Romeo and the Angel: Impossible Crush Chronicles

by Leeann M. Shane

I found it where I’d left it last night. In a pile with my clothes. I handed it to him and watched as he added himself to my contacts.

  “I’ll text you when I get home. Deal?”

  “I guess.”

  He rose to his feet, stretching by raising his arms over his head. As he did so, his shirt rode up. Revealing a glimpse of the hard plain of tan abs hiding under his shirt. The faint trail of onyx hair disappearing between the lines dug into his lower abdomen sent a shockwave of heat over me. I looked anywhere but at his body. Unfair. What an unfair thing to keep from me. A freaking ripped, bronze six-pack.

  “Walk me out?” He didn’t wait for my answer. He took my hand and led me out of my room and into the living room. Mom was passed out on the couch.

  Romeo stopped at the door and studied me. “Is your dad really going to hate me?”

  “Without a doubt.”

  That made him laugh. He shook his head and leaned down, pressing a kiss to my temple. “Lock your door.”

  I watched him walk down the front steps and onto the dark, scary street. When he was out of sight, I locked the front door and covered Mom with a blanket. Then I went to my room to find Kenzie’s head poking out of her blanket.

  “Can’t help yourself, can you?” But she smiled, a sad accepting smile.

  I turned the lights off and got into my bed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  She snorted. “You’re falling so hard and so fast for that boy the wind’s giving me whiplash.”

  I turned on my side, so she wouldn’t see my face.

  My smiling, worried, falling face.

  My phone buzzed fifteen minutes later. I opened the text message under my covers.

  Romeo: Romeo and the Angel was my papa’s favorite book. He had a hard time learning English when he came to America, but for some reason he could read that book. So he did. All day and all night. It protected him. Gave him an escape. When my mama was pregnant with me, she had complications. Papa said I needed an angel to survive. Mama never forgot that. She and Papa named me Romeo. So I’d never stop searching for my purpose. Never stop chasing my angel. Never give up.

  My throat bobbed, my chest filling and filling until I couldn’t tell if the tears in my eyes were happy or sad.

  Me: That’s beautiful. You want to know something crazy?

  Romeo: What?

  Me: My middle name is Angel.

  It took him a full minute to respond.

  Romeo: Go to sleep, Angel.

  In the morning, Kenzie still had the “flu,” but I was miraculously better.

  “You’re going to make me walk to school by myself?” I sat on her bed, rubbing her back.

  “Don’t try and guilt me. It won’t work.”

  “It’s a great big scary world out there for little ole me.”

  She burrowed deeper under her covers, grumbling.

  “Kenzie, I need you.”

  She flung the covers back, shooting me a glare. “Oh, shut up. I’m going. But I’m not paying attention to anything.”

  “So, it’ll be like every other day?” I teased.

  She shuffled past me, not in the mood to bicker. “Dweeb.”

  My dad was a zombie when I came out, drinking coffee with one eye open and one closed. I was worried, body tensed that he’d undoubtedly have an episode about Romeo’s visit last night. But one look at Mom told me she hadn’t told him. She winked, returning to the stove.

  “You’re working another early shift?” I asked, sitting down next to him.

  He nodded, looking at me with his one opened eye. “If the shift is there, I have to take it. Things will slow down once Mom has the twins.”

  “What if they don’t?”

  He sighed a sigh so deep my eyes watered. “They will.”

  “Maybe I could get a job to help? You wouldn’t have to work so much.”

  “No,” both my parents stressed.

  “Focus on school,” Dad insisted.

  I bit my lip, feeling so thankful for my father. He worked his butt off for us. “How about another cup of coffee?” I offered.

  He smiled. “Thanks, Angel.”

  I made him the best cup of coffee I ever made, setting it down just in time for Mom to do the same with pancakes and eggs. We were thanking him the only way we could.

  “Have a good day at school,” he called on his way out for work, coffee thermos in his hand. “Feel better?”

  Kenzie emerged, giving him a lackluster shrug. “Sort of.”

