Chapter 29 Rosalie
TWENTY-NINE
ROSALIE
I’d been home from the hospital for weeks now.
The guys had been gone for longer, though.
And no hope.
I hadn’t spoken to Anson. Standing was a chore. I didn’t even bother to shower most of the time, even though Jamie tried to get me to. I didn’t care anymore.
Cole and Enzo were never around. I knew they were trying to find Fox and Ethan, but Enzo didn’t even come up to see me when he came home to rest. Cole did. He would lie in bed with me and kiss me, whispering to me that he loved me.
At least the first two weeks, he did. Now he barely spoke to me. He simply made sure I was alive before leaving again.
I was alone.
“Hey,” Dominic called out, popping his head in. I winced as I sat up.
We’d texted off and on now and then, but nothing significant. He checked in to see how I was or if I needed anything. That was all. He was really the only one aside from Colten and Jamie, but Colten had been going out with Enzo and Cole lately, Jamie said.
“Hey. What are you doing here?” I nervously pushed my hair away from my face. I really was a mess. I needed a shower in the worst way.
“Well, Jamie needed a break, so Colten took her out. I needed a break from everything. Enzo needed some help. I’m here with you while the guys are out working.” He stepped into my room and looked around. “You need to open the curtains. It’s a fucking cave in here.”
“Sorry,” I mumbled, watching him stalk to the window. He pushed the curtains open, letting the evening sun flow in.
He returned to me and moved my blankets aside.
“Let me see your wound,” he commanded in a gruff voice.
I let him lift my dirty camisole. It had healed over by this point, although I was still seriously tender and sore. Cole had taken me to the doctor a few days ago, and the doctor said I was healing nicely, but I wasn’t allowed to lift or do much more than continue to rest.
“It looks really good.” He let my shirt fall back over my abdomen.
“How many times have you been shot?” I asked.
“Several. They always suck.”
I frowned. “You’re so young to have that happen to you.”
“So are you,” he countered. “To be fair, Enzo has been shot… what? Three times? Four times? Bullets don’t discriminate.”
He had me there.
“When was the last time you showered?” he asked gently, his roughness disappearing as he stared at me.
I ducked my head, my cheeks hot from embarrassment.
“I don’t know. A long time.”
“Don’t you think you should? Are Cole and Enzo not taking care of you?”
“They’re busy, and I honestly don’t have the energy. I just want to be in my bed.”
“I get that, but life is happening around you. I’ve been where you’re at, Rosalie. It’s not going to get better by you not showering. If anything, it’ll get worse. I’m going to start the shower, and you’re going to get in there and wash.”
“I don’t want to,” I started in a choked whisper.
“Listen, here’s how this is going to play out. You’re going to let me help you into the shower. You’re going to do your business, or I’ll do it for you.”
My cheeks heated again. The last thing I wanted was for Dominic De Santis to see me naked or bathe me.
He raised his dark brows at me in a challenge.
“My girl is gone, so I’m going to piss you off instead and boss you around.
Get your ass into the bathroom and handle yourself.
You’re too fucking pretty to sit here wallowing in your own filth.
I’ll speak with Enzo and Cole when they get back tonight about how unacceptable this shit is.
” He pushed his black hair back, a no-nonsense look on his face.
He held his hand out to me.
Knowing better than to say no, I slid my palm along his and let him help me up. I winced and stumbled, but he caught me easily.
“It’s OK,” he said softly. “I have you. I won’t let you fall.”
I let him escort me to the bathroom, where he turned on the shower.
“Do you need help?” he asked.
I shook my head.
“OK. I’m going to be in your room. Call for me if you need me.”
I nodded, watching him turn to leave, the door clicking shut behind him.
I exhaled and stared at myself in the mirror, the tears trailing down my cheeks.
I really did look like hell. My hair was a tangled mess.
It would take forever to brush through it.
Jamie kept offering, but I continued to turn her down.
The bruising from being kicked in my face had all but disappeared, leaving behind a faint yellow tinge to parts of my skin.
Sighing, I undressed slowly and got into the shower, the warm water rushing over my skin.
I wasn’t sure how long I stayed in there, but I was too weak to stand. I’d barely been eating. I slid to my bottom after washing my hair and body and sobbed softly.
The water began to run cold, making me shiver, but I still didn’t have it in me to get out.
