Thorneless (Rose of Thorne Series)

Mia Michelle

To the three loves of my life…

              You are the air I breathe, the warmth in my soul, and the beat of my heart.  I will forever love you!


                     
M

DISCLAIMER

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental
.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including mechanical photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing.

All rights reserved.

“Distance between two hearts is not an obstacle; rather a beautiful reminder of just how strong true love can be.”

                                                                                                                -Unknown

“Life is a rose, beware of the thorns.”

-Unknown

Thorneless playlist

Stay- Rihanna Featuring Nikky Ekko

Red-Taylor Swift

Better Than Me-Hinder

Burning Bridges-One Republic

Too Late To Apologize- One Republic

Wait for You-Elliot Yamin

Radioactive- Imagine Dragons

Just Give Me A Reason- Pink Featuring Nate Ruess

The One That Got Away-The Civil Wars

Hero-Enrique Iglesias

Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart- Alicia Keys

When I Was Your Man- Bruno Mars

Broken-Seether Featuring Amy Lee

Lose To Win - Fantasia

Breathe Me- Sia

Love Hate Thing- Wale

Sad-Maroon 5

Here With Me- Susie Suh x Robot Koch

Wrecking Ball- Miley Cyrus

Florence and the Machine- Never Let Me Go

Losing Your Memory- Ryan Starr

Poison & Wine- The Civil Wars

What Now- Rihanna

Hold on We’re Going Home-Drake

Say Something- A Great Big World Featuring Christina Aguilera
 

Skylar

It’s just too late. It’s really over this time.

That fucking bastard has taken everything from me. My parents, my happiness, my heart. He has taken them all and left me with nothing. He had known all this time and he still let me fall in love with him. I trusted him.

Oh God! Why did I have to find that damn bracelet?!

He was going to be my forever.
 
Yesterday my life had been perfect, but today it’s shattered.  I’m stripped to the very core of my being.  My dying soul lay hemorrhaging before me.  He’s ruined me at every cost from ever loving again. I hate him . . . I love him.

Anger overtakes me, and I slam the cold mirrored walls over and over with my hand. I don’t care that I’m bleeding. I don’t even notice the pain in my right hand because I hurt too much everywhere else to care.
 The tears that threatened earlier are now pouring down my face.  I lean against the cool metal and slide down to the floor, wrapping my bloody hands around my trembling legs and begin to rock back and forth in a soothing motion.

I hate him. I love him . . . I hate him.

When I finally hit the cold floor, I feel every emotion turn off like a switch and the numbness overtakes me again.  The tears suddenly stop and I feel myself pulling away. I refuse to ever let anyone do this to me again.  I won’t hurt anymore—I’ve hurt too much in my life already.

I vaguely notice the elevator doors when they open into the lobby, but I don’t move.
 A blurry figure rushes towards me and kneels down closer. I hear a voice, but it sounds so muffled.

I don’t want anyone to see me like this. Please, whoever you are, just leave me alone.

I want to run away and hide. I want him to feel my pain.
 I want to stop loving him.  I want . . . Sebastian.  

“OH MY GOD! SKYLAR!!
 Look at me angel!”  A familiar voice calls out my name.  I feel my body being pulled into strong arms and then see the elevator doors close behind him.  For a few moments, he just holds me against him without speaking. I breathe in the wonderful smell of woodsy leather and recognition has me blinking back out of my trance and into the sparkling, terrified emerald eyes of Lucas Drake.

Lucas

The elevator is almost to the lobby and I nervously shift the folder that’s underneath my arm. I had thought I had myself together, but being this close to her is making me a nervous wreck.

What if my plan fails and I’m not able to speak to her privately? What if she hates me for never calling her after all this time?
BREATHE. Lucas. Breathe.

I hear the familiar chime of the elevator indicating its arrival and it startles me out of my thoughts and back to reality.
 

Okay, Lucas. It’s now or never. You can do this! She’s worth it!! You have to fight for her!!
 

When the doors finally open, my heart stops at the sight in front of me . . .
Skylar.

She’s curled up on the elevator floor with her arms wrapped around her knees, rocking back and forth while she stares ahead at nothing. The sight of the bright red blood dripping off her legs and hands sends me in complete hysterics. I drop the folder onto the lobby floor and immediately run to her and fall to my knees.

“OH MY GOD! SKYLAR!!  Look at me, angel!”  I scream as I try to pinpoint where she’s hurt.  
Frantically scanning her body, I discover the blood is coming from her right hand.
 

