Star-Crossed (29 page)
“I’m done with you.” Jules opened the front door, her jacket hanging wide open, leaving her bra completely exposed.
“Don’t leave!”
“Oh, I’m leaving. Take a good look at my ass, ’cause walking out this damn door is the last you’re gonna see of it!”
“Jesus.” Romeo chased after her, heedless of his jeans still being in his hands instead of on his body.
229
Once outside, Jules and Romeo stopped short because walking up the driveway were Tino and Nova, who both had the wide-eyed look of two people watching a car accident, as if they wanted to look away but couldn’t.
“Move your car.” Jules pointed to Nova’s Cadillac Escalade parked behind her Mercedes. “Now!”
“O-kay,” Nova said slowly, tilting his head to give Romeo a look before he pulled his keys out of his pocket and went back to his car.
Tino stayed where he was, eyeing Jules’s tits that were still exposed to the afternoon sun with nothing but a white lace bra to cover them.
“Get inside!” Romeo attacked Tino, smacking the back of his head hard enough to make him wince.
Jules started working on buttoning her jacket. Romeo struggled with his jeans.
Tino walked to the front door but lingered rather than miss the show.
“I’m sorry,” Romeo said as he buttoned his jeans. “I have shit on my mind.”
“Obviously.” Jules buttoned the final button by her neck and then lifted her head.
“If I was spending dirty money like water, I’d be stressed too.” Romeo ran a hand through his hair and looked away, because that comment made him want to scream and break something. “I never said—”
“But you didn’t deny it,” Jules interrupted haughtily.
“How very cop-like of you,” Romeo said sharply. “To just naturally assume the worst. Guilty until proven innocent.”
Jules put her hand on her hip and gave him a menacing look. “Do you have a problem with cops?”
“Yeah, I have a
huge
problem with cops. I fucking hate them,” he assured her, unable to hide the rabid loathing he felt. “I have a lifetime of post-traumatic stress thanks to law enforcement.”
230
“Then I guess it’s a good thing you ain’t got to deal with this cop anymore.” Jules pointed to herself and then turned to leave.
She passed Nova on the way down the driveway and pulled out her keys when she got to her car, her hands noticeably shaking. He might have felt guilty if his body wasn’t positively vibrating with fury. He folded his arms, determined to let her go.
Tino came up behind Romeo and stood on his toes, saying into his ear, “Is this about throwing the fight? Did you tell her?”
He said it in a whisper, but Tino was naturally loud. His voice always carried. It was so quiet here, and sound traveled farther than they were used to in the city. Romeo stiffened when he saw Jules’s head snap in their direction, her eyes widening in horror.
“Holy shit,” Romeo said, turning to give Tino a horrified look before he called out,
“Juliet! It’s not—”
Jules got into her car and slammed the door so hard it was amazing it wasn’t broken.
“You gotta go after her now!” Nova said, gesturing to Jules’s car that was already peeling down the driveway. “If she tells her brother—”
“Motherfucker!”
Romeo turned and ran back inside to get his keys, telling himself a Ferrari could outrun a Benz. Not bothering with any more clothes, he snatched his keys off the dresser and dashed back outside, passing Nova, who was bitching out Tino.
“Why’d you have to say that shit in English?” Nova hit the back of Tino’s head.
“Why say it at all?” He turned to Romeo, who was already opening his car door. “You fix this! Shut her up!”
“Fuck off, Nova.” Romeo fell into the driver’s side, slammed the door, and then he looked behind him as he turned on the car and threw it into gear.
231
Chapter Fifteen
Damn her hormones.
Jules was crying again, and this time it wasn’t just a small bubble of emotion that made her eyes water. She was really sobbing, which didn’t make it any easier to drive.
She was almost thankful when she spotted the black Ferrari behind her. Eluding him made for a nice distraction. Flooring the gas, she weaved in and out of the lazy traffic in downtown Garnet as if her life depended on getting away from Romeo.
By the time she’d pulled into her office, she was almost sane—almost.
She looked in the rearview mirror and tried to wipe some of the mascara off.
Clay’s SUV was in her parking lot, which meant Melody was probably with him too.
She knew they were there for her birthday, but that just made it worse. She didn’t want to walk into a whole office full of well-wishers looking like she’d been crying as if she’d just broken up with the love of her life.
That thought caused a pain in her chest that couldn’t be denied, and she buried her face in her hands. She was so upset she didn’t even look up when someone opened the passenger-side door.
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re a hazard to the road? I drive a Ferrari, and you still lost me. For a cop you’re not exactly law-abiding behind the wheel.”
“Go away,” she rasped, her shoulders shaking under the wave of heartbreak.
He sat in the car and closed the door. “Juliet—”
“Don’t call me that,” she whispered vehemently, hating her hormones and the show of weakness because she’d really like to be kicking the shit out of him, not sitting here crying. “Please just leave me alone.”
