Page 71 of Broken Romeo
“Whatever,” she snapped. “This show means a lot to us in the class… so if you’re cast as a lead, you’d better take it seriously.”
All the guys around the table were staring at us and even Duncan looked speechless. And that asshole was never without words.
Finally, he slapped a hand on my back. “I guess that ‘A’ really will be an easy one for you.”
Dave’s hand slid from where it was resting on the chair down over her shoulder, his limp fingers grazing her bare, dewy skin.
“Oh,” Dave said, leaning into her ear. Her overly sensitive ears. The memory of my lips on her sent my senses into overdrive. “You’re kind of sweaty, babe.”
I gulped back the thick lump in my throat and watched as his fingers glided up and down her arm.
“Yeah,” Kate said, “It’s kind of stifling in here, isn’t it?”
My jaw hardened at the sight of Dave’s eager eyes. “Want to get out of here?”
Slowly, Kate lifted her eyes to mine as she said, “Yes.”
The heady combination of her damp, glistening skin, her heavy breath, her wide eyes framed by spiked black lashes—and the fact that she was going home with Dave—knocked the breath clean out of my lungs.
As they stood from the table, I pulled up my phone, went to our theater class message board, and sucked in a breath when I saw the cast list posted.
My pulse raced as I opened the document. At the top, was Julie/Juliet – Kate Harris. And below that, Remy/Romeo – Holden Dorsey.
Clearly, I was a glutton for punishment. I watched Dave press his palm into her lower back and guide her out the front door. Envy and rage at the sight of them collided with relief, excitement, and lust at the thought of being her Romeo.
But I had no right to feel any of those things.
More than anything, I wanted to reach out and stop them. To rush to her, show her the cast list, scoop her into my arms, and claim her as mine.
But Katherine Harris didn’t belong with a guy like me. She didn’t belong with a guy like Dave either. She deserved better than all of us.
I gulped and leaned into Duncan. “Can you go—”
“Sabotage them?” He cracked his knuckles and gave me a wink. “Oh yeah. I’m on it, buddy.”
He ran after them out of the pizza place.
It wasn’t that she didn’t deserve to date a good guy… but Dave wasn’t that guy.
I’d never wanted something so badly that was so far out of reach. The privileged son of a bitch that I was, there wasn’t much I wanted that I couldn’t have.
But my family would ruin her. Because that’s what we did. It’s why my grandmother took her own life. Why my mother drinks herself into a stupor each night to escape the truth of what a sham her marriage is.
For her own good, Kate was off-limits in every possible way.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
It’s Friday night. I’m out of a job. Out of money. And out of hope.
There’s only one thing left to do…
I’d promised myself that I’d never stoop to this level ever again. That I’d never ask for their help or money again.
On the walk home from the subway, I press dial and wait while the phone rings.
A soft voice answers. “Harris residence.”
At only eight p.m. It’s not late, but she sounds as though I’ve woken her up.