Blood for my Rose |• Crimson Rose series✔️

Chapter 22

Switzerland
Zurich

His words made her stiffen on the concrete floor, and remorse for uttering them was the last thing she could read in his expression, though one expression was even too prominent to notice another. And it was anger.

For Mauricio, Rose had the right to say she didn't want him tensioning or reminding her of their past. He equally had the right to not adhere to her warnings. To his defense, he actually was trying too hard to avoid her, for his own sanity. But it could only be for so long until he couldn't anymore.

One week was long enough. He, too, had feelings, even though he had groomed himself to appear rigid. He'd been dying on the inside.  Not because she now belonged to another; he didn't even feel threatened by that. His father was busy making Rose his. A woman he, Mauricio, had loved the most of his early twenties. And that was killing him.

He couldn't even stand the way his father looked at her like he looked at one of his high-status whores. "I hate the way he looks at you," he voiced at his thoughts with a groan. "He doesn't respect boundaries. And I don't know why I cannot question him for it. I mean, who gets fascinated by their son's ex girlfriend?"

"Rocco Sandoval," Rose cut in offhandedly. "And I wouldn't say you're not acting like him in so many ways if you keep on kissing me whenever you get the chance, even though you know I am engaged to another man."

Mauricio snorted in contempt. "You can tell that to Rocco, he's the only one that'd believe you don't feel something towards me, because you and I know that this"—he gestured at the tiny gap between them—" is not just in my head."

Rose remained quiet, unable to defend that.

Mauricio was already too close to her, yet he took one more step further, exhaling hot air on her face. "In all honesty, if I stop sensing that you want me as much as I do, if I stop feeling you tremble whenever I'm so close to you, and if I do not notice you redden when you think I'm being too mean to you, I'll fucking stop sneaking up on you, and I will forget about you." He put a firmer grip on her wrists as he said, "Rosa, say you do not feel anything for me, and I swear I'll leave you alone. Say it."

This was the moment she'd been waiting for. It was a simple no. That was all that would have saved her from doom, but she knew better than to believe old wounds truly healed. It only took words to make them bleed again. And now she was bleeding.

Why did he wait so long to man up?

He was the reason for the distance and void that was now between them, because if he hadn't chosen to stay by his father's side, dreading the fear of being perceived as a weak man and prodigal son, she wouldn't have felt there was nothing worth remaining in Europe for, and she most definitely wouldn't have left for the States.

She was provoked by his sudden show of affection like he was going to die if he didn't have her now. "Why now?" She gulped. "Why do you do think now is right time to say this?"

That was an obvious question, but Mauricio knew he didn't have the perfect answer at the tip of his tongue, so he backed off from her, lacking the fortitude to deal with her melancholic frame of mind, and then he spent a few seconds mustering all he could to finally rip his slowly healing wounds open.

"I. Looked. For. You. Rose. I swear, I did." His agitation was finally apparent the moment he halted and spared her teary eyes a quick glance.

Arguing against that was not that much of a great idea as keeping utterly mute was. Whether Mauricio meant this or not should not have been any concern of hers. She was supposed to have moved on, only if she wasn't being completely honest with herself.