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“She draws?” Romeo asked as we walked down the long hall. The media room was directly at the end, and the door was open giving us a perfect view of her sitting on one of the sofas, her knees pulled up, and her sketch pad in her lap.
“Yeah.”
He hummed low in his throat. “She any good?”
I raised my eyebrow. “Why?”
Lifting his arms up, he rolled them around, giving me a good look at the ink that covered his arms. “I still got a few spaces I need to cover,” he noted, pointing to a few small patches of clear skin which were honestly less than two inches by two inches.
Snorting, I rolled my eyes. “What you gonna put there? A bug?”
He huffed under his breath. “Yeah, I’m gonna call him Hamlet, so whenever you piss me the fuck off, I can pretend to smush you.” When he didn’t get a reaction from me, he continued… “Then I’m gonna get another one named Meyah right next to my—”
“I’ll kill you in your sleep.”
His deep baritone chuckle, it was familiar but also new, thanks to the way Romeo’s voice had changed since he was a teen. The sound filled my lungs with air, it fucking meant everything even though I still felt like I needed to beat the shit out of him just for that remark about Meyah alone. “And this is exactly why you asked me to do this, instead of doing it yourself,” he prodded, and he wasn’t exactly wrong, but it wasn’t the only reason.
I didn’t respond as we stepped into the media room, the movie playing on the television making me groan out loud. “Twilight? Again?”
Meyah finally looked up from her sketch pad with a sweet smile. “You complain, but you’ve sat through the entire series with me the past few days. I didn’t hear you complaining then.”
Romeo’s loud burst of laughter made me jump before he followed me into the room. “What are you? Team Edward or team Jacob, Hamlet?” he taunted, elbowing me in the ribs with a smug grin.
“The fact you know either of those terms tells me you aren’t exactly innocent,” Meyah noted with a soft giggle before turning back to her drawing. I, on the other hand, didn’t miss the guilty look on my brother’s face.
I decided to be the bigger man and ignore it and focus on the task at hand. “Romeo wants to chat with you about something.”
She looked up again, this time with her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Come again?” she asked, honestly confused as to why he would want to speak with her. I was impressed with the way the swelling on her cheek had gone down so quickly. I knew there was still some bruising, but at this stage, it was easily covered with a small bit of makeup.
We were lucky school had finally finished for the year, but there was still the issue with her mom. Carly could only be held off for so long, but the cut on her neck was still reasonably fresh, and Leo was apprehensive about how we might have to approach the situation.
I knew he was scared that Carly was going to somehow try and take Meyah away.
I was, too.
Even though I felt like the idea of it happening was pretty unbelievable now that Meyah was eighteen and free to make her own choices without her mom being able to dominate them. There was still a part of me, though, which wondered whether if Carly were cornered and thought Meyah was in real danger, what kind of ways she might manipulate her into doing what Carly wanted her to.
It played on my mind.
I didn’t think Carly was as innocent as she played off.
She had a past, there was no doubt in my mind.
I nudged Romeo forward letting him lead since even though he said I asked him to do this, it was his idea. He grumbled under his breath and rolled his shoulders. “I heard you need to learn how to throw a punch.”
When I thought she would instantly object, I watched as she pulled her bottom lip in between her teeth and tapped her pencil against her leg. “You got any other tricks you can teach me?” she asked, surprising me.
“You want to know how to fight back?” Romeo asked, suddenly a lot more interested. “I can teach you how to bring a man to his knees in more ways than you can imagine.”
I rolled my eyes at his cocky, ‘I’m the fucking man’ speech.
Turns out during my brother’s time in hell learning how to deal drugs and shit, he picked up a few skills along the way. It made sense looking at how broad and stocky he was. He had always been a little bigger than me, but never this big.
“Okay,” Meyah agreed, standing from the sofa while closing her pad and tucking it under her arm. I’d only caught a few of her drawings. The ones I’d seen were amazing and detailed. Romeo wasn’t the first to think about asking her to design a tattoo. “I’m in.”
I lifted my arm slightly as she came forward and like a puzzle piece, she slotted right in underneath, her shoulder sliding perfectly beneath my arm. She unconsciously lifted her head, seeking my lips, my head falling to grant her wish.
Things were easy between Meyah and me. The two of us were becoming so in touch with the other, so damn in sync. But I guess it wasn’t like we were new to each other’s movements. We’d spent over a year doing this dance where we moved seamlessly around each other trying to avoid talking or touching or interacting. We’d almost perfected it, but at the same time, learned more about the other than I guess even we’d realized.
