“Yes. Roman alerted me to the fact that I’ve been looking into the wrong street all these years. It’s the reason I’ve never been able to solve this. Thank god for him, or I would’ve never known.” Angie waited for Val to agree that Roman was the savior in all this, but instead, all she got was a cold look as the sound of his heaving breaths picked up, and lingered in the air between them.
“Be careful, Angie,” was all he said, his eyes going wide.
Angie’s eyes went wide, as well. She was now supremely alarmed. She’d neglected to tell him that she was looking into the Governor, as well, because she didn’t trust him.
The look in his eyes, as well as his inciting words of caution, told her she was right to be wary.
Before she could respond, the door of the master bathroom opened next him, causing him to step forward as the person on the other side jammed it into him.
“Baby,” Zoey said, stepping out of the bathroom, meeting his eyes. “What are you doing? You better not be in here harassing Angie about what time it is. You know that bothering me while I’m trying to get ready will only make me move slower, just to piss you off.”
Angie didn’t miss the way Val immediately covered Zoey’s belly with his hand, nor the tremor of his fingers the moment he did. “I was just asking Angie for some information. You’re always talking about how she knows everything.”
“She does know everything!” Zoey beamed. “And if she doesn’t know, she will. It’s highly annoying.” Zoey winked at Angie. “She’s crazy smart.”
Val shot Angie a look. “Yeah, she is.” His eyes lingered on Angie for a moment longer before he turned back to Zoey and dropped a kiss on her cheek.
As he pulled back, Zoey frowned at him. “Are you okay, baby? You look rattled.”
Val tried to smile at her, but it was shaky. “Still reeling a little from seeing Rome, that’s all.” He looked back to Angie. The moment their eyes met, he grabbed the handle of the door. “Go ahead and finish getting ready. It’s a two hour drive, and we don’t want guests arriving without us there.”
“All right,” Zoey said, softly. The moment he left, her eyes went to Angie. “He’s been acting so weird lately, even for him.”
Angie had noticed, but she bit her tongue before she could say that. “He’s running his own business, family is in shambles, and he’s got a new baby coming. Can you blame him?”
He’s also in contact with Governor King, a man who may have a hand in the death of your parents.
Angie jammed her eyes shut, searching desperately for her mental mute button.
“I guess I can’t blame him.” Zoey shrugged. “It’s just, he’s always had the weight of the world on his shoulders. It’s never been an issue before. That’s why he’s so successful. I don’t know why a baby would be the straw that broke the camels back.” She made her way over to the vanity and took her fingers through Angie’s hair. “All the boys are here. They were so surprised to see Rome, they almost started crying. Well, Gary did cry. Val might’ve cried, if he hadn’t been so busy going straight for Rome’s neck. But I could tell it was with love.”
“I’m sorry I missed it.” Angie said, her eyes following Zoey’s every move as she finished her hair.
“It was sweet in it’s own weird, Romanovsky way.”
“Is Val always so violent?” Angie surprised herself with the question, because she knew it wasn’t coming from a place of curiosity, but distrust. She didn’t want to feel suspicious of Val.
But she did.
Meeting Zoey’s eyes in the vanity mirror, Angie had to jam her eyes closed when the vision of her parents getting nailed by the Cadillac invaded her mind, the way it often did these days. Her eyes popped back open just as quickly as they closed when Val’s face flashed in her head immediately after.
She usually trusted her body. Her mind. For her entire life, it had always done a great job of putting things together naturally, finding pieces that fit, and disregarding pieces that didn’t. It was something that occurred subconsciously, something she couldn’t shake, not even if she wanted to.
Angie didn’t like the pieces her brain was trying to force together now.
Oblivious to her friend’s wandering thoughts, Zoey picked up the flat iron to finish Angie’s hair. “Val is only violent when you give him a reason. He didn’t try to kill Rome out of anger. He’ll never admit it, but his little feelings are so hurt by Rome that he doesn’t know what to do with himself. He doesn’t know how to express it in any other way but violence.”
“And this is your future husband?”
“All right,” Zoey said, pointing the flatiron at Angie’s smiling face. “That’s my baby you’re ragging on.”
“Is it true he’s dirt cheap?” Angie tried to lighten the mood. Forget her thoughts.
Zoey chortled. “He is.”
“Why are you having his baby again?”
This time, Zoey laughed with Angie, shaking her head. “I have no idea. It’s just… right. I know it’s right. I knew it the moment he kissed me for the first time.”
“You never told me about you and Val’s first kiss.”
“Probably because it happened while he was already screwing me. He busted in me once, kissed me for the first time, and then went in for round two.”
