Chapter Twenty: Alex
“She’s asleep.”
I wondered why Max had been whispering. We had all learned that Rose was a very light sleeper in the past few weeks. She worked hard shifts, so we wanted her to get as much rest as she needed.
“Oh, got it.” I stepped inside and shut the door behind me softly. Parker peeked around his dog bed, but he got acclimated to us being around pretty fast, so he no longer barked at the sight of us anymore.
“How was she today?” I asked Max.
He gave me a weird look before he took a breath unscrewed his face. I understood exactly why he was confused for a second afterwards.
“Pretty normal, but I think it is starting to get to her,” he said quietly.
I nodded in understanding. I figured as much. I knew it would only be a short time before she started to really feel the effects of her situation. It was tough, being watched all the time, even if it was by us. And not only that, but knowing that she wasn’t even safe to begin with. I was trying really hard to keep my grip on things, too. Any other case, I would be looking at it completely from a subjective level. But now, feelings were involved, and it made it hard to keep them out.
I wanted Rose safe and protected, but I didn’t want to be overprotective and keep her from living her life. Keeping her locked up in the apartment kept running through my head, but I knew I couldn’t do that. I respected her too much and she was way too damned stubborn to even let me do that.
“I’ll see you later.” Max nodded to me on his way out.
Rose insisted I keep myself comfortable when I came over, so I made a cup of coffee. It was pretty much the middle of the night, but I had been running on a very odd sleep schedule since I got the detective job. I drank the cup down like water and went in her bedroom.
Rose looked beautiful as ever, even tangled up in her sheets with an oversized shirt on. I loved how she didn’t wear over the top nightwear or anything. The dark curls of her hair fell over her cheeks and blew with the snores of her open mouth. She didn’t snore like a sailor or anything, just natural, little snorts that made me smile.
I set my gun on her nightstand and sat gingerly on the edge of the bed, hoping I wouldn’t wake her. But she started to shuffle, and I turned to stare at her glazed open eyes. She smiled softly, still a bit half asleep.
“Hey, go back to sleep.” I tucked some hair behind her ear and smiled back. She looked at me like she didn’t recognize me for a second. I understood why though, I wasn’t in my usual attire. I had changed into jeans, a simple tee shirt, and a leather jacket. I hadn’t gotten tired of wearing the suit, but sometimes comfort just won out.
“Hmm. Will you lie with me?” Her soft, sweet voice was hard to resist. Though I didn’t even want to.
“Sure.”
She smiled and turned on her side. I stood up and kicked my shoes off, and took my jacket off. I laid next to her, and she moved to use my chest as a pillow. Her hand was warm as she clutched at my side and rested her body next to mine. I held her softly around her waist, inhaling the vanilla scent of her hair as her breaths evened out. She was back asleep.
I just laid there with her and idly traced the skin of her arm. The need to protect her at all costs was almost paralyzing. Mostly because I knew there wasn’t much information on the crimes as is.
I tried to distract myself with her. I focused on the soft globes of her breasts against my side, remembering what it felt like to hold them in my hands. The scent of her body alone was enough to drive me mad without her perfect body coming into the picture.
With my other hand, I grazed her scalp and twirled her soft curls around my fingers. I never expected to find a woman’s body so perfect. With all the others I just used them for their purpose and got on with it, but I found myself needing her against me just to get by. The nights I spent watching her had been the best I could remember having, even with the threat of her safety looming over my head.
There it was again.
My phone was on silent, but I knew it was ringing. The screen flashed with Nate’s name before I answered quietly.
“Hello?”
“Why the fuck are you whispering, man?”
I winced. “Rose is asleep.”
“Oh. Well look, we have a suspect in custody. On the Donald case. Guess it’s the Donald, Rogers, and Walker case. Plus, the dude that got shot.”
“Nate, what suspect?” I tried to get him back to ground zero. He just chuckled and kept on.
“I don’t know all the details. The incident matched all the other four, so we brought him in. Apparently, he was trying to rob some guy who turned out to be a fucking Navy SEAL. Retired, but he still knocked him out.”
“Fuck. Okay. I guess I’ll be down there in a few. I might have to bring Rose,” I responded. I hated the thought of waking her up.
“You have to bring her. We need her to look at the suspect. She’s a witness, remember?”
“Fuck,” I groaned. “Yeah. We’ll be there soon.” I told him.
“See you.” He hung up.
I sighed deeply and tossed my phone on the table. I turned to look at Rose, still fast asleep. Her twitching eyelids told me she was in a deep sleep. I frowned and grazed her cheek with my thumb softly as I cradled her face.