  When the front door closed behind him, Kenzie sagged at the table, dressed in an outfit I didn’t even know she owned. Baggy jeans and a tank top that neither hugged her curves nor flattered her. She had her hair in a ponytail and not a single ounce of makeup on her face. She may be doing it because she was in an awful mood, but I didn’t think my sister had ever looked prettier.

  Catching me staring, she glared at me. “What?”

  “You’re so pretty, that’s all.”

  Her eyes widened. “I look like crap. What are you talking about?”

  “You look like you, silly. Am I that pretty too?”

  She laughed, shaking her head at me; there was a dot of pink in her cheeks. “Yes, you idiot.”

  Satisfied with myself that she’d established she was pretty with no makeup, and thus didn’t look like crap, I got dressed for school in much the same style, only my jeans stopped at my ankles, and I paired it with an off the shoulder top the color of cherries and my black high top Converses. I put my hair in a messy bun and met her at the door.

  Mom wrangled us near the door and kissed both of our faces, unperturbed by our horror. Holding us hostage with the most epic attack of mom kisses ever known to humans.

  “Go!” Kenzie hissed, as I struggled with the door handle, under heavy mom fire. Ken shoved me out of the way, a giggle escaping her lips as she managed to unlock the door and pull it open.

  I managed to slip under Mom’s arm and pulled the door closed, breathless from laughing as I caught up with Kenzie on the sidewalk.

  “That lady needs help,” she griped, but she was still smiling.

  I wrapped my arm through hers, nodding in agreement. “When the new babies get here, we’re going to be old news, so we should probably enjoy it.”

  She stopped walking, forcing me to do the same. I couldn’t read her face, but I did follow her gaze to find what had stopped her.

  Romeo was waiting on the corner, dressed in a pair of perfectly fitted distressed blue jeans, with a messy head of hair, puffy, sleepy midnight toffee eyes and a white shirt. His backpack was on his shoulder and the moment his eyes met mine, his lips rose ever so slightly in the corner.

  My heart stuttered.

  He extended both of his arms. “There’s a two for one special today on chaperones to school.”

  Kenzie took his left arm and I took his right, and Romeo walked us both to school, talking mostly to my sister about some project they had in biology. I was thankful. I couldn’t talk much, not with his hand embracing mine. I traced the bandage wrap still in place, as his thumb toyed with the pulse spot on my wrist. I wondered if he could feel how fast it beat.

  If he knew he was the reason.

  I didn’t realize how much of a statement we were making, all three of us walking into school together, until I spotted Rosa and Raf hanging out on the columns out front with a few others baring Kings tattoos. We were a united front, and the burn in Rosa’s eyes said how much she hated that.

  Romeo didn’t look their way. “Ignore them.” He was looking at my sister.

  She sighed, focusing straight. “His nose looks like an eggplant.”

  Romeo chuckled. “Good.”

  People studied us. The two outsiders and the local. Expressions differed between disgust and amazement. Romeo was saying something. I wasn’t sure what and to whom he was saying it to.

  I didn’t understand why his statement left a nervous feeling in my stomach.

  Only that it did.

&
nbsp; CHAPTER TEN

  ROMEO

  I was stupid.

  Selfish.

  I knew better.

  Better than most.

  I’d seen what the heart did to a person when it had a gun pointed at it.

  I watched my mother become a shell without my father.

  But I couldn’t stop. Not anymore.

  Not now.

  It had to mean something. From someone. Somewhere. A dangling piece of hope I couldn’t stop myself from reaching for. Even if I pulled her down with me. Acid filled my throat at the thought.

  I was selfish.

  But her middle name was Angel.

  What more could I do?

  I’d been searching for my angel since the day I understood it was out there. I never thought to look for it in a person, though. Even less for in a girl who wasn’t even from Kings River. An innocent, beautiful girl who had no idea what she was doing to my head.

  To my heart.

  I wasn’t supposed to have one.

  Since meeting Rya, there was a rhythmic thump thump in my chest I wasn’t used to hearing.

