I flinched back. “Rose?”

“Sorry,” her voice shook and her breathing was heavy. “Sorry, it’s just a bit sore.” She finally raised her face to look at me and I noticed how red and puffy her eyes were. That wasn’t caused by a small sniffle that was from a hardcore meltdown. I would know.

I crawled across the bed to her, not caring that I was scrunching her books and papers but feeling the desperate need to comfort my friend. I tucked in beside her, reaching out for her hand. “Let me look.”

She was reluctant but slowly she pulled it from where she had it hidden close to her chest. I turned it over and couldn’t help the gasp that came from my mouth. The palm of her hand was completely burned and blistered. It brought tears to my eyes just thinking about how much pain she must be in. It was already beginning to peel and swell.

“Oh my gosh, Rose. We need to get you to the hospital!”

“It’s...it’s okay. I’m sure it will be fine.”

I climbed off the bed and stared at her like she was crazy. “Do you know how many nerves there are in your hands? Those aren’t just light burns. That’s really bad, possibly third degree!”

She shook her head, pulling her hand back to her body and holding it close.

“Rose, how did this happen?” I asked, trying to calm my tone like I was speaking to a scared animal or small child.

“My hand on the burner on the stove,” she murmured.

Now it made sense. That smell in the house wasn’t the lasagna she’d cooked. It was the smell of burnt flesh.

“Were you not paying attention?” Her head hung, but I didn’t miss the tears that began to fall and splash onto her bare legs. “Rose? Please.”

“My dad,” she whispered.

I narrowed my eyes. “You’re dad? What?”

A dark laugh blew past her lips and she finally looked up. “He put my hand on the element.”

“What the fuck! Why the hell would he do that?” I screamed, causing her to flinch. But I didn’t care, what the fuck kind of person does that?

She looked around the room, avoiding eye contact with me like she was embarrassed. “I guess he um...thinks I’m not doing well enough.”

“That’s psycho! Rose, you shouldn’t have to deal with that.”

She shrugged. “He’s always been a little heavy handed. It’s usually only small things, but yeah, he was infuriated.”

“We’re going to the hospital,” I said sternly.

I’d seen enough abuse in my life, I wasn’t about to watch someone I cared about go through that. Rose was beautiful and smart and had an amazing heart. She didn’t deserve to be treated like dog shit.

“Chelsea!” she called following me out of her room. “Please, don’t tell anyone.”

I choked out a laugh. “Rose, he should be arrested for doing that to you.”

Her eyes shone with tears, sparkling in the light. “Please, he’s my dad. I struggle enough already to keep him happy and off my back. Please just leave it alone. When all this is done, I know something needs to change and I’m hoping that it will. We’re both just stressed, he’s trying to build a life up for our family and I haven’t been doing what I need to do to help.”

I glared at her but my anger wasn’t directed at her, it was at her father. I don’t care how much stress he’s under with their family business or whatever. Chelsea is getting great grades and she’s trying her best.

“Please,” she pleaded.

I growled. “You better hope like hell I don’t meet him, because if I do I won’t be holding back.”

She shook her head, the movement causing her obvious pain. “I hope you don’t meet him. He’s an asshole.”

I laughed. “I’m still taking you to the hospital.”

She sighed. “Yeah, I guess it’s pretty bad. It hurts so much.”

“Put it in some cold water for a bit. I’m just going to run and jump in the shower real quick. I’m not going to meet any sexy emergency room doctors smelling like sweat.”

She giggled. “You think we can request one?”

“Why not? What’s that saying? ‘You don’t know until you ask.’” I tugged my cellphone from the pocket of my track pants and ducked into the bathroom making sure I turned the shower on before I dialed.

“Princess.” Blizzard’s voice came across the line. There was noise in the background—voices, laughter, music. All the signs of a casual night at the clubhouse.

“Hey Blizzard,” I said quietly.

“How you going out there in the big wide world?” he teased. “It’s kinda empty around here without you.”

“Naw, you miss me!” I laughed.

“How am I supposed to mess with Op now?” he joked. I knew Blizzard loved to use me to wind Optimus up. Those two were as close as real brothers. I didn’t mind. Sometimes it was fun to see Op get all jealous. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I need a favor.”

He chuckled. “Now princess, you did up and leave did you not? You do realize that you kinda forfeit your right to ask the club for that kind of stuff?”

I felt sadness stir in my stomach, but I pushed on. “I’m not asking the club. I’m asking you.”

The noise slowly began to lessen as I listened to his heavy footsteps. “You got something you need to tell me?”

I sighed. “I need you to keep an eye on Rose.”

“She okay?” His voice suddenly sounded strained and concerned.

“Look, I can’t say much. I just want to make sure she’s safe.”

“You’ve gotta give me more than that, Chel,” he said gruffly.

There was a soft tap on the door. “Hey Chelsea, I called ahead to the hospital. They don’t have any hot doctors on, but they said it wasn’t too busy. So the sooner we get there the quicker we can get home.”

I held my phone to my chest. “Okay! I’ll be out in a minute.”

I listened against the door for her footsteps to disappear before lifting the phone back to my ear. “Sorry.”

“You wanna tell me why you’re going to the hospital?” Blizzard snapped.

I cringed, I wanted Blizzard to keep an eye out for her just for peace of mind, but if I let him in on what was going on, I know he would storm in all crazy and Rose would freak out.

“Yeah … um … Rose just burnt herself. I just want to take her to get it checked out.”

“How bad?”

“Pretty bad,” I muttered.

“I’ll meet you there,” he said sharply.

“I really don’t think that’s—” I started.

“I’ll meet you there.”

The line went dead and I leaned back against the sink. Well, this just went from bad to worse.

Rose was going to kill me.

“Where are you going?” I asked Blizzard as he stormed past me with a serious look of agitation on his face.

“To the fucking hospital.”

I raised my brows and followed him out the front door to his bike. Grabbing his shoulder, and pulling him to a stop I said, “You wanna expand on that?”

“Chelsea called—”

“What? Why?” I questioned dread sinking in my gut.

He scrubbed at his face, eyeing me carefully. “It’s not her. Rose got burnt, if it’s bad enough to take her to the hospital, I wanna check things out.”

I smirked. “Man, you got it bad for this girl.”

He rolled his eyes. “Look, brother, Chelsea rang and asked if I would keep an eye on her. From what I can gather she’s got family issues. Chel seemed pretty worried. Now they’re off to the hospital because of some burn? Things just aren’t adding up.”

He picked up his helmet and placed it on his head, doing the strap up.

“You think she’s in some sort of trouble?” I asked, crossing my arms.

“I don’t know, but I’m gonna try and find out.”

“Can you hear that?” I yelled over the sound of his bike as he started it. His eyebrows creased together showing he had no idea what I was talking about. “I think it’s the sound a whip cracking!”

He glared, raising his hand and giving me the middle finger before pulling out at full speed. I couldn’t help but grin. Blizzard felt something for Rose. She was a sweet girl, pretty, smart, and from what I hear from Chel, a little on the dirty side. The problem was, she was unsure of the club and in Blizzard’s books—club would always come first, even over a girl.