Page 82 of Deadly Secrets
“I’m sorry. I don’t know anything about that.”
“Of course you don’t. I’m sure Roman conveniently forgot a few details when he told you about what happened to Percy. But you should probably ask him about it. Roman always gets the bad guys and makes sure justice is served. But that time? Percy paid the price.”
She walked off and Brooke stood staring after her.What the hell?
Had Roman not told her the whole truth about what had happened to his older brother?
Pressure pushed at her temples. She refused to jump to conclusions before she had a chance to talk to Roman, but shewouldask him about it. Either he’d lied to his family about Percy’s untimely demise, or to her.
No one’s perfect.
And didn’t that just suck?
Because she’d been so sure, for a little while anyway, that Roman really was.
“Hey there.” He appeared at the end of the hall, a look of relief on his face. He smiled at her like she was the best thing he’d ever seen. “I’ve been looking all over for you.”
Now wasn’t the place and time to get into it with him. “I just needed to hit the bathroom.”
His smile faded slightly. “Is everything okay?”
She hated the word fine, but it was the automatic way of brushing off her roiling stomach and pounding head. “I’m fine. Just tired. Can we go now?”
“Of course. Let me just say goodbye to my parents.”
“I’m being selfish. You stay, I’ll call a cab.”
He held both of her arms, frowning down at her. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m ready to go. Are you sure you’re okay?”
Was she?Don’t overreact.
From the depths of her mind, she heard her parents arguing. The people who had raised her whisper-yelling at each other in the kitchen about secrets, death, and a whole world they’d never told her about. Her chest squeezed, her vision fuzzed in and out.
A ringing came from her purse. Brooke wiggled out of Roman’s light grip and dug for it, grateful for the interruption. ID showed it was Dave.What does he want?
But answering it got her off the hook from responding with that meaningless wordfineagain. “I really should take this.”
“Sure.” Roman hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “I’ll go say my goodbyes and meet you at the car.”
She waited for him to leave, then sent Dave’s call to voicemail.
Disappointment tightened her ribcage, but she forced it away. Everyone kept secrets—it was no revelation. All she had to do was figure out just how much Roman’s mattered to her.
Brooke was too quiet, too serious. Roman took the on-ramp to the interstate. Was it from the call she’d gotten or had something happened at the party? He needed to tell her something. Something that might upset her. Now didn’t seem like the right moment. Maybe when they got back to his place…
She propped her elbow against the window, head leaning into her hand with her eyes closed.
“How’s the head?” he asked, giving the Jeep its freedom as they merged into the light traffic. He’d made her take some pain medication before leaving his parents’ house.
Her eyes peeled open and she stared at her lap. “You know I love romance novels, right?”
Where was this coming from? “Yeah…?”
“The one thing I hate is when something comes between the hero and heroine that messes up their relationship and they don’t talk about it. One or both of them is upset but they hide their feelings and if they’d just talk it out, they could resolve the issue, butnooo. There’s all these hurt feelings, shit happens, and they don’t just talk!”
He had no idea what was going on here. “I take it there’s something you’re upset about that you want to tell me.”
She huffed out a deep breath that seemed to come from her toes. “You know I don’t like secrets.”
