Page 57 of Romeo

“What if I knock you backwards and we both end up in a crumpled heap?”

“I’ll break your fall.”

“And I might break your bones.”

“Then hurry the fuck up.”

“Who designed these?” The steps were crazy steep. It would only take one misstep…

“Want me to research that, or do you wanna get fucked?”

“It was actually a rhetorical question.”

“Yeah? So was mine. Keep goin’.”

She pursed her lips and turned her attention back to the top. She was not fond of heights. At least the loft had a cablerailing that would keep her from falling off the edge and to her early and tragic death.

As she worked her way up, the heat at her back told her that he was following closely behind her, but she wasn’t turning around to confirm.

She breathed easier when she reached the top and both of her feet were finally planted on a floor. Then, more panic ensued when she realized the loft didn’t have a bathroom. She’d have to climb back down if she needed to go.

“Do you sleep up here when you’re drunk?”

“Never drunk.”

A peel of laughter escaped her. “What? Now, I know that’s a damn lie.”

He grinned. “Couch is pretty fuckin’ comfortable.”

“If I lived here, I’d buy one with a pull-out bed.”

She glanced around. She thought the loft only held a bed. She was wrong. Personal photos decorated the opposite wall.

She immediately went over to a framed photo of a woman holding the hand of a child. She leaned closer and squinted as if that would help her recognize the people in the picture.

But the kid…

“Is that kid yours?” Was Romeo a father?

She heard a snort behind her. “The kid’s me.”

She glanced over her shoulder. “That’s you? But you look so sweet and innocent.”

“At ten, probably was.”

“But at eleven you turned into a badass gangster?”

When he huffed, “A gangster?” she giggled.

“The woman’s your mother?”

“Aunt.”

She found it interesting that he pronounced auntdifferently than she did. He said it like “awnt,” while her whole life she always said it like “ant.”Huh.

She quickly scanned the rest of the framed photos. One posed shot included him and a bunch of other Knights. Next to it was a candid shot of Romeo. The smile he wore in the picture was blinding.

Jesus, he looked so damn young. And the cut he wore… “Prospect?”

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