  Used to liking…

  I let my eyes slide to the left in our first hour, unable to help myself from studying her. She had her bottom lip nestled between her teeth as she studied her worksheet, deep in thought. Hair from her bun fell away from the knot, gently brushing her neck and jaw.

  I wanted to kiss her there. Until she was breathing hard and my name kissed her soft pink lips.

  Feeling me watching, her eyes slid to meet mine. I didn’t change my face. Didn’t even mask what I was thinking. Her eyes, so jade and so soft, filled with shyness but there was a flicker of heat in her eyes as well. Which did nothing for my thoughts.

  I shifted in my seat, forcing my eyes to my worksheet.

  From across the classroom, I heard her tiny deep pull of air.

  I wanted to hang back for her after class, hear her voice, but I didn’t think that was a good idea with the way I was feeling.

  I ducked out smoothly, letting out a relieved breath. There were a couple guys from my neighborhood chilling in the hallway when I got to my next class. They all nodded at me, their arms burning red from their new tats.

  Sergio was building an army of lost youth, marking them with his ill intentions.

  I looked down at my arm, picturing it with the same crown wrapped around the blade. There was an epidemic spreading through the city. Every day I breathed it in. Got a little closer to the disease.

  At lunch, I hung back, taking my time making my way across campus. Part of me wanted to show Raf and Rosa they didn’t bother me. I’d have to do it eventually. I couldn’t avoid my friends or them forever. The other part of me was desperate for air.

  I took a deep breath and wiped my face clean, leaving it the blank mask I’d worn my entire life. I stepped onto the cement bench separating my group with another and jumped into the middle.

  Enrique nodded at me, eyes low-lidded and red from the joint currently burning in his hand.

  He offered it to me, but I declined with a shake of my head.

  Work was my excuse for not doing drugs. My boss did random drug tests and my family needed the extra income. Most of my friends could understand that. I wasn’t the only one in the neighborhood struggling to help their families. Which was why so many of them bore the Kings’ mark. It was easier to make money selling drugs for Sergio than it was to work part time making little to nothing elsewhere.

  I sank down beside Enrique. A girl who’d lived down the street from me since forever came to sit on my other side. Patrice was cute, with a black bob haircut and heavy black liner smudging her brown eyes. She had the same marking on her inner wrist that Rosa had. The women in the gang couldn’t bare the same tattoo, but they had a crown on their inner wrist with the letter K interwoven within it. Her dad and my dad had been close.

  Guess that’s why they were both gone.

  “They’re pathetic,” Patrice whispered to me in Spanish, nodding to her right. “Don’t even give her the power. She never deserved you. Is it true? Did you do that to his nose?” She pulled out a pack of chips from her backpack, and the scent of powdered cheese made my stomach growl.

  Enrique laughed, stubbing out his joint on the bench before slipping it behind his ear. “I saw him. The elders did too. They were proud of you, homie.”

  For guys like Enrique there was no other option but to join the gang. To him it made sense. He didn’t take kindly to disrespecting the only family he had. I was getting sick and tired of pretending I shared the same respect. I didn’t.

  And I never would.

  I nodded, choosing that over speaking. My head was pounding.

  “You free later?” he continued. “We gotta handle some business with the Snakes. A few of them have been hounding our girls. They tried to rough up Hector’s little sister the other night at a party. We think that’s why they came into our territory the other night. You down?”

  My head pounded worse.

  My stomach cramped.

  I rubbed at my temple. “How old is she?”

  There was a fine line in denying the gang and saying yes. Saying no too many times could put my entire family in danger. Saying yes just enough left me room to balance.

  “Twelve. She’s the one with the glasses.”

  I rubbed my other temple. “When?”

  “Right after school. We’re going to catch them off guard.”

  I hated myself when I nodded. But there was no way I could say no to that. I had a little sister. Those were probably the same men who tried to hurt Rya and her sister. If I didn’t go, there was a chance someone would figure that out.

  I couldn’t risk anyone tying them to that night.

  “Cool,” Enrique said, nodding approvingly. “You’re going to make Diego proud.”

