Cherished Rose

19

ROSE POV
"William?" I huff when he still doesn't respond. We walk into the house carrying out bags full of household stuff to baby items. Once I place them on the couch, I power walk to step in front of William before he could make it back to the truck to unload more. "Rose" he practically growls. Surprised at his response I step aside and watch as he walks away. "Why wont he just talk to me" I mumble. I head back over to the bags we had just placed on the couch and carry them to the middle of the room and place them on the floor then sit down myself. William walks in then gives me a curious glare but after placing the bags on the floor next to me he walks back out of the room. Going through each bag I separate what is for the house and what is for the baby. Then for the baby items I made a pile of what needed to be added to my already pile of items that needs to go through the washing machine and items that are ready for the room.

After about fifteen minutes my stomach growls. In response I rub my belly, "Okay, lets get us some food." Just then I realize I defiantly should have not sat on the floor. "Shit." Crawling on all fours and use the near by coffee table to make it to my feet. A smile in happiness at my little feat. William hasn't been back since his last from the truck that had the larger items he carried to the babies room. Heading to the kitchen I see Lucinda dishing up the take out. "Evening Rose" she says with a cheery smile. "Hi, Lucinda" I smile but it fades when I see her only dishing me a plate and not one for William. "Where is he" I ask. "He left. Not sure where. He gave me the take out and told me to make sure you eat" she explains. I nod and accept the plate of food. Sitting on the bar stool, I watch as Lucinda dishes her own and gets ready to head to the dinning room. "You wanna sit with me" I ask. She nods, "thank you Rose." "Of course Lucinda. Besides Rachel, You are my only friend." "What about William? He may be your man but he is also your friend. Plus you have George, Evan, and though you haven't meet her, I bet you will love miss Remington. Also you have you sister and father" she says then digs into her food.  After giving her thanks, I also dig into my food. Once we finished, I helped her clean up and put the remaining food away.

After dinner Lucinda left to have the rest of her evening off. I peeked out the front window to see Will's truck in the driveway. "He's back. Maybe he snuck in and went to his office" I say in deep though. Walking down the hall way I gently knock on the door. I hear shuffling and foot steps but before he could make it to the door, I opened it. When I take a step in I'm face to face with Evan and William behind him. Evan? I didn't see his car out front. "Evan what are you doing here" I ask curiously then glance around the room. On the desk there is a first aid and a washcloth covered with blood. "What the fuck" I whisper. I take a step forward but Evan steps in front of me. Even though William is still taller then Evan, he still tries to hid his large frame behind him. "What can't a friend stop by and say hi" he says trying to change the subject from what I just say. "Evan" I say in warning voice. "Move or Ill make you. Remember the bbq back on July fourth a few years ago" I ask. Instantly Evans checks heat up and he steps towards the desk revealing William. William stands there giving a sheepish smile but besides that smile his face looks horrible. Literally. He has a cut on his eyebrow and under his left eye. It has some discoloration around the same eye. Also his knuckles are busted and bleeding.

"So which one is going to explain what the hell happened" I state putting my hands on my hips. After a second of silence, I glare at Evan. He instantly gives in with a huff. "Your boyfriend called me needing help to figure where Albert was. So I helped him. I have no part of this" he gestured with his hands to William. As soon as Alberts name is mentioned, my body tenses up. William walks over to the desk and takes a clean wash cloth and starts cleaning his knuckles. "William?" I hear him sigh then turn towards me, "I'm fine. He is fine. Everything is fine." Hearing his explanation angers me more, "You've got to be kidding me! That's all your going to say?" Evan walks towards me, "William will be fine. Albert will be fine over time" he chuckles. I glare at him and it shuts him up. "What did you do William?" William throws his hands in the air, "I confronted Albert! Obviously! He needs to quit! He lost the CEO position to Evan! Your mine! He needs to stay away" he yells. "You think beating him up was the best way to go about it" I yell back. "I had to do something" he continues raising his voice. "You could've talked to me about this before you ran off trying to be mr big and bad!" I walk to the door and before I close it I yell, "And I am most defiantly not YOURS!"

Williams POV

As soon as the door closed I sit in my desk chair. "You fucked that up" Evan chuckles. "Oh shut it! You were no help" I snap back. He just continues to laugh. "Help me clean these cuts up so I can go talk to her" I say as I go back to cleaning my knuckles.  Once my hands were clean he helped me bandage my knuckles then clean the cut in my eyebrow. "You know Rose should be the one helping, not me" Evan says with smirk. I shake my head at him trying to instigate me.

As we clean up my desk off of the first aid items, my phone goes off.

"Hello?"

"WILLIAM!"

"Shit" I mumble.

"Shit is right" I hear my father say. Dammit he heard me.  I run my hand through my hair and sigh.

"What were you thinking. Albert is in the hospital. He has a broken nose, wrist and is bruised everywhere!"

"I thought you didn't care what happened to Albert!"

"I want an explanation now!"

"I had my reasons. Before you go yelling at me you should of asked!"

"I'm asking now William" I hear him sigh. "Please explain" he says softer.

"I took Rose out shopping today. When we stopped for dinner at a dinner, Rose caught Albert watching us. He is harassing her! Yea I let the anger get the best of me but he deserved it! He needs to quit and I will do what I think is best for Rose and my son!"

"Your son?"

"Rose wants me to be the father figure for him" I say softly.

"I will take care of this William, but I swear if you pull a stunt like this again I will not protect you. You should've come to me to take care of it."

"You try but you really think Albert will stop when all we do is push for the law to be enforced!"

"I understand William but I don't want you getting in trouble. Think about Rose. Think about your mom. Even think about 'your son'"

"Okay. I gotta go."

"Of course. Ill call you in the morning. Please don't ruin it with Rose. She is part of this family. I don't want-"

"I know. I know. Ill fix it."

"Fix it? What did you do-"

I hung up. "Jesus I'm in my late twenties and still get lectured like I'm a ten year old boy" I with a sigh. "Better hope you doesn't show up after you hung up on him" Evan chuckles. "I doubt it. He is trying to cover my ass with the police and let them know what Albert did today breaking the restraining order." Evan pulls out his phone and starts typing, "Hey I gotta go." "What you not gonna--" "Your on your own" he waves then leaves me standing in the room.

Heading to the kitchen I pull out the take out and eat what was left. "I gotta fix this."