Page 129 of Be With Me
Then a third voice joined.
Mia’s.
I didn’t ever want to hear her say it. Didn’t think I could survive it.
Me loving her wasn’t going to be enough. Us trying to find a way to be together would only implode her life and her relationship with her family.
For what?
I wasn’t fucking worth it. Eventually, she’d figure that out.
Harper’s fingers brushed my chest. “You’re poisonous, Rom. I hope one day it kills you from the inside out.”
She wouldn’t have to wait long. Venom burned through my veins as I came to terms with what I had to do.
I shoved Harper’s hands off me and walked out of the bar.
Mia might have led me to my doom.
But I wasn’t going to take her down with me.
CHAPTER40
MIA
Romolo was waiting for me outside the bathroom. “Finally. Let’s go.”
He grabbed my hand in a grip that was too firm and dragged me to the elevator.
My brows pinched together as I struggled to keep up with his long strides. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing.” The tendons in his neck were taut from the way he was clenching his jaw.
This wasn’t nothing.
“Did something happen? Rom—ouch, you’re hurting me!”
He dropped my hand like it burned him and curled his fingers into a fist at his side. A flash of something—regret?—crossed his face, but it was gone in an instant.
“We need to talk,” he said stiffly. “But not here. I got us a room.”
The way he touched me, the coldness in his eyes...it was like he'd become a stranger in the span of a few minutes.
Confusion knotted in my stomach. Umm, what the hell had happened in the five minutes I was gone?
The elevator ride up was silent. The air felt thick, heavy with a tension that I didn’t fully understand. Romolo didn’t move, didn’t blink. It seemed like he didn’t breathe. He just stared at the doors like he was willing them to open faster.
My wrist still felt the sting of his grip. I rubbed it absentmindedly. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the motion and flinched. His face twisted.
“I’m sorry,” he muttered, the words rough, like they'd been scraped from his throat.
“It’s fine. Are you okay?” I couldn’t make any sense of this weird shift in his mood.
No answer. When we got to our floor, he stalked down the short hall, obviously expecting me to follow.
The room was nice—tasteful, understated decor in muted shades of gray and blue. But I barely registered the details before the door slammed shut and Romolo's gaze locked with mine.
It was so intense, so dark, it stole the air out of my lungs.
