Why Romeo Hates Juliet (37 page)

Her eyes were filled with remorse as she looked up at him and her hand gently reached out to touch his sleeve-clad arm. “Romeo, I’m sorry,” she whispered; sorry about the house, sorry about the wedding, sorry about everything, that’s what she really meant.

But a lightning bolt of fury flashed in his eyes. He shrugged off her hand as she’d done to him earlier in the day when he’d tried to help her with her panic attack. “Because of you, I’ve had the police come to my house, then the paramedics and the police, and today the fire department and the police. And now I also have no house. And to top it all off, I can’t even leave the island because I haven’t had my court date yet for my drug bust which you had a hand in too. So please save your apologies for your next victim - wife,” he sarcastically emphasized, before turning his back on her and walking away.

Sara came up behind Juliet and put a comforting arm around her sister’s shoulders. “Come on, Juliet, let’s go home,” she whispered, as Juliet sadly nodded in agreement.

~ ~ ~

Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.

Juliet eyes flew open at what sounded like someone pounding their fist on the beach house backdoor. She glanced at her alarm clock and saw that it registered 3:05 in the early morning hours.

Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang…

Whoever it was wasn’t giving up so easily, as the hammering continued. Jumping out of bed, she quickly threw on a silky housecoat over her baby doll pajamas and met her sister in the upstairs hallway. She saw that Sara’s hair was disheveled from sleep, her housecoat had been thrown haphazardly on and she was carrying a large wooden baseball bat for protection.

“Who is that?” Sara whispered in a hushed tone.

Juliet put her finger to her lips to tell Sara to be quiet and the two sisters snuck down the stairs in the dark. Thankfully, the moonlight was shining through their open living room windows and it afforded them some light to maneuver safely down the steps.

Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang…

Whoever it was was forcefully pounding on the backdoor again, and obviously not giving up until someone answered. Juliet crept to one of the windows facing the ocean and peeked outside, trying to see who was there. She frowned as she turned to Sara.

“It’s Romeo Boyd,” she expounded loudly and she made a disapproving face at having to deal with him again so soon after their fiasco of a wedding mere hours ago.

Just as the fist pounding on the door began again, Juliet flipped on the lights and yanked the portal open, glaring at him. “What the hell do you want at this hour?” she gritted.

He gave her one of his best movie star smiles. “Honey, I’m home,” he declared, as he pushed her door open even further with his hand and muscled his way in. He glanced at Sara who was standing behind Juliet and still cradling the baseball bat against her chest, ready to launch it into action if any danger should approach. “I hope that’s not for me,” his eyes twinkled mischievously as he indicated the piece of sports equipment in her hands.

Sara was just about to answer him when Juliet interrupted her, and addressed him instead. “Are you drunk?”

“Nope. I’ve barely had a drop since you threw out all my booze a couple of days ago, which wasn’t appreciated by the way.”

“Then why are you here?” she snapped, as her eyes narrowed in on his bull ying and overpowering presence in their living room.

Looking him over, she saw that he was unshaven with the day’s growth of beard roughing up his handsome face, and he was sporting a wild, bad-boy look in his blue eyes. One side of his visage was also showing signs of bruising, probably from Nick’s fists when they’d had their fight earlier, and he was still wearing the black jacket and jeans from the wedding. His white shirt still had the soot marks all over it from the fire and his feet were in a pair of sandals he’d probably borrowed from Tommy. All the clothes he had brought to the island had been burned in the house fire and even though he had thankfully had his credit cards and wall et on his person when the fire had happened, it was obvious he hadn’t had a chance to go shopping for new clothes yet.

Juliet looked down at his left hand and was surprised to see that he was still wearing his wedding ring. Why was he doing that? She’d taken hers off the minute she’d come home, not wanting to be reminded of yet another disaster that she’d perpetuated with her scheming ways and that had blown up in her face, this time with the literal destruction of a house.

Romeo ignored her as he began to wander around the living room, admiring the home. He whistled in appreciation at what he saw. “You know, I’ve never been inside your house before, but I have to say that this is a really nice setup you ladies have here. Much nicer than my beach house, before it burned down to the ground forever.” He walked around some more before stopping at the desk overlooking the ocean view windows where Juliet had her laptop computer. “Is this where you do your writing?” he inquired, as his blue eyes focused on Juliet, waiting for her answer. But she remained silent as she crossed her arms in front of her chest and glared at him, angry at this latest intrusion. Romeo let out a short laugh at her stance. “I’ll take that as a yes?”

“Take it however you like, as long as you take it outside,” Juliet cracked, as she pointed to the still open backdoor from which he’d just entered moments ago.

