Romeo exhaled a slow breath through pursed lips and pushed the monster away.
His need faded but didn’t go all together.
“We’re done,” Josh said, zipping up the bag on the bed.
Paws clattered up the stairs.
“You’re staying with me,” Josh told Mercutio.“Until your dad’s better.”
Josh left the bedroom, clacking his tongue for Mercutio to follow.Mercutio waddled towards the bathroom door until Romeo opened it enough to shoo him away.
“Bud!”Josh called.
Mercutio went, and a minute later the front door slammed.
“Fuck,” Romeo hissed, dropping down to a crouch.
He stared at one of his open hands.His palms bled from where he’d dug his nails in, trying so hard not to give in and strangle Josh, but he’d resisted temptation, even with the opportunity to kill, he resisted for Chad.
Because it was the two of them against the world, and he wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize what they had.
****
Updates on Chad’s conditionwere slow.
Josh never called or texted Romeo again.
But Romeo found another way, using his charm on a hospital receptionist to get updates.She couldn’t go into any details over the phone, but he’d explained that he was a concerned former colleague of Chad’s from Canster and needed to know if he was all right.
Serious but stable.
When he asked for details of his condition or what led to him being there, she shut down, hurried to end the call.
Romeo was no closer to finding out what had happened that day.
Why had Chad parked up at the side of the road?
Why had he been at the fishing lake and how had he come to be in the water?
His eyes stalled on Mercutio’s bed.
Five days had passed since Josh had come to collect him, and although he wasn’t as fond of the mutt as Chad, he did miss the distraction of having him around.The house was unnervingly quiet, except the living room, where the TV was on the news channel in case there was a report about what happened.
The TV had arrived the day Josh took Mercutio, along with a food order Romeo had made.Both had been left outside for him to get once the delivery drivers had gone.He put all the food away then flipped through the recipe book to find one of Chad’s favorites as if his return home was imminent.
Stupid, irrational heart, Romeo thought, snapping the book shut.
The advantage of having a house in the middle of nowhere was no one questioned the lights being on, no one was in a position to see them.Romeo didn’t advertise he was there, but he cooked, he cleaned, he worked out, he tried to do all the things he usually did when he would wait for Chad to return, but this wasn’t a day, he didn’t know how long it would take before Chad walked back through the front door.
The sun rose outside, but not for Romeo.His existence was dark, and bleak, shrouded in uncertainty.
He tried to make himself believe Chad was coming home to him soon, but each day without him felt like a lifetime.
Seven days after Chad hadn’t come home, his car did, driven by an unknown man.
Another car followed behind him.
The driver of Chad’s car parked in front of the house, climbed out, then locked the door.He strolled out of range of the cameras, but Romeo’s heard the snap of the letterbox and the clang of keys hitting the mat.
