Page 92 of Slayin Villain
I hadn’t seen Ember since Broadway.We hadn’t spoken since she swore she was leaving.I believed her.But she didn’t leave.She shacked up with Rome.Sometimes I thought that’s why Villain was here, choosing me.He had no choice.
“Everything okay?”Villain asked, setting the box down.
I handed him the phone.
He read it.
“Shit,” he muttered, dragging a hand through his hair.
“You think they’re really breaking up?”I asked.
“I don’t know.Rome’s always been possessive of her.And Ember, she don’t take well to being caged.”
I nodded slowly.“So what happens now?”
He looked at me, eyes flicking from the phone to my belly, then back to my face.
“I don’t know,” he repeated.“But I ain’t going anywhere.Not this time.”
Chapter 41
Ember
The kitchen was too clean.
It always was at Rome’s place.Every damn surface wiped spotless, every liquor bottle lined up like soldiers on parade.But it was the silence that did me in, the kind that filled your ears until your heartbeat sounded like thunder.
Rome sat on the couch, elbows on his knees, staring at the floor like he wanted to set it on fire.
I stood in the doorway, arms crossed over my chest, stomach tight.
“You gonna say it or not?”I asked.
He didn’t look up.
“I’m not ready for a baby, Rome,” I whispered, softer now.
His eyes shot up, fire lit.“Then why’d you tell me at all?Just to twist the knife?”
“No.I told you because you deserve to know.But that doesn’t mean I’m ready to do this.Alone.Or with you.”
He stood up fast, too fast, and stalked toward me.“You think I’d let you be alone?You think I’d let you take my kid and vanish like Rachel did to Villain?”
“Don’t you dare compare me to her.”I jabbed a finger into his chest.“I stayed.I chose you.And now all you want is to own me.”
“I want to protect you,” he growled.“Hell, Ember, I love you.But you don’t make it easy.”
“I wasn’t supposed to,” I snapped.“I was supposed to be a phase, remember?The fun club girl, the pretty voice behind the mic.Not your Ol’ Lady.Not a damn mother.”
“You are my Ol’ Lady,” he said through gritted teeth.“I thought you figured that out when you got my patch.”
“I thought I did too.”
We stood there, breath tangled, both of us stubborn as hell and heart-deep in shit neither of us knew how to fix.
“You think I got into this for some picket fence?”I said, voice trembling now.“You think I wanted to get knocked up and fight with you every night?”
Rome’s nostrils flared.“You think I wanted to watch the woman I love look at me like I’m a prison cell?”
