Page 36 of Roman and Jules
He attempted to make it better with another kiss, and she blocked that with a hand. “Wait. You never said he’d be disinherited.” She sat up, still tangled in his embrace, his arm caught behind her. She needed her wits to figure out what was happening, and she would never be able to do it so close to him. “I thought you said that nothing was fake?” Her confusion choked her voice.
“It isn’t. Not now.”
Roman had lied. It was never about getting Ty back. Roman had wanted him disinherited. It wasallabout the money and never about her. He had used her. Did that make him worse than Ty? She held her head as if that would keep the room still.
“Hey, Jules, you’re worrying me.”
This hurt so much worse than getting dumped by Ty at his aunt’s party. Why did she ever think she could trust the bad boy of Vegas? She’d built up what they had into something it wasn’t. She was an idiot. “But you were going to sacrifice me? What was I? Some sort of pawn for your sick revenge?”
“No… of course not. I mean, not anymore.”
Jules gasped. She hadn’t expected him to admit it. “Do you even know what you’re saying?” She wriggled from his arms. “You used me. This whole time you were using me.”
He stilled, and his usual mischievousness melted away from his expression. There was no joking this away. He held up his hands. “Yes, but… listen.” He touched her arm and she whipped away from him, feeling the bitterness rise in her throat while she stumbled to her feet. He tried to defend himself. “I’m not that guy anymore.”
“Then who are you? I never should’ve doneanyof this. What was I thinking, getting together with you?”
“Oh, are you really doing this? Jules? Like you’re so much better?” He pushed off the couch, not reaching for her, but keeping her in place with his eyes all the same. “You were totally okay going for a guy who was cheating on you—you wanted to play with Ty’s head and get him to come back to you when he was nothing but a creep. You know what he did tomygirlfriend?”
This was getting too big, and the more they fought, the more they couldn’t come back from it. She tried to diffuse it. “I’m not defending him, okay,” she cried. “I know about Rosalyn.”
“Not Rosalyn,” Roman said with a shake of his head. “Bella and I had been dating since high school and Ty swept her off her feet. He used her up like he does everyone and then when she had nothing left, he dumped her.”
Her hand went to her lips; she was making a fist now. This was worse than she’d thought. Roman had been holding a grudge that she didn’t know existed and it scared her—how could she tell what moments they’d shared together were motivated by revenge or not? “You should’ve told me.”
“Why? He treated you the same way, and you still wanted to takethathome to Mom and Dad, so he could be the father of your children?”
“He’s not a monster,” she muttered into her hand. There had been things about Ty that had been good, right? But now, hearing Roman talk, she wasn’t so sure. Love had blinded her.
“You’dneverhave put up with any of that if you weren’t desperate and lonely,” he shot back.
And just like that, Roman had crossed the line that they couldn’t return from. Is this what he’d thought of her all along? Her eyes watered at the insult.
His eyes were bright too. “You never should’ve gotten involved with me either.” He leaned against the wall as if just coming to the realization himself. And then he growled out and hit his fist against the soft padding. “I’m glad that you did. Okay, Jules. I’m glad.”
She couldn’t keep her tears back anymore, and she felt them sliding down her cheeks. “I’m not glad, Roman!” Her heart felt raw and beaten. “I’m in serious trouble. I fell in love with you and what I had with Ty is nothing,nothingto this. I didn’t even know what love was…” She tried to breathe through her tears; they just kept coming. It felt like she was drowning in them.
“Jules!” He turned to her with a tortured expression. “Ilove you.”
“No! You can’t… you don’t!” She swept her hand in front of her. “This whole thing was just your revenge against Ty.”
“That’s not true.” He held his hands out for her. “Please. Come here.”
She shook her head and thought about what it would take to rip herself out of Roman’s life—it was overwhelming. This place was her home now. “I can’t get it right now,” she said. “I can’t.”
“Get what?”
“My luggage.” She was crying hysterically and not making any sense. “My stuff is all over this place. It’s in my room—yourroom!” He came to her then, whether she let him or not. She felt his hands sliding down her back while he tried to comfort her. Pain cut through her at his touch, all the hurt, all his offenses came at her at once, and it stung. She drew back with a hiss. “Don’t touch me.”
Mercutio whimpered at her feet and she knelt next to him, letting the dog comfort her instead. He licked at her face while she gathered her to him. “We’ve got to get an annulment,” she whispered into his ear, as if she was explaining this to the puppy instead of to Roman, though he flinched and she wanted to cry all the more for it. Mercutio licked her face again and she hugged the dog to her and staggered blindly for the door. The dog followed her closely.
Roman watched her go. And yes, she realized that she was stealing his dog, but she felt half crazy, just like when she’d married him. It was a bad habit, and it only seemed to get worse when she was around him.
Chapter 16
Roman couldn’t get Jules out of his mind. He curled up on the couch that night—not because he had to, but it was what he did, and he listened for the sounds of Jules that weren’t there—her light step, the shower running, her low singing. He couldn’t sleep in this silence. She belonged here with him.
This was his punishment. He’d angered some sentinel of love for thumbing his nose at the vows he’d treated so frivolously in that chapel. A whim had begun his sham of a marriage and had ended it too. To take something so sacred as their union and grind it under his feet until it meant exactly what he had now—nothing. It took being with Jules to see matrimony for what it truly was.
