Why Romeo Hates Juliet (22 page)

During the time it took Tommy to drive Nick back to his hotel and come back to Romeo’s beach house, the girls had packed up their things and walked their suitcases next door. On returning, Tommy had given them a quick tour of the house, which was very similar to their own cottage’s configuration and he’d shown them which bedroom was Romeo’s. He’d looked at Juliet then, giving her a quizzical smirk as if he was silently asking her if she was going to be sharing the room with his friend since she was supposed to be his wife. But the writer had scowled at his suggestion and immediately asked him where ‘her’ room was, making sure he understood her position clearly.

With his mischievous eyes twinkling, Tommy had then proceeded to show them the other two rooms - his own bedroom which he’d just vacated since he was going to be staying at the same hotel as ‘Dr. Burrel ’, and Chace & Rachel’s old room. Sara decided to take Chace’s and Juliet plucked her suitcase on Tommy’s bed, the room right next to Romeo’s.

“Ladies, I’ll be waiting downstairs and when you’ve finished, we’ll go pick up Romeo together,” he informed them before disappearing.

After unpacking, the sisters met up in the upstairs hallway. Juliet was just about to do downstairs when Sara put a restraining hand on her sister’s arm. “You don’t have to do this, Juliet. We can still back out, you know.” Juliet shook her head, “He could have died and I did that to him. I have to make this right.” Sara reluctantly nodded, “Okay, but I’m here for you, know that.”

Juliet’s eyes welled up with tears. “Thank you,” she whispered.

Sara wrapped her arms around Juliet and gave her a hug. “We’re a team and nothing will ever change that.” As she wiped the wetness cascading down her cheeks, Juliet nodded, moved by her little sister’s love and support.

~ ~ ~

Tommy drove one of the black SUVs to the hospital, and the girls, with Sara in the driver’s seat, drove the other one. They’d all reasoned that having two trucks on the road, one behind the other, would give Romeo some additional space away from the paparazzi. They’d put him in the first vehicle with the girls, and Tommy would drive the second one behind them providing an additional barrier against the frenzied photographers.

Sure enough, as soon as they’d driven off their private road onto the main highway, the paparazzi who’d been stationed there gave chase, and an entire parade of cars and trucks followed the Escalades all the way to the hospital. Word had quickly spread that Romeo Boyd was coming home today and they all wanted to be there to get their prized photographs.

After Tommy and the girls parked their vehicles in the hospital lot, they climbed out and began their walk to the entrance. The paparazzi scrambled out of their own cars to join their fell ow photographers who were already stationed at the front doors and the feeding frenzy began.

Flashbulbs going off, questions, slurs and innuendoes were all thrown at the trio who continued to remain silent during their march into the building. On reaching the protective cocoon of the hospital interior, Juliet breathed a sigh of relief that she’d managed to get through the sharks again without panicking. Romeo’s words to remain calm and give them nothing had echoed in her head and given her strength.

On reaching Romeo’s room, the trio found him dressed in long khaki shorts and a loud Hawaiian shirt, open with his good arm inside one of the sleeves and the other sleeve gingerly lying over his bandaged shoulder. He was sitting on the edge of his bed holding a mirror up to his face, examining his eyes.

“At least the swelling’s gone down and the bruising is fading. How did I manage to get two black eyes?” He turned his quizzical vibrant blue orbs in Juliet’s direction.

“I, well, umm…” she stammered, not knowing what to say. “It - it was an accident.”

“What happened?”

“Well, I was trying to open a bottle top that was stuck and my elbow accidentally hit your left eye.”

“And my right one?” Romeo’s lips twitched with humor. He wasn’t going to make this easy for her and his plans to make her squirm had just begun.

“You were kind of - umm - in the middle of a brawl and you were hit by mistake.”

“Brawl? Like a bar fight?”

“Something like that,” Juliet acknowledged uncomfortably. “Listen, we can talk about this at home. Why don’t we just get you out of here for now.”

“Okay, let’s hit the road. I’ve seen enough of hospitals and doctors and nurses to last me ten lifetimes,” he expelled before getting up off the bed and reaching for his bag with his one good hand. His injured arm and shoulder were in a sling to keep them immobile to prevent further injury.

Tommy quickly grabbed the bag out of his hand. “I’ll do that for you, bro. You’ve got to take it easy for awhile.”

“I’m not an invalid, Tommy,” Romeo frowned.

“For now you are and no arguments,” Tommy declared. “Listen, you’ll be driving home with Juliet and Sara, and I’ll be following behind you in another truck.”

