Chapter Twenty-Nine Rose
It has been about two weeks since I had Reid and was released from the hospital.
I finally convinced my family to leave and head back home yesterday.
Dad was not feeling so great about leaving because they still haven’t found Travis, Sin and Ash yet.
Rage had talked to him and let him know that I will unfortunately have a brother watching my house along with whoever Uncle Declan decided to keep here.
Plus, Rage has been living in the guesthouse with Mason.
He doesn’t even leave to go to work. I don’t know how the man can take time off, but I guess he works for the club and he owns his own home on that land they have.
The day he moved in I was surprised by how many brothers came to help him. A lot of them stopped to greet me.
I remember the events that happened after they got here and Devil waited for all of them to move furniture and things into the guesthouse.
“Hey there sweetheart. How are you doing?” Devil asked as he watched his brothers help his son move to the new home that him and his grandson would be staying in.
“I’m doing alright, just been spending time with this little guy here.” I say as I look down at Reid. I look back up to Devil and smile, “Do you want to hold him? I’d love to get some pictures of the two of you together.”
“I’d love that.” I hand him Reid and pull my phone out taking photos of Reid with his other grandfather. I think this boy makes up a majority of my photo storage and he’s only been in the world for a couple of days.
“I can send them to you or I can have Rage do it.”
“Give me your phone, Rose. I want you to have my number in case you need anything. I don’t think that Rage will ever be unavailable to you, but I want you to have my number too. You are my family now.”
I give a sad smile, “Well, I am the mother of your grandson.”
He looks at me and says, “You are more than that Rose and I hope one day you believe that. I apologize for any words, Rage said that might have led you to believe otherwise. Rage sometimes spouts off at the mouth without thinking.”
“He didn’t just say things.”
Devil looks at me for a few seconds before he glances over where Rage is walking into the guesthouse with a box.
“I hear that you are familiar with the crime world. So I know I can show you something and you won't be terrified by what you see.”
He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone.
“I recorded this, the day Reid was born. After we left the hospital that last time. I just got the part that I thought you might want to hear and I hoped that with you hearing that you may give my boy a chance to talk to you. Rage has a lot of pain in his past, Rose. That doesn’t excuse him,
but he doesn’t let anyone close. I mean anyone. There are things about what happened to him growing up that even I don’t know. What I do know, Rose, is that before he got that kick in the ass by finding out you heard the things he said that night. The time that he spent without you,
made him take a long look at what his life would look like without you. I’m sure once he talks to you, you will get more in depth answers from him, but what he felt for you, Rose, it scared him. Scared him in ways he has never been before. So he acted like a dumbass.
But I want you to listen to this and then decide if talking to him will change the way you see your relationship.”
And I did listen and watch that video that Devil recorded.
I saw Tiff sitting in a chair tied up and bleeding, I listened to her basically tell Rage that they had never had sex with him after he met me.
I listened as she insulted him talking about how his dick was broken.
I heard the elaborate plan that Travis and the four of them cooked up to cause a rift between the two of us and it worked.
Better than they could have possibly imagined.
I still haven’t been able to talk to Rage about anything other than Reid.
I give credit to Rage though, he has respected my boundaries and hasn’t pushed any conversation.
I know he wants to, but I also can tell he is afraid of what I will do if he does.
I have also noticed the last few days my friends who have been helping me take care of my horses and dogs have been sleeping in and yet the shit they have been helping me with gets done.
So today, I thought Reid and I could wander out to the barn and see the horses.
Also find out who our mysterious helper is.
Even though I have an idea, they wouldn’t refuse to get up to help me out unless someone told them they would take care of it.
So I got Reid all strapped to me and headed outside with Bandit on my heels.
Bandit is always Team Rose no matter what he stays with me.
My other traitors seem to enjoy spending the night with Rage and Mason or Abby and Brynley in their rooms.
Bandit though, he is a loyal boy. As we get closer to the barn I hear two voices, one deep and another of a little boy.
“Alright, let’s get the horses fed and I will bring you to the clubhouse to get your school started.”
