Chapter Seven
Romeo didn’t get anothertaxi to Ally’s house.
He stayed home, still able to use Chad’s bank accounts to buy food and get it delivered.
That wouldn’t last forever.
Six days had passed.
Six long days where Romeo didn’t notice whether the sun rose or not and he didn’t care either way.
If you care about me, leave me be, let me go.
And they were the cruelest words Chad could’ve spoken because they pitted Romeo’s emotions against themselves.He loved Chad more than anything, more than his desire to satisfy the monster in his head, and above all else he wanted Chad to be happy.
Letting Chad go might give him the greatest chance at achieving that.
Josh had told him on the phone there was damage to Chad’s brain, particularly in his hippocampus.Romeo had not spared the region of Chad’s brain much thought.It was damaged, and it would get better, that was all Romeo could focus on.
Chad had to get better, there wasn’t an alternative.
The hippocampus dealt with memory and emotions.Of all the places in the human brain, it had to be there.Anincidenthad taken Chad’s memories of him, had pulled them right out of his head.
And all he knew of Romeo now was what he’d read, watched and heard since he’d been discharged.
Chad had asked—pleaded with tears in his eyes—for Romeo to let him go.
He didn’t want to remember.
The thought of remembering Romeo made him shudder.
It made his eyes round, and wet, and dart with fear.
Romeo closed his eyes, pushing back into the sofa.The house was ominously quiet around him, and Chad’s words kept repeating in his head.
His demand to be let go.
Romeo took in a deep breath.
Could he do it?
Could he let Chad go?
He thought he could, if Chad would be truly better off without him.
That was love, wasn’t it?
