Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
Romeo
My heart hammers in my chest as I chase after Nell.
Stepping onto the street, I do not see her as I scan both left and right. Then, through a gap in the tourist crowd, I see her hair flapping behind her as she moves away from the resort. Heading in her direction, I chase after her, needing to get her to listen to me.
She needs to know that I would never kiss any another woman while we explore what we might have.
Dodging people, I say my apologies when I come into contact with someone. I jump out of the way of a wayward child at one point; my gaze so focused on not losing Nell that I almost mowed the kid down.
I call out her name, but she doesn’t stop, either from not hearing me or ignoring me.
I will go with the latter after what she just saw.
Fucking Daniella.
She has always been trouble— only, I was blind in the beginning. Then if I am being honest, it became a fucking chore to be with her, but I was too focused on my clubs to let her go. Catching her cheating was my kick up the ass to finally make my move and kick her to the curb.
“NELL.”
She keeps moving, dodging people walking down the street. When she almost hits a man with a drink in his hand, I cringe, knowing that the hot coffee would hurt her.
“Nell, stop, please.” She looks over her shoulder at me and it is like time slows down.
A man steps out of a store, bags hanging from his arm, while he holds a drink, but he is not looking where he is going due to scrolling on his phone. Nell doesn’t have time to stop; her feet skid across the sidewalk, and her body slams into his.
Her screams fill the area, people gasping at the impact.
“Fuck,” I mutter, picking up speed to get to her.
People gather around to help them both, and I push through to get to my girl.
“Let me through.” I push one man aside to get to her.
“Hey, man, not cool.” I glare at him, dropping to my knees next to Nell.
“Fuck, I saw you go down. Are you okay?” My hands skim over her arms and face, and she pulls away from me.
“I am fine.” Without my help, Nell climbs to her feet, and I inch forward, making her take a step back.
Someone grabs my arm, and I turn to look at whoever dared touch me.
“Look, man, it looks like she doesn’t want you near her.” The older man looks at me, still holding my arm.. I grit my teeth because no fucker will stop me from getting to her so I can take care of her.
“I suggest that you let me go.” He shakes his head.
“Not unless she tells me that she is okay with going with you. Sorry, brother, but you cannot be too careful these days.”
Fuck, he makes sense when he says it like that, and gratitude courses through me that a complete stranger would take care of her like that.
I relax my posture, nodding to the man, who lets me go.
“Nell, please tell him you are safe with me.” My voice is firm but with a hint of pleading.
She looks at me from under her lashes, and I see the redness in her eyes and her wet lashes.
Fuck.
Nodding, she looks to the man.
“I am okay with him.”
The guy nods to her, then gives me a stern look. Holding my hand out to him, he looks to my offered limb, then to my face, but shakes.
“Thank you for checking that she is safe to leave. I agree that you never know these days; there are some sick fucks in the world, but I can guarantee you that I am not one of them. She is my girl and I upset her, so I want to take her back to our hotel and check that she is okay.”
He doesn’t say anything, so I loop my arms around Nell’s waist and guide her back to the hotel. No words pass between us as we get closer. Her body is filled with tension and I fucking hate that I put it there. Well, not me, but the situation I was in.
When we are far enough from the crowd, she pulls out of my hold, and I do not reach for her, giving her space.
Reaching the hotel, we take the elevator up to our floor. Then we walk to our room, and not once does she touch or speak to me.
I open the door to our room, and she instantly goes into the bathroom, dropping her purse onto the sofa as she passes.
“Nell, we need to talk; I need to explain what you saw,” I call out.
Seeing the time on the clock in the room, I move to the phone to order room service. I am not sure if Nell has eaten yet, so I order almost everything on the menu, leaving out foods I have learned that she does not like.
When I hang up the phone, my phone beeps with a notification. I see an email from Asher with the title - WATCH THIS WITH NELL.
Looking up when I hear the door open, Nell steps out of the bathroom, her eyes red and puffy, and it makes me so fucking angry that Daniella did this.
I know what Nell saw, but I will not take blame for what happened. I know what happened and so will Nell.
“Room service should be here in a little while. I ordered a lot; I wasn’t sure what you would be in the mood for.” I walk to her, her body flinching when I brush a strand of hair off her cheek.
I fucking hate that she is feeling like this.
“I need a shower, and when I come out, I would like a chance to explain. Will you still be here when I get out, or do I have to go all Scooby Doo and track you down?” I see the smallest of twitches of her lips, and it makes me hope that she will be here.
Leaning in, I kiss her forehead, and her breath hitches. Then I step into the bathroom to wash off the sweat and sand from my run.
I take the fastest shower known to man, fearful of Nell running and not waiting for me to explain what the hell happened. If she does bolt, I will hunt her ass down; she is mine, or she will be.
Seeing her collide with that man made my fucking heart stutter in my chest. She could have been seriously hurt, and it made me realize how much she means to me.
Wrapping the towel around my waist, and running my fingers through my hair, I smirk to myself. I have seen the books that Nell reads, and I have checked a few out, so me stepping out of the bathroom in just my towel should have the desired effect I am going for.
Stepping out, I find Nell standing by the window looking out, her arms around her waist. Moving across the room to her, my hands go to her hips. She jerks and then yelps.
“Shit, sorry, I did not mean to scare you.” She spins around at the sound of my voice, her back hitting the glass door that leads out onto the balcony.
Her eyes scan my body, taking in every wet inch. I did not dry my hair purposely so that the droplets would run down my chest and abs.
“Umm.” She licks her lips, her eyes wide as she takes me in. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”
“I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Oh, you didn’t.”
I cock a brow at her. “Really? Because your jump and yelp tell me otherwise.”
“You are seeing things, Rome.” She tries to move away, but I block her attempt. “Must be your old age.”
“My old age?” She nods, looking at my abs. “My eyes are up here, baby.” I tilt her chin up until our eyes meet.
Not that I do not like her eyes on my body, because I know she likes what she sees.
“I could show you how my old age does not slow me down” —I inch forward, pressing my body against hers— “but we need to talk first before we go any further.”
In a flash, the temperature drops in the room as Nell slides away from me.
“I do not want to hear it, Romeo.” She sighs. “I asked for one thing and you went and broke that rule. I think it is time that I went home.”
“I didn’t break anything.”
“You cannot think much of me if you try and talk your way out of what I saw.”
“She kissed me,” I start. “She came to me saying all this shit about getting back together, and that she knew she made a mistake. I have told you that I will never take her back.” I run my fingers through my hair in frustration.
“Nell, I swear to you, she kissed me. You can ask Ash, he was there with us.”
“He will have you back no matter what.” She goes to speak again but there is a knock on the door.
Moving toward it, she rushes forward, stepping in front of me, then looks over her shoulder.
“You are not answering the door like that.” She waves a finger up and down my body, making me grin.
“You do not want people to see what is yours, huh, baby?”
Scoffing, she reaches for the door. “No, I just do not want anyone to see what an old man you are. It might scare them off with the food and I am hungry.” Her voice is sugary.
The fucking minx. I look forward to spanking that ass of hers when I get her to come around to seeing what actually happened.