Angie’s face fell. “Who said romance is dead?”
Zoey couldn’t help a chuckle.
“How are his parents dealing with the two of you?”
“Not great. During Sunday dinner at the family house, we pretty much can’t touch each other. Like, at all. Tony is handling it much better than Bette. Val is convinced she thinks he’s some kind of sex predator.”
“I mean, I get it. She raised all of the brothers to call you sister, and now one of them has you knocked up.”
“He put a ring on it.” Zoey raised her finger.
“Still weird.” Angie waited for Zoey to go back to the iron. “Bette calls Roman every night. She cries on his answering machine.”
Zoey raised her pained eyes to Angie. “She’s hurt that he’s hurt.”
“He goes through the roof whenever she calls. One time, he ripped the cord right out of the wall. It was scary.” And hot as fuck. Angie decided not to voice her thoughts out loud.
“It’s a pretty awful situation. The family has always been really tight knit. To have Roman suddenly just… gone… out of the fold...” Zoey took a deep breath. “It won’t ever be right until he comes back.” Her eyes went to Angie. “Has he said anything to you about it?”
“He’s angry.”
Zoey waited with bated breath for more, disappointed when Angie seemed to be done talking. “Were you guys ever able to find his biological father?”
Angie suddenly sat up, meeting Zoey’s eyes. “You know I can’t talk to you about my clients.”
“But he’s not just your client, he’s my brother. Can you at least say if you found him?”
Angie wanted to tell Zoey everything. How they’d not only found Roman’s biological father, but they’d gone through the extremely painful and awkward experience of watching as he rejected Roman completely. Angie couldn’t tell Zoey that she watched how close it had come to tearing Roman completely apart, how he was still recovering, how she wondered if he ever truly would.
She couldn’t tell Zoey that she’d gone back to Knox’s house the next morning, and found him in the midst of skipping the country.
She couldn’t tell Zoey that Knox had become her newest case, along with the Governor of New Jersey. That, together, they may have had something to do with her parent’s death. She couldn’t tell Zoey that she’d connected her fiancé to that very Governor and, with every second that passed, suspected more and more that his hands weren’t nearly as clean as he’d like the world to believe.
She couldn’t tell Zoey any of it, because she hadn’t even made sense of it herself.
A part of her wasn’t even sure if she still wanted to. The foggy layers concealing the truth were sl
owly peeling away, as they often did. With each new layer Angie unveiled, she hated what she saw more and more.
She jammed her eyes shut and tried to breathe deep.
“You’re not going to tell me,” Zoey concluded, watching as her friend’s gaze went more vacant with each passing second.
“Nope.” Hating to disappoint her friend, Angie tried to change the subject. “But aren’t you happy that I convinced Roman to come out tonight? You’re always talking about how much the other brothers miss him.”
“They miss the hell out of him. And I love the hell out of you for getting Roman to come see them. I think it’s a big step toward his healing.”
“I agree.”
“Well, if you’re not going to tell me about Roman and his father then you can at least tell me about Roman and you.”
Angie’s shocked face said it all.
“I knew it,” Zoey beamed. “You’re fucking him. Tell me everything. Right now.”
“I’ve told you all there is to tell.”
“The hell you have. You smell like sex, and I saw the way he was looking at you out there. In that way.”
“What way?”
“Like he knows what your clitoris looks like.”
Angie chortled. “You’re gross.”
“I prefer real.”
Faltering, Angie had to take a moment before responding. “He’s educating me, okay?”
“Educating? Is that what the kids are calling it these days?” Zoey took a moment. “Did you cum?”
“Zoey!”
“Sorry.” She hesitated. “Did you?”
“Isn’t this a weird conversation for you to be having? Hearing about your brother’s skills in the bedroom? Or do you Romanovskys have, literally, no boundaries whatsoever?”
“I’m not an official Romanovsky, yet, so your point is moot.”
“Is it?” Angie flinched when Zoey “accidentally” burned her with the iron while cleaning up a few fly-aways. “Ouch!”
Zoey bit her lip momentarily. “It is kind of weird to talk about Roman’s sex life, but it’s worth it if it means you’re finally experiencing your sexual awakening. We’re in our mid-twenties now, Angie, this has been long overdue.”
“He’s great.”
“But it’s just educational?”
“We’re two grown adults who are perfectly capable of having casual sex.”
“One of whom has been madly in love with the other since the moment she laid eyes on him. You forget who you’re talking to,” Zoey said. “I know what it feels like to sleep with a man you have feelings for. Even if you try not to, making that kind of connection only drives that love deeper, and it has the power to destroy the shit out of you if the guy isn’t on the same page.”
