Page 23 of Romeo

Nothing.

The three dots appeared, vanished, then came back.

Maybe I’d pushed that one too far.

Ma Belle: You wish.

Me: Maybe.

Well, fuck.

Maybe sat there on the screen, looking a hell of a lot more honest than I’d intended.

I could’ve followed it with a joke. Probably should’ve. Something charming and stupid enough to turn the whole exchange back into harmless flirting.

I didn’t.

That bothered me more than the word itself.

She was eighteen, still finishing high school, still figuring out where she wanted her life to go. I was thirty-one, wore a cut, carried a gun, and knew exactly what I wanted.

Her.

That certainty belonged to me. It didn’t need to become pressure on her.

Not yet.

The front door opened, letting in a blast of frigid air and a flurry of snow. Ace stomped inside, shaking ice from his boots and pulling off his gloves.

“Fuck, it’s cold,” he muttered, heading straight for the coffee pot in the corner.

“It’s winter in Nebraska,” I said without looking up from my phone. “What’d you expect?”

Zero came in behind him, already complaining. “I didn’t expect to move to the North fucking Pole. This shit is brutal.”

He poured himself a cup and dropped into the chair across from me.

Ace grabbed his own coffee and leaned against the counter, studying me. “You’ve been glued to that phone for weeks, man. What’s got your attention?”

I looked at him.

He waited.

So did Zero.

I smiled and looked back at my phone.

That was all they were getting.

Ace sighed, finished his coffee, and straightened. “Church is in an hour. King wants everyone there.”

“I’ll be there.”

He headed out, leaving Zero to bitch about Nebraska winters while I checked my phone again.

No new message.

Fiona was probably at school. Or the Creamery. Or doing any one of a hundred things that had absolutely nothing to do with me.