Page 21 of Glass Rose (Where Roses Rot #1)

FOURTEEN

GAVIN

Every inch of Sofia beneath my fingertips feels like salvation, like something worth fighting for in this fucked-up world where the dead walk and the living can’t be trusted.

Her heartbeat thunders against my palm, matching the frantic rhythm of my own as I lose myself in her warmth, in her scent, in everything she is.

She said she likes me.

“Gavin,” she breathes against my mouth, her voice thick with need.

I crowd her back against the narrow bed of the camper, pinning her wrists above her head with one hand while the other grips her thigh. Everything about her is soft, yielding, alive in ways that make the monster inside me purr with satisfaction.

“You smell fucking incredible,” I murmur against her neck, inhaling deeply the slight saltiness of her skin, the lingering trace of soap from her shower, and beneath it all, the unmistakable scent of her arousal.

Sweet and entirely mine .

She arches her back, her body seeking more contact as her thighs part to cradle my hips, and I growl low in my throat, teeth grazing the pulse point where her life beats strongest, savoring the way she shivers beneath me.

I want to bite into it. Taste it.

“Stop teasing.” She fights against my grip on her wrists.

I tighten my hold. She’s not in control here. “Patience, baby.”

“You’re killing me.”

“Not yet.” I release her wrists to get rid of my shirt, wanting to feel her skin against mine without barriers. “But I’m going to make you beg.”

“I can’t wait.”

I grip her neck, capturing her mouth with mine. Her lips part beneath mine, inviting me deeper, and I accept it with a groan.

I kiss my way lower to where her shirt has ridden up. “This needs to go.”

She raises her arms, helping me strip it away.

Her bra is plain cotton, functional, not fancy. Doesn’t matter. What’s underneath is what I want.

“Look at you.” I cup her breast through the thin fabric, her nipple hardening against my palm.

The weight of her fills my hand perfectly. I run my thumb across the peak, watching her eyes flutter closed, her lips parting on a silent gasp.

I unhook her bra, not waiting for her to shrug out of it, before I duck my head, brushing my lips against the swell of her breast. “I’m going to make you scream.”

Her laugh is breathless. “What about the others?”

“Don’t care.” I flick my tongue across her nipple.

”Gavin.”

I smile against her skin, rolling the tightened bud between my teeth .

The scent of her arousal grows stronger, filling the small space until it’s all I can smell, all I can think about. My cock strains painfully against my jeans, demanding release, demanding her. And I’m going to have her tonight.

I trail my hand down her stomach, fingers toying with the edge of her slip.

“Please.”

I’m about to comply when something shifts in the world outside our little bubble. A sound—distinctive, familiar, wrong for this time of night.

I tilt my head.

Footsteps. Not the quiet, efficient steps of Marcus or the light tread of Dr. Cho. These are heavier, with a slight drag on the left that creates an uneven cadence. John. And he’s moving directly toward our camper.

“What is it?” Sofia asks.

I press a finger to her lips, head cocked as I track John’s approach. “John. Coming this way.”

She blinks, then scrambles to put her shirt on as I reluctantly ease off her, grabbing my own shirt from where I tossed it. By the time three sharp knocks hit the camper door, I’ve worked it over my head and adjusted my jeans to hide the evidence of what we were doing.

“Gavin? Sofia?” John’s voice filters through the thin door, tense and strained. Not his usual gruff confidence.

Something’s wrong.

I cross to the door and open it. “Problem?”

John’s eyes dart past me to Sofia, who’s sitting up on the bed, hair mussed and lucky for him, dressed. “Alex is gone.”

“What do you mean, gone?” I ask.

“Couldn’t sleep, so I went up to check on him. Office is empty.” His shotgun hangs at his side, fingers tapping nervously against the barrel. “His gear’s not here. He’s vanished.”

My jaw tightens. “How long?”

“Since I found out. No more than twenty minutes. I did a sweep of the warehouse first, thought he might be taking a leak or raiding the pantry.”

“Shit.” A cold feeling settles in my gut. “Let’s check the cameras.”

“You want to check if he left?”

“Yes.”

“Good Idea. I doubt he’s skilled enough to evade each camera.”

We follow John across the warehouse floor, past the empty living area where dishes from dinner still sit in a tub of soapy water.

