Sweet Home

by Tillie Cole

  Romeo leaned in and pressed his smooth lips against mine. I played with the wisps of hair at the back of his neck, and he whispered, “Fuck, Mol. You’re tryin’ my restraint lookin’ this beautiful. How the hell am I meant to get through the night? I’ll be fightin’ off the guys with a stick. They’re gonna get in trouble if they even look at you for a second.”

  “I only want you, baby. You know that,” I assured and watched as a wave of tranquillity flashed across his face. I reached around, lacing his hand in mine. “Let’s go. I’m excited for you to teach me how to two-step.”

  He guffawed as he wrapped his arm around my neck. “Fuck two-steppin’. I want you pressed right against me, slow dancin’ all night long.”

  14

  Club Flux was packed from wall to wall with drunken Tide supporters who’d been at the game, and as soon as we arrived, Romeo was accosted with praise and congratulatory handshakes. He gripped onto me tightly, his arm around my shoulder and my head tucked against the crook of his neck.

  Our group was given a booth in the corner of the club, the benefit of being with the Romeo Prince.

  We were heading to the cornered-off area when a drunken student sporting a Tide jersey grabbed hold of my arm and jostled me to his sweaty chest. “Bullet’s good luck charm! You’re saving the season, darlin’! You deserve a big ol’ thank you kiss!”

  The guy was immediately pushed away from me and Romeo held him up by the neck of his shirt. “What the fuck do you think you’re doin’?”

  The Tide fan instantly paled and held up his hands in surrender. “Bullet… I-I was j-just showing my appreciation.”

  “Then appreciate her from afar. Touch her again and you’ll be starin’ up at us from the fuckin’ ground. You get me?”

  “Yeah, yeah, I get you, man. I’ll back off. S-sorry…” Romeo dropped him to the ground and the shell-shocked fan immediately rushed away through the crowd. When Romeo turned back to me, I stood glaring at him with folded arms and a pissed-off scowl.

  “Baby…” He tried to placate, inching forward.

  I sliced my hand through the air, gesturing for him to shut up and stop. “No need, Romeo! Absolutely no bloody need for what you just did. You didn’t have to be so damn aggressive to the poor guy!”

  Romeo’s full lips puckered into a pout. “But he touched you.”

  “So you threaten him?”

  “You’re mine and he touched you. I didn’t like it.”

  “Christ, Rome, that was completely over the top.”

  He blew out a long sigh. “I fucked up again, didn’t I?” He looked so lost.

  I walked towards him and wrapped my arms around his neck. “Yes, you did.”

  His lip hooked into a smirk as his hand dropped to run over my backside. “Am I forgiven?”

  My breath hitched and I placed my forehead against his. “I’m yours. Be calm.”

  A wave of peace washed over his features and he nodded his head curtly before crashing his lips to mine, stealing a hard kiss.

  We headed to the private table and joined our friends. Within minutes, a petite blond waitress arrived to take our drink orders. From the minute she arrived, she never took her green eyes off Rome. I’d come to expect it. He drew people to him—whether due to his good looks or whom he played for. But she was acting differently; she looked at him as if she knew him… intimately.

  After we ordered several bottles of beer, and Rome’s apparent ignorance of the waitress’ constant attention, I relaxed and was finally able to survey the club. It was a mass of grinding, gyrating bodies and men enthusiastically swinging their female partners around the dance floor—I assumed that was two-stepping. It was all pretty entertaining.

  Our drinks arrived and once again, the waitress lingered in front of Rome and this time I knew my suspicions were justified. He ignored her, prompting her to block our line of sight with her pert plastic breasts and sing, “Hey, Bullet, how’ve you been?”

  My eyebrows immediately pulled together and I swerved to Rome, who’d gone completely still.

  “We’re done here,” he replied coldly.

  The busty blonde, wearing an obscenely short black dress, leaned on the table, pushing her cleavage together with her bent arms, ignoring his dismissal. “You never called me after our night together.”

  I stiffened and Romeo pressed me farther into his chest, anticipating correctly that I was about to flee from the uncomfortable scene. It was flee or act on the intense anger raging through my body.