232
“Listen to me,” Romeo said softly. “You can’t say anything about the fight to your brother or—”
“Oh my God.” Jules opened her door. Who cared if someone saw her crying?
Knowing Romeo was more concerned about his reputation than her shattered heart felt like the last straw. “Go home, Romeo.”
She got out of the car and slammed her door without locking it. She was at the steps before Romeo caught her arm. She turned around and punched him, catching him hard in the jaw. His head snapped roughly to the side from the force of her anger, but for a guy like Romeo, who got punched on a regular basis, it didn’t leave quite the impact she was hoping for.
“Do you feel better?” he asked simply, completely unfazed by the right hook.
“Can we go back to the car and have a calm conversation?”
“No, we can’t.” She stared at him in disbelief, for the first time really noticing that Romeo was still wearing only his jeans. “What the heck are you doing? You’re standing in front of my office half-naked. Anyone could see.”
“Who gives a shit?”
“I do,” Jules said as an insane sort of laughter burst out of her. “I don’t want everyone in town to think I’ve been fucking a criminal!” Romeo sucked in a sharp breath, and his eyes narrowed to emerald slits before he said in a deadly whisper, “Well, guess what, Juliet, you have been fucking a criminal and you knew it. Now you gotta deal with the consequences of it. You wanted to talk.
Let’s talk, ’cause there’s a whole fuckload of miscommunication going on here and running your mouth about shit you don’t understand is gonna get us all in trouble.”
“What is there to explain? You threw the fight with Clay. There ain’t a whole lot to misunderstand ’bout that.”
“Obviously there is.” Romeo snorted. “I never threw that fight.”
233
“I heard Tino say you did.” Jules was honestly offended he was insulting her intelligence by trying to convince her otherwise. “And I’ve been on the mat with you. I know how good you are. There is no way you lost that fight legitimately.”
“I appreciate your faith in my abilities.” Romeo ran a hand through his hair, looking past Jules’s shoulder to the front door to the office. He took a shuddering breath and said more clearly, “I didn’t throw that fight.”
“Stop lying.” Jules turned to walk up the stairs, seeing that Wyatt and Clay were at the door, but what did she care. It felt like all the joy in her life had just crumpled at her feet. “Just leave me alone, Romeo.”
Romeo reached out to her, grabbing her arm. “Listen, this is important—”
“She told you to leave her alone,” Wyatt said, his voice razor sharp and icy.
“Touch her again and that could be considered
assaulting an officer
. I ain’t got to explain the consequences for that offense, do I?”
“Fine.” Romeo let out a bitter laugh as he let go of her, holding up his hands in surrender. “That’s the reason I didn’t tell you, Juliet. Fucking Nova, he’s
always
right.” Jules walked past Wyatt, brushing aside his hand when he touched her arm in concern.
She wasn’t surprised when Wyatt stiffened and turned back to Romeo. “I suggest you find somewhere else to be, Wellings.”
“Why don’t you tell me to stay away from your sister next?” Romeo taunted. “Be totally predictable about it.”
“Stay the fuck away from my sister!” Wyatt growled without hesitating. “And get the hell out of my town while you’re at it!”
Jules walked to her desk. She opened a drawer and threw her purse in it. Then sat numbly, staring at her desk calendar, the numbers and endless things to do becoming a watery blur. Wyatt shut the door once the sound of the Ferrari starting up announced Romeo’s departure.
234
“He calls you
Juliet
? Are you shitting me, Jules?” Wyatt barked. “I noticed you ain’t been texting half as much since he got here. Is Wellings Las Vegas?” Jules’s face scrunched up as she remembered Las Vegas. Then she covered her face with her hands once more and let out a sob she couldn’t hold back.
Wyatt groaned, obviously realizing he’d said the wrong thing. “This ain’t happening.”
“Just shut your trap, Wyatt,” Clay said softly. “You dunno all of what went on.
Ain’t fair to just jump to conclusions.”
“Darlin’,” Melody whispered, coming up behind Jules and rubbing her back. “Are you okay?”
Jules shook her head and squeaked, “No.”
Melody hugged her, smelling like cookies and sweetness, and for once Jules reached out for the female companionship when she’d never known what to do with it before now.
“Why don’t y’all go get something to eat,” Melody suggested gently. “Give her some space.”
“I’m definitely going,” Chuito said, his voice already near the door. “I’ll drive.” Alaine jumped up from her spot on the floor sorting files. “I’ll ride with you.”
“No, I’m driving,” Wyatt announced, sounding like he needed to take his stress out on the road.
“I think we’d rather live instead,” Clay said drily over the click of the office door being opened.
