CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
ROME
––––––––
Three days.
It had been three damn days since Juliet last hacked me. Three days since the night we watched an anime together, and she’d fallen asleep during the call. Since then, there had been no attempted breaches. No taunting messages. No private video chat requests. Nothing.
She’d disappeared on me.
Again.
This shit was getting old fast.
Sitting at the private bar inside the Biloxi branch of our Cattaneo Casino and Resort, I listened to my brothers and Leo talk while pretending to give a fuck about the conversation.
Cas stood behind the bar, preparing drinks and grinning like a fool as he told us what Meka cooked for dinner yesterday.
It was good to see my baby brother smiling. It was great seeing him in love. After everything he’d been through, he deserved every bit of happiness Meka brought into his life. And from the way he talked about her, I could tell he was making her happy, also.
Raz sat to my left, relaxed in a way I still wasn’t used to seeing from him. Usually, he was on edge all the time, muscles tense, expression grim. Now that Monique was in his life, he was a different man, a different brother.
Hell, he even looked different. I couldn’t pinpoint what exactly about his appearance had changed, but he seemed... healthier. Love was healing him in ways I hadn’t thought possible. I was happy for him.
On the other side of Raz sat his right-hand man, Leo. Even that ornery bastard had a grin on his face as he read a text from Toya reminding him that he had a curfew and she expected him home before midnight. That actually had him smiling.
Every word out of their mouths was something about their women, their home life, domestic shit that we never used to discuss over drinks. Now, it was all they thought about, all they talked about. They lived, breathed, and dreamed Meka, Toya, and Monique.
Or as the ladies referred to themselves, The Curvy Wives Club.
Holding in my sigh, I returned my attention to my phone, thumb slowly scrolling through the social media page for Blossoms and Vines. I’d become obsessed with this page. Their feed was full of flower arrangements and wedding displays.
There were also behind-the-scenes clips of events they’d decorated, along with pictures of smiling customers holding bouquets. Then there were the photos and videos of Blossom Brooks.
Those were the ones that held my attention. My thumb paused on a photo of her standing in front of a wall of flowers, wearing a bright smile and that same floral apron she’d worn the day I walked into her shop with Monique.
I stared at the picture longer than I should have. But damn it, there was something about her. The woman in the picture looked warm. Sweet. Honest. The kind of woman who had freshly baked cookies waiting for you when you got home from work, like the wives on television did.
My Juliet was a little cyber-criminal who taunted me while trying to get past my firewalls. She challenged me. She made me laugh. She made me hard. She made me look forward to being hacked.
Blossom Brooks looked like she’d apologize to a flower if she accidentally bent one of its petals. They couldn’t be the same woman. They were so different. Then again, I’d seen another side of Juliet when we’d watched that anime.
She loved the romance scenes. Had teared up on the sad scenes. There was more to Juliet than just the hacker I’d grown to crave. But could that little hacker who loved anime also love flowers?
My thumb swiped to the next picture. There was Blossom again. This time, she was holding a vase filled with purple and white flowers, laughing at something someone off-camera must have said.
Her head was tilted slightly, her dimples showing. The caption was about bringing someone’s wedding vision to life. Zooming in, I studied her smile, those dimples, her hairstyle.
My gaze dropped to her hands and her manicured nails. Could those be the hands of a hacker? Juliet kept her nails manicured also. But in our last video chat, she’d insisted on audio-only.
Since I hadn’t seen her in over two weeks, I couldn’t compare their nails. If only I could get one more video call from her, I’d have the proof I needed just from her hands. I’d also be able to upload the tracker script.
I finally had a code that would allow me to access her location without alerting her. No matter how much I’d worked on it myself, I just couldn’t get it right. The more I fucked up, the more frustrated I got.
I’d had to contact one of our guys, who was on leave, to get help with the script. I’d needed fresh eyes on it. Because of my feelings for Juliet, I wasn’t truly seeing things clearly. I wasn’t able to focus properly.
My mind was all over the fucking place. So, I sent Shado the script and had him look it over. I sent it to him yesterday. This afternoon, he sent it back after tweaking the code. Now, it worked beautifully.
He’d included a message that read, “You had one line of code wrong. I’m surprised you didn’t catch it. Don’t tell me you’ve been slacking off in my absence.”
