The strong willed, strong minded Rosemarie Hathaway is on the streets with nowhere to go. Adrian Ivashkov, son of a state senator and a wealthy socialite, was her boyfriend, who also turned out to be a cheater and a player. He is used to the high life and getting what he wants, well except for Rosemarie and that infuriates him. So Rose, as she is most commonly called by her friends, finds herself drawn into 'Frost Bite,' a very popular underground bar, club, and 'meeting place,' to drink away her sorrows. But it doesn't take long before she catches a set of eyes or two or maybe more.
Dimitri is searching for a lead, any lead, that will take him closer to his missing sister. The one lead that he does get winds up lost due to an encounter that leaves him flaming and unsure. But then there is an offer, one that he can't quite resist from the powerful and very wealthy Ibrahim Mazur: find his lost daughter.
What lies ahead for Rose? Who is the mysterious man that comes to her side? What secrets lie deep in his soul that joins them as one? What kind of journey lies in wait for Rose and her new companion?
One
Rosemarie
What did I ever see in that bastard, I wondered to myself as I wandered down a residential street of New York. Wondering in the depths of my mind where I was going to go but at this point in time my mind was intently focused on what I had just witnessed. This is my night from hell. I should have never stayed with his sorry ass.
The second statements words rang true in my mind but I pushed them away as my mood turned sour. I had put more than three years of time and tons effort, including money, into my most recent failure of a relationship. I wasn't really sure of what to do with myself now or what to do about the future.
You could go back to him, maybe there is a plausible explanation, my hopeful side whispered into my ear from the good side of me.
I found myself glaring at the suggestion and that good side of me immediately retreated back into the deep recesses from which she had come out of. There was no way that I was going back to Adrian's sorry ass and listen to all of his pitiful excuses about what I had seen. I had seen and heard enough from him, this had been his last chance of keeping our relationship together and he had blown it.
I sighed as I stopped at a street corner and looked up at the sign to see exactly where I was at. It was in that moment that I knew where I was going so I heard in that direction. And it was three blocks down and two blocks to my right that I saw a line that had formed in front of a basement entrance.
A big burly bouncer stood at the steps of 'Frost Bite,' also known as the 'Deadly Angel' at night, was letting attendees enter when others exited. It was a very popular dance slash night club and tonight was no exception. It was a Friday night, it was always packed on such a night and it was also the night of the full moon, which explained a lot of the crazy things that had been going on lately. Well, that is what I coughed it up to being since I had studied a little bit of psychology a month back. Found out that the whole college scene wasn't my thing and just hadn't had the guts to tell Adrian about me dropping out. Now I didn't have to do that, oh well.
When Jack, the bouncer and a friend of mine, saw me a wide, pearly-white smile spread across his face as he stepped aside to let me through but it faded when he saw my face.
"Lovely Rose, what is wrong with this beautiful Friday night?"
I stopped, finally giving him my usual flirtatious smile, just as I got to him. "You promise not to do anything stupid if I tell you?"
"Now you know that I can't promise that, Rose." A few people passed by us and he moved the velvet to let a group of people in. "Why do I have a feeling that it has something to do with that bastard Adrian?"
This time I grimaced and winced. "Not a good subject, Jack."
"Are things over between the two of you this time?" His eyes searched my face very carefully.
Jack was a really good friend, almost like an older brother since he was a year older than I was. That was the way that it had always been between the two of us and it would always be that way. The two of us had already tried to do the whole dating thing but it hadn't worked out so we had decided to stay as friends. It was one of the rare times that I actually enjoyed a guy's company without it being awkward or didn't have feelings that I couldn't reciprocate.
"It seems that it is over; I am done dealing with his bullshit. That is actually why I am here so I can enjoy my first night of freedom before I have to go back and gather my things in the morning."
"Alright…well, Scottie is inside working the bar. He can make some awesome drinks that would probably help you." He patted my shoulder in a slight sympathy gesture before ushering me through. "I hope that he doesn't try to do anything stupid."
I grimaced and stepped past him. "I hope that he doesn't either."
I slipped into the building as I heard protests of my entrance behind me. It was one of the good things about being a VIP at a club, especially when you knew the either waitstaff, bouncers, and managers. I have been going to this place for more than a year and a half now, I was one of the first VIPs for the club. The owner and his fiancée was actually a really good friend of mine Mason Ashford and Lillian Morrison.
I walked over to the bar and sat down, looking down to the other end to see Scottie at the other end chatting with a few of the customers. Scottie was a rather handsome and a rather broad shouldered man, I had to admit to myself. I had always dismissed every other man as prospects since starting my relationship with Adrian. Well, it had more started when he had shown possession by always checking to see who I was talking to or where I was going. That should have been my first clue to bail but I had given him a fair shot. He was the first and last fair shot I would ever give to anyone.
But now that I was out of a relationship it was time to consider a different prospect and I wasn't going to give myself to just anyone. I had been in too many pig filled relationships that were just after my body and nothing else, I was tired of such games. So it was time for me to straighten up some, maybe finally give someone a chance.