The silence of the room was deafening once they left, leaving Jules to try and sort out what had just happened to her fairy-tale romance. She wasn’t totally certain, but it felt like Romeo had asked her to marry her and somehow it led to them breaking up.
235
Jules decided she didn’t want to try and sort that out. She certainly didn’t want to get to the part where Romeo threw the fight with Clay. Instead she leaned her forehead against Melody’s shoulder and cried her heart out.
* * * *
Wyatt and Jules ordered pizza from the new place that delivered and then camped out in the living room watching old Bruce Lee movies. The food was good. The entertainment was top-notch, but the company was depressing to say the least. This was ranking up there with their most miserable birthday. Considering their mother had died on this date, that was a real special trick on Jules’s part.
Wyatt stared at the back of her head as she sat cross-legged in front of the coffee table, picking at a piece of pizza she still hadn’t eaten. “Jules—”
“No.” She tore off a piece of her crust and dropped it in a little pile of butchered pizza on the side of her plate. “I don’t wanna talk ’bout it.”
“You think I ain’t been there?” Wyatt asked her darkly. He really hated to go there with his sister, but something about the slump of her shoulders and the dull sound in her voice had him reaching out to her. “Like I dunno what it feels like?”
“No offense, Wyatt”—Jules dropped another chunk of pizza crust onto the growing mountain—“but that ain’t making me feel a whole lot better. The last thing in the world I wanted was to emulate your love life.”
“You knew Wellings a few months.” Wyatt couldn’t keep the defensiveness out of his voice. “I loved Tabitha
my whole life
. Relax, Jules, you ain’t there yet. You got to bleed a lot more than this to be in a league with me.”
“I loved him,” she whispered vehemently. “I still love him. Just ’cause he’s made some bad choices ain’t changing how I feel…no matter how much I want it to.” Wyatt rolled his eyes and bit his tongue rather than say what he really felt. Instead he settled on, “I think you just love the idea of him.” Jules turned around and glared at him. “What are you implying?” 236
“Romeo and Juliet.” Wyatt pulled a face and considered it a minor miracle he didn’t physically gag. “That’s a fantasy—that ain’t real. This is some sort of midlife crisis bullshit. It’s gonna pass, Ju Ju Bean.”
“Midlife crisis,” Jules repeated, her eyes narrowed to dangerous slits. “Are you insinuating I’m middle-aged?”
Wyatt held up his hands, giving her a look. “You ain’t twenty anymore.”
“I hate you,” Jules announced as she stood.
Wyatt rolled his eyes again. “Hello, I’m the same damn age. I even got a few minutes on ya.”
“This isn’t ’bout my age,” Jules told him passionately. “You’re not the only one who’s loved. I ain’t saying what you had with that bitch Tabitha wasn’t real, but you don’t own the patent on loving and hurting in this town. You were dead wrong ’bout Clay and Melody, and you’re wrong ’bout me. Even if it’s over now, what I had with Romeo was real.”
Wyatt glared after Jules’s passionate speech. “Don’t call Tabitha a bitch. I don’t care how dented you think your heart is, I ain’t gonna sit here and listen to that.”
“I’m wasting my breath.” Jules turned to leave. “You’re the last person in the world I should be talking to ’bout love.”
“Look, Jules, I’m trying real hard to be understanding here. I ain’t giving ya shit over it being Wellings. A criminal. A guy who threw a fight.
A championship fight.
I mean, that’s just”—Wyatt shook his head, feeling completely lost that his own twin could get involved with someone that devoid of honor—“I don’t even know where to start with that. This whole fight thing’s so fucking illegal and immoral I can’t even wrap my mind ’round it. How the hell didja get mixed up with a fella like that?”
“Thank you for not giving me shit over it,” Jules said drily. “I really appreciate that.”
237
“I should call the gaming commission,” Wyatt reminded her as he leaned his elbow on the back of the couch. “I can’t believe I’m hesitating.” Jules snorted, sounding as surprised as him by the reluctance to report the crime.
“So what’s stopping ya?”
“I don’t know,” Wyatt told her honestly because he’d been asking himself that same question all day. Throwing a fight went against every fiber in Wyatt’s being. Just thinking about it made him furious. “I’m guessing it’s some kinda built-in, genetic loyalty to you that’s getting in the way. I’d rather him get away with spitting on the sport than hurt you, which is wrong. I shouldn’t let your feelings get in the way of a moral obligation. It’s really bugging me.”
“Is that really it?” Jules asked in surprise, her voice softening. “You’d protect him for me? I ain’t all that inclined toward him myself right now, but knowing you’d do that means something, Wy Wy.”
He lifted his gaze to her, hearing the vein of hope in Jules’s voice. For the life of him he couldn’t figure out why it was his hesitance to call the gaming commission that’d finally broken through when he’d been trying to get her to come around all night.
