CHAPTER TWELVE
Grace was right. She sobered up quick. Because by the time Roz had climbed that staircase and made it to their master bedroom, her tipsiness was a thing of the past. She was too enraged to be drunk.
She flung open the double doors of their bedroom with such fury that she didn’t even realize Mick was lying in bed, under covers, in the middle of the day. All she saw was red.
“Your ass been out of town for two whole weeks, and when you come home you can’t even be bothered to come outside and wish me a happy birthday? Are you for real right now?”
Mick was lying on his back looking at her.
Which only angered her more. “And I’m not even talking about Bella Caine. I haven’t even gotten to that yet.”
Then she got to it. “How do you think I felt, Mick, knowing that her slick ass was in Rome with you? How could you do that to me?”
But Mick just laid there.
“You got nothing to say for yourself?”
Then he looked at her. “When you calm your ass down.”
But as soon as he said it, with his smug look, Roz didn’t calm down. She became more furious.
She hurried over to him and began beating on him with her fists. “How could you do that to me? How could you, Mick? How could you?!”
The only way Mick could stop her from beating on him was to grab her by her arms and hoist her on top of his body.
She was yelling for him to let her go and fighting against him with all she had.
But his strength, even lying in bed, was far more superior to hers.
He easily subdued her. “Now calm your ass down, Roz!” he ordered her.
With her hair half in her face, making her look so damn sexy to him, she finally calmed down. But unshed tears were in her large, clear eyes. “Why do you keep doing this?”
“I haven’t done anything.”
“Like hell you haven’t! Why were you with her? Let’s start there. Why were you with the beautiful Miss Bella Caine? Do you wanna trade me in? Am I too old for you now? Is that it?”
Mick’s heart squeezed in agony when she said those words. He looked deep into her soulful eyes. How could she think he would do that to her? How could she think he would be that shallow?
But he was giving her nothing. She had no other answers.
She needed to make sense of the pain he continually inflicted upon her.
Was it her growing insecurities, or was it his ass like every instinct in her body was telling her it was?
“I’m not good enough for you anymore? Is that it? Are you tired of me? Is that it?”
Tired of her? Was she out of her mind? “That’s not it, Roz,” he said. “Not in the least.”
“What is it then? All you have to do is tell me. Why were you with that woman in Rome? I don’t wanna be with somebody who don’t wanna be with me. I’ll never be that girl.”
“Roz--”
“Do you love her?” Roz wanted answers and she wasn’t stopping until she got some. “Is that why you can never get enough of her? You love her? Is she your girlfriend now?”
Anger would have overtaken Mick had it been anybody else asking him that ridiculous question. But it was Roz. There was more sadness in his eyes than anger because he knew it was his actions that brought her to this kind of lowdown neediness that wasn’t Roz on any day of the week.
But he also didn’t want to get into his knee situation. “She’s not my girlfriend,” he said.
But that only made Roz even more puzzled. “Then why were you with Bella, Mick?”
There was a pause, which only made her more unsteady. But then he answered her question. “I had surgery,” he said.
It was nowhere near what Roz expected to hear. “Surgery? What do you mean you had surgery? What happened?”
Mick took his hands off of her arms and placed them around her waist. And it was only then did Roz finally realize the oddity of Mick lying in bed, under covers, in the middle of the day.
And the word surgery only heightened her concern and scared her.
“Why would you need to have surgery in Rome?” Then she pointed her finger at him.
“And you’d better not tell me you have some incurable disease and you only have a few months--”
“No. No. It’s nothing like that.”
That gave her great relief. “Then what is it? Why would you need to have surgery in Rome of all places? Did something happen?”
“My knee was injured. I had to get it worked on.”
Roz couldn’t believe it. “You had knee replacement surgery in Rome?”
There was a slight hesitation. It was obvious that Mick originally had no intentions of letting her know. Which concerned her on a different level. “I had surgery on my knee, yes,” he finally said.
“But why, Mick? The best doctors in the world are right here in the United States. Why would you go to Rome to have a surgery?” She didn’t even care about Bella being with him. She was gravely concerned about him!
“I flew my doctors over there. They supervised the surgery. They couldn’t do it here in the States because the robotic technique that keeps you down for only a few days hasn’t been approved here in the States.
