Page 68 of Forbidden Romeo

God, I need to get myself back in the ring. I need to hit something hard.

Instead, I get in the shower and let the firm pressure work out some of the knots in my back. By the time I get out and look in the mirror at my exhausted face, the solution emerges from the chaos. Crystal clear.

Fuck. Aimee is not going to like it.

I dry off quickly and throw on some sweatpants before I step out of the bathroom, a towel hanging from my bare shoulder. Unsurprisingly, I find Aimee’s eyes trailing me from the living room.Hawk eyes now, not doe eyes.

“Where is Roisin?” she demands.

I towel off my hair with one hand as I respond, “Safe.”

“Where?”

“Julliard,” I admit with a sigh. “I have a friend who will keep her on campus until it’s safe for her to leave.”

The cold look on Aimee’s face doesn’t warm one bit. “How can I trust this ‘friend’ of yours?”

I shrug. “You can’t. You probably can’t trust me, either. What you can trust is the fact that theDead Eyeswon’t be able to touch her in school.”

She remains stock-still, but I see a little tension leave her shoulders.

I nod toward the knife in her hand. “That for me?”

“Do you want it to be?” she counters bitterly.

I smirk a little, wander over to the bar, and grab a couple glasses. Aimee watches but doesn’t leave her sentry post. “What are you doing?”

“Well,” I say, dropping two tumblers onto the counter. “I’m about to tell you my plan, and I imagine you’ll take it better with alcohol.”

I pour us two generous shots of whiskey and push her glass over to the bar stool, indicating for her to sit. Still, she doesn’t move.

Sighing, I pick up my glass and throw it down in one. “We have only a few hours before one of those men from the alley report to Padraic. Then, if we’re lucky, another day until they find this place.”

Aimee absorbs every word but doesn’t respond.

“We need to get ahead of this if we both want to survive. Padraic may still be sympathetic if I bring you in now, but I can’t guarantee your safety. There are men in that house who will kill you if they get the chance, simply because of your name.”

Aimee flinches. “Why do you even care what your goons do to me?”

I reach over and grab the other glass of whiskey and drink it quickly. “It may have escaped your notice, but up until about twenty-four hours ago, I’d come to care about you quite a bit.”

She laughs bitterly. “Is this where you tell me you love me and you’ll do anything to protect me?”

“This is where you grasp the seriousness of your situation,” I hiss, hating the way her words twist painfully through my chest. “On some level I think you know how bad this is, or else you would have left already.”

Aimee frowns. “You didn’t lock the door?”

“You didn’t eventryto open it?”

She looks away, hiding her embarrassment. “I’m assuming your plan involves working together.”

I pour another whiskey. “A bit more than that.”

“What more could you possibly want from me?” Aimee says with a humorless laugh. “You’ve already dragged me kicking and screaming from the life I built for myself, already humiliated me, already put my sister at risk. What more do I have to give you?”

The third shot of whiskey stings as it hits the back of my throat.

“Marry me.”

---