Roses & Thorns
Authors: Tish Thawer
Tags: #Fiction, #Fantasy, #Paranormal, #Romance, #New Adult, #Short Stories (Single Author)
R
ose
s & Thorns
by
Tish Thawer
* * * * *
Rose
s & Thorns
ISBN: 978-0-9849886-6
-
2
Published by Amber Leaf Publishing
Copyright 201
2
by Tish Thawer
All rights reserved
Cover design by Regina Wamba of Mae I Design and Photography
Free stock photo of woman courtesy of
Marcus Ranum/ranum.com
Edited by Kara Malinczak
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any use of name brands
is done so under the Fair Use A
ct.
Licensing Note: This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only, and may not be resold or given away to other people. Thank you for respecting the author's work.
Table of Contents
Contents
Chapter F
o
ur: High Sc
h
ool Sweethearts
Chapter Se
v
en: First Impression
Acknowledgements
Thanks again
to my entire family. I would be lost without you.
To
all my friends at Shelfari, y
ou
r support has been amazing!
To Regina Wamba and Kara Malinczak
–
You are my one and onlys.
And to
Cortney
–
I
've finally f
ound my lost twin.
* * * * *
CHAPTER ONE
Best Concert Ever
(Rose)
"Oh my g
od, that was the best concert EVER!" Penny
yelled
.
"I know, right? I
've
never screamed and danced so much in my life,"
said
Jillian.
My friends and I had just left the
Nine Inch Nails concert in Masen and were being driven home in one of my dad's
company limos
.
It was
Friday
night and since we'd be off
from school Monday as well, this was the perfect start to a long weekend.
We didn't have a
curfew,
but since some of us still weren't twenty-one,
and since
there reall
y wasn't anything fun to do at two
in the morning,
we were headed back to Jillian's where we'd all be spending the night.
Suddenly
,
Jillian announced,
"I've got to pee
."
As the girls continue
d
to giggle and drink more of the compl
e
mentary soda
–
Dad had made sure th
at
all
alcohol had been removed
–
I pushed the button for the intercom
.
"Excuse me. Is there somewhere we could stop
to
use the restroom? Apparently it's an emergency."
After a moment
'
s pause
,
our driver
'
s voice came through the speaker
.
"Yes ma'am
. T
here's a
nightclub just up the road.
I
t's the only place close by, so I
'll stop there
if that's
okay?
"
"Yes
. Thank you
. T
hat will be fine
.
"
Jillian was the only one in
our group that was already twenty-one, so stopping at a nightclub wouldn't be a problem.
We drove
for a few more miles and then coasted to a stop. As I looked out the tinted window
,
I saw the
club's
sign li
t
up in
bright
red lights
.
The Rising Pit.
One of the "car crew" got out and opened the side door. Jill hurriedly climbed out
of
the
car
and gave a little wave to the driver
.
"Thank you
." She then followed her
escort
towards the
front door.
"I can't believe your dad set all this up, Rose. It's really cool. I haven't had this much fun in a long time. Thanks for inviting me
,
" Penny sai
d
.
"You're welcome. I was really surprised when he told me that we
'd be going
in one of the company limos. I hadn't realized at the time that it would come with a babysitting crew
though,
" I
joked
.
I knew that my dad had made sure that our escorts w
ould be keeping us in their sights all night, and
I
thought that it would be a pain in the ass
, but really it hadn't bothered me at all. They were all
very
nice
,
and there was one that was pretty damn cute
,
too. The one that had
just
accompanied Jillian inside
,
actually.
I looked back to the club
just as
Jill
and the cutie
disappear
ed behind the door
.
I watched as a
man
step
ped
o
utsid
e carrying a girl in his arms. H
e placed her on her feet, stea
dying her before letting go. It looked like she
was crying.
As he talked to her
,
s
he
wiped
the tears from her cheeks and then gave a quick nod of her head and smiled. Obviously, whatever the
man
had said was making her feel better
.
I
t
was obvious the guy worked there s
ince he had a black t-shirt on with the club's name and logo on the front.
