Page 273 of Romeo

I buried my face against his chest and held on while he kissed the top of my head.

“I’m coming back,” he murmured.

“When?”

“As soon as I can.”

“That’s not an answer.”

A faint breath of laughter moved through his chest, so small I almost missed it. “I know.”

I pulled back enough to see him. “Promise me.”

His gaze held mine.

Whatever else Jasper was capable of, he had never lied to me. “I promise I’m coming back to you.”

The words settled somewhere deeper than the fear.

Granny’s arm came around my waist from the side. “She won’t be alone.”

Jasper looked at her over my head.

I didn’t know what passed between them. I didn’t care.

All I cared about was the fact that his hand was already starting to loosen from mine.

“Jasper.”

His attention came back immediately. “I’ll be back, Ma Belle.”

He bent and kissed my forehead.

I held onto the front of his cut until I couldn’t anymore.

Then he stepped away.

Granny drew me against her side while Jasper walked down the steps toward his motorcycle. I watched every movement because I couldn’t make myself look anywhere else. His hand on the handlebar. The swing of his leg over the seat. The red glow of the taillight when the engine came alive.

He looked back once.

I lifted my hand and he dipped his chin.

Then he rode away.

The sound of the motorcycle faded into the dark while Granny pulled me toward the warmth of the house.

I held onto one thing.

Jasper promised he was coming back.

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

Romeo

“No,” Fiona had whispered against my chest. “He would have if you hadn’t been here.”

I heard her voice over the roar of my bike, over the wind cutting across my face, over every fucking thought I tried to put between myself and the image burned into my head. Her back against that brick wall. Webb’s hand on her. The terror in her eyes when I turned into the parking lot. The way her entire body shook once I got my arms around her and she finally understood she didn’t have to keep fighting.