“Are you kidding me? I have a huge bachelor pad all to myself now. The ladies love it.”
I chuckled into the phone. “Sounds like things worked out for you.”
“Some good came out of it. I didn’t want to live with Rome in the first place. Now she’s your problem.”
She was the best problem I’d ever had.
“So…does that mean you guys are back together?” There was no hope or dread in his voice. His feelings about the matter weren’t clear like they usually were.
“Yeah.”
“Oh…I’m surprised Rome changed her mind.”
“I caved.” I didn’t feel ashamed about it anymore. Having her sleep with me every night made it all worth it. I loved the sex, no matter how vanilla it was. I loved everything about her even though I had no control over her. I would rather have this than my previous misery.
“Meaning?”
“I gave up Ruin. I gave up the lifestyle.”
“Wow…I didn’t think you could do it. You stood your ground for six weeks.”
“That was the best I could do. After what happened to her…I understood how much she meant to me.” Knowing Hank laid a hand on her sent me into a terrifying rage. That wouldn’t have happened if she had been sleeping with me. No one would ever bother her again if she were mine. I couldn’t let that ever happen again. Forsaking my old ways was a small price to pay to keep her safe. I really didn’t have much of a choice. If I didn’t give her what she wanted, she would move out eventually and be left vulnerable to another attack.
“Yeah, I get it. I’ve never felt that way about a woman, but I can imagine. I was pretty upset when everything went down. Rome is a good person. She doesn’t deserve to be stalked and nearly raped just because she’s beautiful. It’s disgusting.”
I couldn’t think about the implications of Hank’s success. If Rome hadn’t been a hard-ass and fought him off, he would have gotten his way—taking something that didn’t belong to him. Then I really would have killed him. Rome’s strength was the reason I wasn’t sitting in jail at that very moment. “Yeah…”
“Thanks for being there for her. I do my best to look out for her, but I’m not you. I don’t have the same kind of power.”
“I don’t mind.” Rome meant everything to me. Since the moment she walked into my life, everything had been better. She made me happy when I didn’t think I could be. I’d give her the entire world if I could. “She’ll be safe with me. Between you and me, I hope Hank comes after me. I would love to kill him.”
“Yeah, that makes two of us.”
We ate dinner together in comfortable silence. It was the third night we were eating leftovers since Rome refused to throw anything out. She would eat anything unless it was so spoiled it would actually make her sick.
Since she was so passionate about it, I didn’t mind.
We made small talk about work and discussed the next charity benefit we were having at the Four Seasons, but I didn’t really listen to her. I was more absorbed in her features, watching the way her lips moved when she spoke. Her green eyes weren’t quite as bright as they used to be. There was a distinct melancholy about her, a sadness she struggled to hide.
“Something on your mind?” I ignored my glass of wine because I wished it were scotch instead. I put away the hard liquor once she moved back in with me because she made her feelings about it pretty clear. I wasn’t allowed to be a drunk when she was around—in my own home. But the more authority she showed, the more obsessed I became. I was drawn to her power like a moth to a flame.
“No.” She kept her eyes down, a guilty sign.
“Don’t lie to me.” I didn’t mean to come off so harsh. It was difficult for me to be gentle when I was concerned. I wanted her to be completely open with me—no more secrets. She should have told me everything about Hank before things got this bad.
She looked up again, the hardness in her eyes. She always fought me out of principle, but she loved my authority at the same time. Sometimes, I wondered if she even realized it. “Have you thought about what we’re going to do about Hank?”
Other than kill him, not really. “My PI got some information on him. His record is squeaky-clean. But he’s got skeletons in his closet like any other politician. And I’ll find them.”
“What do you know about him?”
“He went to the best schools. His father was the mayor for a long time. He’s put away a lot of cop-killers. He’s pretty much the face of this city.”
“I was afraid of that…” She took a bite then sipped her wine.