  “I was never goin’ to. I’ll say it again… We’re done here.” He leaned forward slightly. “Or if you need a simpler answer… fuck off.”

  The girl’s face fell and she snapped. “I’d heard on the grapevine that you were pussy whipped—fuckin’ waste of a good cock.” She looked down her nose at me and laughed. “And for that too. She must screw better than she wears that shitty dress.” She stood abruptly, swinging her curves, and cut her way through the crowd. My fists clenched tight, the tips of my nails digging into my palms.

  Ally glared at Rome and she shook her head in disapproval. I didn’t dare look at anyone else. I wriggled loose from his arms. Romeo tried to grip onto me harder, but I managed to shuffle to the edge of the booth.

  “I need to use the bathroom,” I blurted out.

  Romeo edged forward, hard faced, and thundered, “Don’t you dare run, not after everythin’ you said.”

  I shushed him to silence, which was met by a sharp twitch of his mouth. He wasn’t used to being shot down and I knew it annoyed him. “I’m going to the bathroom!” I snapped, and I watched his face ice over. His eyes narrowed at my sharp tone and I tossed my hair dismissively, not caring, and walked away.

  I heard Ally shout, “Wait, Molly!” But I didn’t stop.

  I’d almost reached the bathroom when someone clasped my hand tightly and pulled me behind them. I stubbornly stood stock-still, snagging back my arm, and Romeo whipped ‘round to fix me with his furious gaze.

  Releasing an angry grunt and taking a tight hold of my hand again, he dragged me into an empty corridor, trying several doors to see if they were unlocked. When one swung open—a storage cupboard—he pulled me inside, flicking on the light, locked the door, and whirled to me, hands firmly on his hips.

  “I fucked her once. Last year. There was nothin’ more to it. You don’t need to be upset by it, and you certainly don’t need to fuckin’ run away.”

  I glared at him. “Well, excuse me if I don’t enjoy your exploits flaunting their slutty selves in front of my face!”

  Romeo’s nostrils flared and he stepped closer. “You want to know all about my sexual past, all the sordid details? Fine! I’ve fucked a lot of girls, in many different ways, in many different places. They’d throw themselves my way and I’d give them what they wanted, and they’d fuckin’ love it.”

  Before I knew what’d happened, I’d struck his face with my hand, the loud slap amplified by the tinny acoustics in the boxy room.

  Blood scolded my veins, my chest pounded, and Rome turned a dark shade of purple.

  “Did that feel good? Have you got it outta your system now?” he bit out, rubbing his hand along his cheek.

  Tears swelled in my eyes. I didn’t mean to hit him, but no one had ever evoked such a reaction in me before. I was physically shaking with the sudden rush of adrenalin.

  Romeo leaned against the opposite wall, lowering his head. “They fucked Bullet. They only ever fucked Bullet!”

  My breath paused with hurt. “Nice, Rome. Real nice. Is that what you’ll do to me? Let me fuck the great Bullet Prince, give me what I want, and move on?!”

  He stormed forward, forcing me back so my spine was flush against the cold steel shelves, his arms bracing me in a cage on either side. “Not at all, Shakespeare, but hear this. I’m gonna fuck you, but I’m also gonna make love to you. I’m gonna own every goddamn piece of your soul, and I’m never gonna let you go. You’re gonna scream my name over and over until it’s perman
ently lodged in your friggin’ throat. You’re not gonna be just a fuck to me, Mol—you’re gonna be my fuckin’ salvation!”

  I swallowed as he placed his hand on my chin, urging me to look at him, to see him. “You’ll make love to me—Romeo—not some pathetic fuckin’ football alter ego. You’ll get the real me, all of me, forever and ever. Is that clear enough for you?” He closed his eyes, pressing his forehead against mine. “Christ, Mol! I’ve never done this before. If I’d known you were out there waitin’ for me, I wouldn’t have fucked all those chicks. But I can’t take it back.”

  I slumped back against the rigid metal. “It’s all too much, isn’t it? Your family obviously hates me, Shelly won’t back off, you turn on anyone who even looks at me, and these… girls you’ve had in the past seem not to be able to let go. I have my own issues, Rome, you know this, and piled with yours… it’s just too much. How can we possibly work under all this stress?”