I
continued to watch
,
wondering what could have happened that would leave a club employee comforting a crying patron
on the front steps, but the moment the
man
smiled
,
my curiosity
was forgotten.
It was as if the heavens were highlighting my destiny for me. T
he clouds broke, and
suddenly it wasn't just a "man
" I was staring at...it was an angel. H
e was so gorgeous. He had to be about 6’ 2”, and solid muscle from the looks of him. Not bulky like those beefed-up body builders, but very athletic. Wide shoulders, broad chest, thin waist, and what I was sure would be strong, muscled legs. With the moonlight shining on him, I could see he had dark blonde hair with golden highlights, cut short and sharp. I realized I was half
-
hanging out the open window of the limo
.
I sucked in a quick breath, and that's
when he suddenly turned and looked right at me.
I thought I would die.
His eyes were so beautiful and so mesmerizing. They were an amber color, a rich brown with golden highlights, mixing together like swirled caramel and honey.
The intensity of his gaze was piercing.
He was easily the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.
Jill came barreling out of the nightclub with her escort closely in tow.
We all started busting up laughing as we heard her say
, “I only wanted a quick shot
.” I continued
to
star
e
at the gorgeous man a
s she started to
make her way back to the limo
, but as she
walk
ed
pas
t
him
,
he reached out and tapped her gently o
n the shoulder
. I continued to watch, jealous
y filling my veins, as s
he stopped and started
to speak
to h
im
.
I couldn't imagine what they could possibly be talking about, but s
he kept glancing at the car and then back to him with a huge smile on her face.
I'm sure she was
trying
to make sure we were all seeing that this beautiful man was paying attention to her. I loved Jill, but she could definitely be an attention whore sometimes. After a brief moment
,
I saw
him
hand her something and then he walked back inside. My angel was gone.
I
settled myself back in the limo
, trying not to let the stickiness of the leather seats on my bare legs elevate my frustration as
I
anxious
ly waited for my best friend to come brag about how this
impossibly gorgeous guy had
just asked her out or something.
I
tried to convince myself that their conversation had
only
been about her
using the facilities instead of being a paying customer
, but I doubt
ed
that was really the case.
When Jill got in the car, she
sat there for a moment with a
cat-a
te-the-mouse grin on her face that I wanted to smack off, but t
hen she handed me a business card.
I was confused and almost handed it back without looking at it, but she just sat there smiling, so I quickly looked down and examined the
shiny
card. It had the club
'
s logo on the front
, which
looked like a square hatch opening up with a bright red glow shining from
within
,
and the club's name
,
The Rising Pit
,
printed ab
ove
it. The moment I
turned it over
however, is the moment my life changed. The first thin
g
I noticed was a handwritten note that started with m
y
name.
Now I was interested
.
It said,
“Roses are red, but I'll be blue, if I'm denied the pleasure, of meeting you. ~ Christian
.
”
I read it about three times before I looked up and saw that
Jillian
was
still smiling at me
. She grabbed the card out of my hand and p
ass
ed it to my friends
.
"He asked me your name and then
scratched out that poem so fast that
I
could barely see his hand move.
His number's on there too and he said for you to call him after dark in two days
.
"
I was stunned into silence. I couldn't understand how this
extraordinary
man
could possibly want to meet me.
Me!
Not that I wasn't thrilled, but suddenly I was so nervous that I didn't think I could survive two days without losing my mind. My thoughts drifted to the first thing a girl thinks of when preparing to meet her dream guy...what was I going to wear?
My friend's laughter and Jillian
's
question brought my attention back to the present
.
"Holy crap, Rose. Are you gonna call him?"
I thought for a moment then answered, "Hell yes
,
I'm gonna call him! He's frickin' gorgeous."
The girl's conversations quickly became background noise as I stared out the window.
Why would this incredible
man want to meet me?
I couldn't help but wonder if calling a complete stranger was a
monumental
mistake.
But, a
s the butterflies increased their pace in my stomach,
I glanced out the window again and could have sworn
that I saw
Christian's golden swirled eyes staring back at m
e
from the reflection.
Hell yes I was going to call him
. A
nd suddenly...t
wo days seemed like an eternity.