When Red Roses Die

Chapter 41

Scarlett

My knees crashed into cold, hard cement. The hands pushing me down bite into my shoulders. Pain shot through my body, but I refused to make a sound.

"Oh my little Red Rose," a sick and familiar voice filled the silence

A chill ran through my body at the sound of his voice. His horrible and wretched voice that was the cause of many of my nightmares.

"Do you know how much trouble you've caused me? How many men and favors?" His haunting footsteps approached.

I kept my eyes on the ground below me, the familiar basement floor. It was in this basement that I knew so many awful things had happened to so many girls who were like me, unlucky.

The rough hands remained on my shoulders as another grabbed my ponytail and yanked my head back. His figure towered over me, and so did everyone else in the room.

"You've been naughty." Green eyes, that resembled my own, bore into me. "Do you remember what happens to naughty girls?"

I was frozen. Fear paralyzing me to the floor. I had lost, and this was the consequence.

My throat thawed enough for me to beg. Which I never thought I'd be doing. I always promised that I would be strong in his presence. That I would not cry or beg. But here I was. Begging and crying. "Please don't kill me." I choked.

~~~
"Doll, I swear if you don't stop fucking crying right now, I will dump this on you." Lincoln's smooth voice pulled me from my nightmare.

"Really dude?" I heard Erik chide Lincoln. "Have some compassion."

"It worked?.." Lincoln said not understanding why he was being chided.

I opened my eyes to the two of them laying on their sides, worried looks on their faces as they watched me. My eyes focused on the cup in Lincoln's hand.

"What's in the cup?" My voice was hoarse, which was probably related to the tear streaks I felt running down my cheeks.

"Ice cold water," Lincoln answered.

"And you were going to pour that on me?" I asked.

"You wouldn't wake up." Lincoln shrugged.

I pulled my attention away from him and focused on random things around the room. I eventually felt my heart start to slow and my breathing even out.

It was just a nightmare. I repeated in hopes of further calming myself.

"You wanna talk about it? Erik's voice dragged my attention to him. I focused on his blue eyes.

"No," I said simply.

My body slowly turned more towards Erik as I continued focusing on his features. I could feel my body relaxing. That was until Lincoln rested his hand on my shoulder and all my hard work at calming down went flying out the window.

I shot out of the bed like a dog out of the front door and kept hyperventilating and stumbling until I reached my walk-in-closet. I quickly shut and locked the door. Trapped in utter darkness, I fell to the floor.

Tears flowed freely and my breath came in pants. It was clear I was having a panic attack, mostly because I couldn't think straight.

Why, after all these months, did I suddenly have a nightmare about him. I was so sure that I had tackled my PTSD. Hell, I had barely thought about him since I met my guys.

So why now?

I remained in the darkness for a while. The only sounds filling the closet were my occasional sobs and sniffles.

I was unsure how long I was in there when I heard a commotion from outside my panic room.

"Where is she?" Kjell said in a low voice though I could tell he and his dragon were freaking out.

One of them must have pointed or gestured because Kjell immediately asked, "What the fuck happened?" His voice shook with barely concealed rage and I know he was dying to rip the door off its hinges.

So when a soft knock sounded, I jumped, as it was completely unexpected.

"Dove, are you alright?" His booming voice was soft and full of compassion.

I took a deep breath before answering, hoping that my voice would come out steady.

"N-" my voice immediately cracked and another sob racked my shoulders.

That was all it took because suddenly the door handle was twisted so hard and fast that it just simply broke. Then the door was being pushed opened and Kjell's massive body entered my closet.

I looked up at him, tears freely flowing down my face and tremors driving up and down my body.

He froze for barely a second to take in the sight of me before he bent down and picked me up from the floor.

My limp and weak body melted into his huge body. My head bounced slightly as he carries me down the hallway. He hesitated slightly in front of his room as if fighting his instinct to just carry me in there. I eventually was carried downstairs.

Though I was caught off guard when Kjell didn't carry me into the living room. Instead, he walked into the kitchen and sat me on the counter. He fought with himself as he stepped away from me and towards the fridge.

I stopped crying long enough to see what he was doing.

After all, it was quite odd that he managed to pull him and his dragon away from me. He had never fought this hard before.

Kjell grabbed something out of the fridge then turned and walked back to me. I looked at the plastic bag he held out to me.

"Cookies?" I sniffled.

"From Leah. She only gave me three to give to you and she said if you wanted more then you had to get them yourself," Kjell explained, his every word becoming softer and softer with my easing heart rate.

Suddenly I found myself thing of her and her beautiful family. Plus, apparently, she's a good baker.

"She's better than good," Erik said out loud, though I could feel his steady presence in my head.

I accepted the bag from Kjell, opened it, and tried a bit of one of the cookies.

Despite its cooler temperature, the cookie tasted warm and savory. Its texture was perfectly soft with the melt of the chocolate chips. It truly was a perfect cookie.

I may or may not have moaned around the bites of the cookie. I also may or may not have devoured all three of the cookies in record time.

Looking up from my delicious dessert, my gaze met Kjell's golden stare first. He stood, arms crossed, watching me intently.

"Better?" He asked.

"A lot," I said while nodding. It was true too. My body had calmed, my tears stopped flowing, and my brain managed to focus on my environment.

"I'm so glad," Kjell sighed as took one big step towards me and gathered me in his arms.

As fantastic as the cookies were, being in any one of my mans' embraces would always triumph it.

"Thanks Kjell," I said to him, though my eyes were over his shoulder. Where Lincoln and Erik talked in harsh whispers in the middle of the kitchen.

Although I wanted to question it, I didn't. Instead, I just let Kjell carry me to the living room. Another conversation for another day, I sighed.

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Thank you for reading Chapter 41. I appreciate you taking the time to do read it! Comments and feedback make me so happy! I hope y'all have a great weekend and an even better Halloween.

~Until Next Chapter