Novels by Barbara Rose

Creeping in through the window was a task that she could hardly handle sober, but after all those drinks she downed, she couldn't do it with her best effort."Livi- Livi!" Emilia whisper-shouts, hauling the girl up from the floor when she takes a tumble through the frame, nearly landing on her face from such a fall. "Hey, are you okay?"For a second, she's quiet, not speaking a word as her sister drags her to her feet, only huffing and puffing as she goes. Then, finally, she nods. "Yeah," she breathes, and all Emilia can do is frown. She wasn't convinced."Are you sure?" She asks, concern written across her face as she reaches out to touch her sister's, gently pushing the dark hair out of her eyes to get a better look at her. "You hit the ground pretty hard-""Fine- it's fine," she says, brushing it off with a small laugh. "I'm fine!"From behind her, Tino scoffs. "You don't sound fine." He couldn't help but disagree.Emilia hums, hating to agree with their brother - more so, hating t

"Alonzo?"The sound of his knuckles knocking harshly on the wood echoes loudly through the vacant hallway, startling Liviana, who lingers behind her husband, with its volume."You don't have to break it down, you know?" She mumbles the warning to her husband, who doesn't even spare her a glance. Instead, he does it again, his knuckles bouncing off the door even harsher this time than it had the last."Open up! We know you're in there!"A sigh can be heard on the other side, accompanied by some shuffling."We can hear you, you little-""Dad?" Livi calls out to him softly, cutting off her husband's shouts of anger and nudging him aside as she does so. "Are you okay in there?" She asks, pressing a hand and an ear to the door. "We know you're there, okay? We can hear you, and we need you to open up.""What for?" Alonzo calls after a beat of silence passes between the three. "I'm busy!""Oh, yeah? With what?" Blaze presses, banging his fist against the wood over his wife's head, causing th

"What is he doing here?"Liviana is met with the question the second she slips into the room, her footsteps faltering at the sound. The raven spins around, eyes catching on her husband, who sits in the darkened corner of their bedroom. "Oh- Blaze," she breathes out his name, pressing a hand to her chest at the suddenness of his question. She hadn't expected him to be here, waiting. If anything, she thought he would have left - ran. "You scared me," Livi mutters, sighing at the thought. "Again..."This time, Blaze doesn't bother with an apology, instead, he pushes for an answer. "Well?" He asks, repeating the question. "What's he doing here?""I..." Liviana trails, clicking the door shut behind her and venturing slowly inside, hating to admit that she hadn't asked. The feeling of her husband's prying eyes pulls the disappointing answer from her before she has a chance to think of something better, shrugging as she says, "I don't know yet."Hearing this, Blaze frowns, repeating the answ

"Well, here we are!" Liviana announces, pausing outside of the closed door and pulling the man to a stop. "Your new bedroom," she says, cracking the door open and insisting he take a look for himself. "What do you think?""Wow," Luka mutters, strolling inside with a hum and a quick look around. "Nice place you've got here, Liv. Looks like it's fit for a king."She couldn't help but chuckle at his words. "Because it is," she tells, reminding the man of who it was built for. And Blaze Castelli would accept nothing but the best for himself and his wife. They deserved a nice place to call their home, and he made sure that that's exactly what they got. She could see the irritation flash across his face at the reminder, and she has to refrain from sighing as she switches from what seemed to be a sensitive topic. "So... do you like it?"Luka shrugs, eyes cast away from her own as he scans the bedroom he deemed his own. "Yeah," he answers after a moment of wonder. "I think that I do.""You th

"Why are you here?" Luka repeats the tired question, face to face with his supposed best friend who, at this point, he wasn't sure he recognized. Are they even best friends anymore? Could he even call them that? He would always be hers, but... could he call her his? God, he hoped so.Liviana narrows her eyes, refraining from an eye roll as she finds herself right back where she started. When was he going to get it? Could he? Would he ever understand? "Luke, I already told you-""No," Luka denies. "You already lied to me," he corrects. "And now- now I want the truth.""The truth? Oh, my gosh- what are you even talking about?" She stresses. "What makes you think I'm lying, huh?""Because I know you, Liviana!" He says. "I know you, and I know that you don't belong here - that you wouldn't have come if you didn't want to. You have to have a reason.""My sister is my reason!" Livi defends. "I would do anything for Emilia! You know that-""Anything? Really?""Yes!" She nods. "Anything - any

Hours passed by and before anyone knew it, it was 3AM and the party was in full-swing - somehow even crazier than it was before. Liviana almost couldn't believe it, having thought it couldn't have gotten any worse. But of course, she was wrong, and it did - it got worse.Drinks were flowing faster than the blood from her raging heart, and she could hear the wild beat of it drumming loudly in her ears as she danced - or at least tried to dance. Today she had found out that she wasn't such a good dancer, after all. And no amount of ballet lessons had changed that. Mostly, she just jumped around and smiled, calling it dancing as a desperate cover - something her friend had no problem pointing out."Do you even know what you're doing?" Luka wondered, grinning as he watched the girl frolic in the middle of the dance floor, and he just couldn't help himself - he had to tease her, even if only a little, because, otherwise, what kind of friend would he really be?"Of course I do!" She insists