Chapter 35 Rosalie
THIRTY-FIVE
ROSALIE
“Here.” Jamie handed me my bag as I stumbled to push my feet into my ballet flats. I’d been startled by Jamie coming into my room to say I was needed downstairs.
I took my bag from her. She gave me a quick hug.
“Do you want me to come with you?”
I shook my head. “Stay. I-I don’t know what’s going on.”
“Rosalie…” Worry crept over her face.
My bottom lip wobbled. “It’s OK. Foxy promised.”
“OK. OK, babe,” she whispered, backing away. Colten stood nearby, concern on his face. His phone rang, and he pulled it out to answer, but not before I saw Cole’s name on his screen.
I breathed out and gave Jamie a confident nod before following Elijah out of the house and to a waiting SUV.
I got into the back, surrounded by Enzo’s newer men. Men he seemed to trust without question. If he trusted them, so did I, though.
“Did Enzo or Cole say what was going on?” I asked as we pulled onto the main road.
I caught Christian and Dmitri glance at one another before shifting awkwardly. My heart pounded at that reaction.
“Uh, no. We’re just going to take you to meet them at the hospital,” Elijah said.
“Are they OK? Did they find Ethan and Fox?” I pressed, my heart fluttering.
“Enzo and Cole are fine. We can’t comment on anything past that because we don’t know,” Elijah continued gently.
“Pray, Rosalie,” Memphis murmured. “OK?”
I swallowed hard and nodded before I pulled my phone out and stared down at Anson’s name.
I wanted to call him. To text him. I wiped quickly at my falling tears and put my phone away before hugging myself tightly.
It wasn’t long before we were rolling into the hospital parking lot. Christian helped me out, but the moment my feet touched the pavement, I was running.
I rushed into the hospital and spotted Cole and Enzo. I didn’t pause. I went straight to them, my heart shuddering when I took in the looks on their faces.
“Are they OK?” I choked out. “Ethan? Fox?”
“Rosebud,” Cole said thickly as Enzo sobbed in his chair, his head down.
My heart stopped.
“Cole?” I whispered. “Please…”
“Rosebud,” he choked out. “Baby…”
“What’s going on? Tell me what’s happened?”
“We have E. They’re working on him now,” Cole said softly, his voice wavering.
“A-And Fox? Where’s Foxy?” I rasped, my heart pounding harder.
Cole visibly swallowed as Enzo finally stood to face me. I took in the tears on his face and the way his body trembled.
“Foxy?” I whimpered.
“Gone,” Enzo choked out. “He’s gone, sunshine.”
“No. No.” I looked to Cole. It felt like I was in a tunnel and wind was roaring past me.
“Baby… W-We tried. We were too late. We couldn’t save him,” Cole said thickly, tears freely falling.
“No. No. NO!” I wailed. “Foxy! FOX!”
Enzo caught me before I hit the ground and held me tightly. I clung to him, shrieking Fox’s name on repeat.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, sunshine. I’m so fucking sorry,” he wept as he held me.
This wasn’t real. This wasn’t happening. It was a nightmare. It was just one of my awful nightmares.
There was no way.
“H-He promised. HE PROMISED!” I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t fucking breathe.
I continued to scream, Enzo and Cole clinging to me, trying to keep me on my feet.
“Let me,” Anson said.
I hadn’t even heard him arrive.
“Take her. Fucking put her down. Please, fucking put her down for the night. S-She needs to rest,” Enzo said through his tears. “Take her. Fucking please. Make her sleep.”
I didn’t see what he’d shoved into Anson’s hands because I was so distraught, but I felt Enzo’s hands leave me. I reached out desperately to him, shouting Fox’s name, but Enzo just kept putting distance between us as Cole fell back into a chair, his head in his hands as he cried.
“LeeLee, come on,” Anson murmured. “You need to rest.” He tried to pull me away, but I fought against him, desperate to get back to Enzo and Cole.
“Cole. Enzo. Please. PLEASE!” I shrieked. “PLEASE! Don’t. Don’t let him take me. Foxy. I need to see Foxy! He’s here. I know he’s here. Please. Let me see him. I promise… I promise. PLEASE! He said he’d always come back for me! He said it! He promised! PLEASE!”
“Fucking take her!” Enzo shouted. “Please. Anson, let her sleep. Please.”
“I got her,” Ryder said, wrapping his arm around my waist to drag me away.
I continued to scream for Cole and Enzo to let me see Fox. To let me go, but Ryder continued to haul me away. I watched as Enzo just let him do it.
And Anson.
He was speaking to Enzo. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but I prayed it was for him to tell me my Foxy was recovering upstairs and that I could see him.
“Come on, honey,” Ryder said, continuing to pull me, shouting and screaming, from the hospital.
The moment we were out the door, he lifted me into his arms and carried me to Anson’s car.
My voice finally broke until it was hoarse and barely audible.
“Foxy. Fox,” I continued weakly. “Please. Foxy…”
“Easy, easy,” Ryder said, putting me into the backseat. He crawled into the back with me, holding me as I rocked myself.
My fingers and lips were numb. I was sick. I was going to die. If this were real, I was going to die too.
“You have to breathe, pretty girl,” Ryder said gently. “I need you to breathe. Evenly. Deep breaths. Come on, red, I know it hurts. Fuck.” He held me tighter. “You need to be OK. Please. Breathe. Anson will be here soon. He’ll be here to help.”
I rocked faster, my head spinning.
There was no way. Fox was upstairs. He was coming home. This was just a bad dream. He was sharing a room with Ethan. He promised. He promised me he’d never leave.
Maybe he was already home. He was waiting for me. He was running us a bubble bath. We’d watch a movie when I got there…
The door opened as I continued to rock and breathe fast.
Ryder released me, and another set of warm arms replaced his as Anson slid in next to me.
“A-Ani. F-Foxy is OK, right?” I choked out. “He-He’s upstairs with Ethan, right? He’s at home, waiting?”
“Oh, baby,” Anson said, his voice strangled. “Rosalie. Please. Your voice. Fuck, baby.”
“Tell me. Tell me Foxy is waiting for me.”
“LeeLee, baby, Fox is gone. He’s gone. He-He died.” He gripped my face and forced me to look into his eyes. “He’s gone.”
“No. No. No,” I rasped out weakly, shaking violently. “No. NO! NO! NO!”
Anson tried to hold me, but I fought against him. My fists hit any part of him I could, but he wouldn’t relent.
“I want him! I want Fox! I WANT FOX!”
Anson let out a soft sob as Ryder turned in the driver’s seat and fought with me, trying to hold me as Anson drew up meds in a syringe.
“No. No! NO! Don’t. I want Fox. I want Fox. He’s here. I know he is!” My voice wasn’t there. It was a weak whisper as my chest heaved. I was going to die. I was going to die and find him. Dominic flooded my mind. Maybe if I did what he did, Foxy would come back.
He’d come back.
He promised.
The pinprick met my skin, and within moments, the familiar warmth of being drugged filled my senses. I blinked at the tears rapidly, my heart shattered.
“Fox,” I whimpered weakly, my body going limp in Anson’s arms. A tear slid out of my eye. “Foxy…”
Anson hugged me fiercely against his chest.
“It’ll be OK. I promise,” he managed to say. “Fuck, please be OK.”
The darkness made everything OK.
Maybe I’d find Fox within it.
I let go and allowed it to take over, saying a prayer that I was really waking up from a nightmare and not about to slip into a bigger one.