Chad locked the door behind him.
Romeo collapsed against the bench, heart racing.
He didn’t want to get found out, not yet.
Not until he’d satisfied himself and the monster by finally claiming his number one.
Chapter Eleven
Chad didn’t returnwith Josh in tow, and the car parked up outside didn’t take off down the track meaning Chad and Josh must’ve gone inside.
Romeo drank the water, used the bucket, then grabbed the crossword puzzle.
Chad had given him one recently sharpened pencil in the bottom of the washing up bowl.Romeo often grew exasperated with Chad for filling the puzzles out in pen, being so certain he had the right word before finding out later on he’d been mistaken.It led to a messy page and more often than not an abandoned crossword and a grumpy Romeo.
Chad was very good at apologizing and cheering him up again...
Romeo suspected Chad did it on purpose.
He wrapped the duvet around himself and began the first puzzle in the book.
By his tenth completed puzzle, boredom had morphed into throbbing temples and scratchy eyes.
It was infuriating not knowing how much time had passed, and Romeo wondered whether it stressed out Mercutio half as much as it stressed out himself.Chad never left Mercutio on his own for more than four hours.Romeo assumed he would be given the same treatment, but at a guess, five long hours had passed.
His ears perked at the voices outside, Josh and Chad saying goodbye to each other.
An engine rumbled to life, Josh called out goodbye a few more times, then left.
Romeo stared at the door, coiling like a snake, as he waited for Chad to reappear.He knew he was out there, standing on the concrete, no doubt making sure Josh had gone completely.
But he didn’t come inside.
Romeo was concentrating so hard he heard the bang of the front door shutting.
Chad had gone back into the house.
