Their Bloody Rose

What Sweet Secrets Await

After watching a couple episodes of her favorite show on Netflix, Marissa decided to go explore the house. Since she'd been there she'd mainly only ever been in her bedroom, the living room, and the kitchen; and the place was huge! Surely she could find something to interest her so her mind didn't start going down the worry rabbit hole like it always used to when her dad would go out on meetings like the one her three partners were at now.

She made her way down the hallway she was pretty sure held Logan's office. The first door was just a run of the mill storage closet. Nothing really of interest there. The second was an elegant powder room. Beautiful, but still not interesting.

The third door she opened led to what she assumed was Logan's office. There was a big oak desk in the center, similar to the one at the club, and floor to ceiling windows behind the desk overlooked their backyard. She thought about rifling through the drawers of his desk but then decided against it since she was pretty sure anything she found would lead directly down the very rabbit hole she was trying to avoid by exploring in here.

She left his office and went to the next door, which was actually a set of large double doors. Inside was a massive library with books lining every wall from floor to ceiling. Marissa took a deep breath in, inhaling that incredible old book smell she'd always loved. She could get lost in this place for ages.

On a far wall there was a round window with a bench matching the curve of the window below it. It was the perfect reading nook and Marissa excitedly curled up in it. There was a book perched on the windowsill with a bookmark holding its last reader's place. It was a historical action novel with a bit of romance depicting the tale of a mighty knight falling for a sly young maiden who could bring him to his knees when no one else could.

Marissa skimmed through the book, assuming it was likely Fiona who was reading it as it seemed like something she'd enjoy. However, as she got to a rather emotional page where the knight was declaring his love for his maiden, calling out to her as his, there in the margins was written "my Marissa". Only, it wasn't in Fiona's handwriting.

Marissa's eyes widened as she realized the person who'd been reading this book, whose body had been curled up in this small nook, thinking about her while reading this story, was Logan.

Had he wanted her to find this? Was that why he'd mentioned the library to her earlier today? Was this another one of his unique ways of communicating his care for her? She didn't know but it set butterflies loose in her stomach.

She knew beneath that hard, cold, distant exterior was a beautiful romantic spirit full of love and compassion just aching to be seen, to be set free. And she was determined to do just that.

She grabbed the pencil nearby and in the margins below where he'd written her name she wrote similar to the line the maiden had said in return to her knight "I see you, my Logan" hoping he would find it. Hoping he would know she does see him, all of him.

Marissa stayed in the library for a while exploring all the different sections and books they had there. It really was an impressive collection. She'd likely be coming back here often.

Eventually she made her way back to the kitchen to have a bite for lunch. She wondered when her partners would be back as it had been a few hours now. Not wanting to let her mind start spinning again she decided to continue her exploring.

This time she decided to go downstairs into what turned out to be a very extensive finished basement. There was a small wet bar and what seemed to be a casual hangout area. Then to one side there was a large, very well-equipped gym. That explains how they're all so hot, she thought to herself. She'd have to start coming down here sometimes too.