Page 24 of Romi

My mouth fell open in shock. I stared at Ash in disbelief for a few seconds as he continued to eat as if nothing had happened. Finally, when the shock had worn off, I narrowed my eyes, grinned wickedly at Ash's feigned innocence, and threw the potato back at him.

Ash ducked and picked up a forkful of peas, pinging them at me. I gasped in mock outrage, and a full-on food fight ensued. We laughed our heads off. By the end, the table was a mess, and so were we. I clutched my sides where a stitch had formed from all the laughter.

It was so good to have a laugh, and it was especially good to see Ash laughing again.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe we did that! Obviously, Little Miss Hot Mess has made more of an impact on you than I thought!” I wheezed.

“What are you talking about?” Ash chuckled.

“She’s obviously got you longing for food games,” I winked and wiggled my eyebrows.

“Very funny,” he replied, rolling his eyes at me.

“Seriously, I think I like this girl already. She is a good influence on you.” I smirked, and he shook his head and rolled his eyes again at my words.

“Ash, you need to get with that girl,” I said much more seriously,

“It has been years since I have seen your playful side, then you meet her, and it’s come out twice already. After only one kiss! Imagine how much nicer you will be to live with if you actually get laid.”

“Ha, ha.” He picked up another potato off the floor and chucked it at me again. I dissolved into another fit of giggles at his antics. Oh yes, that girl had definitely had a positive effect on my brother, and all she had done was kiss him. I really hoped they got together.

“That’s enough childish nonsense for today; I have work to do,” he said, smiling as he headed for the door.

“Her name is Gracie, by the way!” I shouted after him when it suddenly dawned on me he might not know it.

He turned back immediately and glared at me. Oops, I guess he didn’t.

“Say what?” he asked.

“Her name is Gracie. I heard Derrick call her that a few times,” I told him sheepishly.

“Is there Anything else you know about her that you haven’t told me?” he asked through gritted teeth, obviously annoyed with me. I had been so caught up in my own issues that I had forgotten to tell him sooner, so I could understand that.

“Sorry,” I said, shaking my head and feeling bad for withholding information. He pursed his lips at me, but as he turned around to leave again, I caught his grin.

Ash had her name now, so hopefully, he would be able to find out who she was, get her number, take her out, and maybe even get laid. Maybe he might even fall for her. That would be good for him, of course, but I had even more selfish reasons for hoping for that. If Ash fell for someone, he would be in a better place to understand my feelings for Romi and his for me. Oh yeah, I really, really hoped he found her.

Returning to my room after our silly antics with a huge smile on my face, I set about planning my next move with renewed hope. I planned how I would approach Romi and make him talk about us. I rehearsed exactly what I would say and how I would convince him to give our relationship a chance.

Unfortunately, by the end of the week, I still hadn’t had an opportunity to because he was obviously still avoiding me, and I was getting more frustrated by the minute. It was ridiculous. I knew he was genuinely busy looking into the current attack situation, but when he wasn’t, I expected him to come home at some point. The fact he hadn’t was really starting to annoy me. I huffed in frustration as I paced my room, trying to decide what to do.

Chewing on my lips, I pondered the situation. I really had expected Romi to be more of a man about this. I couldn’t believe he was hiding out at his apartment, instead of facing me about things. Hiding from our situation wasn’t the answer, and I refused to let him do it any longer. Enough was enough. It was time Mr Sexy Abs got over his concerns and manned up.

Unable to take the frustration any longer, I decided that if he didn’t return home this evening, then tomorrow, I would need to take the matter into my own hands. Again!

CHAPTER 15

ROMI

FRIDAY – FRUSTRATED

By the time Friday came around, I was exhausted and on edge from barely sleeping. I had successfully stayed away from my Little Miss Trouble but the effort it took to do so was taking its toll.

Whenever I closed my eyes I replayed every minute I had spent with Sonia from the moment she had emerged from the pool like Aphrodite, right through to when she had run from the car in tears. I felt like shit, and I was sure I looked worse. Luckily, despite grumbling about me being a surly bastard, Ash had not taken too much notice of my bad temper and long stretches of silent fuming. Thankfully, he had been too occupied with looking for his Little Miss Hot Mess.

However, if I kept this up for much longer, he would soon be demanding to know what the hell was wrong with me and so I needed to pull myself together quickly and do a better job of hiding my feelings. God knew I was doing a piss poor job of it so far and that was why I was here pacing inside my flat waiting to hear from him.

Ash had gone to meet with a Somali informant and afterwards was planning to finally see his Little Miss Hot Mess again. He had been acting like he was walking on clouds all morning since Anton had called to say he knew where his Little Miss Hot Mess, whom we now knew was actually called Gracie, would be working tonight.