Chapter 14
Rose
“So when can I take you out again?” Mark asks as we walk out of the hospital after several hours on shift.
Shivers full of disgust run down my arm as his voice goes through me like nails going down a chalk board. I give him a fake smile, I can’t help it, and if we didn’t work together, I most likely would have told him where to go.
The date was terrible, and honestly, I don’t even want to act like this guy's friend. Heck, it took everything in me not to call Dirty and beg him to come knock Mark into the next century.
The guy is a pig through and through. The biggest womanizer I have ever seen, which is saying a lot considering my ex-boyfriend was married and made me the other woman without my knowledge.
Don’t get me wrong, it started off good.
He met me outside the restaurant, pulled out my chair for me, helped me order what was best, and we chatted like we do at the hospital.
He even made me laugh, which helped me relax, even if I didn’t see us going any further.
Just the thought of him kissing me made me want to vomit.
But like I said, everything was good, until it wasn’t.
He went to pay, but had apparently forgotten his wallet, I didn’t see it as anything and said I’d pay and that was fine.
I’m independent but then he went to the men’s room and after five minutes he hadn’t returned and I began to worry until I heard a few men that were walking past talking about a man screwing the waitress from behind.
Guess one cheating boyfriend made me suspicious, so I went to check, and lo and behold, Mark had the waitress's ginger hair in a fist. His head was flung back as he moaned without a care while thrusting inside her ass, and instead of making a scene, I walked back to my seat and waited for him to finish.
The idiot actually acted like I was some dumb girl that had no idea what he had been doing when he returned freshly screwed with lipstick on his neck.
God, he even tried to kiss me near my car, which I thankfully managed to dodge, and then this morning, he was screwing another nurse in the supply closet with the door open as I walked past.
I managed to dodge him all day until he saw me walking out after my shift and decided to follow instead of getting the hint.
His pager goes off, and I internally sigh.
Saved by the beep.
“Crap, an emergency, I’ll call you, Rose,” he says quickly as he rushes back into the hospital, while I sneer, “Don’t count on me answering, dick.”
If only I didn’t work with him, then everything would be alright. I would tell him where to go, but he’s higher than me on the totem pole, and can make the remainder of my time here hell.
Three weeks, I only have three weeks to go.
Shaking my head, I continue my trek to my hired car, not knowing how I’m going to navigate this kind of situation. Before Cage, I didn’t date. I didn’t look at men and think I wanted to try something with them. The only reason I agreed to go on a date with Mark was that I wanted to move on.
I’m a dumbass….
I didn’t move on, I got whiplash, and Cage is still on my mind as usual.
Why did he have to do this?
Why did he have to be married?
I groan as I reach the top floor of the apartment building the hospital put me in.
Fifty-five minutes later after being stuck in New York traffic before I unlock the light gray door and walk inside.
I tense before I even shut the door and I don’t even need to look up in the open kitchen and living area to know I’m not alone.
My whole body tingles, my heart races, and my body warms.
Cage.
I can feel my breathing pick up before I slowly lift my head and yep, my ex-boyfriend is sat forward on the cream couch.
His elbows on his knees, his fingers linked, dangling as he looks at me intently.
Not how Mark looked at me, like I was a conquest, but with longing and love, a look he has no right to hold.
He’s married, his wedding ring is still fucking on, along with his cut that he hid from me.
“Hello, red,” he says lowly, snapping me out of my shocked thoughts, and we lock eyes.
He looks tired, but by the helmet on my glass coffee table, I’m guessing he rode over twenty hours to come here. Why, I don’t know. Maybe he doesn’t want me to tell his wife about our affair, because that is what it was, an affair.
I can feel my emotions building, and the urge to cry my eyes out is consuming me, but I hold it back as I look Cage in the eye and demand, “Leave, now.”
He doesn’t smirk, doesn’t smile. He stands and slowly walks over to me, instead of leaving like I asked, he shuts the door, then slowly moves behind me. He doesn’t touch me, most likely valuing his life, but I do feel his body warmth.
“I think you and I need to talk, red,” he murmurs, and I tense at the nickname.
“Actually, I think you should go back to your wife,” I snarl back before moving away from him, refusing to allow myself even a second to enjoy having him close.
He isn’t mine, he belongs to someone else.
