Chapter 12
Rose – Three Months Later
“I swear the dad looks at you with a twinkle in his eyes, like he knows he can have you,” Mark jokes as he waggles his dark brows, and I laugh, shoving him a little, making him smirk.
Mark Chilvers is a colleague, the first one to make me feel comfortable after I arrived in New York, and for three months, he’s been flirting with me. I guess that is what you’d call it, looking at me intently some days, touching my hand or arm...
Piercing blue eyes pop in my head, and I try not to sigh.
While Mark is really hot with his dark hazel eyes and black short hair, with a body that women fall over, and we have a flirty thing going on. He just isn’t my lying cheating ex, Cage, and all I feel is disgust every time he touches me.
Three months and the four times Mark has tried to kiss me, I’ve pulled back. The feeling like I’m cheating too much to handle, despite the fact that it is not the case.
Cage has a wife, an old lady, he’s the cheater, not me. Yet, I feel like one every time I try to make a connection with Mark, even knowing that nothing can last between us if something were to happen.
I’m only here for a short time.
“Maybe you should give the dad your number, I hear he’s single,” Mark continues to joke, and I grin at him.
“Maybe I should,” I return, and he narrows his eyes playfully, making me laugh, before his pager goes off and he shakes his head.
“Dr. Powers is requiring assistance,” he says, then looks at me and confirms, “The Dog Pond after my shift?”
I smile and admit, “I wouldn’t miss it,” and he grins wide before his eyes travel down my body and up again. His look is full of lust despite the pink scrubs making me want to shiver in disgust but I hold it in, keeping my smile.
He winks when his pager goes off again, then turns, walking away down the hall, getting lost in the crowd, the hospital full today and my smile vanishes.
Tonight is supposed to be a date, one my mama encouraged me to accept when I mentioned Cage and I broke up, claiming our lives are at two different stages. He wants kids, and I can’t right now, lying through my teeth. But why am I dreading it?
Why does it feel completely wrong?
Cage spends every day with his wife. Donna’s seen it with her own eyes. The woman hangs off his arm, showing everyone who he belongs to, so why do I feel sick at the thought of dating Mark?
I sigh when my pager goes off and I see I have a visitor in reception and I head for the elevators, hoping it isn’t my patient's father. As sweet as the guy can pretend to be, he’s like twenty years older than me and a clear womanizer.
If I’m honest, every time I’ve got to go in his child’s room, I make sure I’m not alone.
The guy gives off creepy vibes.
I climb off the elevator and walk over to reception, smiling at a few patients waiting to be seen in the waiting room before I look to see whose come to see me. I pause before panic hits but not because I’m scared Cage has figured out where I am.
I rush over as Dirty smiles at me, and clearly seeing my panic, he promises, “Caleb is perfectly fine, actually, he wants to see you later if that is alright?”
I stop before him and breathe, “He isn’t here for heart problems?”
Dirty chuckles and instantly denies, “Nah, sweetheart, he’s as healthy as a horse.” I relax slightly, and he asks, “Are you due for a break?”
I look at my pocket watch before looking back at Dirty.
I could tell him no, I could walk away and demand he not return, but the little puppy dog look he’s got going on is exactly how Caleb looked to get extra Jello, and I know it’s a look I can’t say no to.
Huffing, I cave and admit, “I’m due an hour break,” and he grins before nodding to the door.
“I saw a bench near the pond,” he says, and I nod and walk with him towards the doors, Cage suddenly coming to mind now that I know Caleb is safe.
Crap, does he know?
Is he here?
I can feel my breathing pick up as I pick at my fingers with worry. I’m not ready to see him, to hear his pathetic excuses that are all just lies.
“You can stop panicking, he isn’t here,” Dirty says as we walk across the parking lot, and I look at him and ask, “Am I that transparent?”
He snorts, “Very,” before he sighs, “He isn’t really talking to me at the moment.”
I frown as I take a seat, and I ask, “Why?”
Dirty sits beside me and confesses, “I’m not just the club's treasurer and mechanic, I’m really good with computers.” he looks at me, our eyes connecting and he shocks me, “I found you within two days of you leaving and him begging me to trace your whereabouts.”
I tilt my head and confirm, “But you haven’t told Cage?”
I’m mean it’s obvious he hasn’t because something deep down inside me is telling me he would have been here already.
Dirty shakes his head as he looks at the pond and admits, “I knew you needed to do this, so does Doc. And after your supervisor, Sally, cracked and explained how long she’s been trying to get you on this course he relented and decided not to speak up.
