Rosie…
Rosie…
Then it hit me. The memory of her and Maisey talking to each other on the street corner in Babylon before all hell broke loose in our world. After that, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen her.
“Fuck,” I groaned. “She’s back.”
“Seems like it. She was meeting with Libby. I didn’t hear much of the conversation, and I’m not sure if Rosie saw Howard and me come in, but she was laying it on pretty thick. Libby didn’t seem convinced, and Rosie sounded like she was trying to get a toe back in the door. She mentioned the fires.”
I closed my eyes and threw my head back. “Please tell me this little bitch isn’t involved in all this, or so help me, God…”
“I don’t think so. It sounded like she was using it as a topic of conversation—an excuse to call Libby in the first place.”
“Has Libby always been close with Rosie?” My head rolled down, and I scuffed my boot across the ground. “Because if she is, and if there’s any chance that Tate’s lady is playing both sides the way Sinclair was, I’ve got to be honest with you, Ayda, I will have to fucking end her. Tate’s girlfriend or not.”
“If that were the case, you know I would back you up all the way. The thing is, it sounded more like Rosie was scraping the bottom of the barrel, grasping at straws and seeing if she could pull the short one. Libby didn’t seem to buy it, but it may be worth keeping an eye on her. Just to be sure.”
“What’s your gut telling you? Can we trust her?”
“I feel like we can. Libby’s happy where she is right now, but I can’t say for certain what her relationship with Rosie was before you and I got together. But to be sure, it may be worth having Slater ask the HW called Gemma? There was mention of her not taking Rosie’s call for getting Gemma kicked out of Slater’s bed or something.”
I ran my hand down my face in complete and utter exasperation. “Is this what being a father is going to feel like? Constantly dealing with the kids’ bullshit?”
Ayda’s quiet laugh was full of warmth. “Maybe, just with less life or death shit attached to it… I hope. Hang on, Drew.” There was a slap at the other end of the line. “We need to start feeding the guys more.”
“Huh?”
“Sorry, Deeks is trying to steal my lunch.” She paused, releasing another breath. “Do you want me to follow up with Libby?”
“No, I want you to put Deeks on the phone.”
“Okay, but you should know we came to a peaceful resolution about the food.”
“Woman, I know you and your peaceful resolutions. Whatever it was, it’ll still mean my baby having less bacon or eggs.” I meant it playfully, but my voice betrayed me with a hintof seriousness I wasn’t expecting. I’d never cared what Ayda did with her body before, what food she put into it or how she chose to look after herself, but suddenly she wasn’t just Ayda anymore. She wasn’t just one love of my life. She was two, and the weight of that may as well have been an arrow to the chest that struck me hard, forcing me to step back and rest a hand on the seat of my bike.
I was so fucking screwed already.
“The fact that you know I have both bacon and eggs on my plate is scary. Sounds like I need to change some things up and keep my man on his toes.”
“Darlin’, I’ll spend my entire life on tiptoes if that’s what makes you happy.”
“You realize I’m sitting here with a goofy ass smile on my face right now, don’t you?”
“Make sure it stays there. I want to see that when I get home later.”
“It will be there all day, but how much later are you thinking?”
Blowing out a breath, I gazed up at the sun again, appreciating its warmth and remembering the cold, lonely days of my prison cell. The sun… I’d never get tired of it.
Maybe that’s why I was so determined to marry someone who reminded me of it.
“As soon as I can, darlin’. As soon as I’ve figured out where the fuck Eric is.”