Who was I kidding though, there isn't any good men out there anymore that would want to settle down with someone like me. I might as well find someone to just mess around with and once I am tired of them move on to someone else. Maybe Scottie wouldn't be too bad or maybe I could try a friends-with-benefits arrangement with Jack…
"What can I get you, Miss Rose?" I was jostled out of my thoughts by Scottie's deep timbre voice and I blinked a few times to find him watching me, waiting.
I felt my cheeks flush a deep red so I ducked my head slightly to hide it as I tried to gather my scattered thoughts. "Fix me up the strongest drink that you can?"
I could hear in my own voice that the words came out as a question and Scottie stopped cleaning the glass that he had been working on to look at me, and I mean really look at me.
He leaned against the bar, his sky blue eyes were intense as he stared at me. A stray strand of curly dirty blonde hair fell across his forehead, blocking his left eye partially. He didn't move to brush it out of the way but I did, my fingers itching to move it from his vision.
It was in that moment that I really admitted to myself that Scottie was a good looking guy. His dirty blonde hair curled around his ears and light along the nape of his neck. He had a deep rich tan, though I had never figured out if it was natural or artificial. I did know that Scottie worked out, between running and going to the gym, he was my partner when we both were able to run no matter the time of day. And dear god, he had a beautiful front and back with well sculpted muscles that he was damn proud of.
"Are you sure, Miss Hathaway? Adrian wouldn't mind, would he?" I could tell in his voice that he was a bit surprised by my request.
Truthfully I am not a heavy drinker but with the way things have been going with Adrian I have been kind of forced down that path. Though tonight I am promising myself that I will never drink like this again…ever.
"Scottie, please don't mention that god awful name around me and I am sure that he won't mind because the two of us are finally through." He set a glass of scotch down in front of me and I swiped it quickly, and took a sip before tilting my head all the way back. "I can't believe that I gave that son of a bitch another chance. I guess that I thought he would change for me but I guess that he didn't."
Dimitri
Things had been going quite well for me on my newest assignment in the states but things had gone bad when I had spotted Nathasha. I was to find information of an alias by the name of Cordias Vladimir and find out what his real name was and who his associates were. I had been tailing him and a potential suspect when I spotted her and that was when I lost my intended target.
"What the hell are you doing here," I asking as I drew close to her.
She looked around herself, feigning suspicion, acting as if she hadn't known that I was talking to her. "Oh, are you speaking to me?"
"Tasha, you know that I am talking to you." I was furious now because she was acting so innocent. "How did you find me here?"
"I was sent to New York, Dimka, just like you were. What assignment did they put you on?" There was that innocence again and something else, was that smugness? No, it couldn't be. Why would she be smug?
"Alias Cordias Vladimir is my intended target." I was up tight, searching the crowd once again but failing at finding my target, and then there was the defeat.
"I am searching for an associate of his, Adrian Ivashkov."
But this whole subject hadn't been what had infuriated me so much. What had infuriated me was what she had brought up a little while ago. It was the main reason why I had took this assignment, to get away from her.
"Are things between us okay, Dimka?" Innocence once more though I knew now that her innocence was what made her so deadly.
"Don't call me that, Natasha." A bitter edge entered my voice as I turned on her, my stretched thin nerves making my temper snap. "You are not allowed to call me that anymore."
Tears started to well in her crystalline blue eyes. Those eyes used to make my heart melt when I looked into them but now they made me sick to my stomach. "You are still mad at me."
It was a statement of fact rather than a question. "Of course I am still mad at you. I don't know what would make you think that things have changed since we last spoke."
The slight smile that had curled up her usual luscious pink lips had faded. "I had hoped that you had forgiven me by now. You haven't been returning my calls."
Her last words had been added almost as an after thought as she bit at her lower lip. If it had been before the fall out between the two of us three weeks ago then I would have thought it was cute. But after catching her in our bed with another man, naked…no, after that I had seen her in a completely different light.
"I don't know how I could forgive you for what you did, Natasha." I found that I couldn't even say Tasha, her nickname, now. The nickname tasted wrong in my mouth and it made my stomach but with anxiety after hearing a deep voice saying her name.
"You have forgiven me for every other thing but this, what changed?"
"You changed, I changed. You turned out to be selfish. I have put up with your shit for so damn long that I can't find it in myself to do it anymore." I sighed, I was tired now, so tired.
My words seemed to spark something in her, her eyes seemed to come to life as I looked up. "Are you saying that you never loved me?"
I didn't say anything as I thought that over. Was that what I was saying? Had I ever really loved Natasha Ozera?
I thought through all the years that we have spent together as friends and in the time that we had shared in a relationship. I knew that I had loved her as a friend, I had also adored her in the beginning of our relationship, and there had been quite a bit of affection. But had my feelings for her really have been love?
Now that I thought out it I knew for a fact that I had never really loved Natasha, not in the way that she had wanted me to. Natasha was beautiful with her long, straight midnight black hair that hung down past her shoulders with bangs that covered her forehead. She had a natural beauty about her though she too pale skin for my taste and she was too thin. But then there was thing about our age…seven years between the two of us and for the first time I found that it bothered me, badly.