And I wasn’t about to be down for up to six months.
My enemies would decimate me if they knew I was incapacitated for that long.
But with the procedure in Europe, I was down for only four days.
Was able to walk a mile and even run in six days.
I had the operation in Europe because of the quick turnaround recovery period. ”
That wasn’t the full reason. The injury actually happened in Europe and he couldn’t be flown out. That was the full reason. But he never discussed that side of his life with Roz.
“Why hasn’t it been approved in America?” she asked him. “Because it may not be the best way to recover from knee surgery?”
“Or because that fat-cat doctors’ lobby wants us to pay for their fat salaries with constant post-op visits.”
Roz stared at Mick. He’d never been the conspiracy theory type in the past. What was up with him?
Because something was. She could smell it.
“If you were back to normal in less than a week,” she said, her eyes searching his large green eyes for clues to what was really going on, “then why did you stay there for an additional week?”
“My surgeons wanted to keep an eye on me for that additional week out of an abundance of precaution. They needed it to work.”
“Why?”
“They want to use it in the States. They need documented proof of its safety.”
But Roz was still puzzled. Her eyes were still searching his. “But why wouldn’t you just tell me what you were going through so that I could be there with you? Why wouldn’t you just tell me, Mick?”
Mick’s look changed. Roz wasn’t sure if it was because he was tired of her questions, or if he was embarrassed by them. “What?” she asked him.
Mick exhaled. It was more embarrassment than irritation. “You’re younger than I am.”
Another out-of-left-field response. “So?”
“Every time we have an argument, which is quite often lately, what do you say to me, Roz?”
“What do I say to you? What do you mean?”
Mick didn’t respond. She knew what he meant.
She attempted to smile it off. “I was just running my mouth, Mick.”
“A woman telling me that if I don’t straighten up and fly right she’s going to go and get her a younger man and some fresh dick isn’t something I’m going to take lightly. Especially if that woman’s you.”
Roz couldn’t believe he was making this all about her.
“I was just trying to let you know two can play that game. That’s all that was about.
I was reminding your ass that I still got it, too, and that I get propositioned by these young studs just like you get propositioned by those young hoes.
But you took it like I was gonna do something like that? That I was gonna do that to you?”
Mick felt embarrassed. He looked into her soft eyes. “Something like that, yes.”
Roz couldn’t help it. She smiled. “You were afraid I was going to leave you?” Then she started laughing.
Which upset Mick. “It’s not that damn funny,” he said.
“I’m sorry,” she said, trying not to laugh but unable to stop. “I’m sorry.”
Then her laughter slowly stopped, and she looked at him. She was serious again. “There’s more to this story, Mick. I can feel it. Why can’t you tell me?”
Mick stared at her. She was one smart lady. But he wasn’t discussing all that hell he rained down in Rome. He wasn’t discussing that.
Roz exhaled. He was the hardest man to love. The absolute hardest! Why did she love him so much? “Is it your final answer that you aren’t cheating on me with Bella Caine?”
Mick frowned. “Why would I cheat on you with Bella, Roz?”
“Because her ass pretty, that’s why.”
“No, I’m not cheating on you with Bella.”
“What about the doctor from America that ‘oversaw’ your surgery? Was it a woman or a man?”
“A woman.”
Roz wanted to roll her eyes. Why was she not surprised? “She’s pretty, isn’t she?”
Mick now had irritation on his face. “What you asking me a question like that for? Just as long as she got my knee straight, what the fuck I care how she looks?”
“Yeah right,” Roz said boldly, which caused Mick to give her that chilling look that made strong men terrified. But Roz just stared right back at him. Until his tired ass gave up, and looked away.
“I didn’t even know you needed a knee replaced,” she said. “Since when your knees have been bothering you like that?”
“A lot bothers me,” he said, “but I’m not about to go around bitching and moaning about it. I had the surgery. That’s that.”
Roz was certain there was more to the story than he was willing to tell, but that was always the case with Mick. She was used to that shit. Tired of it too, but used to it. “Let me see it,” she said.
Mick frowned. “See what?”
“Let me see your knee.”
Had Mick been the type, he would have rolled his eyes. Because he knew she wanted proof. He reluctantly moved her body to the left side of his body, removed the covers off of the right side of his now-revealed naked body, and showed her his knee.