Regal Queen by Ivy Mason

Fifteen

Cuba,Torian had said. Why the hell were they going go Cuba? I waited for the elevator door, then suddenly realized that I was standing by myself. I turned, staring them down with a glare.

This was the first time anyone close to me had ever rebelled, and I didn’t fucking appreciate it.

All over Rose. How the hell had she gotten to them like that?

"What the hell is everyone doing?” I grit out, trying to keep a calm over myself, when really I wanted to smash every god damn thing into the wall. “Let’s go.”

Luca stopped tapping on his phone, not looking at me but tilting his head all the same. Both Dante and Torian only stared at me, not moving. Coulter’s eyes didn't lift from the ground. He was staring at it like he wasn't really seeing it, like his thoughts were else where, and a flash of regret entered me.

His mother had just been brutally murdered in front of his eyes.

Dante pushed himself to his feet, sighing. "I need a drink. Anyone else?"

Coulter snapped out of his daze and looked up. “Something strong.”

Luca sprung to his feet, walking so close to me that he brushed my arm. The touch wasn't threatening, but rather, grounding. He was trying to get me to snap out of it.

He was right, I needed to lower my intensity by about a million but I couldn't seem to help it. Not when it came to Rose. She needed to be by my side.

And what the hell was she doing with Knight anyways? Did they have something going on? I was going to seriously murder the bastard.

I stalked over to Coulter, looming down at him. "You don't seem to be all that concerned about them.”

He relaxed against the back of the sofa, giving me that cocky look I'd seen so many times from him. "You think I should be?”

"Maybe you really don't care about her, or him, as much as I thought you did."

He flashed his teeth in a predatory grin. "I'm not worried about either of the two.”

His look was so knowing, so much like Nero's that it pissed me the hell off. I wished I could wipe the smug from his face just because of the reminder of the father I hated.

However, that look only meant one thing. He knew something I didn't.

"What?" I grunted, giving in, and collapsing on the sofa next to him, grumbling. "Just spit it out, ya bastard."

He chuckled. "For once, I know something you don't."

"Yeah, yeah." I reached out, grabbing the whiskey from Dante’s hand that was meant for Coulter, wiping that stupid smug look off Coulter's face.

As Coulter watched Dante sit on the sofa across from us, without going back to the kitchen to get another drink for him, he gave me a dirty look. "I don't like it that Dante's taken to you."

I gave him my own cocky grin. "Get used to it, brother."

He frowned as I took a long gulp of the drink, and the alcohol burned off some of my anger. Grunting, I passed the glass over to him. He gave it a suspicious look but took it all the same. I watched as he took a sip, clenching my jaw and forcing myself to be patient while he decided when and how he was going to enlighten me.

After a long pause, while both Luca and Torian finished getting their own drinks, then settling near us, he finally turned towards me.

"First. You said you want to go after her, which is fine, but what are you going to do once you get to her?"

I frowned, not liking where this was going, and stood up. I couldn’t stay still.

I began to pace, my thoughts churning, wondering why the hell he was asking this question. "I'm going to find out what the hell she was doing at the Paradiso. And why Cuba? Is she going to try and find Dimitri on her own?” I stilled, frozen with the thought, the blood draining from my face. "What if Dimitri is in Cuba? What if she's going there to confront him?"

Coulter shook his head, a look so certain and sure of himself that I wanted to stride the few steps to him and throttle his neck. Force him to tell me what he knew.

"No,” he said confidently, "Dimitri isn't there."

“Tell me what you know, Coulter."

He took another sip, taking in a breath anad shaking his head as he put his glass down on the table. "No, I don't think I'm going to. Not un--"

"Coulter." The word was a dark growl, a warning to stop fucking with me.

"Not until," he continued as if I hadn't interrupted him, “you tell me what you're going to do when you get there. You can't just storm in there, throw her over your shoulder and drag her back here like a caveman."

"Oh, now you’re thinking rationally." God, he was such a hypocrite.

“You're right," he nodded. "And what did I learn? That it was a stupid move. It got us in a crapload of trouble and people had to die for it. It was idiotic, and I'm trying to stop you from doing the same thing."

"I'm not an idiot."

He grinned, meeting my eyes with a cock sure gaze. "You sure about that, brother?"

Rage incinerated me from the inside out. I slipped my hands in my pockets to force myself from wrapping my fingers around his neck, and gave him my calmest look. “Do you think I am?"

Coulter knew me well enough to know when to push me. He also knew that right now, when I was the calmest, was when he needed to back off.

"Look," he stood, walking towards me, "let me ask you one question. Answer this, and I will help you with what ever you want okay?"

“Fine," I grit out.

"Let's say we go there. We interrogate her about Paradiso. How do you think Rose is going to react? We're only a couple of the men who've drug her around like she was some kind of doll. Her whole life, men have manipulated and brutally controlled her life. From when she was a child, her whole life was changed by Dimitri, who killed practically her whole family. Then her own adopted father treated her like she was only there to fulfill his ambitions. Dimitri bought her back like she was some kind of cattle, and then we kidnapped her again.”

He came to stand before me, and I could see the guilt in his eyes at his next words.

“And then, to add everything on top of all that, she left with Dimitri again, all because she was trying to protect us. Only to be tortured by him. So tell me, Bourbon, how is she going to feel if we barge into her life again, demand she do as we say, then drag her back here and kicking and screaming?” When I didn’t answer him, he put his hand on my shoulder, looking into my eyes. “Is that what you want? To have that kind of relationship with her where you force her to do everything you want her to do? Do you think that she's going to be a willing participant in your relationship?”

My throat was suddenly dry, the knot formed there so tight, I could barely breathe through it.

Never. Those were her words to me the other night at the pizza place. She never wanted to be locked up again, and if I did, she would never give her heart to me.

God, Coulter was right. When did he get to be so wise?

The tables were suddenly switched, and Coulter was the one looking out for me, protecting me from making the worst decision of my life.

Suddenly Lucas stood up, a strange, soft look on his face as he glanced at me, then began to walk towards the door, slipping his phone into his pocket.

Within seconds, the door to the apartment opened, and Penny walked in with a smile that lit up her face when her eyes landed on Lucas.

"Baby," he murmured, his hand going to her waist as he pulled her to him, kissing her softly. She leaned into him, whispering something I couldn't hear but the look on her face was everything I ever needed to see.

She was truly in love with Lucas, and this had been an arranged marriage. She hadn't come to him willingly, in fact, she'd fought strongly against it.

And yet, here she was, melting under his touch like soft butter.

I wanted Rose to look at me like that.

I turned to look back at Coulter, the realization that both he and Luas were right.

I needed to trust Rose, trust that what we had was special, that she would come back to me.

Give her the freedom to make the decisions in her life.

It was absolutely going to kill me to stand back, and I wasn’t going to go down without a fight.

I was going to fight for her like I'd never fought for anything in my whole life.

But, I was still going to let her make that final step back into my arms.

And, if necessary, to confront her demons, and determine her own path in life.

“Do you know why they went to Cuba?” At his nod, I took in a deep, shuttering breath and, holding Coulter's gaze, nodded. "Okay. you're right. Tell me what you know, then we’ll make a new plan."