Page 90 of Rockwell Academy: The Twist

“We can do whatever you want to, Summer.”

He drops a light kiss on my forehead.

“Either stay here and sleep in this gigantic bed, or shower and head back to Rockwell.”

“Can we really stay here?”

I gaze at him with sudden enthusiasm, and he nods. “Of course, it’s the weekend. There are no classes for two days.”

“The others will wonder where we are.”

My life comes back to haunt me and he raises his eyes. “Text Imogen. Tell her we’ve gone hiking or something along those lines.”

“Hiking!” I laugh out loud. “That would really ring the alarm bells. I hate hiking.”

He chuckles. “Me too. Unless it involves a luxury car and the driver slows down, so I gaze out at the landscape as we pass.”

“Sounds good to me.” I nod shyly. “I’ll text her. Hopefully Frankie won’t miss us anyway, although I’m guessing he is already searching for me.”

Lying here with Summer offers a sense of freedom Rockwell could never give us. This is our personal space to indulge in one another outside of the rules and regulation, scrutiny, and judgment that Rockwell offers.

She says softly, “So, is this place really all yours?”

“Of course.” I shrug. “It’s convenient, I suppose. A bolt hole if we need it.”

“I still don’t get why your family bought it in the first place.”

“Because I’m a Romano.”

He tangles his fingers in my hair and tugs gently, increasing the pressure, almost warning me somehow.

“We have a lot of real estate. It’s a good way of disposing money legally. Most of them remain empty unless we are in town. This was merely a gift for my eighteenth to kick start my portfolio.”

“I got a car.” I laugh. “I could live in that, I guess.”

“Why would you when you can live here with me?”

“And that would go down really well with my parents.”

I trail my fingers over his ink and notice a skull with roses seeping from the eyes.

“What’s this for?” I ask, pressing my lips to the image and he says in an expressionless voice, “It’s my mother.”

I say nothing and his voice is harsh as he explains. “She is dead, her corpse rotting, leaving only the bare bones behind. The flowers are her disguise, pretending to be something she never was. She is the monster in my past that must never be forgotten, and this was a permanent reminder about how women can betray while hiding behind beauty as they plot pure evil.”

“That’s sad.” I hate his reasoning. “My mom is amazing and I hate that yours was a bitch.”

“Evil is more than a bitch. She was a demon and thank God my father met Isabella. She has restored my faith in women.”

“Thank God for Isabella.” I kiss his skin and whisper, “I willneverbetray you, Luca.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

I love how easy this is. To lie here in safety with nobody else to worry about. Here we are free. We don’t have a care in theworld and now we have the weekend to learn about one another with no distractions.

After a while, we clean up in his generous bathroom and as I soak in the scent-filled tub, he heads off and makes us coffee and heats up some pastries he found in the freezer.

I love how he joins me in the tub, each of us taking one end as we drink coffee and eat pastries, and I could even be forgiven for thinking that we are a normal couple who have it all.

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