Page 171 of When We Fall: Part One

“Anson will be coming for dinner tomorrow night,” he said, his voice a monotone. He was pissed. I was, too, but his was a different sort of anger. I knew Fox well enough to know when he was mad at me.

I was mad at myself, too.

Opting not to beg him to forgive me for this happening, I gave him a curt nod instead.

“Come on, baby. Let’s get you inside to rest.” I steered her toward the house, noting she had a limp. I ground my teeth. She’d had a broken leg in the accident with Ian, and her limp was in the same leg.Old pains that came back to haunt.It was a thought that flooded my head on repeat.

Fuck, please don’t regress, Sunshine. You’ve come so far.

I kept my head up, trying to be strong for her. The moment we were in the living room, and she was seated on the couch, Cole rushed into the room, fell to his knees in front of her, and cradled her face as I sat beside her.

“Fuck, Rosebud.What the fuck?” he called out. “Tell me you’re OK. Tell me h-he didn’t?—”

“He tried,” she said, her voice trembling. “I was so scared.”

Cole pulled her against him and held on, rocking her in his arms despite her soft whimpers of pain. He fixed his eyes on mine as he kissed her head fiercely.

“Let me,” he said to me. His voice was strained. I could see how he was trying to keep himself in check for her sake, though, and I knew what he wanted. He was asking for permission to start killing people.

I nodded at him, and he let out a deep, shaky breath, his Adam’s apple bobbing.

“They’ll pay for this,” Cole said, focusing back on Rosalie. He pulled away and stared into her eyes. “You hear me? I’ll kill them all.”

“No more. No more killing. No more fighting,” she said. “I-I want Ethan.”

“He’s coming,” Cole said tightly, ignoring her plea for a cease-fire. “He wanted to put fresh sheets on your bed so you can rest since I’ve been rolling around in them since you left. He’s running you a bubble bath, too.”

She nodded, looking as miserable as I felt. I glanced at Fox again to see him sitting on the loveseat, his elbows resting on his knees as he sat forward, his blue eyes fixed on her.

“Fox,” I called out tentatively.

“What?” he asked, not looking away from her as Cole continued to dote.

“I-I’m going to make dinner. Could you help me in the kitchen? Cole can take Rosalie upstairs to rest and see E.”

Fox looked over at me. “OK.”

I breathed out, grateful he was entertaining the idea of a conversation since he’d barely said ten words to me in the last three days.

“Come on, pretty girl,” Cole cooed softly, lifting Rosalie into his arms. “Let’s get a nice warm bath. I’m sure E filled the tub with your favorite bubbles. Then we can rest. Sound good?”

“Yeah,” she said, wrapping her arms around Cole’s neck. He didn’t look back as he left the room with her. Fox stood and walked into the kitchen. I followed him.

“Fox, man?—“

He rounded on me abruptly, his eyes flashing.

“Listen to me,” he snarled, getting in my face. “That girl in there is my whole fucking world. In the big scheme of things, no one fucking compares. Do you remember my promise? I’m going to break this fucking party up.”

“What does that mean?” I bristled at his words.

“It means, Enzo, that I’ll break this shit up and let her go. I love her enough to do that for her. This life is going to fucking kill her.”

“I’ll protect her. We will protect?—”

“Yeah? Is this what our protection looks like? Huh? Our girl practically raped in an alley, her face busted to hell? Huh? Is it?”

“It wasn’t supposed to be this way,” I said. “I’ve already got men out, taking care of shit.”