Chapter thirty seven
•Morgan•
Ever since I started working at the coffee shop, I've been getting up early with Romeo, once his alarm rings.
As the alarm goes off, I feel him groan into my stomach before lifting himself up to turn it off, making me cold. "I don't wanna go to work today", he whines.
"It's Sunday. Don't you have Sundays off?"
"I've got a lot to do today", I nod.
"I wonder how Parker's doing", I mumble to myself, mostly.
"See if he can meet you at work today", Romeo rolls off of me, standing up to get in the shower.
"Pass me a sweater please", I ask, pointing toward the closet. He throws me one of his giant hoodies. "I can't wear this to work", I hold it up.
"Why?" He takes one of his white shirts out of the closet, laying it on the bed.
"Because it's huge on me", I stand, walking over to my side of the closet, picking out a black sweater. He chuckles as he walks into the bathroom, starting the shower.
I still haven't forgotten what he said last night.
I mean, he can't.. right? Well, that is the whole point of this mission, for him to fall in love with me, but I think I was secretly hoping it never happened, then I'd never have to go through with it—go through with killing him.
I don't want to.
I really don't want to.
I must've been sitting on the edge of the bed for a while because I hear Romeo walk out and speak to me. "What's wrong?" He kneels in front of me in his suit, wiping the tears that escaped my eyes.
"Hm?" I touch under my eyes, feeling the damp from the tears.
"You were crying", he says, softly.
"Sorry", I shake my head, looking down.
"Don't be sorry", he takes a seat next to me, pulling me in for a hug, pressing my head to his chest. "Why were you crying?"
"It's just that—", I stop and he pulls me onto his lap so I'm straddling him. As I look up at him, I can't stop the tears from flowing. "Why—why did you let me stay here? Why didn't you kick me out?"
He looks into my eyes, confusion hidden in his gunmetal orbs. "I don't know. I guess I just felt the need to protect you. You were crying and it made me feel some time of way, even if I didn't show it—", he chuckles, lightly. "And I guess I didn't want to let you go", he mumbles, softly.
"But you should've", I try to stay strong, but my voice let's me down as it trembles. "You should've let me go. I'm a bad person".
"No, you're not", he keeps a strong grip on my waist, as if he's trying to keep me in place, and not let me go. Almost as if he thinks I'm going to leave.
"But I am", my voice cracks. "I'm no good for you, why can't you see that?"
"Morgan", he whispers, almost inaudibly. "You're the best thing that ever happened to me", he holds my face in his hands. "I love you", I cry even more. He wraps his arms around my waist, holding me tight as he lets me cry into his shirt.
Why?
"I'm sorry", my voice wavers. "I got your shirt wet", I sniff.
"It's okay", he assures me. "I have others", I try to smile as best as I can. "You sure you wanna go to work today?"
I nod, wiping my eyes with my hand. "You're going to be late now as well".
He leans his face towards mine. "It doesn't matter. I'm the boss, remember?" He chuckles, pressing his lips to mine for a second.
How could I forget?
I take a deep breath before attempting to lift myself off of Romeo. "Let me go", I whine.
"Nope", he leans back, flipping us over so I'm under him. He then starts to tickle me, moving from my stomach up to my neck until I begin to laugh uncontrollably. "Are you gonna be happy now? No more crying?"
"Yes! Yeah—yeah", I try to say through my constant laughter.
"Promise?" He laughs along with me.
"Mhm. Stop!" I push him off of me, standing up and running to the bathroom, locking myself in. "You're so annoying", I groan, breathlessly as I take my toothbrush and brush my teeth.
Once I finish fixing my tear stained face and knotted hair, I walk out to see Romeo laying on the bed beside my black sweater and jeans he picked out for me. "I really should go now", he lifts himself up, walking over to me to wrap his arms around my waist. "If you wanna come home then call me, okay?" I nod. "See you later", he kisses my forehead before walking downstairs. I assume Will isn't here today because I don't hear the clatter of pots and pans like I usually do.
✯✯✯✯
"Take a break", my boss, Victoria, tells me. She's a nice lady, around her early thirties, with black hair and freckles covering her face.
"But my lunch isn't for another twenty minutes", I point to the clock.
"Aren't those your friends?" She gestures to the people walking through the door.
"Yeah, but they can wait", I shrug.
"Just go", she chuckles, pushing me toward the door.
"Hey", I greet Sam and Ava, walking over to take a seat at one of the tables. They've become friends since the party, when Sam became friends with her friend Jackson.
"Max has been texting me", she says, fiddling with the sleeves of her sweater. "He's sweet", she shrugs. I can't help the huge grin that appears on my face. Before she can say anything more, Hayden, Hayley and Jacob walk in.
"It's fucking freezing outside", is the first thing Hayley says as she sits down on the opposite side of the table to Sam, Ava and I.
