Page 5 of Two for Joy

“And there it is, the root of all anger and frustration.”

Chad frowned. “You’re still seeing Holly?”

Romeo spoke over his shoulder. “Yeah, she keeps putting the publication date back. She can’t seem to stay away from me.”

He smiled when he heard footsteps behind him, Paul rushing forward only to be stopped by Fred.

“Paul calm down.” Fred cleared his throat, then spoke to Romeo. “That’s enough now. Get on with your visit.”

Chad seemed to notice he was twitching his hands and laid them flat on the newspaper. He looked down gesturing to the crossword. “Shall we?”

“Yes, we shall.”

He hummed, studying the clues for real. “Lazy person, four letters.”

“Ah, yes… Paul’s definitely one of those…”

Chad didn’t comment, he’d worked the clue out, too, and wroteslobin the correct boxes.

Romeo leaned as close as he could to the barrier. “Wait. Actually. Stupid and clumsy, three letters … that’s what Paul is.”

“I’m warning you Romeo.” Paul growled.

“Oaf.” Chad said, filling it in.

“Wait, wait.” Romeo said, with a smile. “Tug at with force, four letters, that’s definitely P—

Paul stepped closer. “Shut your goddamn mouth, Romeo.”

“Wait,” Fred said, “The answer is pull…”

Romeo glanced over his shoulder and watched as Paul deflated. He smirked, but Chad gave him a very unimpressed look.

“What?”

“I’m gonna put the crossword away so you don’t end up in trouble.”

“Spoilsport.”

Chad smiled. “You’re terrible.”

Romeo lifted his eyebrows and gave Chad the look. The look that said, “I know, but you love me anyway,” and the response was Chad blushing and giving him a coy smile. He was flexing his hand on the table, faster than before.

Sometimes Romeo wanted to unravel Chad’s head completely, see what was going on in there, analyze the damage he’d done. He knew how to provoke it, bring it to the surface, and he did when he murmured promises of his escape.

“Just you wait until I’m outta here…”

His words never failed to get a reaction. Not a verbal one, or a physical one unless you were focused on Chad with laser intensity. His emotions played out in his eyes. The slight excitement, the embers of hope in his brown eyes before they cooled, and steely determination took over.

Chad was replaced by the detective.

There was four of them in their messed-up relationship. The monster, the detective, Chad, and Romeo, and the four of them switched and interacted.

Chad—the detective—finally whispered, “You belong in here.”

Romeo smiled.

Toying with Chad’s threadbare morals was fascinating to watch.

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