Player(2)

I got caught up in that gaze. I got caught up in him. My chest felt like it caved in, but not in a disaster sort of way. Like it was sealing in everything he was saying even though no words ever left his tongue.

“How do you do it?” I whispered. My tongue felt thick against the roof of my mouth.

“Do what?” he asked. That look never once left his eyes. If anything, it swept me in tighter.

“How do you look at me like… like I’m everything?”

He made a low sound in the deepest part of his throat. Sort of like a growl, sort of like an agreement. “Because you are.”

“Romeo.” I sighed.

“Rimmel,” he replied. “Don’t forget.”

I started to pull back from the moment, but his fingers tightened on my hip. I looked back up.

“Don’t forget this moment. Don’t forget the absolute truth in the way you feel right now. I love you and I’m not going to stop.”

Emotion welled up in my throat and tears rushed to the backs of my eyes. His words were beautiful, but it was the reason he said them that had me so choked up.

This wasn’t the end.

Beyond this moment, this quiet, whole moment with him, were many more. Many more that weren’t going to be like this one.

We were going to have to keep fighting to keep what was ours.

“I’m not going to stop either,” I whispered.

A smile stretched over his face and lit up his eyes. I leaned closer and sealed my vow with my lips. The rush of heat I always felt when we kissed tingled my toes and they curled into the blankets. I opened my mouth so his tongue could venture inside, and I sighed, so wanting to feel him.

But the moment was cut short.

The door opened and a man with graying hair, a white coat, and a file in his hand stepped in.

“Mr. Anderson,” he said, looking straight at Romeo. It was like he didn’t even notice the intimate bubble Romeo and I occupied. “I have your X-ray results.”

The bubble burst abruptly and reality rushed back in.

Romeo’s dad came in the room, his face concerned as Valerie hovered just outside the doorway staring into the room like it was some forbidden fruit.

I scrambled up to sit on the mattress, ignoring the protests of my sore body. Romeo did the same, moving a little more gingerly.

In the space between us on the mattress, our fingers intertwined.

“How bad is it?” Romeo asked. For once I heard fear in his tone.

I glanced at him.

He glanced at me.

Our moment was over.

The fight started now.





Chapter Two


Romeo

This was it.

Whatever that X-ray showed would define my future.

I’d never realized how much one piece of paper could change my life.

I clung to Rimmel’s hand with a desperation I hoped no one else noticed. But she was my lifeline, and if ever I needed one, it was right then.

Dr. Craven stepped farther into the room and cleared his throat. He shuffled around a few papers in the folder he was holding as if he were consulting his notes.

My father stood nervously behind the doc, waiting just like me.

“The X-ray was very clear,” he began, and my gut tightened.

“Wait.” Rimmel cut in, and all eyes turned to her. “She should be here.” Her hazel eyes looked toward the door.

In the small glass cutout, I could see my mother hovering, anxiously bouncing from foot to foot.

“Rimmel,” I said, harsh, about to shoot her down.

Just looking at my mother right now made me fucking pissed.

“Romeo,” she said. Her voice held a hint of steel. “She’s your mother. You’re seriously injured. She’s worried and deserves to hear what the doctor’s about to say.”

Dad didn’t wait for my reply. He went and opened the door and gestured for Mom. She rushed in the room like there was a fire in the hallway.

“Roman,” she said, stepping closer, and I gave her a cold look that stopped her in her tracks.

“You can thank Rimmel for you being in here,” I said and then dismissed her and looked back at the doc.

Upon my expectant look, the doctor cleared his throat. “Your arm is definitely broken,” he confirmed. “The good news is it’s a closed fracture, meaning the bone didn’t break through the skin of your upper arm.”

The doctor pulled out an X-ray film and held it up to the light. “It’s difficult to see in here,” he began and pointed toward the image of my arm. “The break is here, above the elbow. It probably occurred by the way you fell. The distinct cracking sound you said you heard.” Beside me, Rimmel stiffened, and I squeezed her fingers. “That unpleasant sound was actually a good thing. It was a clean break.”

Dr. Craven looked away from the film to smile at me. It was like he was delivering some great news.