Page 55 of Toxic Devotion

Rome nodded slowly.

“You can go,” Marco said.

At least one of them should get to feel loved.

“No.”

Rome’s sharp word had his brow arching.

“Rome. You can leave. It’s all right.”

“I’m not leaving you at a time like this,” Rome said and crossed his arms.

Stubborn ass. Not that he’d expected otherwise.

“I’ll be fine. Neil is here anyway.”

He’d known the second the spook walked through the back door. Despite being inconspicuous, Neil never hid from him.

Rome clenched his teeth. “Then I’m definitely not leaving you.”

He felt a smile spreading on his lips and cocked his head to the side.

“I’m very frustrated, Rome, and you don’t seem very inclined to help me work it out, so I suggest you go work out your own frustration. Preferably, right now,” he said and motioned at the door.

Rome didn’t argue for once and the second he could no longer hear the man’s footsteps down the hall, Neil appeared in the doorway.

“Screaming, hitting, or fucking?” Neil asked, brow raised.

He knew Neil would let him do whichever he wanted, but all he could do was drop back against his desk with a deep sigh. What he really wanted was to go back in time to before any of the bad things had happened. Back to when his sister was alive. Back to when he only felt a thrill of desire when he looked at Neil. Back when his heart had been whole.

“Wallowing, then.”

He slowly raised his head to look at Neil. There was only understanding in the man’s gaze, and it pissed him the fuck off.

“Fuck you,” he muttered, turning and reaching across the desk for the bottle of vodka he kept in the drawer. Before he could screw the cap off, Neil grabbed the bottle out of his hand.

“This isn’t healthy,” Neil said.

“Screw healthy.” He stared into Neil’s unwavering gaze. “My life is about to go up in flames.”

“Not if we stop Alvaro.”

“How?” he asked, throwing his hands up. “The Kings won’t help.”

“We don’t know that.”

He glared at Neil as he drawled, “I didn’t take you for naïve.”

Neil put the bottle of vodka down on the desk and stepped closer, his gaze burning as he stared at Marco.

“Maybe I’m naïve, or maybe I just choose to be hopeful,” Neil said.

“Hopeful?” He shook his head. “Fuck that.”

“Marco.”

There was a tone to Neil’s voice that had him sucking in a sharp breath, hands trembling ever so slightly. The man was looking at him with so much intensity in his eyes that he felt like he couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak.