Beautiful Thorns (Boys of Bellerose #4)(7)
Author: Jaymin Eve

 

Rhett muttered some choice curses, looking up at the ceiling. “That makes more sense as to how he grew so powerful so fast, I guess.”

 

“Definitely,” Grayson agreed. “But we still aren’t sure what his quarrel is with Giovanni. It seems more personally motivated than just market share. And then there’s the question of what happened to…”

 

“My mom,” I croaked. “Here I was, thinking she got killed for her involvement in criminal finances and my dad was collateral damage. Now I don’t know what happened or who was to blame and—‍” I broke off with a hiccupping sob. Fuck, I needed to pull it together.

 

“We’ll work it out, Rose,” Jace said softly, reaching out to take my hand in his. It was an intensely comforting gesture from him, and I gratefully squeezed his fingers. He got it. He knew how close I’d been with my parents. Thinking of them as criminals was tearing me up inside.

 

“So, what now?” Rhett asked, yawning. “What happens to Angelo… and to us? The tour?”

 

“Canceled,” Jace replied, not letting go of my hand. “I told Brenda to sort that side out. I’m fucking done playing nice with Giovanni’s bullshit.”

 

Grayson and Rhett rumbled their agreement, and a small measure of relief washed through me. At least that was one thing off our minds, not needing to keep up the pretense of having fun playing concerts without a bass player… again.

 

“The three of you need to return to Naples,” Grayson announced, and I stiffened. He held me tighter, preventing me from climbing out of his lap in outrage, but damn, I was about to. “Hear me out, Prickles,” he growled in my ear.

 

“You better have a fucking amazing reason because right now the answer is a resounding hell no from me, Grayson.” I was already mad. Big mad. How the fuck he could think I’d be okay returning home without Angelo, I had no clue. Surely, he knew that was insane.

 

“I’m with Rose on this one,” Jace agreed. It didn’t escape my notice that he was calling me Rose more and more or that he still held my hand in his.

 

Grayson sighed in frustration. “I understand that you all think you can—” He cut off as a knock sounded at the door.

 

“I’ll get it,” I said, extracting myself from his grip. “In case you guys forgot, you’re all pretty recognizable.”

 

Rhett leapt over the couch, rushing to the door ahead of me. “I’d rather be recognized than risk you getting shot, Thorn baby.” Before I could argue, he yanked the door open and let the hotel employee push a cart of food and coffee inside.

 

Thankfully, no one got shot and the hotel staff didn’t make a fuss over the celebrities in the room. Maybe it was a regular occurrence at a place like this. Rhett unloaded the cart onto the coffee table, and Jace grabbed his coffee like an addict. Not that I was much more restrained with my pancake stack.

 

“Okay, back to Grayson’s momentary lapse in sanity,” Jace said a few minutes later. “I think we are in agreement that none of us are leaving until we find Angelo. Right?”

 

I nodded firmly. “Right. I won’t just pack up and leave him as my father’s captive, and you can’t fucking make me.”

 

Gray said nothing, just raised an eyebrow at Rhett, who’d been uncharacteristically quiet.

 

My blue-haired boy sensed our attention and looked up with a pained expression. “Sorry, Thorn, I’m on Grayson’s side with this. It’s not safe here, especially knowing your dad is Wilson. We can protect you better at home in Naples. Right, Gray?” His opinion was a hard punch to the gut.

 

The big guy nodded, then shifted his concerned gaze to me. “Prickles, I know you want to help, but surely, you can look at this objectively. You don’t have the skills or connections to actually help, and if I’m constantly worried about your safety, am I really focused on finding and freeing Angelo?”

 

My eyes widened at the blunt honesty, and it felt like the air had been knocked out of me for a moment. “Wow. Seriously? I’m a liability now?”

 

Gray was immune to guilt trips. He just held my gaze steadily. “Aren’t you?”

 

Rhett intervened before I could lose my shit. “Okay, okay, I think we’re getting a bit… uh… Look, let's just start over. Thorn baby, I don’t think Grayson meant you’re a liability, he just means that you are more important to him than Angelo. So if he was forced to choose who to protect…”

 

Grayson nodded, unapologetic. “Because I love you, Prickles. You’ll always come first, so I’m asking you to go back to Naples with Rhett and Jace, so I can focus on finding your mafia prince. Honestly, I’d rather send you to a remote cabin in fucking Iceland or something but I know you wouldn’t go, so I’m scaling back to a reasonable request. I have security in Naples.”

 

Fuck. When he put it like that… sure, it made sense, but every cell in my body was screaming at me not to leave. Not to turn my back on Angel. He wouldn’t leave me if the roles were reversed. He didn’t when I’d been taken by Giovanni’s guys. He’d saved me, and now I needed to save him. Didn’t I?

 

“Babe, it’s okay to lean on us for help,” Rhett said softly, coming to kneel on the carpet to take my hands in his. “You’re not in this unconventional relationship alone, remember? We’re all in with you, which means we’re also in it with Angelo, the big, handsome dickhead. And we all have different strengths. Jace’s is to keep us all grounded and humble by always having a bigger ego and more arrogance than the rest of us…”

 

“Hey, asshole, I do not,” Jace muttered, scowling in offense.

 

Rhett smirked. “And Grayson happens to be a badass ex-murderer who is stupidly well-connected even after eight years out of the criminal world. He is the best person to track Angelo down, with Vee’s and Giana’s help, most likely. Can you trust him to do this for you? For all of us?”

 

I chewed my lip, really trying to accept what he was saying. “I guess your strength is being the voice of reason, huh?”

 

His grin turned wicked. “Thorn baby, I’m clearly here to provide competition in bed because I hold the record for giving you the most back-to-back orgasms.”

 

“You sure?” Grayson purred, and I fought back the urge to laugh. I actually wasn’t sure who held that title, but I’d let Rhett claim it for now. Until we got Angelo back.

 

“As for you, Billie Bellerose,” Rhett continued, ignoring Grayson. “You’re—”