Poison Ivy

Ch 10

Rose

We didn't mean to, but we were watching a movie and fell asleep on the couch. That ended up being the best sleep I have had in a long time. I had been plagued with nightmares since me and Jesse broke up. They had gotten worse after he put me in the hospital. So much so that they diagnosed me with PTSD. I had a lot of trauma from what I went through with him, plus I never properly dealt with my mom's death. They prescribed me some medication and recommended I see a therapist. I didn't want to go to therapy because I was so embarrassed about what happened with Jesse. I also didn't want to tell my story over again or even get into what happened with my mom. It was only after Dimitri told me about his father that I felt comfortable enough to tell him everything. He knew the whole story from the moment I met Jesse till now and I didn't feel like I was being judged. He told me that if I ever needed someone to talk to I could talk to his mom.

I hated that he had to leave so abruptly and I felt like he did too.I honestly wanted him to stay the night because I felt so safe in his arms. He told me he would text me when he got home and also gave me a kiss on the cheek. I really wanted one on the lips, but he was being a gentleman and I could respect that.

I decided I was finally going to take that hot shower I've been dreaming of. I needed to get the hospital off me and deep condition my hair. I was in the shower so long that the water ran cold. I got out and put some warm pj's on and went to check my phone. I had missed two texts from Dimitri. I quickly texted him back and said I was in the shower and was now headed to bed. He told me sweet dreams and that he would text me in the morning. Him, just saying sweet dreams gave me butterflies in my stomach. I walked out to my living room to get the blanket that we shared, it still smelled like him and I wanted to curl up in it. I took it to bed with me, wrapped myself up and fell fast asleep.

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Dimitri

"Have a seat Belikov."

I quickly took the seat next to Ivan. Once I was seated Tanner walked over and shut the door. I looked over to Ivan and he shrugged his shoulders, he obviously didn't know what was going on.

"Croft, what in the world is going on that you couldn't have said it on the phone or even waited till tomorrow?" Ivan asked, not being able to wait for them to start.

"I'm sorry I had to do this at such a late hour. I'm not happy about being here either, but there are some things that I need to clear up." He paused briefly to take a breath and grab some paper.

"As I told you both on the phone Jesse was found and has been arrested, but was beaten so badly he is in the ICU. I hate to ask you, but I need to know your whereabouts today."

"Really? You don't think we had anything to do with this?" Ivan asked and Croft didn't answer quickly enough.

"Seriously you can't think that we did this." Ivan asked again, getting madder.

"Calm down Zecklos, I don't think you had anything to do with it, but I'm assuming you both had knowledge of where Jesse might be hiding?" We both looked at each other and slowly nodded our heads.

"There were only a handful of people that knew about that apartment building and four of them are in this room." I was still trying to wake up and I didn't get where he was going with this questioning, thankfully Ivan caught on.

"Wait a minute Croft are you saying you think Mazur or Adrian had something to do with this?"

"Look I just need to know what you both did today. Then I can go over what I think may have happened."

Ivan went first and told him his day from the very beginning to when he got the call to come here. Ivan said he had gone to the club after we got off work and that's where he was when Croft called him. I had a feeling Ivan was leaving something out, but I wasn't going to ask him in front of everyone. Then I went through my day and I included everything, even the part about Mazur acting strange and leaving. I also had to tell him that I was with Rose when he called. I knew Ivan was dying to know exactly what had happened with Rose because I could see the wheels turning in his head. Croft was writing down things then looked up and cleared his throat.

"Dimitri I need to warn you the family will try to settle and keep this out of court. But if it does go to trial, they are going to come hard for her. Which means they will possibly try to discredit you in any way since you are involved with the victim." I started to say something, but he stopped me.

"Just listen. I'm not telling you not to have a relationship or whatever with her I'm just telling you it could look bad on your part. I want you to be very cautious with what you do and say to her. Did you happen to tell her anything at all about this?"

"No, I told her I had to go because something came up at work."

"Good, I will call her in the morning with an update. So please don't say anything in the meantime."

"I won't."

"So can we know your theories on what happened?" Ivan asked, interrupting me all while his leg was bouncing up and down.

"I'm getting there, in a hurry to go somewhere?"

"Maybe?" I looked over to him and raised my eyebrow. I knew there was something more.

"Don't want to know. Anyways, like I said before only a handful of people knew about that apartment building. Four of us are in this room and two are not."

"Seriously Croft quit beating around the bush, do you think Mazur or Adrian had anything to do with this?"

