Page 110 of Dark Romeo

I hesitated at the entrance. Maybe I didn’t want to see what Roman was about to do. Maybe I didn’t want to get involved.

Despite these thoughts, I felt a tug drawing me to follow him. Whatever Roman was about to do, he was doing for me.

But why? Why was he doing this? He didn’t have to get his hands dirty. Least of all for me.

I glanced around at the darkness that seemed to swallow everything around me and shivered. I couldn’t stand being out here alone, I’d rather take my chances inside. I ran in after him.

JULIANNA

____________

The inside of the warehouse was bare, just a few cranes lay dying on the gritty floor, their reaching arms like cancer-eaten bones. Roman must have turned on the lights, sickly pools trickling down from one of the exposed beams, dust motes floating like lost souls in the musty air that smelled sharply of corroding metal. This place hadn’t been used in months.

Roman dropped Eduardo on the ground by a thick studded metal pillar flaking with rust. Eduardo twitched and let out another moan.

Roman spotted me, his shoulders tensing. He strode towards me, brows furrowing. “I told you to stay outside.”

“And I said no.”

He let out an exasperated grunt. “I don’t have time to argue with you. At least make yourself useful. Make sure he doesn’t go anywhere.” He walked into the shadows.

“Where are you going?” I called after him, the sudden loss of his presence making my hair stand on end.

“Back in a sec.” His voice echoed through the darkness.

I stared around me, my shock feeling like it was rattling awake again. The light above me acted like a spotlight. In the edges of the shadows I swear I could see monsters waiting to jump out at me.

Stop it, Julianna. You’re being silly. There’s no one here except for you and Roman.

Oh, and the bad guy lying on the floor.

Roman reappeared with rope which he thrust into my hands. “I’ll hold him against the pole and you tie him up.”

“What?” I stared at the rope in my hands, now feeling as icky as a snake.

“Would you prefer to hold up his weight while I tie him up?”

I stared at the 200-odd pound dead weight in the form of an unconscious man on the floor. “I guess not.”

Roman grabbed Eduardo under his arms and hoisted him up to sit against the metal pole. “Do it.”

I eyed the man and the rope. Where were my damn cuffs when I needed them? Okay, tie the man up with the rope. I’d seen this done countless times in the movies. This should be easy. I began to uncoil the rope around the man, but Roman was in my damn way. I had to tuck my arms around him to get the coil of rope around the man and the pole without tying Roman up too. Being this close to Roman, my arms around the width of his warm muscular torso, his scent in my nose…it was muddling my brain.

Rope. Bad guy. Stay focused, Julianna.

“You’re doing it wrong,” Roman said sounding amused.

I let out a huff. “Excuse me if I have no experience tying bad guys up.”

“You’d make a terrible criminal. Remind me never to hire you.”

I gawked at him, almost dropping the rope.

He rolled his eyes. “Kidding. I’m kidding, Jules.”

Finally, I managed to tie the rope around Eduardo’s torso and arms securely enough to the pole so he couldn’t move or get away.

I brushed my hands and stared at the man I had just tied up. Jesus Christ. What the hell had I gotten into?

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