Page 134 of Romeo

But I left it there.

We started through the crowd, stopping every few feet while another teacher, classmate, or family friend congratulated her. I stayed beside her, my hand resting lightly at the small of her back whenever the crowd pressed too close.

Months ago, I would’ve looked at Fiona running toward me and treated it like proof of something I’d already decided.

Today, it felt different.

Better.

I knew what I wanted from the moment I met her. But Fiona was still choosing. And every time she chose to move one step closer, I understood a little more why that mattered.

As we reached the gym doors, she looked up at me with the same smile she’d worn when she first spotted me across the room.

I didn’t need the curse to tell me what that meant.

For once, I was perfectly happy letting Fiona show me.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Fiona

The Sons of Hell clubhouse thrummed with life around me. Music pulsed through the speakers, brothers clustered in groups with beers in hand, and the old ladies had taken over one end of the bar, their laughter carrying over nearly everything else. My graduation party was in full swing, everyone celebrating as though my diploma belonged to all of them.

Maybe in some ways it did.

I sat near the edge of the room with Charlie asleep against my chest, one hand curved around his little back while the other held my phone.

For the last hour, I’d been finding reasons not to send the message already typed on the screen.

Jasper had surprised me by showing up at graduation. He’d stood at the back of the gym and watched me walk across the stage without ever intending to tell me he was there.

Then he’d left.

Just like that.

My thumb hovered over the screen before I finally stopped thinking and hit send.

Me: You weren’t going to tell me you were at graduation.

His answer came almost immediately.

Jasper: I didn’t want to intrude.

I stared at the words. He’d ridden through the night to Virginia, stood quietly at the back of a crowded gym while I graduated, and somehow convinced himself that speaking to me afterward would’ve been intruding.

Me: You came all the way to Virginia and planned to leave without saying hello?

Jasper: It was your day.

Me: You were part of it.

The three dots stayed on the screen longer this time. Jasper always seemed to take more care when our conversations drifted somewhere he couldn’t hide behind a joke.

Jasper: Your family might disagree.

A laugh escaped me.

Me: Georgie disagrees with the weather