“Baby, I can explain. Fuck, Mol, stop!”

I folded my arms across my stomach, anger causing me to shake.

The driver turned towards me with a highly confused face. “You need me to stop?”

I sighed as Romeo disappeared from sight and clutched the seatbelt tightly. “No, I need you to take me home. I need you to take me away from that guy… as fast as you possibly can.”

* * *

As I entered my room, my new clothes scattered on the floor—the result of me throwing down the bags in rage—and I flopped on my bed.

So this is what it feels like to have your heart broken. This is what it feels like to… feel. It’d been so long since I’d embraced my emotions that I couldn’t actually remember.

My phone rang again. It’d been ringing non-stop. I knew it was Rome. He was probably racing here now to explain. Explain how he lied about going to the gym this afternoon and instead took his arranged “fiancée” out for lunch as she pawed gleefully at his chest much to the delight of his dictatorial mother and her right-hand henchwoman. I couldn’t fathom how he could even let her do that. After everything he’d said about Shelly.

I stared at my white gauze curtains rippling in the breeze and sat bolt upright. He would try to climb up my balcony.

I scooted off my bed and locked my doors. I always left them open for him, but not tonight. He could just bugger off. I returned to bed and closed my eyes.

Twenty minutes later, I heard the rustling of the trellis. Ten seconds after that, heavy footsteps on my tiled floor, and five seconds after that, the balcony doors rattled, denying Romeo his entry.

“Mol! Open the f**k up. I know you’re in there!”

I covered my head with the pillow as the assault on the seven-foot wooden doors continued, until abruptly, it stopped.

I sat up slowly, crawling to the bottom of my bed to peek out of the doors—no movement… nothing.

I moved back to the pillows and reburied my head.

“What the hell??? You can’t just come in here… wait!”

“MOVE!”

“Molly! Molly! Watch out—”

My bedroom door smashed open with a loud crack as Rome powered through. Cait, my sorority sister, ran behind, panting, her mousy brown hair swinging in her face. “I tried to stop him, but he wouldn’t leave. Do you want me to call security?”

I stared at Rome, a ferocious expression across his features.

“Don’t. Even. Think it,” he threatened, a staccato on each word.

I turned to Cait and shook my head.

Cait edged in closer, eying Rome. “You’re sure?”

I sighed. “Yes. Thanks, Cait.”

She curled her lip in disgust at Romeo; she wasn’t a fan of the opposite sex. “Holler if you need me.” And she shut the door. Romeo twisted the lock, trapping me inside.

“Just leave, Romeo. I have nothing to say to you.”

He stormed towards the bed and spread his hands on the mattress beside me. “Well, I have somethin’ to say to you!”

“What? That you’ve been lying and cheating all this time and that when you say you’re training in the gym, what you really mean is that you’re meeting up with Mommy Dearest and that tart?”

He bolted upright, fists tight. “That’s not what f**kin’ happened at all!”

“Whatever. I don’t care. Leave.” I lay back down, staring unseeing at the white wall.

Hands gripped my upper arms and Romeo jostled me to his chest, our noses almost touching. “My momma asked me to meet her today. Some kids charity she’s on the board of asked for a signed Tide jersey for an auction. I went to drop it off and when I got there, Shelly and Mrs. Blair were waitin’ with her at the restaurant.”

I swallowed as he released me, kneeling on the mattress, and he dropped to his knees, gripping tightly to my thighs with his hands. “They f**kin’ bombarded me. Shelly’d told them about you and they started goin’ off about how irresponsible I was and all that shit. My momma laid into me and told me that if I didn’t break it off, she’d make damn sure she did. I can’t let that happen to you.”

He glanced up at me briefly before focusing on the floor. “My folks… they… look, baby. They treat me real bad, not goin’ into it, but they do, and I’m their f**kin’ son! I couldn’t let her upset you in the same way, so I made up some bullshit about you bein’ just a fling, a friend. Shelly’s too stupid to even realise I was lyin’. I stayed for the lunch to appease my momma. No way will anythin’ happen to you. They’d have to get through me first.”

His mother had planned all this crap? Planned to ambush him and persuade him to call us off? Hordes of questions almost spilled from my lips: Why do they treat him so badly? What have they done to him throughout the years? But I kept quiet. He was pulsing with anger and I didn’t have the heart to push him any further.

“Why did you lie and say you were going to the gym? Why not just be honest with me?”

He spoke through gritted teeth. “I was honest, I swear. She called when I was finishin’ up. The plan was to just drop off the jersey and leave.”

“But Shelly was touching you. She kissed you and you let her! How could you do that?”

Rome threw his head back on a groan. “Because I don’t want my parents to come after you! I had to play along… to protect you. You don’t understand what they’re like! Powerhouses, Mol. ‘Round here they’re f**kin’ powerhouses.”

Shifting closer, Romeo gently took my face in his hands. “God, baby. I would never do anythin’ to lose you. Believe me when I say that I sat there and endured their schemin’ hell to protect you. Fuck Shelly, I can’t stand the bitch!” He stood and paced before me, sincerity dripping from every action. “Don’t matter now of course.”

I frowned. “Why’s that?”

He stopped and exhaled a humourless laugh. “Because I told Momma to shove her Blair/Prince marriage merger bullshit when I came gunnin’ after you.”

A flicker of hope fluttered in my chest. “You did?”

He stalked closer, climbing on the bed, forcing me on my back. “Mm-hmm. Told her that I ain’t ever marryin’ Shelly ‘cause I’m with you. That I’m done with their shit ‘cause I’m with you. Plus, I ran down the street after your cab, screamin’ and bangin’ on the paintwork. I’m sure that hammered home my point.”