Confused, Romeo’s eyebrows furrowed, “Why aren’t we all going together?” He turned questioning eyes again to Juliet’s face and watched as her cheeks started turning red. ‘Oh yeah’, he thought to himself, this was going to be more fun than he’d thought. First, he’d have the pleasure of watching the big bitch sweat, and second, he‘d have the pleasure of tasting her hot little body in bed. His insides were even now doing flip flops at the steamy, sweaty images that were streaming through his mind’s eye of them together. His gaze traveled to her beautiful, brown eyes then and he could see fear and trepidation and worry shining out from them. The flip flops he’d been feeling in his lower regions quickly shot to his heart instead and he could actually feel it melting as his male protective instincts kicked in. He suddenly didn’t want her scared; and he didn’t want her afraid; and he didn’t want her worried. He wanted her to feel safe and protected and happy, and his heart began shooting an overpowering urge to his brain to make that happen. Damn it, he thought to himself, why did those eyes of hers have such an effect on him? He’d better get a grip on his thoughts if he wanted his plans for her to work. He refocused on Juliet again. “Why, Juliet? Why two cars?” he artlessly asked again.

“Because, umm,” Juliet’s tongue failed her and she couldn’t speak. The lies were now beginning and this had all suddenly become so real. She was going to have to pretend to be his wife and live with him and lie to him about the paparazzi, about the shooting, about who he really was, about everything. Could she go through with it all? And on top of everything else, she could feel her intense attraction for him again. Oh God, her resolve to not sleep with him was weakening already and all of her logical arguments that she’d been rehearsing on the drive over here to keep their relationship platonic were evaporating. Standing in front of him, she could feel his magnetic pull as if she were a piece of steel, helpless to resist.

But she wouldn’t go willingly. She would kick and scream all the way if she needed to. What was happening to her, she thought, as she nervously bit her lip?

Sara came forward and put a reassuring arm around Juliet’s shoulders as she addressed the movie star. “Romeo, there’s something you should know. There’s a herd of paparazzi outside waiting for - us - to leave the hospital.”

“Paparazzi? Do you mean those people that take pictures of celebrities?” Sara nodded and he continued. “But why? Are we famous or something?”

Juliet drew in a deep breath, shored up her resolve and finally spoke up. “I’m kind of - a well-known writer and they’re here for me and they’re curious about what happened to my husband, that’s all. When we leave here, we’ll just walk through them and not give them anything, okay? You and I will get into the SUV Sara’s driving and Tommy will try to block their cars with the one he’s driving, because the cameramen are going to be following us home.”

It was time she started taking responsibility for this mess and not let her sister cover for her. She was the one who’d shot Romeo Boyd and she should be the one to take the lead in all of his questions, no matter how uncomfortable they were for her.

“Are you really a famous writer? We must be rich then.”

“There’s food on the table and a roof over our heads, I guess,” Juliet evaded. “Why don’t we talk about this at home?”

“Good idea. Let’s get out of here, dude,” Tommy interrupted, as he opened the door and ushered them all out.

Romeo quickly took a few moments to say goodbye to some of the nurses and thank them for everything they’d done for him and then the four of them took the elevator down to the lobby. On reaching the exit doors, they saw the pack of paparazzi clustered outside, patiently waiting for their prey to emerge.

Tommy turned to them. “Sara and I will go out first to bring the trucks around to the entrance and when you see us pull up, the both of you come out and get in with Sara, okay? I’ll ride shotgun so they’ll have to drive behind me and I’ll block them away from you as much as I can.” Juliet and Romeo nodded and they watched Tommy and Sara walk through the doors to an onslaught of flashbulbs going off.

“It looks brutal out there,” Romeo mumbled before turning to Juliet and smiling. “But I’m here for you, Juliet. I’ll protect you, my little writer wife.” Her stomach fluttered with shards of guilt as she gazed into his loving eyes. He was being so nice and decent about everything and really seemed to care about her - his wife - which she wasn’t. God, it was all so confusing!

“Thank you, Romeo, but you’re the one who needs protecting now and we’re going to get you well, I promise. And when we go out there, just follow my lead and keep walking no matter what they do or say, just keep heading for the truck, okay?” She turned to the doors again and watched as Sara pulled up in her Escalade, followed by Tommy’s truck close behind her.

Drawing in a deep steady breath, she looked up at Romeo then, who’d been intensely studying her face. “Ready?” He nodded, smiled and held out his hand to her. Gingerly, she took it and they began to walk to the exit doors. But instead of her leading him, she felt him take control. Walking a shade of a pace ahead of her, he stoically approached the doors and they automatically parted for him. The camera flashes began to go off like crazy and the photographers swarmed them as they went out.