After reviewing the script, I was also surprised I hadn’t noticed the error. Hindsight was always 20/20. Even so, it proved my feelings for Juliet were truly clouding my judgment, intellect, and sanity.
I’d wanted to pay Shado for the job. But he wouldn’t let me. All he’d wanted in return was permission to use my script. I’d thought he meant to use it to find the girl he’d been searching for. However, the whole point of Shado going on leave was because he’d already found her.
Therefore, his wanting to use the script surprised me. I’d asked why he needed it. Apparently, his girl had another stalker, other than him. And Shado was trying to hunt the bastard down.
I’d given him permission to use it whenever he needed. Hell, he could’ve used it without telling me. But Shado, though insane, had always lived by a code. I’d loved having him work for us.
The kid could break into anything and hack anyone. However, I had a feeling that now that he’d found the girl he’d grown up with in the orphanage, he wouldn’t be returning to Mississippi anytime soon.
Couldn’t say I blamed him. I was glad he’d found the person he’d been looking for. I didn’t know how she felt about that, though. I should’ve asked him. But right now, I needed to worry about how my own woman would feel when I found her.
Considering the only way for me to find her was to have her hack me again, I’d say she couldn’t be too upset. She’d started this. She couldn’t blame me for wanting to continue it. My eyes roamed over the pictures of Blossom.
Zooming out inch by inch, I studied her shape, her curves, the way she carried herself. In most of her pics, she posed with her head tilted to the right. It seemed to be a habit. A habit I’d noticed Juliet had during our video chats as well.
They appeared to be the same size, same shape, and said some of the same phrases. Plus, they were both busy with work. I’d be a fool not to be suspicious. Yet, I also felt like a fool for being suspicious.
This wasn’t like me. I was the type of person who focused on facts and evidence. I didn’t let emotions cloud my judgment. Yet, since the first time she’d hacked me, I’d been doing just that.
My jaw tightened. All I had now was suspicions. I needed evidence to support or refute them. I’d planned to test out my suspicions a couple of nights ago. Juliet had promised to finish watching the anime with me, but she hadn’t kept that promise.
The first night she ghosted me, I told myself she was busy and maybe too tired to contact me. After all, she’d sounded stressed from work when we talked. I was working on my patience because I knew it was important in relationships.
The second night, I told myself something must have come up. Life happened. She didn’t owe me every minute of her time, even though the possessive bastard inside me disagreed.
That’s why I sent the script to Shado, asking for his help. Desperate times called for desperate measures. Tonight, I was done lying to myself about why she ghosted me. Either Juliet was pulling away from me again, or I had spooked her.
Because if Blossom Brooks was Juliet With Curves, then walking into her floral shop might have scared her enough to make her want to avoid me. I hadn’t meant to scare her. I hadn’t even known it was her. If it was her. Fuck. This guessing game was going to drive me insane.
“Rome,” Cas called, tapping the counter in front of me.
I glanced up from my phone.
“You plan on drinking that, or are you going to keep staring at your phone like it holds all the answers to the universe?” he asked. “Everyone else is already on their second glass, and you haven’t touched your first.”
Oh, right.
They’d called me out to drink and chat. Well, more like drink and show off how in love they were. I should probably pretend I was interested in being here. I set my phone facedown on the bar and reached for the drink.
“Have you been listening to us?” Cas asked.
“Of course,” I drawled, swirling the amber liquid in my glass, causing the ice to clink.
“No, you haven’t,” Leo stated, tone laced with amusement.
Raz’s eyes narrowed slightly as he studied me. “You’ve been quiet.”
“I’m always quiet.”
“Not this quiet,” Cas pointed out.
I took a sip of my drink. The whiskey burned its way down my throat. I welcomed the bite. It gave me something to focus on besides the woman who hadn’t contacted me in three days and the florist who was haunting my waking and sleeping hours.
“I’m healing,” I told them. “I’m allowed to be quiet.”
Raz’s gaze dipped briefly to my shoulder. “How’s the pain?”
“Manageable.”
My chest and shoulder still ached if I moved too quickly or stayed in one position too long. The wounds I’d brought home from Italy were healing, but they hadn’t healed enough for me to forget they existed.
I had pain pills that would wipe the ache away. But I wasn’t taking them. I didn’t want to become dependent on meds, even the ones I’d created. Especially the ones I’d created.