Safe Word Read Free Page B

the small glass back down and nodding for a refill. I didn’t drink to get drunk, only enough to numb my feelings.
    “A rose by any other name smells just as sweet. Isn’t that the line?” She cocked her head to the side causing her hair to fall over her breasts. My eyes stopped their descent.
    Reality struck me like a brick to the face as her deep brown eyes came back to my memory. Her face was thinner now and her cheekbones more pronounced. She also had grown half a foot, and her body had filled out nicely.
    “I’m not going to keep bringing your homework.” I glared at her as I held out a stack of papers. I couldn’t explain my attraction to Rose. She was a stuck-up rich bitch who never gave the time of day to anyone outside of her social circle, but there was something about her that reminded me of myself.
    “Thanks, Cole.”
    Her cheeks were puffy and pink, like she had spent the day crying. Black eyeliner left stains down her cheeks, and her fire-red hair hung wildly around her face. She didn’t look like she belonged at the oversize Victorian house.
    “Whatever. Just try to make it to school tomorrow. The teachers are talking about sending a cop over here.” I hated myself for being a dick to her. She was clearly hurting and I wanted to ask her who had made her cry, but she would probably spit in my face and tell me to fuck off.
    “They can do that?” Her voice shook and her eyes grew wide as saucers. I ran my hand over the back of my ratty chin-length blond hair. I had scared her. Shit.
    “I don’t fucking know, Rose. I’m just giving you a heads-up.”
    “Rose!” a voice boomed from inside of the screen door to her home.
    “I have to go.” Her eyes glossed over with tears. “You need to leave,” she said in a panic.
    The screen door bounced off the outside wall and a man now filled the doorway. He was wearing suit pants and a white cotton undershirt.
    “Who the fuck are you?” As the words left his mouth a beer bottle left his hand and flew in our direction. I pushed Rose to the side as it bounced off my forearm and hurt like a bitch.
    “He was just bringing my work from school.” Her voice quivered as she spoke, and I wanted to wrap my arms around her and protect her from whomever the fuck this asshole was.
    The man stepped off the porch and rushed toward us. His body was covered with sweat and reeked of booze. His fingers wrapped around Rose’s arm and she squealed in pain as he jerked her back against him. His cold stare burned into me. Was he…jealous that I was talking to her?
    “Get the fuck off my property before I bury you both in the fucking yard.”
    My eyes fell to Rose who mouthed the word “go.” I took a few steps back before mumbling “fuck off” under my breath and slipped into the alley. I wanted to do something to help her, but at sixteen years old I couldn’t even save my own mother from what my father subjected her to. I wasn’t even sure what I had just witnessed.
    I didn’t see Rose again for two days. When she returned to school she looked pale, like the life had literally been sucked out of her. I tried to get her to tell me what was going on, but she told me to mind my own damn business. I wasn’t one of the popular kids so our paths only crossed during a few classes. I would watch her smiling and laughing with friends as if the incident at her house had never happened. I was beginning to think I had made the entire thing up — until gym class. As everyone milled around the large cavernous room waiting for some sort of direction, someone grabbed my wrist and pulled me back into the gym teacher’s office.
    “Rose, what the hell are you doing?"
    She smiled and pushed my shoulders against the cinder-block wall behind me. Her lips fell on mine, soft and inexperienced. I tangled my fingers in her wild hair and held her lips to mine as I deepened our kiss. By the time she pulled back we were both struggling to catch our breath.
    “I wanted to say thank you.