Though Sally thought this was a yearlong course in New York. ”
I hum and admit, “I know. She hadn’t read the contract fully. I do four months here, then eight months at Wincher Hospital.”
“Doc came to the conclusion this was the right path for you,” he admits, and I look at him with a raised brow, and he grins, “He also thought he owed you one.”
Ha, owed me one. He set me up with his married freaking brother, kept it from me, then encouraged me to stay, even knowing I was putting my life on hold for a taken man. A man who even lied about being in the club.
“Stone,” Dirty says, and I frown at him, and he reminds me, “The brother that Caleb wanted you so desperately to get with, to dump your boyfriend for, my vice president…”
“You mean the brother in a bad marriage that a six-year-old was very transparent over?” I ask.
He confirms, “That’s the one, it’s Cage, sweetheart.”
My mouth parts a little. I told Cage the story with Caleb and what he wanted, yet he never said anything, never spoke up, and told me the truth, just mentioned he needed to have words with the kid having big ears.
He had the chance then and there, and he said nothing.
I look at the pond, disappointment and heartbreak filling and Dirty admits, “I know he hurt you, I know he should have told you the truth but Rose, he didn’t know how.
His marriage, it isn’t what you think, and it isn’t my place to say, it’s his.
Which I know isn’t fair to you, and for that I am sorry, but he is in love with you, Rose, he misses you. ”
I swallow hard, not knowing what to say in return.
I know he misses me, my sister tells me every two days when she speaks to me.
Turns out, whatever he said to her the day he got my letter, she’s been meeting up with him at least three times a week.
He’s been helping her with her homework, acting like a big brother, something I wished for, something I would have been jumping for joy for but now I hate it.
He’s married, he lied to me.
“We’re not bad men, Rose. We do bad things to bad people, but we’re not bad men.
Surely, since you’ve been gone, you can see the love Stone holds for you.
I mean, why else has he been there for Kimberly?
Helping her whenever she needs it?” Dirty speak when I don’t, “He felt stuck between a rock and a hard place. Yes, he married Elsie, but he doesn’t love her, he loves you. ”
I look at him and ask, “Do you know how bad that sounds? That he doesn’t love his own wife?”
Dirty sighs, “Rose, like I said, there are some things you don’t know that I can’t tell you. Fuck, he’s going to be pissed as it is that I came to see you along with Caleb, who will most likely gloat seeing his favorite nurse.”
“Then why did you? Why come knowing it will upset him?” I ask.
Dirty raises a brow and says, “Mark,” and I physically feel like I’m about to pass out.
How on earth does he know about Mark?
Crap, is Cage going to…
“And by how pale you’ve gone, you’ve heard the rumors about the club and the lengths we go for the people we love. He would kill him, knowing you’ve been entertaining the man's flirtations,” Dirty comments and I scowl.
“He would have no right. I’m single, he’s the married one,” I snap, and he smirks and asks, “Do you want Mark?”
I swallow hard because no, I don’t want him, and Dirty can see it by the brow raise he’s currently giving me.
“Thought not,” he says, “You want to try, which is why you accepted a date, but you don’t want him and you hate it,” he looks back at the pond and admits, “As soon as I heard through the grapevine you accepted the date, I didn’t see any other way than to come see you.
I’ve spent three months ensuring you were safe.
I was adamant I wouldn’t bother you until you returned home, but I know you won’t want a man's death on your hands.”
My pulse races, and I know my breathing has picked up because I know he means every word.
The Rebels have a reputation. They love the town but if you mess with one of their own, they become lethal and I am fully aware of their affiliation with several other clubs, one being here in New York and the Cartel.
My pager beeps, and Dirty stands before helping me up as he states, “Duty calls for you,” and I look up at him.
He smiles softly and pleads, “Just listen to what I’ve said, maybe think about hearing Stone out, even if it’s just by phone, because I can guarantee, when you return home, he will be on you instantly, and he’ll go all alpha male on you. ”
My heart jumps at his words, and I instantly tell it to shut up as Dirty points at me and says, “I’ll meet you out here at five with Caleb, he wants to see his favorite nurse, and I expect you to confirm you’ve cancelled your date!”
That said, he sends me a wink, then turns and walks away while my beeper goes off again, and my breathing picks up.
I’m not changing my plans, I refuse, and like hell am I hearing Cage, or should I say Stone, out, even if Dirty is pleading with me. I’ll meet up later so I can see Caleb, but come nine, I’m going on my date, and I’m going to try and move on because Dirty’s words are just that, words.
The man I fell in love with is married, he used me, lied to me, and made me the other woman, and it’s time I move on, even if it kills me.