
“But you want to,” I whispered back to her, my voice thick. My ears were still ringing from her slap, the heat of her handprint surely on my face, marking me.
She backed away from me, shaking her head.
“Rosie,” Fox called out as she turned on her heel to leave.
She held her hand up to let him know she wanted to be alone. We all watched in silence as she left the room. Several long seconds later, the slamming of her bedroom door sounded out.
“You see what you did, you prick,” Cole shouted at Anson.
Anson didn’t even cast him a look. His focus was on the empty doorway Rosalie had disappeared through.
I fucking hated that. She was always his focus.
And that’s when it hit me.
He wasn’t playing. He was serious about his love for her. Bullets could be flying, and his life could be threatened, but it would always be her. I was looking at a man who would die for her without a second thought. Who sacrificed not to get ahead but for her to get ahead.
“I’m going to go talk to her,” E said softly.
No one tried to stop him as he left the room. He’d most likely be greeted with her telling him she wanted to be left alone anyway, and he’d be back.
“You’re treading in dangerous waters,” Cole said.
Anson finally dragged his attention from the doorway back to Cole.
“Good fucking thing I know how to swim,” he said.
“This shit needs to get settled,” Fox called out. “I’m over all the fighting. It’s pushing her away. If your goal is to push her to the point where she leaves, cut her loose now.”
I glared at Fox. “What?”
“You heard me. We agreed to honesty. This shit you pulled wasn’t you being honest, Enzo. It’s bullshit, and you know it.”
“You’re only saying that because you and Ass Hat are best friends,” Cole shouted, pointing his finger from Fox to Anson.
We were all on our feet now around the table.
“You want him to be fucking our girl. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have let him watch while you did it!” Cole continued, his face turning red.
Fox had the decency to look ashamed, but it didn’t last long because he was quick to clap back.
“Maybe the problem isn’t Anson. Maybe it’s a leadership issue.” Fox glared at me. “At least when I was in charge of making the goddamn choices, she knew what was going on.”
“Yeah, her walking in on you fucking Juliet really made a happy fucking world!” Cole’s voice rose.
“We all know how that ended! E getting shot, her almost being fucking raped, and dying on the side of the road! You did a great fucking job, Evans! It’s your fault any of that shit happened in the first place! ”
Before I could move two feet, Fox was tearing into Cole, both their fists flying at one another.
“You fucking prick,” Fox snarled as he and Cole pounded on each other. “You got her pregnant.”
“And you helped kill my Blossom with your shitty life choices!”
Anson and I had both reached the pair. Anson snatched Fox and made to tug him away as I grabbed Cole.
It didn’t matter, though. The damage was done because Cole gave up and backed away.
“You helped kill my kid,” he whispered, his blue eyes glassy and his voice shaky. He wiped at the blood dribbling from his nose. “You hurt me and Rosebud. And our baby is dead because of your leadership skills . So excuse me, Fox, but fuck you, man.”
“Cole,” I said, wincing at his words. He’d never spoken them to me. Had he, I’d have told him he was wrong, and it wasn’t Fox’s fault. The fact that he even felt that way hurt me deeper than anything ever had.
Fox didn’t say a word. Instead, he left the room quietly without a backward glance. The sound of the front door closing was the only thing we heard.
“Fuck this,” Cole said, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “And fuck you, Anson. You don’t see it because you’re blinded by her, but she’s ours. We lost everything already for her. And now you’re trying to take the only thing we have left. If you really loved her, you’d fucking let her go.”
“So could you,” Anson said, his voice barely above a whisper.
Cole scoffed. “Yeah, well, I’m a selfish prick. I’ll die before I let her go, and even then, I’ll haunt her fucking dreams.”
He cast a final look at Anson before he also left the room.
I cleared my throat as we stood in silence together.
“What? Are you going to tell me I caused all this, and I’m done seeing her?” Anson asked.
I shook my head at him. “I’m tired of the same fight.”
“Me too.”
“Then what are we going to do about it?” I stared him down, watching as he visibly swallowed.
“I guess one of us needs to let her go.”
“It won’t be me,” I said. “It won’t ever be me.”
Anson stared at that empty doorway again. “Was life like this with her before I came along?”
“No.”
“Was she happy?”
“Yes. Happier than she is now.”
“Then it’s me.” He looked down at his feet and nodded. “I’ll let her go then. So she can be happy again. I’m only causing problems. Tell her…” He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter.”
He left the room without another word, the front door closing, sounding out in his wake.
And me.
I stood rooted to my spot in the kitchen, torn on which direction to run to.
My girl or the guy who actually made her smile again.