“Sure. Absolutely.”
Her gaze narrowed on him, looking for some sign that he didn’t mean what he was saying, but he just looked…supportive. For which she was grateful. Even knowing that she would be sharing custody with Lucas, raising a baby on her own was a daunting prospect. She was going to need moral support for the journey, and she was so grateful to know that her brother was on her side.
“Thanks for understanding.”
“You bet, Rose,” he said softly. “I’m here for you. Whatever you need.”
“Right now,” she said, with a rueful smile, “I think I need a nap. It’s been a full day.”
“Yeah,” he said, walking over to her. He bent down to kiss the top of her head. “You do that. I’ll lock your door when I leave.”
“Okay.” She scooted down on the couch and rested her head on one of the throw pillows. “And Dave…thanks again.”
“Don’t worry about a thing.”
She was practically asleep by the time he walked out the front door.
So there was no way she could have seen his expression shift from that of concerned older brother to one of icy determination. She wasn’t ready to talk to Lucas? She didn’t have to be. Dave was more than ready.
He had a lot to say to his old friend, and there was no time like the present.
“These are great,” Sean said, reaching for another steak-and-cheese quesadilla. He burned his fingers and hissed in a breath as he dropped the food onto his plate. Grinning at Rafe and Lucas, he said, “You gotta give it up for Rose. If she can teach you to cook, she deserves some kind of medal.”
“He’s right,” Rafe said, leaning back in his chair and reaching out to grab his beer. “Even though it wasn’t your ‘plan,’ you managed to learn how to cook. Impressive.”
“Yeah. Real impressive.” He could cook, but he had no one to cook for. Which was why when it was his turn to host the weekly King meeting, he had volunteered to make his brothers dinner. Now, he couldn’t remember why he had offered. Being in this room, even using that new cast-iron skillet he had bought on Rose’s orders, left him feeling…incomplete, somehow. As if there was something important missing from his house. His life.
Lucas looked at his brothers, then let his gaze track around the kitchen he rarely set foot in these days.
Just being in the room was tearing at him. How the hell could he ever relax in here when Rose was stamped all over the place? Her scent, her laughter and, God help him, since that last night he’d been with her, even her passion was etched indelibly onto this room.
In fact, everywhere he went in his house, he heard her, saw her, tasted her. He wasn’t even sleeping in his own bed anymore because he would wake up in the middle of the night stretching out his arms to her and finding only emptiness. How could his life have come so undone in a matter of weeks? How had the home he loved become foreign to him?
His sanctuary had become a prison of his own making.
“You’re not eating much,” Rafe mused.
“Not hungry, I guess,” Lucas said with a shrug. In fact, he hadn’t been hungry for two weeks. The knot in his guts made the thought of food impossible. Understandable, he told himself frequently. Of course, he’d have an adjustment period after cutting Rose out of his life. But he was sure it would right itself. Eventually.
“Right.” Rafe took a sip of beer and said, “So, Warren stopped by my office this morning.”
Lucas shot him a look. “And you’re just mentioning this now? Why the hell didn’t you tell me he was there today?”
“Take it easy.” Rafe ignored the heat in Lucas’s voice and continued, “The man’s feeling like a fool and only came to see me to apologize in person.”
“Notice he didn’t apologize to you,” Sean said with a grin. “Probably afraid you’d drop him again.”
“I should have had him arrested,” Lucas countered, remembering again the bruises on Rose’s arm, her slight shivers as he raced up to find her alone, facing a drunk in the dark. “He scared the crap out of Rose that night.”
“I know,” Rafe said quietly. “He knows it, too, and he’s ashamed. Actually, I almost fell out of my chair when I heard that man say out loud for the first time ever, it’s my fault.”
“About time,” Lucas muttered.
Rafe nodded. “He also asked that I apologize for him to both you and Rose, Lucas. And to tell you that you won’t have any more trouble from him. He’s moving back to Phoenix to start over.”
Lucas was glad to hear that Warren was leaving town. He didn’t want that guy anywhere near Rose. Not that she would ever know Warren had left. How would she? Lucas wouldn’t be seeing her again so he could tell her. Ever.
Absently, he rubbed the middle of his chest at a mystery ache that seemed to have lodged itself there.
“Another miracle chalked up to Rose,” Sean said. “Because of her, Warren stepped up to the plate and took responsibility for the first time in his life. She really is an amazing woman.”
“Yeah,” Lucas agreed somberly. “She is.”
“So what’re you going to do about it?” Rafe asked.
“What?” Lucas looked back and forth between his brothers and noted they both wore the same expression. Exhausted patience.
“Come on,” Sean said, taking another bite of his third quesadilla. “We’re not stupid. We can actually see the difference in you since you stopped seeing Rose.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Sure you don’t,” Rafe said with a smirk. “Hell, even your secretary’s complaining about your tiger-with-a-toothache personality lately.”
“Yeah,” Sean added. “Evelyn says she’s going to start force feeding you Katie’s cookies to try to sweeten you up.”
Lucas scowled at both of them, and if his secretary were there, he’d have one for her, too. He didn’t appreciate being talked about or wondered over. His personal life was no one’s business but his own. They could all damn well butt out.
“But cookies won’t do it, will they?” Rafe asked quietly, gaze locked on Lucas. “It’s Rose. It’s been Rose all along.”
Yes, it was Rose.
It was always Rose.
She never left his mind. The gaping hole in his heart reminded him with every beat that she was gone. That he’d let her go. Hell, that he’d actually walked away from her. And why? Because of his stupid plan.