Don't get me wrong, she was taller than most people that I knew but for her height she should have a bit more muscle or something to her bones. She has a porcelain complexion that made her stand out in a crowd but there wasn't much color to her and it kind of offset her beauty to me. Then there was the scar that stretched from her forehead, down past her right eye, and down across her cheek from where she had been cut by a piece of glass trying to save her nephew from a fire several years back.
Natasha was brave for what she had done and I admired her for that bravery. She had done something that not many other people would have done and I couldn't hold that against her. That bravery is what had helped her get into the academy back home and had fast tracked her to where she was now as one of the top government agents.
"Dimitri?" I was jolted out of my thoughts and found myself staring at her and I could see in her face that she was not happy. "Tell me the truth, did you really ever love me?"
I opened my mouth to tell her the truth but snapped it shut again. That seemed to be all the answer that she needed as I saw the devastation that settled in her features. But then she pushed it away and that was when I saw the mask that we had been taught to construct set in, blocking me out.
"I guess that is it then." She started to turn and walk away but looked over her shoulder one last time. "You won't be bothered by me again."
And that is when she walked away from me…walking out of my life.
Now I find myself sitting at a bar in New York instead of getting more information and hunting down my assignment. For the first time I felt like I didn't know what to do with my life because I had been so focused on the pain of what Natasha had done. For the first time in a long time I found myself feeling alone…which didn't usually happen to me.
I sipped on the Russian vodka that I had ordered, feeling only the slightest hint of a buzz. That was when I began to feel my phone buzzing in my jeans pocket. I cursed myself for not turning the damn thing off sooner as I pulled it out to see who it was. As I saw the caller's name I cursed myself even more when I answered it…
"Zemy, it is a pleasure hearing from you at such a late hour." I was not happy to be hearing from this man.
Zemy, or Ibrahim Mazur, was a very dangerous man and was on of my contacts that I had dealt with plenty of times while I had been on assignments in Russia. He was a hitman for the government and seemed to have informants all over the world, all lot of them were as dangerous or close to being as dangerous as he was. I had learned, seen, that you should never cross him because of what he could, or would, do if you did.
He was not only dangerous but very powerful. It was not very wide known that he was a government agent, which is why he was still underground as a drug lord. That power as put him at the top of a pack that had once dwindled but had made a strong comeback.
What type of back am I referencing to? A wolf pack, a secret that every government is trying to keep out of the human eye. It has never ended well over the centuries for people that have been found out. It has turned into major hunts and has even led to widespread massacres of hundreds of thousands of my kind.
Yes, I said my kind because I am one of them. For three nights each month we transform into wolves for the main purpose of finding our true mate and to perform the process that will bind the two of us together. There are some of us who chose not to change during those nights for that purpose though, some of us chose to change just to run and feel the exhilaration in our veins.
"Dimitri Belikov, I have a side assignment for you. Well, that is if it is not too much for me to ask anyways." There was the business man that I was used to, not much for pleasantries.
"And if I decline to take on this assignment?" I knew that it was not the best thing to try to counter the Zemy's propositions but I wasn't much in the mood to be told what to do.
"Now, now, Dimitri…I don't know what has you in such a bad mood but I wouldn't push you luck today. It is very important that you take on this assignment."
"Will it interfere with the assignment that I have already been assigned?" I took a long draw from the glass that I had been drinking from.
"I have already consulted with your superiors and someone else will be taking your place on that assignment. I gave them money for their troubles and I will pay you for your troubles if you will consider my offer."
I knew it was a bad idea but I couldn't seem to resist because I was kind of looking for a bit of help in the financial department. "Alright, I will listen and consider your proposition."
"I am searching for my daughter…"
Rosemarie
"I can't believe that Adrian did that to you. I am really sorry about that." Scottie stood back up and rubbed the back of his neck while I sipped on my drink. "A part of me hoped that maybe he was the guy for you but I guess that he wasn't."
I stayed silent, staring down into my glass as I felt the weariness of the night start to settle into my bones.
"I will be back, Rose. I need to get back to the rest of the customers."
I nodded my head and waved my hand to let him know that he could go and do what he needed to do. I set the drink down on the bar and let the chair turn around so that I was looking at the dance floor and I had the sudden urge to get out there and dance. It had been a long time since I was able to dance with other guys and what better way to start off my newly found single status than to get out there and dance.
I twisted my hair up into a bun at the back of my head and used the pony tail that I always had on my wrist to hold it in place. With a flirtatious smile plastered out on my face I got up from my seat and made my way into the crowd to find my first partner of the night.
There is no copyright infringement of the plot of this story. This is a reworked, rewritten story that I created a few years ago, posted on this, and had to take down a few months due to indefinite leave. I am trying to bring back this story and what I created but in a whole different light. I was young when I wrote the first version and I have grown up, and my writing style and how I think of things are different. I wanted to see how this story would be received back onto the site.
Soo...I would love to hear everyone's opinion on anything and everything about this chapter. It has been a long time and it would make me very happy to hear something...anything.
