Page 11 of Two for Joy

He lifted his head off the table. “Then why are you looking like that?”

“Like what?”

“Nervous, miserable, like you haven’t slept in days. Like … Jesus, Chad, you could’ve put some concealer under your eyes, and sorted your tie out.”

Chad looked down at his wonky tie, then laughed. “Sorry, I’ll remember for next time.”

“So what’s wrong?”

Chad bit his lip, glanced at the camera, then the guards behind Romeo. Whatever it was, he wasn’t allowed to talk about it. Romeo closed his eyes, remembering Chad’s Detective Inspector’s rules, the ones the DI had ordered Chad to follow.

He’d allow their weekly visits on the condition that Chad never talked about cases, past, and present. If Chad broke the rule, Chad would lose his job, and any contact between them would be stopped.

The DI was a cruel bastard, and believed Chad’s vow of silence would affect Romeo, frustrate him, anger him, take away his control, and in some ways it did, but Romeo saw the bigger picture. Romeo could see how much it affected Chad. The DI had reigns on him, controlled a part of his life he didn’t want to be controlled.

He was no freer to be himself than Romeo was.

“Okay,” Romeo whispered. “I know … it’s all right.”

Whatever it was, it must’ve been bad. Chad had been involved in a few murder cases since Romeo had been put inside. They were on the news, all wrapped up in a neat little bow. The shotgun spree, ex-husband gunning down his family. The axe attacker, disgruntled teenager going after teachers.

Two gruesome murder cases with media attention—the Canster Times loved it. Those crimes scenes must’ve been traumatic to see and investigate, but Chad had always looked happy when he visited. He’d always looked well, and came with his shirt tucked in, and his tie straight after his shift finished. This time, something had got to him, and he couldn’t even tell the one man that understood him, the one man who knew his story.

“Did you hear about the guy that got his left side chopped off?”

Chad frowned, then tentatively answered, “No.”

“He’s all right now…”

“That’s awful.”

“I was out in the prison yard, and I wondered why this basketball was getting bigger and bigger.”

Chad’s lips twitched, he was doing his best to control his smile, but Romeo knew he had him. When it came to Chad’s body and its reactions, Romeo knew how to play him.

“Then it hit me…”

Romeo was transfixed by Chad’s smile. It filled his chest with a warm feeling. If he had to give it a color, he would’ve said yellow, soft, comforting, fuzzy around the edges. Even the monster took notice, forgetting itself for a second.

“There’s some stairs out there, but I don’t trust them. They’re always up to something…”

Chad started to laugh, and Romeo’s mission was complete. He laughed along, too, bobbing his head.

“See, now that’s what gets me through the week.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Romeo gave Chad a serious look. “No matter how hard things get out there, I’ll always be here for you. Literally, I can’t be anywhere else.”

He’d meant it to be light, a joke, but Chad’s face fell. Romeo could always sense his confliction, his guilt, he was the reason he was locked up after all, but Chad didn’t know that it was part of the reason Romeo liked him, too. He’d corrupted Chad’s mind, seduced his body, but still his moral code stayed intact. Romeo hadn’t broken it, and he wondered whether with more time, he would’ve been able to. He might have been able to turn Chad into his accomplice. The thought was interesting, alluring, dare he think it, but arousing, too.

Could he manipulate Chad completely, corrupt, and twist, and change his way of thinking?

Did he even want to push him that far?

Or would Chad change Romeo first?

He had, after all, affected Romeo enough that he couldn’t kill him. Sitting across from him, there was no sinister desires stirring, he didn’t look at his throat and wish to strangle the life out of him. The monster didn’t react to Chad, it was indifferent.

---