Page 78 of Dark Romeo

I blinked back a sting at the back of my eyes. He blamed me for almost getting caught. He blamed me for losing control. For making him lose control.

You were the one who decided to waltz right into enemy territory unannounced wearing a skin-tight red dress with no fucking panties.

“Aren’t we going to talk about what just happened?” I asked limply.

Roman strode right up to me until our noses were only inches apart. “Leave before I call the police.”

The irony of his threat wasn’t lost on me. I gritted my teeth at the surge of bitter rejection that flowed through my veins. “This conversation isn’t over.”

His eyes narrowed. “Yes, it is. From now on, if you want to talk to me, call my lawyer.”

ROMAN

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Sitting down on the park bench, I stretched my long legs in front of me and leaned an elbow casually across the back of the bench. On the other side of the bench sat my cousin Benvolio, but I didn’t turn to him. I didn’t even look at him. To anyone who might be looking we were two strangers enjoying the sunny weather.

I stared at the ducks across the pond as they fought over bread being thrown to them by an overenthusiastic boy, his mother clinging to his elbows to keep him from falling in. My mother used to take me to this park. We used to feed the ducks together. Happiness used to be that simple.

“What have you got for me?” I said in a low voice.

“Julianna Capulet,” Benvolio began in a matching low voice.

Her name caused my dick to twitch and my chest to tighten like I was having a heart attack.

No fucking panties.

Fuck, she had some balls on her. If she had confronted anyone else in my family like that, she would be dead. Laying in a ditch somewhere in ribbons. Or held in a basement, all her holes raped raw until they got bored of her and she ended up in that ditch anyway. I teetered between wanting to punish her for her recklessness and stealing her away for her own safety.

She made me fucking crazy. She made me do stupid shit. She was dangerous. I had to stay away from her. Or we were both dead. So why the hell was I getting my cousin to dig around for information about her?

Benvolio continued, oblivious to my internal distress. “The only daughter of the Chief of Police Montgomery Capulet and deceased Prosecutor Abigail Capulet. Awarded top marks at her police training academy, including an award for marksmanship. One of the youngest to ever make detective, six months ago. Her and her partner, Luiz Espinoza, have been working together since then at the twelfth precinct. Her partner is loyal to her father; they worked together at one point. Rumor has it that Daddy hand-picked Espinoza as her partner to keep her out of trouble and to report back on what she’s up to.”

I flinched. “Her father’s spying on her?” I thought I had problems.

“Not spying exactly…but keeping an eye on her.”

I doubted Julianna knew about this. If she did, she wouldn’t stand for it.

Look at you, thinking you know the lady cop so well.

“She’s well liked, well respected,” Benvolio continued, “has a reputation for keeping her nose clean. I suppose with who her daddy is, that’s not a surprise.”

“Tell me more about this partner, this Espinoza guy?”

“He’s in his mid-thirties, never married, no kids. Also a spotless record. Him and Julianna are close, if you know what I mean.”

Only then did I glance over and catch the smirk on his face. My stomach tightened. “No,” I said through gritted teeth, “I don’t know what you mean.”

“They’re fucking, man.”

The idea of her being with anyone else, the idea of anyone else touching her, was enough to make me vibrate with fury. I wanted to rip this bench out of the ground and beat the shit out of Benvolio for daring to suggest that she was fucking someone else. “How do you know that?”

“That’s the word on the street. And you know what they say, where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”

Julianna and Espinoza. My mind flashed to them sitting across from me at the interrogation table. Had they been sitting closer than they should? Where were his hands? Could they have been on her leg?

Why the fuck did I care?

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