“Rose.” I said louder, “Rose.”
She grumbled something incomprehensible.
“Rose, you have to wake up.”
“What? Why?” she mumbled. I resisted the urge to laugh at her cuteness when she was sleepy.
“We have to go to the station. There might be a suspect in custody,” I explained. I didn’t want to alarm her too quickly, but I didn’t want to lie either.
“Oh.” She stretched out and yawned, and it made her body press even farther into mine. My body couldn’t help but react to hers, and I felt my cock twitch in my pants. Lucky for me she was too half asleep to notice.
Rose then sat up and stretched out. The swells of her breasts peeked under her shirt, and her nipples poked through the top, too. Fuck me.
“Let me just get dressed.” Her voice was still groggy, and she got up from the bed, walking slowly to the bathroom.
As she used the bathroom, I put my shoes back on and my jacket. She came back into the room and pulled clothes out of her dresser. I liked how messy her room was; it wasn’t a pig sty or anything, but it was like another part of her. The clothes peeking out of the dresser, the disorganized bookshelf, and the little pile of clothes on her side chair. It was just like her.
She started to undress, and I nearly lost it. “You must not want us to make it out of here,” I said to her.
She smirked at me as I stared at her breasts and watched them sway before she put her blue lacy bra on. I stared until she got fully dressed in her jeans and brown sweater. She stuck her feet in fluffy white slippers and I followed her out.
“Are you hungry?” I asked her as we passed her kitchen.
“No.” She locked Parker in his crate and refilled his water bowl. “I don’t really have an appetite. I mean, what if it’s him?” Worry laced her voice and I was honestly lost for words.
“Rose, you shouldn’t think like that.”
She met me by the door. “How can I not?” She shrugged and grabbed her purse, then we left.
The drive down to the station wasn’t long, but Rose got even more tense the closer we got. I held her hand, but she still clenched mine hard.
“I wish I could say it gets easier, but I don’t want you to ever have to deal with this kind of shit again,” I told her softly. I turned the radio off, and the silence of the car was deafening.
“So, the next time I see a crime I should just keep walking,” she sighed.
“No, cause that isn’t you. But…hopefully next time it won’t turn out to be involved with the Irish mob.”
She laughed a bit and I noticed her neck relax a little bit. “I hope not. So, what do we know about the suspect so far?” she asked me.
I shrugged my shoulders and took a hard-left turn. It was a wonder I ever got a license. “I don’t know, Nate didn’t tell me everything.”
I turned and saw the lines of her face draw inward. “Look, I don’t want you to be thinking about all that. Just go in and look at the guy. That’s all you have to do.”
She scoffed. “I’m not some dumb, average citizen you know. I don’t deserve to be kept in the dark all the time.” She took her hand from mine and crossed her arms. “If I want to know what’s going on with something I am directly involved in, I don’t think that’s absurd.”
“Rose…”
“Don’t ‘Rose’ me. Please. It’s more condescending than it is helpful.” She turned her knees to the window and looked out in anger.
I wished I had something to say to her, but she was right, and anything I was used to saying would just come off wrong, like she said. I just wanted her to feel better, and I wanted her to feel safe. But I couldn’t even do that. It made me feel shitty and pretty useless at that point.
“I’m sorry, really I am. I’m not good with…usually I can treat witnesses like parts of a case and nothing else, but I can’t do that with you.” I blew out a nervous breath. She turned to look at me after a moment.
“Why not?” she spoke softly.
“Because,” I half-laughed, “you’re fucking special to me, Rose. And you mean more to me than just…than this shit going on. I don’t want to hurt you, or scare you. I just want you to be happy. You’re more than shower sex or a surveillance stint. And I just keep thinking…I just don’t want all the crap in this case to hurt you.” I inhaled deeply and pulled into the station.
She stayed silent as I parked the car and turned the engine off. She unbuckled her seatbelt and then leaned across and kissed my cheek. That sweet little gesture made my chest swell and everything but my cock twitch; it was new to me.
She hugged me softly, her hair rustling against my cheek, and I hugged her back. We got out of the car and then stopped before we went in the building.
“We can tell you everything inside,” I told her.
Her eyes were wide but sure as she nodded at me, and I almost felt stupid for underestimating her.
“Okay. Thank you.” She gave me a small smile. I hugged her once more, her body flush against mine as I inhaled her scent.
I knew then that I always wanted to hold her. And I always wanted to keep her safe, at any cost.