  Panic set on his features. “Don’t. Don’t do that!”

  “Do what?”

  “Write us off. Don’t run away when it gets tough.” He gripped my chin. “You fight your past problems. I’ll learn to control my anger. We fight back against my family. We ignore all the others. We get through this! Don’t you dare quit on me now, Shakespeare. Don’t you fuckin’ dare!”

  “Rome—”

  Dark eyes searched mine. “No! I won’t let you go. I know I’m all kinds ‘a wrong for you, but you’ve changed me. You’ve fuckin’ changed me! Can’t you see that?! You’re gonna face this with me. Say it! Please, baby, say it to me!”

  I shook my head, ready to argue, and he shuffled forward until he held me captive with his tall, broad body. “Say you get me, Mol?”

  “Rome, I—” I groaned.

  A clenched fist hit the shelves behind, causing stacks of boxes to crash loudly to the floor. “You’re not runnin’. YOU GET ME???”

  “YES! YES, I FUCKING GET YOU!” I screamed, pushing against his chest. Even through the hardness of his words, I could feel the fear pulsing from his body at the thought of losing me.

  His hand gripped the back of my neck. “You’re still in?” he whispered, searching every part of my eyes.

  I sighed and he hitched my leg over his hip, struggling to get even closer.

  “I’m still in.”

  Romeo’s pupils dilated and an excited flush spread on his rugged face. “Fuck, I want you so bad. You doing everythin’ I say makes me hard as fuck.”

  I leaned forward and kissed the spot just below his ear. I drew back slowly and, taking his hand, lifted my dress and placed his hand square against my heat.

  “Mol… Christ,” he groaned as his fingers slipped along my core. “You’re killin’ me.”

  My tongue circled the shell of his ear. “I like it when you lead, when you assert your authority. It turns me on.”

  “Fuck… I can tell, and I like that you submit. It…calms me. You’re what I need. Damn, you’re perfect for me. Beautiful, sexy as all hell with a body that makes painters weep.”

  Rome’s fingers began their exploration and I lost all semblance of sanity. He wrapped his hand in my long hair and held me tightly as his fingers entered me, making it impossible for me to move. I hissed and his gaze grew darker.

  “They’ll be no one else. For the first time ever, you’re givin’ me what I want, what I need. You give me full control, and I love it. You do too, don’t you? You fuckin’ love it…?”

  That familiar devastating wave of want began to lap along my legs and my breathless pants filled every corner of the room.

  I gripped onto his shoulders and answered, “Yes, I love it. I love it!”

  His taunting smirk both turned me on and infuriated me, and his fingers pulsed at a mind-bending speed.

  My hand reached down to his jeans and he roared, “Off! Let go. Now. This is not about me. You won’t touch me unless I say so.”

  I did as dictated and when a third digit entered me, I threw my head back and screamed in release. My chest heaved with the sensation and I gripped Romeo’s hair, smashing his lips to mine, conveying my complete acceptance of who he was, who I was, what we were together.

  The beat from the music on the dance floor thumped through the quiet of our little room; I could feel the drum and bass penetrate through Romeo’s chest against mine. Romeo pulled his hand from my panties and kissed me softly, slowly, and lovingly, a direct contradiction from only minutes before.

  “Are we okay?” he whispered against my mouth, his eyes guarded, even scared.

  I kissed his forehead and smiled, causing a brightness to light up his face. “I want you, Romeo. You give me something I didn’t even know I needed too.”

  “Even though I’ve fucked around for years? Made things even harder on you? That I come as damaged goods?”

  I ran both hands up his arms. “I can’t pretend I’m okay with it, but if I’m yours and yours alone, then I’ll deal with it.”

  “You are. I don’t even see other girls now, haven’t since our very first kiss.” It seemed as though it was almost painful for him to admit those words.

  “Romeo?”

  Fingertips stroked my face and he watched every move I made. “Mmm?”

  “Are we wrong? Is how we need to find… pleasure completely fucked up? You ordering me around like a staff sergeant and me giving in to your demands.”

  He smiled darkly at my tormented worry. “I’m gonna say a resoundin’ yes.”