"I do. By you both stating that Mazur was acting weird when he left the office, to not be seen again. It's hard to think he didn't do this. He's not exactly known for his charity and didn't get the nickname Zmey for nothing." I hated to agree with Croft, but I knew Mazur had done some shady things, but I also couldn't figure out why he would go after Jesse.

"So what now?" I asked curiously.

"Me and Tanner are going to the hospital tomorrow to hopefully get Jesse's statement on what happened. Until then, please don't bring anything up to Mazur or Adrian. I need a bit more evidence and need to have my I's dotted and my T's crossed before I talk to him. So until I talk to you both again, please keep this under wraps. I'm also going to send a female detective to get a statement from his ex Meredith. I can't charge him for what he did to her, but I'm collecting as much evidence as I can against him."

" Sounds good, is there anything else we can do in the meantime?" I asked.

"If you notice anything off about either one of them will you let me know? Don't go searching or asking questions, but if you notice anything that might help give either one of us a call."

"That we can do, are we done here now?" Ivan asked practically jumping out of the chair.

"Yes you both are free to go." We both said our polite goodbyes and headed to the door.

"And Ivan, wear a rubber if you're going to be whoring around." If I would have had something in my mouth I would have spit it out. Croft knew exactly what Ivan was up to even if he didn't tell him. I kind of had a feeling that was what he was doing when Croft called. It had been a long time since Ivan had brought anyone home from the club. Well it had only been one girl, Raven, normally he would warn me and I would lock myself in my room, put my headphones on and read. That night at the club was the first time I have ever seen her in person. She would never stay the night so I didn't have to see her do the walk of shame in the morning.

We didn't say anything to each other on the way out the door. I sent Rose a quick text to check on her, but didn't get a response back. I wasn't too worried because it was late and I figured she went back to sleep. Ivan looked over my shoulder to see who I was texting and shook his head and tssked.

"Really Ivan? You have no room to talk. Please tell me you didn't leave her in our apartment alone?"

"D, you should know me better than that. No we weren't at our apartment, we were at hers."

"She actually invited you to her place? That's a big step from your normal booty call."

"Did you just say booty call? I don't think those words have ever come out of your mouth. But please don't call it that, it's more to me than that, you know she is the only person I have slept with in the past six months."

"That may be true for you, but what about her?"

"Really D? You're sounding very hypocritical right now?"

"That's not what I was saying and you know it. Plus I haven't slept with Rose."

"You haven't slept with her Yet." I raised my eyebrows and tilted my head at him.

"Don't give me that look I know you want to. I can see it all over your face."

"But I haven't. You've been seeing or whatever it is with her for a few months and I've only just met her in person. To me she never seemed anything more than just a hookup for you. You're not exactly known for being the committed relationship type."

"I know, but it feels different with her. She makes me want to settle down."

"Then why have you never said anything about this to me?"

"Because of this conversation right here, I didn't want you to be all judgmental, which you are."

" I'm not, I just don't want to see you get hurt. Do you even know her real name?"

" I do, I've known it since the first time we met. I also know that her brother is Christian, Rose's friend Lissa's fiancé. He was the one there at the club that night with her. She raised him on her own when both their parents died in a house fire. That scar that's on her face is from her breaking a window and getting Christian and herself out of the house. She was a senior when it happened and still managed to graduate from high school while raising her brother. She became a stripper so she could support them both. She even paid for him to go to culinary school so he could become a chef, which he did. He now has his own restaurant, which she helped finance."

He had said that all in one breath and I could tell he was pissed at me. I felt bad, I really wasn't trying to offend him. I just have never known him to be anything, but a player.

I knew a little bit about Christian from Rose and she did tell me it was Raven that had gotten her the job at the club. She didn't mention them being siblings, which I can understand, not everyone needs to know your personal business especially with the job they had.

"I'm sorry if I offended you, that wasn't what I was trying to do. Like I said before you never mentioned anything more about her than a casual hookup."

"I'm sorry too that I never brought it up and I will take blame for a portion of this, but you also need to get off your high horse." I was a bit taken back by that statement, I never once acted like I was too good for any of this. At least I didn't think I acted that way.

"You know what? I think dating Rose would do you some good." He started walking away from me and towards his car.

" I will see you in the morning. Oh and just so you know this conversation isn't done, but I have a lovely lady I would like to get back to." With that Ivan walked away and got into his car. I stood there momentarily stunned, composed myself and then walked to my Jeep.

Once in I texted rose again and like last time didn't get an answer. I still wasn't too worried because of the time of night it was. I made my way back to my apartment, took a quick shower and got into my pajamas. I checked my phone and I finally had a text back from Rose. She said she missed my last two text because she was in the shower and was now in bed for the night. I told her sweet dreams, set my alarm and tried to go to sleep.