Roses & Thorns

Chapter Sixteen: No Modesty

Nate and Lance :)
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I was gazing out of the window the next morning, trying to distract myself from the pain that soured through my entire body, when a knock sounded on the door.

"Rosemary?" Hannah poked her head in before she walked into the room dressed in a gentle pink wrap dress. "Good morning. How're you feeling?"

"I'm sorry for causing you trouble."

"No need to apologize. I wouldn't like being-" she stopped, catching herself possibly for fear of making her boss look bad. But nothing could make him look any worse than he already did in my mind. "Um-I know what it feels like to be trapped." She moved a strand of blonde hair that had escaped her bohemian bun.

I said nothing as she began to explain further.

"Lush was my home for two years, or at least I thought it had been my home. Roth and the clients made all the decisions for me." She crossed her arms in front of her timidly and sighed. "Sometimes I wasn't allowed to eat because my wealthiest client had some obscene fetish with gagging." She shook her head.

"You don't have to tell me this." I said quietly, sympathizing with her tremendously.

"I know." Hannah nervously laughed. She was generally so confident and self assured but she was making herself vulnerable. "When I felt trapped I remember some Lush girl telling me her story and it didn't make me feel better about my situation, but it made me feel-safe." She paused. "Nate found me in one of the rooms one night near death from malnourishment. It was an accident but-he saved me." She smiled to herself at the memory. I didn't know what to say. She was someone that I could relate to and I'd never had that before. No one really cared to talk to me about their experiences or tried to make me feel better about my own. Not even Charlotte.

"Hannah, I'm sorry that-"

"We should go." Hannah wiped her eyes with a quick swipe and went to the door. "Donovan's waiting." I followed her out reluctantly and happy that the subject was changed even if it meant facing Donovan again. I wasn't good at consouling others or myself.

She led me out of the house to a partly cloudy morning sky. 

Donovan was beside the black Benz with Nate and Lance deep in conversation.

"Donovan, do you need anything else for today?" Hannah asked him, handing over a pad-folio. He looked at me and then looked at her.

"Why're your eyes red?" Lance asked Hannah, leaning forward to get a closer look. Donovan pushed him back in one motion, shooting Lance a warning glare before responding to Hannah.

"No, we should be fine. You can head back to New York."

"New York? No way, the police connected Greene's murder to an organized crime syndicate. Read about it this morning." Lance chuckled.

"Yeah, the Chief said we should lay low for a couple days." The Chief of police? Of course, they had another Police Department paid off.

"I'm laying low in Florida if you're giving us the next few days off Boss." Lance insisted with a shrug.

"I'm not doing that." Donovan rolled his eyes. "Go back to the city and make Ashton's life hell." He said, "when he's quivering under a knife then we'll talk about 'time off'." Donovan smirked, patting Lance on the back.

"Sounds like a plan." Lance walked to the Cadillac at the bottom of the driveway. Hannah gave me a tight smile then followed behind him. Donovan opened the door of the Benz and motioned for me to enter the back seat then slid in after me.