AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I think she may come down this summer. Check out the beach. Figured that’d be okay. But I can tell her to forget it.”
“No. That’s not right. She should come.”
Rome and I sit in the quiet for another minute, listening to the soothing sounds of the rain, the light breathing of the animals.
“Where’s Juliet?” Roman’s gaze slides around the barn, presumably searching for her.
“Back home.”
“Really?” He draws the word out, long and slow, but doesn’t ask anything else.
“Yeah, really.”
Oreo snores lightly, my hand thrumming with the soft exhalations.
“Road trip didn’t go well?”
“The trip was fine. Drive back wasn’t great.”
“You hit traffic? Have road rage?”
“Nah. Apparently I don’t talk enough.”
“Huh. Never heard that one before.” Roman shakes his head, a stray drop of water landing on my hand. I brush it away.
“Fuck off. I talk plenty.”
“Do you?” He cocks his head, a dark brow raised high.
“Yeah. I’m very communicative.”
“Did your eighth-grade lit teacher write that on your essay or something? Because I’m pretty sure I’ve never heard anyone describe you that way. Literally ever.”
I exhale so loudly Oreo stirs. “Sorry, buddy.” I scratch behind his ears, and he snuggles back into me. “We had a fight. She said I shut her out.”
The rain beats down on the barn roof, a loud pounding as Roman sits with this intel.
“Ever consider maybe you did that?”
I run my tongue along the inside of my bottom lip, contemplating. “Maybe I did. But I just met Lacey—our half sister—and that’s a helluva lot to process. What does she want me to do, make small talk about the damn weather?”
“I don’t know exactly what she wanted. I wasn’t there. But from my experience—take it for what it’s worth—women like when you talk to them. Actually, you can probably generalize that out to most people like when you talk to them. You and me—we’re more guarded than most. We have to work to let people in. But I’m here to tell you that when you do let your guard down, it’s worth it.”
I suck in a breath, holding the air deep in my lungs.
If anyone else said this to me, I’d tell them to get the fuck outa here. But coming from Roman, it feels different.
Better.
Like solid advice.
“You should talk to her, King. I see how you are with her. And how she is with you. I don’t know the whole deal with you two—and you don’t have to tell me or anything. But I can tell that whatever’s going on between you is different. It feels—I don’t know—deeper. Better than most things. Like it could work out for you. Don’t throw that away over some stupid bullshit argument.”
I let his words sink in, absorbing them.
Roman’s like me. Neither of us talks that much, but when we do speak, it tends to be important.
“Just think about it. You deserve to be happy.”
