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walked into that bar.” I tried to keep my tone level but I knew she understood that I regretted this and that gave her a tiny glimmer of hope. Her eyes met mine again and I could see that she didn’t regret it. My stomach turned at the thought of this woman being so fucked up that on some level she was okay with being kidnapped and held against her will.
    “If I hadn’t…would…”
    “There would be someone else here, sweetheart. It would have happened no matter what.” I tossed my bottle into the trash can and grabbed another beer from the fridge. There was no ignoring how fucked up this situation was. I needed to separate the Rose I remembered from Lily sitting in front of me now. I had already broken all of my rules. She should have been secured behind that door, and beer has never been on the menu for any of the marks. I was thinking with something other than my brain; I just wasn’t sure if it was my heart or my dick.
    “Come on.”
    “Please don’t lock me back in there. I’ll lose my mind. Let me sit with you.”
    “This isn’t personal.” I held out my hand for her to take. I was offering an olive branch. I could have easily overpowered her and forced her into the room if I’d wanted.
    “Yes it is.” Her eyes filled with tears and her shoulders slumped. I sighed and took a long drink from my beer.
    I walked Lily back to the spare room, refusing to look her in the eye before locking the door. It was ripping me apart inside to have her so close again, to smell her, see her eyes sparkle. She had been the catalyst for the crooked path my life had taken, and now she was here to bear witness to the destruction I had left in my wake.
    What we’d had was so much more than a high school romance. I protected her, made her smile when the world was dark, and she did the same for me. She kept me grounded when I wanted to lose control and become the guy that society had already labeled me. I was the poor boy from the abusive home. My father a criminal with no concern for anything but cash in his pockets and dope in his veins. My mother was just an innocent victim who sat in his path of terror. I tried to protect her, tried my best to stop him. When it became apparent that she had no intention of saving herself or me, I focused my attention on fighting any asshole who looked at me wrong. I placed myself in my father’s shoes and was learning to walk that walk until the day I came face-to-face with Rose.
    “Cole!” Her voice cracked as she screamed at me from the spare room.
    “Beat his fucking ass, Cole!” Trey screamed as he took a long hard drag from his cigarette, pure rage flashing in his eyes. His hair was long like mine but brown and curly.
    My fist connected with Aiden’s jaw, and I felt my knuckle pop as his head flew backward. I kept my left hand gripped on his T-shirt. I didn’t want him to fall, not yet. I wasn’t done with him.
    “Come on, man. The cops are gonna be here any minute.” Trey flicked his butt to the ground and blew out his breathe, clouding me in his smoke.
    “I’m not fucking done,” I said through clenched teeth as I grabbed Trey’s jaw and forced him to look at me through swollen purple eyes. I blocked out the small crowd of teenagers that had circled around us. The guys watched with excitement as the girls turned away in horror.
    “I’m gonna make sure you learn a fucking lesson,” I growled and swung again, my broken and bruised hand pounding against his eye socket. His body went limp and I smiled down at him, not even close to finishing.
    “Cole!” Rose squealed and the fog that surrounded me lifted. My eyes locked onto her terrified face and I smiled like a fucking idiot. “Stop,” she mouthed and my dick instantly pushed against my jeans. That was the first time she had ever said my name, and the breathy way it crossed her lips made me think about her saying it under completely different circumstances. I frowned, realizing the look of horror on her face was