  Patrice leaned her chin on my shoulder. “You boys are so hot when you’re all riled up.”

  Enrique winked at her. “You down?”

  “Hell yeah. No one messes with my crew.” She had a wild flare in her eyes now.

  She was in love with the danger. Enrique, too. A lot of the group had the same look.

  I hid my eyes, choosing to look out across the campus. Right to where I knew she’d be.

  The angel.

  Rya’s eyes were squinted at me, like the sun was shining in them. But she was sitting under a huge oak tree, so I doubted that was the reason. She was reading a book, her legs folded under her. A few seconds of looking at me had her running back to her book, her shoulders slouching.

  If she only knew how badly I wanted to be right beside her. On the lawn, under that oak tree, asking her what book she was reading. Where it was safe. Where it was real.

  It was hard to breathe. I coughed, hoping that would help. My throat felt like it was closing. My heart felt like it was shattering.

  She didn’t look back up once, she just kept staring at her book. But she didn’t turn the page once. Even when Kenzie came over, sinking into her own silence.

  My world was doing that to them.

  I texted her on my way to class after lunch.

  Me: Turn the page, Angel.

  She texted back immediately.

  Rya: I can’t, Romeo.

  My head still ached, and my heart did too.

  I stuffed my phone in my pocket and tried to wrap my mind around later. When I was younger, I didn’t mind fighting. I had anger in me, deep and trapped; any little thing would set me off. But there was a difference between an angry thirteen-year-old and a trapped seventeen-year-old. I knew how to fight. But that didn’t mean I wanted to.

  Raf’s eyes widened when he saw me approaching the group after school. I tossed my backpack in the safe car with the rest of them, saddling beside Enrique and David, a guy I used to race up and down the street until our shoes were torn and he was screaming I cheated. We clasped hands and he gave me one of those weighted nods. The kind that meant he thought like Enrique. This was his world an
d he wanted me inside.

  “What are you doing here?” someone whispered on our way to the cars. There was four of them. I was getting in Patrice’s.

  I turned to see Raf, eyes watering, nose angled and purple. “Dang you’re ugly.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Answer me. What are you doing here?”

  “The same thing you’re doing here.”

  He pushed me back. Away from everyone else. His voice lowered even further. “You think I gave up everything for you to do the same, you idiot?”

  “Be careful. You don’t want Rosa to hear you. She’ll have to crack the whip.”

  He pushed me again, sending me even further from our crew. From Rosa. I scanned the crowd, finding her with her girls. She wasn’t looking our way.

  “Get the hell out of here, bro. Now!” he whisper-roared.

  I studied his eyes. His wild, empty eyes. “I can’t.”

  “What do you mean you can’t? I don’t see this cage on your arm.” He jabbed at his tattoo.

  Cage? What the hell? I knew he’d called it that, knew we’d shared the same thoughts once. But I thought he was over that, thought he wanted that mark. “Did I punch you harder than I thought? You aren’t making sense.”

  He sighed in disgust. “You’re stupid, bro. Don’t do anything else stupid today and get out of here. We don’t need you. We’ve got it.” He walked away.

  “Those guys tried to attack Kenzie and Rya the other night.”

  He stopped walking. His spine went rigid. When he spun around, I suspected I didn’t know Raf the way I thought I did. Pure, enraged evil shimmered in his eyes.

  “Qué?” he asked, tone cold.

  I pointed at him. “You can’t say anything about this to anyone. You hear me, you big-mouthed traitor?”

  “I’m not a traitor. You’re blind, bro. I won’t say anything.”

  I told him about the other night as fast as I could. When I finished, he stretched his neck from side to side and looked me straight in the eye.

  “Sergio said he had word that the Snakes were interested in the new white girls. Said he knew you and I were too. Associating with them was dangerous to the Kings. If I joined, he’d have them both protected, but I’d have to choose. Kenzie or the gang? How could I choose? How could I make a choice knowing it would get her hurt? I had to do this. I had to lose it all so she never would.” He shoved me back. “I lost it all so you wouldn’t have to.”