Juliet felt him go into movie star mode and he strode out of the hospital with head held high, shielding Juliet with his body. Strange she thought to herself, that he was dealing with this onslaught just like he used to as a celebrity, but maybe these were just ingrained instincts that were coming to the forefront again. His true memories were there somewhere for him, as Dr. Burrel had told them and maybe they were now just coming out naturally when he was being confronted with a scene from his movie star life. Was that it?

Suddenly, the paparazzi started throwing questions at them, trying to get a reaction - a smile, a scowl, a ‘hello’, a ‘fuck off’, anything to get a better photograph. “Romeo, are you okay?” “What happened?” “Why did Juliet shoot you?” “Was she trying to kill you?” “Have you forgiven her?” Abruptly, Romeo stopped his march and stood stock still, causing Juliet to bump into his back and causing the photographers to go wild with their cameras, snapping as many pictures as they could. All of a sudden, he pulled Juliet into him and swooped down on her lips, giving her a long, passionate kiss in front of them all. It was as if he was showing the whole world that Romeo and Juliet were now together and yes, he had forgiven her. The feeding frenzy hit an even higher, fevered pitch, as the media jackals crowded them even more.

Stunned, Juliet didn’t have time to think about what was happening and could only allow herself to be thoroughly kissed before feeling him pull away and drag her to Sara’s waiting SUV. She then allowed him to push her into the backseat before seeing him climb in beside her and shut the door to the mayhem outside. The camera flashes continued to go off as Sara pulled away from the curb followed by Tommy’s truck behind them.

Juliet turned to Romeo sitting beside her to find him staring at her intently. “Why did you do that?” she asked, dumbfounded by what had just happened.

He ignored her question and instead asked her softly, “Is it true what they said? Were you the one who shot me?”

“Yes,” she barely whispered, before lowering her guilty eyes from his laser-focused regard.

He gently lifted her chin with his fingers, forcing her to look at him again. “Why?” he demanded, couching a million questions into that one word.

She held her breath for an instant as she continued to gaze into his cobalt blue eyes. “Because I did a stupid thing. I - I was learning how to shoot and we had a silly argument and I tripped and fell and the gun went off.” Tears welled up in her eyes. “I didn’t mean to do it, I swear. It - just happened, you have to believe that.”

“Do I?”

“Yes, I’m sorry for what I did. I’m so, so sorry.”

Romeo’s eyes lowered to her soft, pleading lips and he inched his face closer to hers. “Make me believe that you’re sorry,” he whispered against her. “Make me believe it, Juliet.”

He was asking her to kiss him again, Juliet thought, and show him how sorry she was for what she’d done. He didn’t want to just hear it from her lips; he wanted to taste it there too. Would she give him what he wanted? She wasn’t supposed to. She’d resolved to herself and to Sara that she’d stay away from him physically, but could she keep that promise? More to the point, did she want to? She watched him watching her, as he waited for her answer.

Shutting her mind off and opening up her heart, Juliet gently leaned forward and let her lips rest on his. Her arms came up of their own volition to wrap themselves around his neck and her soft lips began to move sweetly against his as she pressed her body into him. She heard a sigh of pleasure escape his lips as he greedily began to lap up what she was offering. Her heart leapt out of her chest as those tiny stars began to twinkle over and over again throughout her body.

Suddenly, Sara, who’d been secretly observing the pair through her rearview mirror, slammed on the brakes, bringing the Escalade to a full stop. Romeo and Juliet lurched forward in their seats and broke apart. Sara turned to the couple and gave Romeo an eyeful.

“Sorry about that. I thought I saw something on the road - my mistake.” Giving Juliet a ‘what-the-hell-are-you-doing’ stern gaze, she then turned back in her seat and pressed the gas, sending the vehicle forward again.

Juliet had received her sister’s message loud and clear. She knew she wasn’t just playing with matches here, she was playing with deadly landmines, and if she let things go too far, it could all blow up in her face and break her heart. But why was she so attracted to caveman Romeo Boyd? It didn’t make sense. She looked over at him and saw him smirking at her. What was he thinking, she wondered?

Romeo Boyd was thinking that she was one-hell-of-a kisser and he wanted more of her, in every sense of the word. He not only wanted to know every inch of her luscious body, but he wanted to know every inch of her thoughts, her feelings, her smiles, her sights, her sounds. She may be a big bitch, but when she was soft, pliant and real as she had been just now in his arms, he could forgive her anything. He had to admit he was a big sucker for her, but he was going to have so much fun playing his little game and having her end up in his bed that he was practically salivating at the mere thought of it.

What Romeo Boyd didn’t realize was that he was playing with landmines too.

~ ~ ~