Romeo.
He’d screamed it.
It had torn at his vocal cords.
He clutched his throat, remembering the pain of that name.
It had taken everything to shout it rather than to succumb to the water.
Josh panicked.Ally cursed.
They both had to calm him down, encouraging him to take deep breaths.
For all they revealed about Romeo Knight, it didn’t match the memories Chad had of him.There were kisses, and cuddles, laughs, puzzle games, and awful jokes, and then that blood curdling cry of the name.
Chad had screamedforhim.
And that changed his perception of Romeo, and of himself too.
He hadn’t screamed for anyone like that in his life, but he’d screamed for Romeo.
Romeo Knight.
The Countdown Killer.
Except, that wasn’t all he was, not to Chad.
He was everything Chad had almost lost, and although Romeo had reassured him in the last few days what happened wasn’t his fault, he still felt guilty.
He felt guilty for jumping but not for squeezing the life out of Keeley.
Chad hadn’t trusted her, but it only took a moment of weakness from him for her to sink her claws in.One weak moment accepting a drink while she eased his panic.
It stung knowing he’d given her that opening.
But never again.
Never again would someone get that close.
Chad sat on the bottom step of the stairs, clutching his keys in his hand.
His car outside was packed with all they needed to start the new chapter in their lives.
He no longer had the responsibility of his job to pin him down, no longer had the weight of expectation to hold him back or the desire to prove himself worthy of life.
He’d never achieved it.
It took him decades to finally know who he was trying to prove that worth to.
He’dthoughtit was to his mother, to his unknown father, to his colleagues, and friends, the public, to killers, past and present, but it had always been to himself, and that was an unachievable goal.
As Romeo had said, he’d set himself up to fail.
But one man knew his worth, and he’d never had to prove it to him.
Romeo loved him for beinghimwith all his broken parts and conflicted morals.
He was everything to Romeo, and Romeo was now everything to him.
