31. Chapter 31
Chapter thirty-one
Lance
I lean forward in the rental vehicle, peering through the windshield. My nose scrunches up in disgust as I take in the run-down motel in front of me.
“They couldn’t pick somewhere… I don’t know. Somewhere they wouldn’t potentially step on a needle in the damn parking lot?”
Roman chuckles as he takes my hand in his. “They probably have limited funds. If I had to guess, they’ve cut themselves off from your parents and are just trying to get by until Maven is supposed to get Gatlin.”
I nod to agree, because he’s probably right, but this place… wow. I literally don’t have words for it.
“You’re nervous,” Roman says as he stares over at me. I can feel him watching me, but it’s not like he even really has to. He always seems to know what I’m thinking or feeling.
“I shouldn’t be,” I admit. “But I am.”
“We should go,” he says as he releases my hand. “I packed up all the computers and shit last night, but we only have a few hours before check-out and Maven is supposed to come back to debrief with us before then.”
“Right,” I pop open the door and step out, glancing at the car parked just a few spots away from ours. I nod at the guy that Casper has watching their room. He holds up his fingers. First a two and then a one.
“Twenty-one,” I inform Roman as I nod to the guy.
He salutes me with two fingers and shifts into gear before disappearing down the street.
I stare over at the hotel, my eyes locking onto the little gold numbers bolted to the door.
After months, that have felt more like a lifetime, apart from each other, I’m less than a hundred feet from the person that I use to consider my other half.
Roman starts to walk around the vehicle, catching my attention as he stops beside me and tucks his hands into his pocket.
I used to think I knew what having your other half felt like.
I was confident that I had it all figured out, but I was completely fucking clueless until I met him.
There’s a chest deep longing when we’re apart, a brokenness, but at the same time there’s still a fullness that nothing else in my life has ever compared to.
It’s hard to imagine that I ever believed I was a complete person without him.
Even when we were fighting and constantly at each other’s throats, just being around him brought me to life in a way that I can’t explain.
Obviously, I care about Gatlin, and I always will.
At this extremely odd time of my life, I might even admit that I love him.
That will never change. What has changed is the man that’s standing beside me.
He gently places a hand on my lower back, not pressuring me, just grounding me.
He’s channeling all of his strength and courage, his soft touch funneling every bit of it into my blood like intravenous fluids.
He turns to me, his dark lashes fluttering briefly before he leans his head against mine.
His body radiates heat, but it isn’t just warming my exterior, it wraps around the dark and cold thoughts inside of me and melts them all away. I know that there’s nothing in the world that I can’t accomplish with him by my side.
“Roman,” I tug at the arm of his shirt, and he straightens up to look down at me.
I always felt important when Roman’s eyes were on me, but with nothing separating us, today it feels different.
In a universe full of stars and planets, Roman looks at me like I’m the sun.
Everything else in his galaxy can’t function without me.
All of it ceases to exist. It suddenly hits me, what Maven and Olli meant the other day.
How Roman was broken in a way that only I could repair.
I can see it now, how our mangled and tattered edges align perfectly.
For the first time in my life, I find myself grateful for all the horrid things I went through.
Every time a piece of me was chipped away, I thought that I was one step closer to becoming the demon they wanted me to be, but I wasn’t.
Not really. Every piece that broke off was just another thing out of the way so that I could become this person. Roman’s person.
He grips my face between his palms, forcing my brain to focus on him again. “Yes, pretty boy?”
“You promised that you’d never leave again. Did you mean that?”
“Scout’s honor,” he swears as he raises two fingers in the air. I chuckle at his ridiculous promise that I still don’t understand.
“You fucking idiot,” I chuckle as I fist the fabric of his shirt and pull him to me.
He leans down and kisses my forehead before stepping back from me.
“We have an audience,” he informs me with a nod in the direction of the hotel.
Considering the fact that his back is turned to the building, I have no idea how he would know that, but he does.
As soon as I glance around his shoulder, I spot Blaine peeping through the curtains.
He pushes them back even further as Gatlin joins him.
I only get a glimpse of his wild black hair before he disappears again.
I can’t help but smile up at Roman before taking off across the parking lot.
As I get closer, I can hear him fumbling with the lock before trying to snatch the door open only to have it stopped by the safety latch.
The sounds of his voice as he curses to himself makes Blaine’s husky laugh echo in the background.
In this moment, my heart almost aches with how full it feels, and everything around me moves in slow motion.
Everything that I care about, everything that I love, it’s right here.
Until I hear the unmistakable sound of a gun firing, and then everything I love isn’t there anymore.
It’s gone.