My heart hurt.
The ache was a pain I never thought I’d feel.
I missed Fox and Ethan. I missed Cole and Enzo.
Everything was a mess. Knowing this wasn’t something we could fix easily, or ever, made the pain that much worse.
Whatever was happening or had happened to Fox and Ethan wasn’t good.
I was dumb enough to think they were on a sandy beach drinking pina coladas somewhere.
Wherever they were, they were hurting. It plagued me.
It ate at me. I was barely sleeping, and when I did, it was nightmares on repeat of them screaming for mercy.
My promise to Fox that I’d leave kept creeping back into my mind. The only place I could go was back home, but I didn’t want to go there. I’d be reminded of Fox, since his house was next door.
I’d brushed off Anson. I couldn’t just ask him, especially since he was going to marry Bianca.
Fox isn’t dead. He’s out there. He’s alive. And I’ll wait for him…Ethan is with him. They’re coming home to us. Foxy promised…
I cried on the floor of my shower, my body shivering.
The water turned off, and a warm towel was draped over me.
“You’re a fucking mess,” Dominic muttered, lifting me off the floor and carrying me to my sink, where he placed me on the counter, covered in my large towel.
“Here,” he continued, offering me my robe.
He turned his head and didn’t look at me as he held it so I could slip into it. I cinched the belt around my waist, and he wordlessly lifted me again and took me to my bedroom.
He continued to remain silent as he returned to the bathroom and came back with my brush.
I let him brush the tangles from my hair, stunned that I was even in this situation with him.
“How did you survive being without Bianca?” I whispered as he finished a section of my hair.
“I didn’t. I tried to kill myself. Told myself I was going to join her.” He sectioned off another tangled part of my hair and set to work.
I swallowed hard. “I’ll die if Fox and Ethan don’t come back to me.”
Dominic stopped brushing my hair and moved to sit next to me. I stared into his vivid green eyes.
“I know it seems like the end of the world, but I promise it’s not.
Don’t think such things. I was there once.
It’s an awful place to be. If you find yourself going there, call me.
I’ll come to you.” He crinkled his brows as he stared at me.
“If you died, it would kill Enzo and Cole. If you love them, you stay.”
“Do you regret trying…?”
He gave me a sad smile. “Some days I do. But I mostly don’t, and that’s only because it made Drake bring her back to us.
It brought my family back together. Had it not, it wouldn’t have mattered because I wouldn’t have been around to feel any of it.
” He licked his lips. “That’s not you, Rosalie.
Fox and Ethan are out there, and they’re coming home to you. Believe it, OK?”
I nodded, a tear trickling down my cheek.
He reached out and swiped it away without another word before going back to brushing my hair.
Neither of us said anything while he worked. When he was done, he placed my brush back into my bathroom and left the room.
He was a man of few words, which I appreciated in these moments, but I also enjoyed his company since I felt so lonely. He was the only one I knew who had been through anything close to this.
I was surprised when he came back into my room a moment later, holding a box of pizza and a couple of bottles of water.
“Put on your favorite movie,” Dominic said gruffly, opening the box to show me the contents. “Get a slice.”
“I’m not—”
“I will baby bird you this shit, Rosalie. Don’t test me,” he said without blinking an eye. “That means I’ll chew this shit up and hold you down and spit it into your damn mouth. Get a piece. You’re eating.”
I winced and took a piece out of the box, grateful it was my favorite kind.
He put the box on my bedside table and helped me slide back into bed. Carefully, he tucked me in before grabbing the box of pizza and crawling onto the mattress. He placed the box of pizza between us before looking over at me pointedly.
Quickly, I bit into the pizza and chewed. Dominic De Santis was nice, but he also scared me. I had no doubts he really would hold me down and spit into my mouth.
“What movie?” Dominic asked.
“You pick,” I mumbled.
“No, you pick,” he said. “You won’t like shit I watch.”
“What do you watch?”
He shrugged as he ate. “I’m into educational videos. Shit like documentaries and stuff.”
“Really?” I widened my eyes at him. “Me too.”
He actually smiled. “Well, then, how about three hours on how the Hoover Dam was built?”
I nodded.
“Perfect. I have just the program for you.”
And that was it.
We settled in and learned about a dam while eating vegetable pizza and drinking bottles of water.
It was the best night I’d had in a month.