She continues sitting there in a complete blank stare, as if she’s unaware of anything or anyone around her.
 

“Please, Skylar. You’re scaring me, baby!!“ I plead as I ease her onto my lap.
 
Damn, it feels so good to hold her in my arms again, but I hadn’t wanted it to be like this.
  Gently, I brush the loose chestnut curls away from her face and cup her cheeks with my hands.  I’m now face to face with my gorgeous girl. My angel.  Her beautiful turquoise eyes are glazed over and red from crying.

What’s going on? Why is she like this?
  

“SKYLAR!
 Please look at me! It’s me. It’s Lucas!” I shout with a panicked voice.    

Finally, she blinks out of her daze and then stares at me with a shocked expression on her face.
 She looks around the elevator and seems to recognize her surroundings.  With a violent shove, she pushes me away from her and begins to stand.

“What are you doing here, Lucas?” she snaps angrily at me.

“I came here to see you, but right now we need to get you to a doctor.”

“I don’t need a doctor! OUCH!” she says as she tries opening her hand.

“Are you hurt anywhere else, sweetheart?” I ask and she shakes her head.

“No, Lucas.
 I . . . “

I don’t give her a chance to continue.
  “Did Thorne do this to you?” I ask with intense rage
in my voice.

If he did this to her, I’m going to fucking rip his throat out of his body and feed it to him.

“No. He didn’t do this to me, Lucas. I just got upset and wasn’t thinking clearly when I decided to go pick a fight with the elevator wall here. Guess it won that round, huh?” she answers with a pained look on her face. It is almost like she can’t believe the words she’s saying.

She did this? But why?

I reach my hands out and tenderly take hold of her injured hand. She’s hesitant at first, but then allows me to examine it.

“You must’ve very upset to have hit an elevator wall.
 Or did someone else upset you?  I’m sure Sebastian would make me lose my temper, too, if I was marrying his arrogant ass,” I say with a clipped tone.

“Why the hell do you care anyways, Lucas? You’re the one who dumped me remember? Or at least I’m assuming you dumped me since you haven’t bothered to call me since December. And not that it’s any business of yours, but there isn’t going to be a wedding!” she says angrily, shoving me backwards and yanking her injured hand away.
 

“OUCH! Damn it!“ she screams out in pain and jerks her hand to her body.

“First, I’m taking you to the doctor to get that hand looked at. Then we’ll discuss things later. Can you walk?” I ask her.

She nods and I open the elevator doors. I place my hand on the small of her back and lead her out to the lobby.
 The sight of her in short, blood covered pajamas and me in my tailored gray suit seems to attract a lot of attention, but I don’t give a damn. I’m getting my girl out of here now. I slide my suit jacket off, place it around her shoulders, then have the shocked doorman bring my Aston Martin around to the front entrance.  He stares at both of us with wide eyes when he sees me lift her into my arms and carry her to my car.  

She slaps me on the chest with her good hand and rolls her eyes at me.

“Put me down right now, Lucas!! I told you I can walk! ” she demands while shooting death daggers from her glare.

“I know you can walk, but that’s not going to happen. You’re barefoot, Skylar and there is no way in hell that I’m letting you walk outside on that pavement without shoes on your feet!”
 I fire back. The doorman opens my passenger door and I gently lower her and place her on the leather seat and secure the seat belt around her body.  She huffs and rolls her eyes at me again.  

She’s so fucking cute when she does that.

Smiling, I close her door and make my way around to the driver’s side.
 She scoots away from me to the side of the door and closes her eyes.  She knows that she needs me right now and I’m not going anywhere until she realizes that.

What a stubborn fucking gorgeous woman!

Skylar

“Well, Ms. Rose, It’s not broken, but you have a pretty nasty injury there.  I’m going to have my nurse wrap your hand up good and tight. You’ll need to keep it wrapped and dry for at least a week or so. It will be swollen for a while, I’m afraid.  I’m going to prescribe you something for the pain and you’ll need to take these as directed in order to keep the pain tolerable. I’m afraid that for the next couple of days that hand is really going to be bothering you,” the tall older doctor says as he tears off the prescription from his pad and hands it to me.

“Thank you so much, doctor,” I reply as I take the piece of white paper into my hand. Just as he’s about to open the door, he turns to me and begins speaking.