Wyatt sighed. “Sometimes, Ju Ju Bean, I really wish you’d been a boy. It’d make my life so much easier. When it comes to stuff like this, ya don’t make a lick of sense to me.”
A ghost of a smile tugged at Jules’s lips. “You want your birthday presents? I could use the distraction.”
“I guess.” Wyatt shrugged, still feeling confused.
Jules disappeared up the stairs and rather than try to figure out his hormonal twin sister, Wyatt went ahead and followed her up the steps. He dug the second present he’d gotten her out of his closet and placed it on the dresser as Jules appeared at his doorway with packages in both hands.
“Happy birthday to me,” he said, eyeing the bags tentatively. “Is there anything in there I’ll actually like?”
238
“Maybe.” She pointed to his bed. “Sit.”
Wyatt sat obligingly and then took the first package Jules handed him. He opened it quickly and efficiently, finding three T-shirts, each a different hue of blue.
“They match your eyes. Any color blue looks good on us,” Jules announced and then pointed to his T-shirt. “You should burn that old yellow thing.”
“It’s comfortable.”
“It’s ugly and it washes you out. You’re too blond to be walking ’round in that color.” Jules handed him another package. “I bought you two different pairs of jeans this year. The loose fit you usually wear and then something a little tighter in case you find someone to impress.”
“Okay.” Wyatt opened the second package despite Jules already announcing what it was. Not that it was much of a surprise to begin with. She bought him clothes every year. He pulled out the jeans, finding the tighter pair Jules mentioned, and pulled a face. “I dunno—”
“They’ll look good,” Jules said confidently. “Romeo wears these and say what you will ’bout the man, he looks fine in a tight pair of designer jeans. You’ll have women crawling ya like you’re the only tree in sight after a forty-day flood.”
“I think I just threw up in my mouth.” Wyatt made a gagging sound, because the idea of Jules buying him jeans because she liked the way they looked on Wellings was so wrong. He tossed them onto the bed and then wiped his hands on his shorts for good measure. “Jules, sometimes, I swear—”
She laughed, the first sign of happiness lighting up her face. “You could get a woman if you wanted one.”
“I know that.” Wyatt couldn’t help a cocky smile. “And I don’t need designer jeans pinching my best assets to do it. I have a sparkling personality.”
“I wouldn’t go that far. Glaring maybe, but not sparkling.” Jules handed him another package.
239
Wyatt opened the package, finding more shirts and tossed them aside with disinterest.
“You don’t like ’em?”
“I’m sure I’ll wear ’em.” Wyatt shrugged, knowing he should be more grateful. If it wasn’t for Jules shopping for him, his closet would be empty. “Thanks, Ju Ju Bean.”
“I got you something else.” Jules leaned over the bed and grabbed another package out of the bag. “Here ya go.”
The long present, wrapped in metallic blue paper, was heavier than the others and obviously not clothes, but Wyatt was already bored with Jules’s annual shopping spree.
He opened it with lackluster interest, and it wasn’t until he exposed the silver box that he felt a jolt of excitement.
He popped the latches and then opened the lid, unable to help smiling so broadly his cheeks hurt. “Dang, this is awesome.”
“Now’s probably not the best time to give you a mini fourteen assault rifle,” Jules said as she arched an eyebrow at him. “But I’d already bought it. Something fun for your collection.”
“This
is
fun,” he agreed, taking the rifle out of the padding and admiring it. “You wanna go to the range with me tomorrow?”
“Yeah, sure.” Jules reached over and started refolding the shirts she’d bought him.
“I could use the stress relief.”
“Unless ya wanna use Wellings for practice instead.” Wyatt couldn’t help but grin at the thought. “I’m sure I could convince the sheriff to look the other way.”
“Funny,” Jules said, making it obvious she didn’t think he was funny at all.
Wyatt set the rifle aside and got off the bed. He grabbed her present off the dresser and tossed it on top of the shirt she was folding. “In case you change your mind.” Jules looked up at him, frowning, before she tore into the wrapping, revealing a silver case. Her eyes lit up when she opened it to expose a Colt Commander .45.
240
“Wow.” She pulled it out, holding the .45 in her hand as she grinned at him. It fit easily in her palm when most women couldn’t carry a sidearm that size. Unashamed of her larger grip, she announced, “This is a gun for big girls who like to make big holes.” Jules pointed the gun at the wall, squinting out of one eye.
Wyatt watched Jules test the feel of it and pointed out, “It’s got fiber-optic sights.
Skeleton trigger.”
“I see.” Jules pulled the gun back to study it more closely. “My firearm is cooler than your firearm.”
“That’s debatable.”
Wyatt jumped back on the bed, because that assault rifle was calling to him.
Together they played with their new toys and forgot for the moment that Jules had decided to join the Conner Broken Hearts club.