"Hello to you too", I chuckle, standing to greet them. Jake sits beside Hayley and Hayden sits on the other side of him. We start to talk until I decide to blurt out what's been on my mind. "Parker's mom took him to stay with her".
"What?" They all look at me.
"Parker's biological mom came over last night, after the party, and told him he has to go live with her since he's not sixteen yet and his foster parents are no longer in the picture", I begin to get sad. "I searched it up. Once he's sixteen, the only way he can come back is if we adopt him".
"Why only sixteen?" Jake asks.
"Because at sixteen, we can adopt without parental consent. We'll still have to go to court and everything though, and that's if he wants to come back. If not then obviously he'll stay".
"I'm sorry", Ava starts, I shake my head.
"Romeo also told me he loves me, so—".
I shrug before hearing both Hayden and Hayley yell, "what?!"
"Heh, anyway", I begin to stand up. "My break is over so, feel free to stay", I look at Hayley staring back at me. "O—or not", I chuckle, nervously. "Hi", I serve the person next up in the queue.
✯✯✯✯
I hear the door close, waking me up from my nap. "Hey, babe", Romeo kisses my cheek as he sits next to me on the couch.
"Hi", I sit up, rubbing my eyes.
"Did you eat?" He grabs the remote, changing the channel. I shake my head. "I'll make food", he gets up, walking into the kitchen.
After a while, I decide to follow him into the kitchen. I sit on a stool and watch as he prepares the food. "You sure you don't want to go and get changed before you start?" He shakes his head.
"You need to eat", he states.
"Yeah, but I'll still eat if you get changed first and then make it".
"What have you eaten today?" I think back to the half a cookie I ate when I got into work and decide to stay silent. "See. You need to eat as soon as possible", I chuckle at him, leaning my head on the counter.
"What are you making?"
"Spaghetti and—", he hisses, shaking his hand.
"What happened?" I snort.
"Burned myself", I chuckle. He turns around to playfully glare at me before turning back to cook. "And meatballs, by the way", I nod in acknowledgement.
"How was your day?" I ask him, fiddling with the sleeves of his hoodie that I'm wearing.
"It was exhausting. I had to go down to train the new recruits today. Same again tomorrow. How was yours?"
"Good. Ava, Sam, Hayley, Hayden and Jacob came during my break, and Parker was texting me. He said that they're not as bad as he thought they would be", I stop as the doorbell rings. "Who is that?" I mumble, walking over to open the door.
"Hi", Max barges in. "I smell food", he makes his way to the kitchen and I follow him.
"What are you doing here?" Romeo asks, clearly annoyed by his best friends presence.
"I was bored", he shrugs, taking a seat next to where I'm sat at the island. "You know—", he starts, but I zone out as I begin to think about what Romeo said.
"You're the best thing that ever happened to me".
"I love you".
Then my dads words come to mind.
"You have to make someone fall in love with you... and then kill him".
"Don't catch feelings".
"Why do you look like you're about to cry?" Max's words pull me out of my daze; Romeo quickly turns around, walking over to me.
"What's wrong?" He asks, softly.
I shake my head, rubbing my eyes. "Sorry, it's nothing". He gives me a look as if to say, 'you're telling me about this later'.
"It's almost ready", he kisses my cheek before continuing to cook. Max starts telling me a bunch of random things, trying to make me laugh—in which he succeeds—until dinner is ready.
"Thank you", I say to Romeo as he passes some to me before passing some to Max and pouring some for himself.
As we eat, we talk about Parker, and how Megan feels. On the bright side, they'll still see each other in school.
Once we've all finished eating, Max decides to leave, saying he'll see us in the morning.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Romeo stops me as I start to wash the dishes.
"I'm washing up", I continue to clean one of the plates.
"No", he takes it from me. "I'll do this. You go to bed, I'll be up in a minute".
"But you cooked", I trail off.
"It doesn't matter. Go and relax, I won't be long", he pecks my lips before turning back to the sink.
I walk upstairs to brush my teeth, seeing as I've already showered and changed. Romeo comes in just as I crawl into bed, snuggling further into his hoodie. He tells me he's taking a shower and I should choose a movie to watch. I scroll through Netflix, stopping on The Pacifier.
Once I hear the shower stop, Romeo walks out in only a towel a few minutes later. His wet hair falls over his eyes, dripping onto the floor. He pulls his boxers on underneath the towel before removing it to dry his hair. He throws the towel into the laundry basket, then climbs into bed with me, pulling me closer by my waist and resting his head in the crook of my neck. "What movie did you pick?" He mumbles, pressing light kisses to my neck.
"The pacifier", I play with his hair.
He lifts his head and stares into my eyes. "I love you", he whispers. I want to reply, but can't. My mouth opens, but no sound comes out. So in response, I pull his lips to mine. I feel his cold hands on my back, hugging me closer to him.
boring chapter. I'm sorry
updated authors note.
ive lost track of when i last updated so here's another update ig