  I nodded, slowly turning away. He pulled me back to his amused face. “Do you like it, Mol? Do you enjoy me bein’ in control?”

  My eyes rolled back, scorching heat threatening to ignite at the mere thought. “Yes… every time.”

  “Then we’re not wrong. In fact, there are no two better-suited people. We fill an emotional gap that we both have missin’.”

  I breathed out a laugh. “Fateful star-crossed lovers?”

  He smiled again. It was almost a full smile I’d never seen from him before, so careless and free. “I think we need to stop quotin’ that damn play, Shakespeare. I feel like we’re the fucked-up rated-R version of Romeo and Juliet.”

  I couldn’t help but burst out in laughter, Romeo joining in. I fixed my dress and took his hand. “Now, let’s go dance.”

  “I’m crazy turned on as it is. You’re gonna make me blow by simply watchin’ you move. Your curves are dangerous, baby.”

  I rubbed myself against his body, feeling the hard ridge in his jeans. “You’re nowhere nearly done with me tonight, Romeo. I want you thinking about that until we leave this club. But we came here to dance, and I wanna dance. Show all your past conquests that you’re now mine and they need to back the hell off from my man.”

  I went to turn away when he jerked me back, lifting me off the floor, wrapping my legs around his waist. “Say that again,” he ordered sternly, playful Rome completely gone and dark Rome rearing his head.

  “Say what?”

  “What you just said.”

  “That you’re mine?”

  “Yes,” he rasped as he pushed himself up between my legs.

  “You are mine now. With no conditions. Just you for you.”

  He growled and slammed me back against the wall. I wasn’t going to stop him taking what he wanted, and from the expression on his face, neither was he. I was going to give myself to my boyfriend in a closet and I honestly couldn’t care less.

  Romeo closed in, unzipping his fly, and the sodding doorknob began to rattle. “Hey, who’s in there? Open up,” a male voice shouted from the corridor.

  “NO!” he bellowed through clenched teeth, his hands flexing almost painfully at my waist.

  “Open up or I’ll get security!”

  Romeo’s head dropped to my shoulder, and I muffled my laugh in his long hair. I reached down, pulling up his fly, and wiggled out of his grasp, lacing his hand through mine. “Let’s go, baby. Let’s actually have our date.”

  Nodding brusquely, he cupped my face. “Y
ou go out there and fuckin’ show everyone we’re together. You own this… us. Time to be bold, baby. Bring the fuckin’ rain.”

  A smile slowly spread on my face, a warm feeling bursting in my chest. He’d shown me we were unbreakable. It was time to put that belief into practice.

  Romeo yanked the door open and the young bar manager on the other side stepped back at the severe guise on his face.

  We pushed through the crowd and made our way to the booth. Our friends were on the dance floor, so we grabbed our beers and settled our heated hormones with the waiting alcohol.

  I spotted the busty waitress from before and signalled for her attention. Romeo watched me carefully as she came closer, every muscle in his hard body prepped for intervention. I perched on his knee and let him hold me proudly in his arms.

  Her beady eyes crinkled at the two of us and she muttered something under her breath before painting on a fake smile. “Can I help y’all?”

  I glanced playfully at Romeo, who pulled a confused smirk at my apparent new confidence. Our tryst in the closet had put my jealousy at ease—if a couple could bring that kind of animalism out in one another, I had no rivals or threats.

  “We’ll take a round of tequila shots, twice, and…” I trailed my finger down Romeo’s abs to his jeans, his hips lifting against my bottom in reaction. “What do you want, baby?”

  Romeo’s eyes shone with unconstrained lust and he spoke only to me. “We should get everyone another beer too, beautiful.”

  I turned back to the waitress. “You get all that?” She nodded bluntly and went to turn away, rolling her eyes as she did so.

  I saw red.

  “Oh, one more thing,” I shouted to her retreating form. She whipped around, annoyance radiating from her bitchy glare, all pretence gone.

  I smiled a brilliant smile. “He’s mine now. Spread the word to any other tart who wants a second round with my boyfriend that he’s completely unavailable.” She glared at Rome in fury, then scurried into the crowd. My heart was beating at a mind-bending rate.