“Alright dad.” I hear shuffling and then I hear the little voice talk again, “You know, I really want a bike when I’m older and I hope we can pick it out and build it together, but I also think getting a horse would be kind of awesome. Maybe if you ever get Rose to talk to you,
she will agree to have a horse kept here for me. I mean this barn is huge and still has some empty stalls. I don’t think Terror would let us get a horse on the compound. But I mean, when and if we ever move back, I think we need to get a dog.
You can’t let me live here with dogs running around and sleeping in my bed with me and then not let me continue to have that when and if we leave here.”
I start to giggle and I’m pretty sure I’m busted for eavesdropping.
I enter the barn and Rage is standing there staring at me with a bale of hay and I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to wipe the drool from my lips because he does not have a shirt on.
I clear my throat and look at Mason who is happily snickering behind our backs.
“I would gladly keep a horse here for you, Mason, but you’d have to come take care of it. So you know what you’re doing right now feeding them, making sure they have water and the fun part, cleaning out their stall.”
He scrunches his nose at me, “I don’t think that’s the fun part. Would you be able to teach me how to ride him?”
“I would love to teach you how to ride a horse. You’ll have to give me some time though, I’ve got to heal first.”
He nods his head before he drops the grain that he has and comes up and gives me a hug.
“Thank you, now I just have to convince dad that I need a dog. Do you think you can help?”
I laugh, “I don’t know buddy, you’d probably have to prove to him that you can be responsible and take care of a dog.”
Rage clears his throat and I look up at him and he is standing by one of my empty stalls with his arms over his chest.
“Mason, why don’t you head back to the house and get showered so I can bring you over to Annie’s okay?”
I watch as the little boy nods his head and runs out of the barn towards the guesthouse. I look up at Rage and he is smiling at me.
“How are you and our boy doing this morning? I didn’t expect you to wake up this early.”
“Yeah, well I was curious as to who was letting my roommates slack off in the mornings. They had been helping me with all my chores up until the last few days. I noticed Abby, Brynley and Sutton were still asleep when I got up and made breakfast.”
Rage looks down and is almost a little shy before he looks back up at me.
“Yeah, I um,” he rubs the back of his neck and his cheeks start to turn a little pink, “I wanted to give them a bit of a break, I thought that Mason and I could help with all this to you know earn our keep.”
“Well it’s not like you’re doing nothing while you’re here. You are helping with Reid when you can. Plus you really don’t need to earn your keep, once I’m back to feeling somewhat normal again, I’ll probably be out here all the time. My horses are my happy place.
But I thank you for taking such good care of them for me.”
“Of course, it is no problem really, we are up when they need to be taken care of. Plus being around them is actually very calming.”
I laugh at that, “Yeah, well that is why there is a whole other barn on the business part of my property for therapy horses. I mean I still have to get all my business stuff up and running, but once I get everything squared away that will be part of what we do here.”
He looks at me in awe.
“You are amazing, you know that. I’d love for you to tell me more about what you’re building here. I mean I kind of explored a little bit and saw all the empty buildings that were built along the property, but I didn’t ask anybody about them because I wanted you to tell me when you were willing.”
I look at Rage and for the first time since I met him during this whole conversation he has felt unsure. I hate it, but at the same time I think he deserves it.
“Do you want to have lunch with me today? Maybe we can talk about stuff. I’m” I take a breath, “I’m willing to listen to what you have to say now and I hope that you feel comfortable opening up to me.”
He looks at me and smiles, “I would fucking love that, Rose. Truely.”
“Alright, big bad biker, I’ll let you get back to it so you can bring your son to school.”
I go to turn around, but before I can Rage is right up next to me and he grabs me by the back of the neck.
He pulls me in for a crushing kiss, but being mindful of the baby between us.
Honestly for the first time since I heard him say all that shit about me, it finally feels like I can breathe.
What feels like minutes later, we are both catching our breath as he pulls away leaving his forehead pressed against mine.
He brings the hand that was wrapped around my neck to cup my jaw and the other moves so he is holding Reid who is content in his little carrier attached to my chest.
As I look into Rage’s eyes, I see everything that he has been keeping locked inside himself and hidden from me since that night we made love in my room after he found out Missy died.
“I love you, I hope you know that and see that. I am truly sorry for everything.” He places another kiss on my lips before he turns back towards the stalls to finish feeding the horses.