It was only due to her Romeo had kept his sanity.He called every day, and although she was vague, she informed Romeo when Chad had woken up, that the doctors were pleased with his progress, and he was responding well to treatment.Romeo was unsure what the treatment was, but Chad responding well could only be positive.
He’d tried to keep busy, doing all the things he usually did, and had even visited The Harley in search of answers.The taxi driver had been right.It was a well-maintained fishing lake—no rotten wooden platforms or dangerous steep edges.Romeo had strolled around the lake, donning his beanie hat instead of a cap and his thin-framed glasses as his disguise.He didn’t rouse any suspicion.The fishermen were too focused on the morning bites to notice him lurking close by.
He even managed to strike up a conversation with a season ticket holder who had been there the Sunday Chad hadn’t come home.He told Romeo there was no incident, no one fell or was dragged by a baying mob into the lake.Romeo had frowned but hadn’t protested the man’s version of events.He might’ve been telling the truth, or he might’ve been protecting the fishing club’s reputation.
It was a mystery, but became less important when Romeo discovered Chad had been discharged.He could ask Chad what had happened once they were reunited, and if he needed to hunt anyone down and destroy them, he would.
If Chad wasn’t coming home yet, then Romeo had to think of where he would go for the first part of his recovery.
Josh’s place was too small, Chad told him he lived in a one bedroom apartment, so that left Ally’s house.
Romeo found the address on Chad’s phone and called a taxi to pick him up at the end of the dirt track.
He didn’t stop outside of Ally’s house but got dropped half a mile away at a crossroads.Just like he and Chad, Ally didn’t have any neighbors.Her house was set back from the main road.It was a modest size for one person and had a garage with a wooden door.The paint had flaked, the wood had swelled and split, and it was long overdue for a re-do.
Romeo recognized Josh’s car in the driveway.The ‘best uncle’ car sticker Chad had bought him on behalf of Mercutio caught the sun.It had been meant as a joke present, but Chad had said Josh had beamed and immediately stuck it to his car.Beside Josh’s car, there was another, presumably Ally’s car.It was purple, badly scratched and dented with a hubcap missing.
She had appointed herself as Chad’s unofficial mother figure and Romeo still wasn’t sure how he felt about that.
She thought she understood Chad, but she was wrong.
Romeo’s eyes flicked to the sign on the gate.
Beware of the Dog!
Followed by a picture of a snarling Alsatian.
Chad had never mentioned Ally having a dog.
But as Romeo scanned the area, he noticed there was more than one sign warning of a savage canine on the property.Some were staked directly into the ground, and there was a decal warning about a biting bitch stuck to the front door.
Romeo’s heart skipped at the sound of a bark, then he sagged, recognizing Mercutio.A big, savage Alsatian might have caused problems, but Mercutio was harmless.
Garden gnomes covered the front garden, most of them rudely gesturing to anyone who dared to walk up the path to the front door.Romeo wasn’t stupid enough to knock on the front door, he didn’t go anywhere near it.
He kept out of sight, rubbing his chin as he thought what to do.All the windows at the front of the house had net curtains drawn, so he walked in a crouch, following the four-foot-high fence round the property until he was directly behind the house.
There were knots in the wood, small holes, and splits, and Romeo tried out many before he found one that gave him exactly what he wanted, a view into the house, or more specifically, Ally’s sunroom.
He could see Ally, and the side of Josh’s head, and when he shifted, he sawhim.
The relief almost dropped Romeo to his knees.
A fierce ache took over his chest.
Twenty-eight days of torture came to an end when he saw Chad.
The Juliet to their forbidden love story.
The smile that spread Romeo’s lips ached, it was a shaky, brittle thing.
“There you are,” Romeo breathed.
Chad was sitting on a chair with Mercutio lying across his knees gnawing a chew.
Romeo didn’t know what he was expecting, some obvious sign Chad had been hurt—bruising, a shaved head, visible stitches—but there was nothing.His brown hair had four more weeks’ growth, and maybe he looked a little paler than normal, but that was all.
Chad stared out of the window to the bottom of the garden.Ally and Josh didn’t look, though.They faced each other, locked in a conversation Chad wasn’t a part of.
