Bloody Rose

Hope I would not regret this

Rose's POV

"Wait, why did you do that?" I followed Eve down the hall and into her room, my voice somewhere between a scold and a whine.

She sat down on the bed with the most unbothered smile on her face.

"You are welcome, Tyler. I just did you a massive favour. No need to thank me, I am simply selfless by nature."

"I did not ask for that," I said, stomping my foot in a way that I was fully aware made me look like a child. "I was going to give him an excuse."

"Exactly," she said, pointing at me. "That is precisely why I stepped in. You were about to make the biggest mistake of your life."

"I hate it when you call me T," I muttered, dropping onto the bed beside her with my arms crossed.

She shifted closer, softening slightly.

"Tyler, it has been three months since you moved here. Three months, and the only person I have seen you spend time with is me. You need to start meeting people. Living your life."

"So you are tired of being my only friend," I said flatly, eyeing her.

"That is not what I said, and you know it." She nudged me lightly. "I love being your friend. But you need more than just me."

"I met your friends last night. Those are new people."

"That does not count, and you know that too."

I opened my mouth to argue, but she cut me off with a grin.

"Let me put it in a way that actually lands," she said slowly. "You need to meet someone who is also willing to sleep with you. My friends are not offering that. Liam, on the other hand, is an absolute specimen of a man, and he clearly wants to take you to lunch, so."

"Eve!" I stared at her, genuinely horrified.

She laughed without a single ounce of shame.

"Am I wrong, though? When was the last time you were actually with someone? And I mean a real person, not a—"

"I am not answering that," I said loudly, standing up.

"Are you a virgin? Because that is completely okay if you are, I just need to know what we are working with—"

"No, Eve, calm down."

I looked away from her, and without meaning to, my thoughts went somewhere quiet and ugly. Back to Keith. Back to what intimacy had looked like inside that house. It had never been about want or warmth or any of the things it was supposed to be. It had been an obligation. Something I endured on his schedule, whether I was ready or not. Something that left me feeling hollowed out every single time.

I pushed the thought down hard.

"Hey." Eve's voice pulled me back. "I lost you for a second. Where did you go?"

"Nowhere," I said, smiling quickly. "I am fine."

She watched me for a moment, then let it go.

"So, are you going on this date or not?" she asked, fingers crossed dramatically.

I looked at her. I knew that expression. When Eve decided something, there was no talking her out of it. The battle was already over before it started.

"Fine," I said, laughing softly. "You win. I have a date."

She grabbed me into a hug immediately.

"You will not regret this, I promise." She pulled back with a suddenly serious look. "Now. Saturday is four days away, and we have work to do."

"Eve, it is just lunch. I put on something nice, and I go."

She turned to face me slowly, as if I had said something deeply offensive.

"I am fully involved in your love life now," she said, brushing my hair back with one finger like she was inspecting a project. "That means I am in charge. And I refuse to let you walk into that restaurant looking anything less than devastating." She stood up. "We are going to the mall. Right now."

I barely got a word out before I was already in the car.

---

Saturday arrived faster than I was ready for.

I stood in the middle of Eve's room in the dress we had picked out, taking slow, deliberate breaths, trying to talk myself down from the edge of my own nerves.

"It is just a date," I said to myself quietly. "Just lunch."

Eve had been attached to this outing since the moment Liam called. She had opinions about everything: the dress, the shoes, the way I wore my hair, and today was no different. She called me into the room the second I was dressed, looked me over from head to toe, and pressed both hands to her cheeks.

"You look exceptional," she breathed. "Right. Sit down, I am doing your makeup."

I tried to protest.

She was already holding a brush.

I sat.

And honestly, she was good. Better than I expected. She worked carefully, enhancing without covering, and when she turned me toward the mirror, I was genuinely surprised by what I saw. There were no bruises left to hide anymore. No cuts to layer foundation over until my face looked like a mask. This was just my face, my actual face, with nothing to conceal.

It felt strange in the best possible way.

"Tyler," Eve said softly from behind me, and I could hear the emotion she was trying to hold back. "You look beautiful."

"Thank you," I said, turning to look at her. "You really outdid yourself."

"Stop it, or I will cry on your dress," she laughed, waving me off.

I was still waiting for the car Liam had arranged when Eve came bursting back into the room, phone stretched toward me with wide eyes.

"I may have done a little research on our friend Liam," she said, slightly breathless.

I looked at the screen. A large house. Several luxury cars. Headlines about Paige Tech and the man behind it.

My stomach dropped.

He was rich. Seriously, significantly rich.

And just like that, the warmth I had been slowly building toward this afternoon went cold.

What if he were like Keith? Keith had been charming at the beginning, too. Generous, attentive, and impossible to resist. And then the door had closed, and everything had changed.

What if the pattern just repeated itself?

What if I were walking straight back into the same thing with a different name on the door?

Before the thought could root itself any deeper, Eve had me by the arm.

"Your ride is here, let's go."

And just like that, I was moving out the door and into the car, with only one thought sitting quietly in my chest the entire way there.

I really hope I do not regret this.