Page 211 of My Dark Prince
“Because you’re already at the bottom.” Zach propped open a door for Romeo to push me through. “Unfortunately for me, as your best friend, it’s my duty to pull your ass back up.”
“This is just revenge for when I locked you in the cryochamber.” I swatted at him blindly, meeting nothing but air. “You’re not gonna save me by kidnapping me.”
If anything, this would only delay the one thing that could screw my head on straight – a heavy dose of Briar.
“You’re way past saving, lover boy,” Romeo’s voice chimed in from my right, sounding suspiciously cheerful for someone I’d once deemed a sociopath. “Consider this a salvage mission.”
The buttery scent of popcorn assaulted my nostrils. Wherever they’d taken me, it smelled like a concession stand. No one stopped to question the blindfolded, zip-tied stranger as they wheeled me into a room the temperature of a freezer.
Without a warning, Romeo and Zach grabbed me from either side and dumped me onto a cushy leather chair. They ripped the hood off my head and unclipped the restraints just long enough for Romeo to drop a massive tub of popcorn in my lap while Zach zip-tied my left wrist to the handrest.
I registered where they’d taken me. Our old stomping grounds. The movie theater we’d terrorized as kids, skipping class and taking naps in the back row of Theater 8.
The three of us stared each other down. Me, from the front row seat they’d forced me on. Them, from the railing they leaned against.
“Seriously? You rented out an entire theater just to roast me. I’m touched.” I let my fake smile drop into a scowl. “You guys are idiots, and this is pointless. Dad and Sebastian already got to me. Iwasheaded to Los Angeles to tell Briar I’m moving in with her before you fuckers derailed me.”
Romeo held a small popcorn bag, pausing mid-bite. “Wait. You’re moving to Los Angeles?”
“Yes. More or less.” I groaned, exasperated. “And I was on my way to tell Briar in person. So, congrats, assholes. You’ve successfully kidnapped me for no reason.”
Romeo and Zach exchanged glances. Neither looked particularly apologetic.
“In that case, we’re doubling down.” Zach straightened up, moving to the seat beside me. “No offense, but Sebastian literally had a meltdown that sent him across the world and Felix hasn’t seen the sun since flip phones were cutting-edge technology.”
I sighed and leaned my head against the backrest, resigned to my horrible fate. “This is pointless.”
“We thought you’d enjoy the roleplay.” Romeo claimed the seat on my left. “Plus, we never had the chance to apologize.”
“For what?”
“Back then, we knew something happened to you when you came back from summer break with the ridiculous lobotomy excuse. We just didn’t say anything, because we both had our own shit going on, and you obviously wanted us to stay out of it.”
“And truthfully …” Zach stole popcorn from the untouched bucket on my lap. “You were always the glue that held us together. We both knew that if you fell apart, there’d be nothing left. I’d mope around in my home all day, and Romeo would probably end up in jail for murdering his father.”
Romeo didn’t refute the claim. I stared at the blank screen, shocked. Well, damn. I’d always thought the two of them saw me as the third wheel, not the missing piece.
Rom pinched a popcorn bud and tossed the kernel into a cupholder three rows over, like we used to do as kids. “We’ve been awful friends.”
I shook my head. “You really haven’t.”
Zach nodded. “We have.”
I cleared my throat, unsure what to say in this uncharted territory. “Are you two … groveling?” My balls threatened to shrivel up and die a horrible death.
Zach sank into his seat as if he could disappear into it. “It gets worse.”
“Dallas made a PowerPoint.” Romeo palmed his phone, typing out a message. “And you’re sitting through every single slide because it took her hours.” He sent the text, and seconds later, the screen flickered to life.
“Hours? Where was this energy when she flunked out of college?” I settled into the worn leather, accepting my new plans for the afternoon. “She needs a hobby.”
“Butting into our livesisher hobby.”
“There better be pictures. I’m a visual learner.”
Zach pulled up an app on his phone, linked to the theater’s projection system. “We can skip the ‘You’re a Self-Sabotaging Idiot’ section and move on to the ‘Heart of Commitment’ slide.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose with my free hand. “There’s a heart slide?”