The office sits perched above the main floor, accessible by a metal staircase that clangs loudly beneath our hurried steps.

Inside, monitors glow with blue light, illuminating the empty chair where Alex should be sitting, keeping watch.

I scan through the security monitors, flipping between camera feeds with quick taps. The loading dock door’s closed. Perimeter fence intact. No movement on the—wait.

“There.” I point to the northeastern camera. “Timestamp 23:47.”

The grainy black-and-white footage shows Alex slipping through the side entrance, backpack slung over his shoulder. He pauses at the tree line, eyes back on the warehouse before disappearing into the darkness.

“Son of a bitch.” John leans closer to the monitor. “What’s he thinking? There’s infected out there.”

Three quick beeps cut through, then silence.

John switches to the exterior camera feeds. Three black SUVs with tinted windows crawl up the access road. Each vehicle’s hood bears a logo gleaming in the moonlight… The distinctive double-tangled triangle of Green Research.

Sofia’s hand finds mine. What the fuck did Alex do?

“Wake Cho and Marcus,” I tell her. “We’re going to need everyone on this.”

She nods, reluctantly releasing my hand to head for the door, looking back at me with a mixture of fear and determination that makes my chest ache. “Gavin?—”

“I know.” I won’t let them take her, or me, without one hell of a fight. “Go.”

She disappears down the stairs, and I turn back to the monitors, where several figures emerge from the car.

“Doesn’t look friendly.” John moves to the weapons locker behind his desk.

I zoom in on one of the figures. “There’s our Judas.”

Alex stands in the harsh glare of the headlights, camera clutched in his hands like a talisman. People always show you who they really are when the chips are down. It shouldn’t surprise me, selfish prick was always looking out for number one.

“How many?” John asks.

“Twelve. Heavily armed, tactical gear. Military training by the way they’re moving.”

“Bastard was using us from the start,” he says. “Offering a warehouse full of supplies.”

“And us.”

“Armory’s stocked for exactly this scenario. Catch.” He tosses me a sleek black assault rifle. “Works for you?

I catch it one-handed. “Perfect.”

A grim smile appears beneath his wild beard as he flips a switch on the security console. Throughout the warehouse, metal shutters slide down over the windows, and reinforced doors lock into place, the magnetic seals engaging with heavy thuds that vibrate through the floor.

John grabs a tactical vest, tossing one my way. “The main entrance is the weak point. ”

I strap the vest on. “Any other exits?”

The pounding of feet on the metal stairs interrupts us as Sofia returns with Dr. Cho and Marcus in tow. Dr. Cho’s hair is perfect despite being woken from sleep, her posture rigid as ever.

Marcus looks disheveled but alert. “What’s the situation?”

John gestures toward the monitors. “Green Assholes found us. Courtesy of our buddy Alex.”

“I knew he was untrustworthy.” Dr. Cho’s mouth compresses into a thin line. “But this…”

A tall figure steps out of the lead SUV, and something in my gut twists. Not from personal experience, but from the files I’d studied before infiltrating Green fourteen months ago. The resemblance to his father is unmistakable—same aristocratic features, same cold eyes, same air of arrogance.

“Gabriel Green,” I say.

Sofia moves beside me. “He was supposed to be in Europe when the outbreak started.”

“Didn’t you hear? He didn’t board the plane because of some—” Dr. Cho’s mouth hangs open.

“Because of what, Min?” Marcus asks.

“Because of some malfunction in the labs…”

“He knew about the outbreak from the beginning,” I say. “Came back to do damage control. Both the virus and the cover-up. But he sure as fuck underestimated the situation.”

A crackle from the warehouse intercom system makes everyone flinch.

“Attention occupants.” Gabriel Green’s voice fills the room, smooth and cultured like expensive whiskey. “This is Gabriel Green of Green Industries. We know you’re in there, Dr. Cruz, Dr. Cho. And you, too, Subject Seven.”

Not a name. A number.

“We’re not here to harm you,” Gabriel continues. “We need your help. The situation has… escalated beyond our control.”

The tactical team spreads out around the building.

“They’re looking for entry points,” I say.

“We are fucking trapped.” John drops onto the chair. “We kept our cars inside for a reason. No tracks outside, nothing to show people are living here.”

“Which is smart until you need to escape.” Marcus studies the SUVs outside. “What about those?”