“I don’t think so,” he suddenly announced, as he shrugged his black jacket off and threw it haphazardly onto the desk where it landed over her closed computer. He then kicked his sandals off and padded to the couch. Plonking down on it, he casually draped his arms over the back and put his bare feet up on the coffee table. “Yeah, I could really get used to this,” he nodded approvingly, as his eyes again surveyed the nicely decorated beach house.

Angry at his insolence and this latest intrusion, Juliet’s eyes darkened like thunderclouds. “What do you want?” she demanded. Sara remained mum behind her.

“Now there’s the million dollar question,” he laughed, as his eyes bore into her. “About an hour ago, I was in bed, unable to sleep and it suddenly dawned on me. Why am I lying here in some goddamned strange hotel, homeless and living like a refugee…”

“Oh come on. I wouldn’t classify the five-star Charlottetown Hotel as refugee status.” Juliet threw him a disbelieving scowl.

“Nevertheless, it’s not home. So, I’m lying there and I’m thinking, wait a minute, I’ve got a wife who has a comfy, cozy house. Why am I not living there instead? Not to mention that this is my wedding night and here I am, all alone in this big, king-sized hotel bed with no Juliet beside me. What’s wrong with this picture?”

“So you decide to come over here to try to get a little somethin-somethin off of me? Is that it?” He grinned at her. “Why not? We’re married aren’t we? It’s all legal, baby.”

Juliet saw red. “I have three things to say to you,” she declared, as she furiously marched back to the door and threw it open even wider. “Get.

The fuck. Out,” she shouted at him as she pointed to the exit. How dare he, she seethed. Did he really expect her to sleep with him after everything he’d done to her? Was he mad, crazy, insane and out of his mind?

Romeo burst out laughing at her display of outrage. “I don’t think so, sweetheart, because after everything you’ve put me through this summer, you owe me - big time.”

Juliet’s jaw dropped open at his bold audacity. “Are you nuts?” she threw at him before turning back towards her sister. “Sara, call the police.” He laughed again. “And what are you going to have me charged with this time? Wanting to have sex with my wife on our wedding night?”

“Romeo, maybe it’s best if you leave,” Sara finally piped up.

“Not a chance in hell, Sara.” He suddenly stood up. “In fact, I think it’s time for bed.” He unbuttoned his white shirt and threw it on the couch before marching bare-chested with only his jeans on up the stairs taking them two at a time.

Sara’s mouth dropped open and she stared dumbfounded at her sister. Juliet returned the look with one of her own, before quickly turning and racing up the stairs after him. Sara, still carrying the baseball bat, immediately trailed behind her.

Reaching the second floor landing, Juliet frowned as she picked up his now discarded pants lying in the middle of the hallway and held them up for her sister’s inspection. “He’d better not be naked in my room,” she fumed to her sibling.

Sara’s eyes twinkled. “Do you think he would dare?”

“Not if he wants to get out of this house alive.”

Sara quickly peeked into her own bedroom first and popped her head back out. “Well, he’s not naked in my room, unfortunately,” she giggled.

“Sara, this isn’t funny.”

“Sorry,” Sara sobered.

“Give me that bat,” Juliet demanded, as she yanked the object out of her sister’s hands and clutched it to her own chest.

“Juliet, you wouldn’t…”

“Why not? If he wants to act like a caveman, then I’ll act like a cavewoman.”

“Juliet…”

But Juliet ignored her sister’s censure as she began marching towards her own bedroom. Sara quickly followed closely behind her, and the two women entered the room.

And there, spread out completely naked on Juliet’s bed was Romeo Boyd. His hands were nonchalantly clasped behind his head against the headboard and the only thing he was wearing was a sly grin on his handsome, unshaven face. He still had a bandage on, covering the shooting injury on his left shoulder to protect it from infection.

Sara’s mouth dropped open in shock for the second time that night as she took in an eyeful of the nude movie star. Juliet, on the other hand, just clenched her fingers even more firmly around the baseball bat, angry at the bastard’s impertinence.

He laughed at their over-the-top facial expressions. “Oh come on, ladies. Juliet, you’ve seen it all up close before, and Sara…” he turned to her and winked, “I saw you and Faith checking me out with the binoculars last month when I was skinny dipping in the ocean.” Sara’s cheeks flushed bright red as she continued to gawk at his perfect male form. Romeo smirked again before continuing, “Besides, did you ever see my movie Blood and Lust?”

Sara nodded and knowingly smiled, “Oh yeah…”

“Well, that was the first frontal nude scene I ever did. And then I did one in Turn Up the Heat and another one in Freeze Frame.” Sara giggled, “Don’t forget the one you did in Great Getaway; that was a good one.” Juliet spun around and glowered at her sister. “Sara, stop encouraging him!”

