Page 126 of Watched

“I was planning on eating it with you, but you didn’t come home.”

He stares for a beat and my heart dips when I realise I used the word home.

Pulling my gaze from his, I take out the plate, place it beside him, rip open the drawer, and drop utensils beside the meal. “Eat.”

I gave in last night; it had only been a week since we slept in the position that I’ve begun to favour, and while I thought I could go another night without it, I couldn’t.

Tonight I certainly will, because what the actual fuck is wrong with him?

Chapter fifty-one

ROME

Once my sisters and mother disappear upstairs, I slam Rain’s cap to his chest and move past the terrarium to open the backdoor.

“Baby,” he pleads.

The still night looms beyond the white picket fence as furious steps carry me down the stone staircase onto the grass. My heart aches as I fist my hair and turn around to face him, throwing my arms out. “I thought you were dead.” I’d meant to shout it, scream it, even, but it came out quiet and pained.

Removing his suit jacket, he throws it to the stairs and stops a few meters before me, hands sliding into his pockets. “I had to change phones. I guess I’ve become paranoid that Smith can find my number and track it to your phone, then track it here.”

“Where the fuck were you?” I scream through my teeth.

The reappearing moonlight highlights his set jaw before disappearing and darkening his tense features. “The officer who arrested me for beating your father has been in communication with Smith. After I forced my father into conceding, Blade and I went to see the officer—Graham—to decipher his communication point.”

My stomach dips. “Did Smith know you were there?”

“I can’t be sure…”

“What the—” My voice trembles so violently I can’t finish my sentence, I can’t do anything but shake and look everywhere but at him. Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath through my nose, only to choke on it.

“I’m ending this tomorrow night,” he announces in a hollow tone.

“What does that mean?”

“I contacted Smith through Graham’s laptop. Tomorrow, I’ll have his location.”

“You’re sending the police…right?”

“So he can be thrown in jail again? Fuck no. I don’t know how many people or cops Smith has with him; the rest are under my father’s control. Xander has set up a meeting with his sibling’s tomorrow night. I’m paying the Sixers for their help.”

My heart rips apart what had healed over the last day, and I’m struggling to breathe. He’s going after Smith himself?

“YOU CAN’T DO THAT!” I scream.

“It’s happening, Rome.”

I retreat on numbing legs, pointing a trembling finger at him. “You can’t make me fall in love with you and then tell me you’re walking into possible death.”

He stiffens. “Say it again.”

“Fuck you,” I whisper as a tear rolls down my cheek.

I already know why he’s not asked his father for help: he can’t trust him. If Aaron provides the resources Rain requires to kill Smith, he’ll want something in return—that being my estate and my compliance in divulging whatever intel I can about the team and my connections. I know Rain well enough that he won’t allow that to happen, nor will he concede to his father. He’s proving a point; a shitty, ego driven point, and it’s going to get him killed. Xan’s siblings aren’t to be taken lightly, and I cannot allow Rain to fall into debt.

“No,” I choke on the short word, violently shaking my head. “We’ll find another way.”

“Say. It. Again.”