Page 40 of Dark Romeo

I downed the drink without even asking what it was, letting the alcohol burn all the way down in my throat. If only it could burn away my sins.

What I wanted was Julianna. I wanted to bury my face in her hair and lose myself in her body, letting her pure light absolve me of my sins. When I had been with her I’d forgotten about my cross to bear. I had been filled with a lightness I had long forgotten I could feel. Joking and laughing with her, and worshiping her beautiful body, had all felt so natural. I was no longer a Tyrell. She looked at me, really looked at me, and reminded me of the man I was underneath.

My phone beeped with a text.

Jules: I wish we hadn’t left things the way we did. Let me know you’ve arrived in London safely.

It was like she could sense that I was thinking of her. That I needed her. Even though I had been such an asshole to her when I had left, here she was showing me the concern I didn’t deserve.

I could go to her. Tell her I wasn’t leaving Verona. Ask her to be mine. I stabbed my thumb on the screen to reply. I caught the sight of dried blood like a dark crescent moon under my nail. I froze. My hearing went all fuzzy. I thought I had washed off all the evidence from my hands. Here I was, still stained.

How could I touch her with these bloody, poisonous hands?

I had to let her go. I couldn’t drag her into the darkness of my life. Things would only get worse from here.

I deleted her message before shoving my phone back into my pocket. I looked up and my breath stuck in my throat. There she was. Julianna, staring at me from across the bar. My heart slammed against my ribs. I didn’t deserve her, but she’d found me anyway.

I blinked. Julianna faded from her face, revealing a pretty blonde stranger. She smiled at me and her sticky pink lip gloss caught the light, her thick fake eyelashes fluttering like moths.

I had a new mission. Drink. Get wasted. Let this stranger help me forget the shit my life had turned into.

Usually picking up girls was no problem for me. Tonight… everything felt off. I wrapped my hands around my glass and drank, before slamming it on the counter. My head felt like cotton wool and my body was numb. Not numb enough. I waved at the bartender for another one.

I felt a light touch on my arm and an overpowering floral perfume pierced through the smell of spilled beer and sweat. Oh, right. The blonde. Rachel or whatever.

“Is your name, like, actually Roman?” she said with a giggle. Her voice was high-pitched and she spoke like she was scattering her words. I missed Julianna’s husky warm voice.

“Yup.” I stared at my glass as the bartender refilled it with amber liquid, the color of Julianna’s eyes.

“Like the city, right?”

I downed the fresh glass of whiskey and hissed as it burned my throat. “That’s Rome, not Roman.”

“What?”

I turned to her. “I like to fuck rough.”

Her mouth dropped open. “W-what?”

I leaned in, her face blurring through my alcohol-soaked vision. I hated her because she wasn’t Julianna. “I fuck rough and I fuck hard. If you come home with me tonight you’ll probably get hurt, but I can guarantee you’ll like it.”

Her cheeks flushed and she licked her lips, swiping some of her glossy lip shit off. “I don’t usually do this.”

“I don’t give a shit about whether you do or don’t. You have three seconds to make up your mind. Are you in or are you out?”

She inhaled, then let out a breath. “In.” She pressed up to me for a kiss. I turned my head and her sticky mouth landed on my cheek.

I wiped the goop off with the back of my hand and leaned across the bar, swiping a bottle of Jack from behind the counter. “How about we stop talking and get the fuck out of here?”

“Let’s get out of here.” Julianna’s voice rang in my mind, tinkling like silver bells.

The blonde beside me giggled, breaking through my thoughts. I grabbed her hand, bottle of Jack in the other, and led her to the exit, ignoring the yells of the bartender behind me and Mercutio trying to calm him down.

Anger swirled inside me. I hated this girl trailing after me. I hated my father for what he’d done. I hated Julianna for being the one woman I wanted and couldn’t have. Most of all, I hated the monster I’d become.

JULIANNA

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