Thou Shall Not • book two

tell you what

Roman's POV

"Everything's fine Mom." I commented as I kicked the front door shut with my foot, "We all got settled back in yesterday. You don't have to worry so much."

"Worry is grandmas middle name." Joelle mumbled as she dropped he'd backpack a little ways from the door, "Patricia Worri Reigns. The 'i' makes it more feminine."

"My sons house gets broken into and someone gets hurt in the process and you expect me not to worry?" My mother panicked through the phone, "Do you need me to come down? I can help April out around the house. I don't mind..."

"No Mom." I sighed, "I promise everything's ok. AJ's fine. We're all fine."

"I don't know Roman..." she mumbled and I pinched the bridge of my noes, "I don't feel like you're safe."

"I have a security system, Mom."

"That apparently had been tampered with."

"I'm pretty intimidating, Ma."

"Yeah, a big, scary guy that could be taken down with a bullet." She countered, "Roman, you could have gotten killed! You, Jojo, Naomi, April. Any of you!"

I sighed again as I leaned against the wall, Joelle walking off towards the kitchen while I regretted my decision of informing my Mother of recent events.

She had called earlier in the day just to check in like she always does. I debated whether or not I should inform her about the break in, and I figured that not telling her would be pretty bad.

Come to figure out that telling her was also not the best choice.

"But we're not Mom." I sighed, "We're fine. I got a guy coming to check out the alarm system and everything. Plus what do you think Pops would say about you coming to look after your grown man of a son?"

She stayed silent for a moment and I raised a brow.

"It was just a joke Mom." I tried to assure her, "Its just there's really no need to come down."

"Oh I know." She sighed, "Its not that... it's just a lot of things going on. And now with you and the break in... Jesus, I just need a break."

I scrunched my noes a bit as I pushed myself off the wall, "What do you mean a lot of things are going on?"

"Dad," Joelle questioned as she entered the foyer once again, "Where's Miss Lee?"

"You check her room?" I asked her.

"She's never in her room." Joelle shrugged, "Did she go out?"

"Go check the garage and see if a car is gone." I told her and she nodded before walking off.

"You seem busy." My mom told me moments later as I walked into the kitchen, "If you need to call me later then that's fine, Roman."

"You're not changing the subject on me that fast Mom." I told her as I sat down on a bar stool, "What's going on? Everything alright?"

"I really don't want you worried about this Roman." She sighed, "Its not your place to worry about these kind of things. You're too young to be stressed out."

"Tell that to the grey hairs already forming in my head." I said with a small laugh, "Seriously Mom. You know how you get when you put too much on your plate. You can talk to me."

"It's not that I don't want to tell you." She huffed, "It's that your father doesn't want you worrying about this."

I stayed silent for a moment, thinking back to the last time I had actually even spoken to my dad. At the convention...