“Rose, it isn’t what it seems,” he tries, and I spin around, point at him and snap, “Lies, everything is all lies, our whole relationship was lies.”
He flinches at my anger, and I demand, “Are you married?”
“Yes,” he admits without hesitation and my chest squeezes.
“And you wear your wedding ring every day?” I confirm, and he lifts his left hand with pride, showing off the black band, and I try my hardest not to choke.
Damn, I can’t even explain how much pain that puts me in, to hear it from the horse’s mouth. To see the pride in his eyes, and trying to breathe becomes difficult.
“And have you been married since high school?” I choke and he winces again and I nod and state, “Go home to your wife, Stone. I’ve moved on.”
His jaw visibly ticks as bile builds calling him his road name, the sound of it coming from my lips not sitting right with me.
“You’ve moved on, huh?” he confirms, and I narrow my eyes, but they soon widen when he asks, “You mean with Mark? Your colleague?”
Okay, so I have options right now. Deny it and save Mark's ass, not having the guy's death on my hands, especially by the look Cage is giving right now. Option two, nod and agree and let him kill the man.
That is actually a hard decision. Why am I not surprised Dirty went back home and blabbed?
“You don’t even want that man, red, you want me, and you hate it,” he sneers, and I snort, “You’re full of yourself.”
“When it comes to you and our relationship, yeah, I am because you are mine like I am yours,” he replies, and I swear my heart shatters right where I stand.
I shake my head and scoff, “Liar!” and he narrows his eyes before I point at him and remind him, “I may have been yours through your lies, but you were never mine. You are married, so get the hell out and go back to your wife and let me heal from your lies.”
“I’m not going anywhere until you hear me out.
Once you do, I’ll leave, let you finish the rest of your course before you come home.
I will claim you and put my patch on your back as soon as you return,” Cage says fiercely, and I laugh and ask, “Do you hear yourself? I’m telling you to leave, that I don’t want you here, to go back to your wife, who I can imagine will be hurt hearing all of this. ”
“I don’t give a shit about Elsie, Rose, I only care about you and your feelings.
I only care about the hurt I’ve put you through by not speaking to you at the start, of not explaining everything,” he says without blinking, “You are my priority, no one else and the sooner you understand that, the easier everything else will be. Even if you think I’m crazy, if you think I’m a stalker, I am not leaving here until we finally have it out so we can move forward, together!
I have gone over three months without even knowing where you were, so I’m not losing this chance. ”
How can he stand there and say all this? He’s married, for Christ's sake.
Breathing heavy, I demand, “Did you get your wife pregnant?”
I spoke to my dad and asked about Stone.
He wanted to know why but I mentioned how Caleb wanted me with him which made Dad laugh.
Apparently Stone’s father is adamant he’ll stick with his wife, that no other woman would come between them after getting pregnant in high school and that was only a few days after Dirty left leaving unanswered questions.
I spent the whole freaking night crying.
“I didn’t,” he denies, and he doesn’t even blink.
“Liar,” I whisper, “just like you’ll most likely lie about not living with your wife like my dad stated your dad said,” Cage’s jaw ticks again, but I don’t stop as I accuse, “Just like you’ll lie about your wife not hanging off your arm every day.”
I shake my head as I throw my bag on the breakfast bar, and I whisper full of deflation, “Leave Cage, and don’t come back.”
Without looking at him, I turn and walk away towards my bedroom, trying my hardest to hold in the tears, but as soon as I enter my room, Cage calls out, “I’m not leaving, not until we speak, red.”
My tears fall as a sob wants to pull from me, and I shut my bedroom door before I lean against it and slowly glide down, then I lie on my carpeted floor, letting my tears fall. Silent sobs rip from me, exhaustion from my shift not helping.
I know Dirty told him where I am, that going on that date forced his hand, but the man has a wife, and I’ll keep saying it until I’m blue in the face.
He’s taken, and being here is a big ‘fuck you’ to the poor woman.
I don’t know how long I stay on the floor for before I fall asleep, my tears still falling, but hours later, I wake up.
The room is dark and instead of being on the floor, I’m in my bed, Cage’s shirt in place of my sweats and my tears fall again.
I should tear the thing off my body, but instead, I curl up in it, pressing it against my nose, his musky scent hitting my senses and I hate myself for taking comfort in another woman’s man, making me no better than Mark.