Page 55 of Romeo vs Romeo

“I’ll fight you on that, Rome. I will,” he said.

I couldn’t believe we were having this light banter when the bar was about to fall apart around us, but the words openedup something locked and hidden deep within me. He was more than a crush. And I was more than in love with him. “Will you love me when this is over?” I asked, fear soaring through me and touching my heart with its sticky, ugly fingers. I wanted to explain what I meant. I wanted to remind him of what it was going to cost him.

But Everett only smiled, his eyes glimmering. “There’s no God in Heaven that will be able to stop me, Roman.”

I pushed myself to the tips of my toes and pressed my lips hard against his.

Mine, a greedy voice said.He’s all mine. Forever.

“I love you,” I whispered as I pulled my lips away from his.

“And I love you,” Everett said, the anxiety gone from his voice, and only sweet softness remained.

This time, it was easier to turn away from him and face his father. This was what I was fighting for.

Everett

I stood three feet away from the open window in a small spare bedroom that looked out on the street. Two massive bulldozers stood in the background, bored operators lingering there impotently and men in suits trotting around.

My father was flanked by his lawyers, and a grim expression pulled at his facial muscles. He glared at the five people who stood before the long line of protesters that blocked the sidewalk. Inside, I knew there were a hundred other people, making sure no work could be done.

Police officers stood on the sides, tense but not too much. The standoff was quiet, only brimming with tension.

As I stepped closer to the window, concealed by the thin white curtain, I noticed movement downstairs. Striding like a valiant knight on a battlefield, Roman emerged with his head held high.

God, I loved him. He really was my everything. And this final effort to protect me made me both grateful and cowardly. I needed to be next to him. I needed to do my part. If Roman, who had left his home with indifference from his parents and no support systems around him, could walk up to one of the most powerful business moguls in the city, then what was my excuse for hiding behind the curtain?

If you hide and wait, you’ll have millions of dollars to fix every injustice the world has ever done to that man, I thought. They couldn’t deny me my money just for being gay. There were rules to protect me, too. But by betraying my family’s business interests, I would be the one breaking the rules.

“You must be Harold,” Roman said, positioning himself in front of Mama Viv and the crowd. I spotted Layla Zahran with several people from her legal team, observing this intently.

“Move out of the way, boy,” Father said.

One of his errand boys began to recite that the Langley Corporation had the necessary documentation to begin the construction on this site and that everyone was a trespasser.

Roman laughed it off. “And I have three hundred people you’ll have to drag out of here if you want to start the construction.”

“Perhaps they will be more inclined to walk out if these good men just…widen the door,” Father said, not bothering to conceal the threat.

“I really don’t see that happening,” Roman said. He hesitated, then took a couple of steps toward my father. “Mr. Langley, I would advise you not to force this any further. Walk away now, and you’ll only face public embarrassment. But ifyou push this, you’re going to lose a lot more than just your reputation.”

Father’s eyes narrowed, a flicker of anger crossing his face. “You think you can threaten me, boy?”

Roman stood his ground, his voice steady. “It’s not a threat, Mr. Langley. It’s a promise. The moment you cross that line, everything you’ve tried to bury will come crashing down on you. Give it up, or I guarantee you’ll regret it.”

Father glanced at the bulldozers, then at the crowd behind Roman. His errand boy shuffled nervously, unsure of the next move.

Roman spread his arms and stepped back. “Look what you’ve done, Harold. Look how many people came to see you fail. Your whole life, you picked the smallest people, the least protected ones, to bully and intimidate and rip off. You’ve built your wealth by tearing away the heart and the soul of this city. Well, let me tell you this…” Photographers from the press snapped shots of Romen furiously as he turned around for everyone to see him. He was such a showman. The love I felt for him right now was infinite and ablaze, and there was more than a little arousal running through my body at the sight of his courage. “We are not small.”

Cheers exploded behind Roman’s back so abruptly that Father took a sudden step back toward the safety of his bulldozers.

Father’s paralegal hurried away, a stack of papers shaking in his fist, and spoke to a member of law enforcement.

“This bar is awaiting a decision on awarding it a landmark status,” Mama Viv said, joining Roman closer to the center of the empty space in the street, her voice ringing with a command that only naturally made leaders and the stars of a stage could produce. “For forty years, we have been the refuge for those who could find none in their homes.”

“I’ve seen your stunts,” Father spat. “Foreign royals have no business telling our free people what should and should not be done.”

“Oh, my dear Mr. Langley,” Mama Viv said mournfully. “If you think my doors are only open to those who don’t touch our lives directly, you are sadly mistaken. My bar has been a safe space for four decades, giving birth to movements that saved countless lives when the government ignored us and when the public saw us as dirty and sick. If it were left to the likes of you, we would still be invisible.”

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