Page 47 of Unforgettable

22

Matthew

Fuck.

I hate seeing the fear in her eyes. I’m a real bastard for not hating the way she desperately clings to me when she’s afraid. I’m a warm-blooded man with a bit of a hero complex when it comes to my Rose. She’s mine to protect above all others. It’s impossible to hate the way she seeks me out for comfort because I want to be her everything. What I do hate is that she has a reason to be scared. I won’t stop until all threats against her are taken care of.

I run my fingers through her hair as she snuggles deeper into my chest as she sleeps. Sleep is the furthest thing from my mind as the conversation I just had with Slade and Daniels runs through my head.

“How did he get her number?”

“We are workin’ on it, boss man,” Slade says with an infuriating calmness.

His ability to be calm at a time like this pisses me the fuck off. I want him to be in just as much of a rage as I am. I want him to feel like disemboweling the prick that thinks he can fuck with Rose. But no, he’s cool as a fucking cucumber while I’m the one coming up with a hundred and one ways to torture Mr. Perfect.

“You aren’t doing enough!” I rage.

“Matthew, man, you’ve got to get your head on straight.” Daniels has the quickest temper of the three of us. The fact that he’s the calm one tells me that I really have flown off the deep end. “We are doing everything we can. We’ve talked to everyone who Rose has come in contact with and called in the few people who aren’t on shift tonight. Our people are loyal. All of them adore Rose. I can’t see anyone purposely hurting her like that.”

Heaving a sigh, I relent. “You’re right. It just feels like he’s one step ahead of us somehow and I don’t like it. That fucker got her number somehow, and if he has that, he knows way more than he should. I’ll be damned if he continues to threaten my girl.”

“We’ll find him,” Kisten says with fierce determination, that inner beast that craves violence peeking out from behind his cool façade.

“What are you guys doing here if you don’t have anything new to report?”

Kisten waves his arms around him at the destruction in the room. “Instead of twiddling our fucking thumbs like a couple idiots, we decided to come clean up the aftermath from Hurricane Rose.”

“Rose is fragile right now,” Slade says with a sad shake of his head. “More than any other girl you’ve taken in in the past. Her hurt runs deep.” His eyes gloss over, and I’m sure he’s remembering how Hannah was when she first came to him. He shakes off whatever thoughts tried to tug him away from the here and now. “I’m in charge of keeping Rose safe. Not just her body but her mind too. Until I can gut the little weasel—make no mistake, Matthew, when I catch up to Grant, it will be fucking painful—I’m going to do my damnedest to protect her from herself. If she wakes up and sees this mess, it’s going to hurt her all over again. She doesn’t need that added stress. Not now. Not ever.”

Rose whines in her sleep, drawing me out of my thoughts and back to what’s really important.

“Shh, shh. It’s okay, sweetheart. I’ve got you.”

Those words are truer than she knows. I do have her. I will do anything. Be anything for her.