When I’m sure Romeo is asleep, and his chest is rising and falling deeply, I slowly lift my naked body from his and grab his t-shirt that's folded on the nightstand just beside his phone. This one he doesn’t wear outside his room. But I like it, and I think that’s why he leaves it nicely folded by his bedside— for me to put on when I want. It smells like fresh cotton as I slide my head and arms through the holes.
It makes me smile, but I remember what I’m doing and that soon fades. Everything I’ve felt tonight I have to put aside. But the way he cried in front of me, was more vulnerable than he has ever been, makes this sting a lot worse than usual. I bite down on my lip as I pick up his phone and type in the passcode that I finally memorized after watching him type it over his shoulder too many times to count.
I grab my phone from the other corner of the nightstand and crawl over to the corner of the room beside a large vanity with vases of flowers and boxes of jewelry we don’t wear. Then, I begin searching through his phone, finding the most perfect evidence of his father and older brother planning to meet with one of their biggest deals yet. It doesn’t matter who it is, just that they will be vulnerable, and we will use this to our advantage.
I type off the details quickly, glancing back to the bed every so often to ensure Romeo hasn’t stirred. This is a pretty easy task because he’s such a heavy sleeper. I don’t even look normally, but he’s breathing so deeply tonight, I want to make sure it’s not because he’s awoken. I glance between my phone and his, ensuring the transfer is correct.
The light of his phone blinds me a bit as I raise my eyes to check on him again, but the bed is empty. Then I feel his presence, see his legs a foot from me, and I lift my chin to see his face more furious than I’ve ever seen anyone’s face contort. I can practically see steam coming from his nose.
“I—” I barely get a word out, and his hand is in my face, wordlessly demanding his phone. I quickly exit out of what I was looking at and hand it to him.
“Not my phone.” He shakes his head and points to mine.
“What the fuck? No.” I stand on my feet, so he’s not looming over me.
“You were fucking looking through my phone, and you’re not going to give me yours, so I can see what the fuck you were doing?”
“I wasn't doing anything. I was just comparing messages from the group chat for our flight tomorrow.”
“Bullshit. Then why are you sitting over here in the corner?”
“I was hot.”
“Fucking lies.”
“Romeo!” I exclaim because I have no other lies to concoct to get me out of this horrible mess I’ve created. I thought fucking the guy was a brilliant idea.
“Tell me the truth.”
“The truth?”
“Yes, or is that such a foreign concept to you that the mere mention of it confuses you?” His face is red, his voice raised so loudly that I know the entire floor can hear him yelling. He balls his fists, and I know he’d never hurt me, but he’s freaking me out.
“Calm down.” I lift my hands that are shaking for no other reason but that I’ve been in this scenario before. Powerful men asserting their dominance over me with fists of violence.
“I’ll calm down when you tell me why thefuckyou were going through my phone!”
“I can’t—” before I can finish a word, he grabs a vase from the dress and throws it at the wall. It shatters into a billion pieces, and I turn my face from it as it falls down, feeling the sting of glass on my arm as it raises. The moment he does this, he realizes he’s gone too far and pulls me from the corner of the room and reviews me intently. When he sees there’s no damage physically, he steps away from me.
“Tell me the truth.” He nearly whispers, arms crossed over his chest, and I know this is my one last shot to keep him in my grasp. He cares, or else none of this matters, and us fucking is just something he does for fun. Whether he’s willing to admit it, there’s something here. And I don’t know if it’s adrenalin or sheer stupidity, but I speak up.
“The truth is, you feel deeply. Probably deeper than me. And you choose to hide it. Hide behind the facade that you’re this hot model who fucks hot women. But I don’t buy it, Romeo. You feel something for me—”
“Gaaaah!” He cuts me off with a growl through clenched teeth and stiff, shaking fists. “It doesn’t matter.” He spits. “None of it does because youliedto me.”
“I-”
“Don’t even fucking tell me that’s not true, Lydia.”
I take a shaky breath, swallow the words that were forming themselves on my tongue as a defense, and glance down at the shards of glass splintered across the floor. My pathetic, bleary-eyed reflection looking back at me in every piece.
“Youliedto me. And I don’t know if that makes you a liar or if it just makes me a fucking idiot.”
“You’re not—”
“Stop! I can’t believe anything you say.” He barely brings his words above a whisper before exiting the room, so collected, I nearly follow him. But I know it’s just a mask again. The walls are higher than before, and I’ll never break through.
My cover may not have been blown, but my heart is still up for debate.