Page 1 of Rebel Romeo

CHAPTER ONE

Not only has Holden James broken my heart and shattered my confidence, but he also ruined Romeo and Juliet for me.

I used to think Romeo was a hero for the ages. A romantic icon. An amorous prince. When I was a kid, I’d drag my dad’s ladder up to my bedroom and balance precariously on the top rung, reciting Juliet’s balcony scene monologue to my teddy bear, all the while imagining who my real life Romeo would be.

If only I could go back in time, tug that naive little girl down from the ladder, and tell her the truth: Romeo was nothing more than a recently-dumped, mushy emo-bro waxing poetic.

And Juliet was his rebound.

Juliet was level-headed before he came into her life. She was grounded. Maybe even a little cynical about love. And then Romeo ruined her.

He didn’t mean to… but he did.

And now for the first time in my life, I stand outside of a theater dreading entering the building for our production meeting and rehearsal.

A low voice purrs my name from behind me, pulling me out of my memory. “Katherine.”

Holden. My very own personal Romeo.

He didn’t set out to betray me… but that’s just what he did.

Twice.

I stare at the stage door. I’d already fallen on that dagger once for Holden James back in college because I believed he’d taken the poison, too. But he hadn’t. And now, it was time for him to sacrifice.

“Katherine,” he says again. “You don’t have to come to this production meeting. My dad’s going to be there. Missy will be there?—”

“I can handle your dad.”

The muscle at his jaw jumps and I can tell he’s not pleased. “What about Missy?”

I try to keep my expression neutral but he catches me with his honeyed brown eyes. The air between us crackles, igniting as it always does when we’re around each other. Whether it’s sizzling with anger or passion, love or hatred, the strength of emotions stir the molecules around us. The helix of anticipation braids us into one and hums below the surface like the soft rumble of a storm in the distance.

“What about her?” I challenge.

Missy. His ex. The woman he apparently got back together with right after kissing me.

He holds my gaze for a long moment. Tell me, I silently implore. Tell me it’s not real.

“She’s over at the cafe getting a smoothie right now, but she’ll be back any minute now.”

“Great. I can’t wait to get to know her better,” I sneer.

I sound like a snotty brat and I don’t even care. I’m about to enter a production meeting for my first ever Broadway show. A Broadway show where the director is my first love from college who broke my heart. And the producers are his father and Holden’s girlfriend.

I’m walking into a lion’s den completely unarmed.

“Tell me something,” I say. “Did you know you were getting back together with her before or after you went down on me?”

“Katherine,” he growls a warning, but I don’t heed it. Not this time. “You know the answer to that.”

But I don’t. I don’t know anything anymore. I step further into his body, narrowing my eyes at the man that used to melt my heart with a single, heated glance in my direction.

“Your grandfather’s ring looks good on her,” I say, glaring at him. We both know what that ring symbolizes for him. The memory from my freshman year of college comes rushing back to me.

I giggled and took his hand, pulling it close to my face to examine his ring closer. “So, what kind of heirloom is this? Are you going to, like, give this to the woman you plan to marry someday?” I glanced up and caught the heated way he stared down at me from where I bent over his hand.

My heart lurched as I skimmed my fingers gently across the back of his hand, pretending, if only for a second, that he was mine. That this was my hand to hold.

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