“Oh, and try to not slam your hand in any more car doors,” he teases and walks out of the room.
I had hated to have to lie about how I had really hurt my hand, but there is no way that I’d confess to him what I’d actually done. I’d be put in some sort of anger management classes for sure, if I did.

A few minutes later, the sweet nurse enters the room and starts cleaning and wrapping my hand. Before she leaves, she gives me instructions on how to care for it and warns me to contact them if it doesn’t heal within the next week. Looking down at the cold floor, I’m grateful that she’d given me the thick socks and scrubs when I first arrived.
 I smile and thank her before walking out of the examining room.

Lucas is waiting patiently for me in the waiting area when I walk out of the doctor’s office.
 He’s studying something on his phone, but quickly tucks it away when he sees me emerge.

I wave my newly bandaged hand at him and he frowns.

“Not broken,” I say and look away feeling embarrassed by all of this.

He appears relieved by my response, but the concern is still very evident in his emerald eyes.

He’s biting his mouth and I can tell he’s unsure of what to say next.  I’m afraid he’s going to start asking questions again and I don’t want to deal with them.  Right now, I just want to get to Kylie’s place as fast as possible.

“Um . . . do you mind taking me to Kylie’s apartment?
 I don’t have my purse with me and I certainly don’t want to get into a cab looking like this,” I say pointing down at my attire.

“Yes, of course I’ll take you Skylar,” he says and leads me out to the parking garage. Surprisingly, I don’t cringe when he places his hand on the small of my back. I just don’t get why he’s here after all this time. He even looks at me the same way he had before he left.
Why is that?
As we head across town to Kylie’s apartment, I decide to break the awkward silence that fills the car.

“Thank you for bringing me Lucas.
 You didn’t have to make such a fuss about me today. I’m sorry about earlier.”

“You’re welcome, Skylar. And yes, I did need to make a fuss and I’m glad I did.
 I was worried about you. Fact is, I still am.  Are you sure you’re alright?” he asks me with a look of genuine concern.

“I told you
—the doctor says my arm isn’t broken. So, yes, I’m fine,” I lie.  

Well, that’s not a complete lie. It’s my heart that’s broken and I’m far from being fine.
  

“I’m not talking about your arm, Skylar.
 You were completely out of it when I found you in that elevator earlier, so that makes you definitely NOT fine!  What the fuck happened anyway? And I want the truth,” he demands as he continues to fight the downtown Austin traffic.

Damn it to hell!
 Why won’t this traffic move!!  Shit! Now I’m going to have to answer him.

“We broke up,” I say softly.
 Just the reality of saying those words out loud slices deeper into my heart.  “He did something that I can never forgive him for and that’s all you need to know.”   

“But Skylar, what . . . ”

Interrupting him, I return coldly,  “I don’t want to talk about it anymore!” I refuse to speak about what happened with Sebastian.  I shouldn’t care and I probably should be at the police station right now revealing his part in the crash—but I can’t and I never will. That doesn’t bring them back and it doesn’t change my life. I buried that knowledge and that’s where it’ll stay. I’ll never speak of that night to anyone again . . . even Sophie.

At the moment, I can’t deal with the fact that the silver bracelet remains in my shorts’ pocket that I’m wearing beneath these scrubs. To be honest, I don’t know if I can ever look at it again.
 Something that once had meant the world to me now represents nothing but pain, sadness, and lies.  

“Skylar, please let me in that head of yours,” he says and I bring my mind back to him.

“I’m never letting anyone in again, Lucas.  I had given him my heart and he crushed it. I don’t want to fix the pieces and move on because I’ve been through enough in my life already. Pieces. That is all I am anymore—I’m tired of being a jigsaw puzzle.  Maybe this puzzle will always be missing that last little piece.”

I’ll always be incomplete.

“What are you going to do now?” he asks as he pats the leather steering wheel. Traffic has now come to a complete standstill.  

Shit! This means I’m trapped in here with him and all of his prying questions.

“I don’t know Lucas, alright? I DON’T FUCKING KNOW! I know that I can’t go back to work for him. I mean damn it, I can’t even go back to get my damn purse right now. So, I DON’T FUCKING KNOW, alright?” I shout even louder at him. He looks at me with such a pained expression, but I don’t give damn.  He should’ve never come back here in the first place.

Leaning my head against the cool leather seat, I stare out the tinted glass. As I study the people walking on the sidewalk, I’m relieved that no one can see me through this tint. I shut my eyes and hold my bandaged arm to me. Even though my eyes are shut, I can tell he is staring at me.