Page 44 of Three for a Girl

Chad froze, and the rising panic dispersed.

Romeo had slumped over the table, his arms were folded beneath his cheek, and even breaths left his parted lips. Chad smiled fondly at him, his jackhammering heart slowed, and his body stopped throbbing with pain at the lingering memories. He squeezed around the edge of the table so he could get behind the clonked-out man.

Romeo was covering Michelangelo’s David’s modesty, hiding his naked crotch beneath his head. Chad slipped his hands under Romeo’s armpits, pressing into his firm back, squeezing him in hug.

Chad held him, and brushed his cheek against Romeo’s t-shirt. “I’m sorry I walked off, I’m sorry that I find it hard to talk about. I’ll try harder, I really will.”

He hadn’t been that close to Romeo for days, and enjoyed the heat and weight of him as he struggled to get Romeo to his feet.

“But right now, you need sleep,” Chad said. “To bed, before you dribble on him and I get jealous.”

Chad closed his eyes, breathing in the scent of him. The weakened smell of Romeo on the bed didn’t ease his worries like actual Romeo could.

Romeo grunted, staggering to the right. Chad managed to stop him hitting into something, but only just. Romeo was stronger, and heavier, and had zero coordination when he’d just woke up.

“Let’s get you inside.” Chad said.

“Inside?”

Chad winced at Romeo’s rough voice. “Yeah, into the house. You need a proper sleep, not a nap at the table. Let me … let me take care of you like you take care of me.”

“You’re taking me to your bedroom.”

“Our bedroom.” Chad said, shaking his head. He grabbed Romeo’s face in both of his hands, and rubbed his thumbs beneath his eyes. Romeo didn’t press into his hands, he struggled against them, turning his face so that Chad let him go. His brow continued to tighten and relax, drawing his eyebrows together in a pained expression.

“Sorry, did it hurt?”

Romeo still had his eyes shut, and Chad waited for Romeo to surface through the fog of sleep and look at him. The eyes that opened on him were dark, and angry, and glared at Chad with no emotion.

Chad put his hands on Romeo’s hips. “Romeo?”

He stared into Romeo’s dark eyes full of dark promise and his heart quickened.

It pounded the word danger, over and over, faster, and faster.

The unsettling aura crackled in the air, the storm clouds were back, closing in on them.

It wasn’t Romeo, or not entirely, the expression was the same one he’d had when he’d gone for Marc.

The look when he strangled, the anger, the need, the savage elation before the deed was done before euphoria swamped him.

Chad’s heart pounded so hard it made his breathing sound odd, shaky as air went in and out of his slightly parted lips.

Romeo stiffened, his glare never leaving Chad’s eyes, and Chad couldn’t look back at him anymore, he couldn’t face the darkness. He submitted, and he knew it was coming, he could see it happening, he even anticipated the moment, and took a final breath.

Romeo grabbed Chad’s throat with both hands and squeezed.

The pressure wasn’t like when they experimented in bed, it wasn’t the addictive edge play, teasing Romeo’s murderous side for an intense hit. Romeo grabbed hold of him with unrelenting intent.

Fear froze Chad, paralyzed him like all the drugs Marc stabbed into his flesh.

Romeo crushed, adjusting his grip to be most effective.

Chad didn’t want to die, and he didn’t want Romeo to be consumed with guilt and join him. Their messed up love story wasn’t ready for its end.

He had to fight.

Chad clawed at Romeo’s hands, but he didn’t lessen the pressure, he increased it until black encroached on Chad’s vision. Chad swung his foot into Romeo’s calf, and he grunted, loosening his grip for a fraction, but he came back stronger.

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