“I know you can hear me,” Gabriel Green’s voice filters through the intercom. “Let’s talk like civilized people.”

Sofia accepts a handgun from Marcus. We only trained once, me hoping she would never need it. “Maybe we can negotiate?—”

“With men like Gabriel Green?” I cut her off, harsher than intended. “The only negotiation he understands is strength. Anything else is just stalling until he gets what he wants.”

John taps the microphone. “This is private property.”

“I apologize for the late hour and intruding. Although I’d like to argue that an apocalypse doesn’t know private property.”

“Still don’t appreciate it.”

“I offer sanctuary.” Gabriel’s voice hardens. “Resources and protection.”

John scoffs. “And we’re supposed to take your word on that?”

“Mr. Keller, I understand your skepticism. But consider the alternative. The world as we knew it is gone. The infrastructure has collapsed. Law enforcement, healthcare, basic services… All decimated. What I offer is civilization in the midst of chaos.”

Marcus and Dr. Cho exchange glances. The promise of safety, of returning to some semblance of normal life, is tempting—I can see it in their eyes. But Sofia’s expression remains resolute.

“What about camera boy?” John asks. “What did you promise him?”

A chuckle filters through the speakers. “Mr. Torres? A place in our new community. His documentation skills will be invaluable for recording this historic transition.”

“Let me make a counteroffer.” I face the microphone. “You take your private army and fuck off back to whatever hole you crawled out of, and I don’t come out there and show you exactly what your daddy’s experiments turned me into. Pity he can’t see it himself.”

Sofia’s eyes widen, and she comes up to me, flattening her hand on my chest. But I know what I’m doing. If there’s one thing I learned during fourteen months of captivity, it’s how to read the people holding the needles.

“I don’t think you understand your position,” Gabriel says. “I have twelve armed men surrounding your location. Even with your… enhancements, the odds aren’t in your favor.”

“Come and get us, rich boy.”

John cuts the connection, turning to me with raised eyebrows. “Pissing off the man with the guns might not be the best strategy.”

“It is if you want to make him sloppy.” I check my weapon one final time. “Angry men make mistakes. Especially entitled pricks like Gabriel Green who’ve never had to fight their own battles.”

Sofia studies me. “You’re deliberately provoking him.”

“If he was going to negotiate in good faith, he wouldn’t have brought a small army,” I point out. “He came prepared to take what he wants by force. All I’m doing is making sure he does it angry instead of calculated.”

Dr. Cho adjusts her glasses. “A sound psychological strategy, assuming his emotional response overrides his logical thinking.”

“Trust me.” I meet each of their gazes in turn. “Men like Gabriel Green care about two things—control and legacy. I just challenged both.”

“What’s the plan?” Marcus clutches his rifle with the awkward grip of someone who’s practiced but never fired in combat.

I study the warehouse blueprint taped to the wall. “John and I create a diversion at the main entrance. Draw their attention, keep them busy. Meanwhile, Sofia, Cho, and Marcus slip out the east service door.”

“Then what?” Sofia asks. “We’re on foot in the middle of nowhere.”

Marcus steps forward. “I can hot-wire one of their SUVs. Misspent youth.” He shrugs at Dr. Cho’s raised eyebrow. “Later.”

“Once you have the vehicle, head to the abandoned gas station we passed about ten miles back,” I continue. “Wait twelve hours. If we don’t show, keep moving north.”

“I don’t like splitting up,” Sofia says.

I frame her face with my hands, forcing her to look at me. “This gives us the best chance. You know that.”

“I’ll pre-set mines at the main entrance. Remote detonation,” John says. “Should buy us some time.”

“What about Alex?” Dr. Cho asks

“If he gets in the way, don’t hesitate,” I say.

Our small group disperses to prepare, and I catch Sofia’s arm, tugging her back to me.

Her eyes search mine, fear and determination warring in their depths. “Promise me you’ll make it out.”

I rest my forehead against hers, breathing in her scent one last time in case it’s the last. “I’ll find you. No matter what. But if things go sideways… Don’t wait for me. Pr omise me.”

“I—”

“Promise me,” I growl.

She nods once. “I promise.”

It’s a lie. I can see it in her eyes, feel it in the tremble of her body against mine. But it’s enough for now. Enough to let me do what needs to be done.