Romeo turned back to Juliet then and pointed to her white wedding dress draped across a chair by the window. “I assume this room is the bridal chamber? Why don’t you come and join me, wife?” He patted a spot beside him on the bed.

Juliet suddenly raised her baseball bat high over her head and assumed a batter’s stance. “I’m going to count to three and if your naked ass is not out of my bed and out of this house by then, I’m going to start swinging,” she threatened.

Romeo looked over her shoulder to where Sara was standing and winked at the sister again. “Do you think she’ll do it, Sara?”

“I don’t know, Romeo. She can be a crazy town type of broad when she gets her feathers all ruffled up. You should know that better than anyone,” she snickered.

Romeo burst out laughing at that and Juliet turned to glare at her traitor of a sister. “Sara! Whose side are you on?” she yelled.

“Yours,” Sara suddenly declared, before reaching for the baseball bat and yanking it out of her big sister’s hands. “And it’s time for this nonsense to stop!”

Juliet was outraged. “Sara, what are you doing…” she began, but her little sister immediately cut her off.

“Shut up, Juliet! We’ve done things your way all summer long and look where it’s gotten you. Now it’s time to do things my way.” Juliet opened her mouth to complain about her sister’s dictatorial manner, but on seeing the determined look stamped on Sara’s face, she very wisely shut it again. Pouting, she remained silent, feeling like a schoolgirl who’d just been reprimanded by the principal.

Nodding approvingly at Juliet’s silence, Sara, with bat now in hand, approached the bed and addressed the naked movie star. “Romeo Boyd, do you love my sister?” she demanded.

He remained silent as his eyes quickly skirted Sara’s determined stance before alighting on Juliet. He stared at her intently for a few seconds before replying. “I should probably have my head examined by a real psychiatrist this time considering everything she’s done to me, but - yes, I’m hopelessly in love with your sister.” He watched as Juliet’s eyes widened in surprise.

Sara continued. “And what are your intentions towards her? Are they honorable?” Romeo continued to focus on his bride, all teasing now gone from his voice. “No matter how it went down, she’s my wife and I’m her husband, end of story.”

Sara nodded her approval, satisfied that what she was hearing was the truth. She turned back to her sister who was standing there, shocked to hear Romeo’s declaration of love.

Juliet couldn’t believe what she’d just heard. Could it be true, she wondered? Did Romeo Boyd love her - for real? No more lies, no more schemes, no more games, could he truly be in love with her after all?

Sara addressed her then, breaking into her thoughts. “Juliet, do you love him?” Juliet stared at him and the love she was feeling in her heart for him seemed to rush out of every pore of her body. The time for lies was over and she knew it. “Yes,” she finally whispered truthfully.

“Yes what, missy?”

“Yes, I love him, Sara.” Juliet heard Romeo’s swift intake of a breath, as he kept his eyes lasered in on her.

Romeo was stunned at her words. He had hoped that she felt the same way about him, but he’d never really allowed himself to truly believe that it could happen. The best that he’d ever imagined was that she could maybe grow to love him if she got to know him, the real him, without the lies and games that had gone on between them all summer long.

Sara again nodded her approval. “Very good. I now pronounce you husband and wife, and I’m outta here.” With baseball bat in hand, she turned and marched out the door towards her own bedroom where she began throwing some of her clothes into a suitcase.

Suddenly shy at the intensity of Romeo’s gaze that was still focused on her, Juliet lost her nerve and quickly escaped out the door, following her sister to the other bedroom. She reached Sara’s side just as her younger sibling was finishing throwing some toiletries into the open case on her bed.

Juliet was stunned. “Sara, you can’t leave me now,” she begged, afraid to be left alone with Romeo. She watched as her sister threw on a shirt and track pants over her pajamas before shutting her suitcase and lugging it off the bed.

“Juliet, I should have listened to my earlier instincts. The man loves you and you’re married to him. Grow the fuck up!” she yelled, before marching out and down the stairs.

“Sara, please don’t go,” Juliet pleaded, as she trailed after her sister like a little lost child.

Sara ignored the plea. “I’ll be at The Charlottetown Hotel if you need me,” she announced, before walking out the front door.

Juliet followed her out to the driveway and watched impotently as Sara got into their rental car and drove off. Nervously she bit her lip as her eyes traveled to the lights shining from the upstairs bedrooms. Romeo Boyd was up there waiting for her, and he’d just told her that he loved her and wanted to turn their phony marriage into a real one. Could she believe him? Or was this just another ploy to get back at her like the fake amnesia plot had been? Would she wake up tomorrow morning to find out that he’d just used her all over again and played her for a fool one more time?