Page 86 of Broken Romeo
“Hey, Holden,” she said my name quietly, like she was merely tasting the way it felt on her tongue. The sound tingled up my spine and knotted in my chest.
I turned around again to face her, gripping the door handle tighter like it was my life raft. The tether to keep me from rushing toward her and kissing her again.
She pointed to locker 455. My locker. “Do you know whose locker this is?”
My breath strangled in the back of my throat.
This was it.
I could just tell her now.
Let this game be over.
She’d hate me for fucking ever, but at least the exchange wouldn’t have happened.
Except… she needed the money.
And she wouldn’t take it if she knew it came from me. I knew that about her.
I hated myself as I shook my head. “Beats me,” I croaked. “They’re not assigned or anything. It’s just first come first serve and bring your own lock.”
I forced myself to leave the room. I walked into the pool and pressed my back against the door.
Fuck. Me.
What was I doing? I wasn’t a good guy… I knew that. But this was next fucking level.
This wasn’t just being a bad guy. This was the fucking villain of the story.
I had to face that fact. I was the fucking wolf and she was little red riding hood. I cloaked myself in grandma’s clothes, pretended daily to be someone I wasn’t…
And then, when she least expected it, I would devour her.
But was it really the wolf’s fault? It was his nature to deceive. To eat.
To slaughter.
And no matter how many disguises I put on, how many costumes and personas I hid behind, at the end of the day, I was still a fucking wolf.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Nolan holds my eye contact, more intensely than usual. The theater is so silent that the quiet buzz of the stage lights sounds deafening. “I really like your eyes,” Nolan says. “The way they’re not only blue but also have a ring of gold around your pupil.”
He smiles at me. Nolan—not him as his character, Zach. A flash of heat sweeps my body as a flush rises up to my cheeks from my chest as the realization slams into me: This isn’t acting.
It’s just Nolan and me. Me and Nolan—
“Good job, you two.”
Oh, yeah. And Holden.
Just one happy throuple.
Nolan smiles—not a smile of pride for a job well done. A smile to me. For me.
My insides feel seven sizes too large for my body, and I wriggle under that smile, dropping my gaze to my bare toes peeking out of flip flops.
“Don’t lose the connection, Katherine,” Holden instructs. “Let yourself be vulnerable. Accept the compliments as they come and don’t fight with them—even in your own head.”