Page 9 of Romeo vs Romeo

He clenched his teeth, the muscles in his cheeks flexing. “Hey,” he squeezed.

“All good?” I asked in passing.

Lane snorted. “Rosy.”

I checked the time. Five in the afternoon meant that Oakley was probably doing his solo yoga in the room and didn’t want to be watched by his roommate. So Lane stared at a dead TV screen and argued with Oakley mentally.

Deciding to steer clear of that box of horrors, I slipped toward my room. The noises coming out of Tristan’s room meant he had company, and it was wiser for me not to knock on the door. He and Cedric had been inseparable all these days since their return from Verdumont. Tristan had taken Mama Viv’s offer to take over the Neon Nights kitchen upon our current chef’s departure, so Tris was more present at the bar than ever before. Cedric, in turn, was also around, but he wasn’t allowed to wash the dishes. It should be noted that Mama Viv still slipped from time to time and directed Cedric to hurry up and help Zain with fresh produce, but she would buy His Highness a drink afterward.

Tonight’s show at Neon Nights was a Freddy Mercury tribute night. I could already see Mama Viv shredding her rendition of “The Show Must Go On” after all the guest queens had taken their turns lip-syncing. Not Mama Viv, though. She sang, she danced, and she acted, though the last of her official training had happened over forty years ago.

When the party started, the usual suspects filled Neon Nights. Mama Viv was hiding in her dressing room, waiting for the big moment at the end of the tribute hour. Cedric and Tristan were so madly and blatantly in love that I didn’t go near them for fear of third-wheeling by accident. Instead, I sat at the barand chatted with Bradley about his kid. At some point, Martha and her partner arrived, and I was glad to know she hadn’t been caught today. The thing about these harmless stunts was that nobody really went after us if they couldn’t catch us in the middle of the act. Issuing warrants for a slight disruption to traffic was too much work. We were free to fight another day.

Oakley showed up a little while later, sullen and in a hurry to have a drink.

Then, when I lost track of my thoughts, I felt it. It was like someone softly exhaling over the back of my neck. It wasn’t the weight of his gaze or the warmth of his body. I couldn’t feel either of those, not literally. It was something abstract and indescribable.

But when I turned, he was precisely where I knew he would be.

The handsome fuckup stood by the window nearest to the door, his gaze on me, his lips pressed into a tight line, and his eyebrows lifting so slightly that it might not have happened at all.

He waited for me.

CHAPTER 3

Collisions

Everett

My heartnearly burst in my chest. It pounded against my rib cage like a starving prisoner who knew he was about to perish. It made my legs turn to solid lead, my feet melting and cooling until I was completely fused with the floor. I held the beer bottle in one slick, slippery hand, the other rubbing against the rough denim fabric of my pants.

Roman eyed me from the bar. His lips were a tight and angry line, and I didn’t begrudge him that. I could respect a guy who stood up for himself and wouldn’t be pushed around. I could understand the hatred.

My gaze slid off him after a moment of awkward staring. I wished I could force my hand to bring the bottle to my lips. I wished I could turn around. Instead, I managed to sullenly look at him again. This time, Roman was turned completely toward me. One hand lingered on the bar, feet unmoving.

Coward, I told myself.Don’t just stand there, you fucking coward. You look like a moron. Move your goddamn feet. Move them. Now. Just fucking go.As anger flared from the pit of my stomach and into my charred and blackened heart, I gripped thebottle harder and forced myself to move. I waded through the crowd and toward the corner of the bar, where only the dim light of a wall lamp revealed Roman’s high cheekbones.

As I approached him, my breaths grew shallow. The cool look on Roman’s face told me neither that I was welcome nor unwanted. He lacked his signature glances, those flirtatious smirks, those slight moves of his hips that marked him for the promiscuous young man that he was. Gone was the daring challenge in his smile and the shameless undressing his eyes had performed on me.

I wasn’t sure if this person intimidated me more or less.

He had scared the living hell out of me every time we’d crossed paths. He had teased me mercilessly, almost like he had wanted to be punched. He had turned me on in ways I couldn’t have imagined. And yet, as he stood in his sleeveless top that didn’t cover his belly button and his loose jeans that seemed one wrong step from falling down his legs, the spark that had driven me to return was turning to a blazing torch.

My throat tightened, and I stiffened my facial muscles. Even so, my gaze dragged down the length of his body shamelessly. I didn’t try to hide it. He had put himself on display. He wanted to be seen. He wanted guys to drool over his tight, defined abs. He wanted men to tremble with desire.

As I stepped in front of him, my gaze returned to his eyes.

His lips were full and defined, the corners curving downward. Was this pout some game of his? He was driving me nuts. “What do you want?” Roman asked in a strangled huff.

“You,” I said in a dark, deep voice. Although my feet had stopped, my body was still slowly leaning toward him. I couldn’t believe that single word that had just left my lips. A moment ago, I had wanted answers. I had wanted him to explain what he had meant about everyone hating themselves. It had struck me as wrong, almost impossible, that the things I felt were notuniquely mine. Surely they had all had an easier time. They were here, after all, while I lived underneath a sheet of ice below the North Pole, trapped in my cold tomb, lifeless and emotionless to all who noticed me.

And yet, the word was correct.I want you.

There was only a flicker of surprise on his face, and he smoothed it away so quickly that I couldn’t guarantee it had ever occurred. “You like me now, huh?” The skepticism was heavy in his tone.

I shook my head. “I don’t think I do.” It took all my strength to keep my fists tightly balled and stop myself from trembling. I feared I might break the neck of my bottle.

“No. I didn’t think you would,” Roman replied in a voice I couldn’t read. He picked up his pink beverage and closed his lips around a thick, swirly straw. I didn’t know how he managed it, but he made the moment that followed set fire to my face. He sucked all while looking into my eyes, then released the straw and swallowed while tipping his head up. He placed the glass back on the counter. “The feeling is mutual.”

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