Angie felt lectured to. “I’m confused, Zoey. Do you want me to be sleeping with Roman, or don’t you?”
“I love Roman,” Zoey said. “So I’d hate to have to kill him.”
Angie turned toward her friend and smiled.
Zoey shrugged. “That’s all I’m saying.”
“I’m enjoying him. I understand that we probably won’t become anything more than fuck buddies, and I’m fine with that.” Angie held her arm out. “Don’t I look fine?”
“You do look fine,” Zoey said. “For now.”
A knock on the door rang through, and this time Roman poked his head in. He caught Zoey’s eyes before looking to the vanity. The moment he saw Angie, his entire face lit up.
Zoey noticed, motioning to him with the flat iron.
“Oh hey, Prince Charming.” She smiled at the sight of his ‘don’t fucking call me that’ face, as she finished ironing the last piece of Angie’s hair. “You better not be here to bother us about what time it is. Val already did that. We’ll be ready when we’re ready, okay?”
Roman’s eyes were already back to Angie, who was standing from the vanity and straightening out her outfit. The white crop top was off the shoulder, giving a perfect hint of Angie’s delicate collarbones and a peek at her tight belly button. Her flat stomach led a path to a pair of cut-off denim shorts. They were almost alarmingly short, and had huge potential for disaster on the wrong body, but on Angie’s petite frame it was nothing short of sexy.
Zoey found herself eyeing Angie’s tiny little body with the slightest hint of amusement as it seemed to reel Roman in from all the way across the room. His eyes flashed with desire as he took in the stick straight style they’d ironed her curls into, her thin, but shapely, legs, and the red platform wedges that she, surprisingly, wasn’t wobbling in, pink toenails peeking out. Without glasses, her green eyes flew to another level of stunning, making the struggle they’d endured to get a pair of contact lenses in completely worth it.
Zoey hadn’t had a chance to put any real make-up on Angie’s face, and she could’ve kicked herself for that. If Roman was in awe now, he would’ve surely dropped dead if he’d walked in on the final product.
Even still, Zoey had never seen the kind of adoration on his face that he had looking at Angie right then, so she moved across the room to her ironing board, and pretended not to be watching their every move as she worked the wrinkles out of her own dress.
Coming to a stop in front of Angie, Roman couldn’t help a smile as he took one of the dangly gold earrings she wore between his fingers.
“Who are you?” he whispered, squinting.
Angie made a face. “You act like I’ve never showered and gotten dressed before--”
“Who are you?” he demanded, hardly even letting her finish.
“ ‘You look beautiful, Angie,’ works really well, too.” Zoey called from the ironing board. “You don’t always have to be a fucking asshole about everything.”
Roman shot Zoey a look, held it, and then moved his eyes back to Angie. “I was getting to that, but now the moment’s gone, thanks to this loudmouth over here.” He nodded his head toward Zoey, still playing Angie’s earring between his fingers.
“Tell her she looks beautiful,” Zoey said, placing a hand on her hip.
Roman looked back to her.
“She looks like you,” he said, releasing Angie’s earring. He made his way to the ironing board.
Zoey curled her lip as he approached. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means what have you done with my beautiful, brilliant Angelica Colt?”
“Ugh.” Zoey rolled her eyes. “I’m getting my brilliant, beautiful Angelica Colt ready for a night of brushing shoulders with tons of rich, handsome, available men.” Zoey didn’t miss the immediate change in Roman’s eyes the second she said the word available. “That’s right,” she said, matching Roman’s challenging eyes.
Roman looked back to Angie. “I’m gonna go wait in the living room.”
Angie went to respond.
“Yeah, you do that!” Zoey called, watching as his eyes flew back to hers, beating her to death with those ice-cold blues even as he began moving towards the door. Zoey watched him with every step he took, not looking away until he stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him.
“Were you guys fighting?” Angie beamed, unable to hide a smile as she plopped down on the bed.
“We always fuck with each other like that,” Zoey said. “In fact, I think that’s the closest to Roman that I’ve seen Roman in over a month. Plus, he was just pissing me off.”
“Yeah, I noticed that.”
“Do you not like the outfit?” Zoey asked. “You can tell me. I’m not trying to make you into some Zoey clone. I just like dressing you up.”
“I like it,” Angie answered. “I like it when you make me all pretty. God knows I don’t know the first thing about doing it for myself. And to be honest? I liked the way he was looking at me just now. Like he wanted to violate me right here.”
“He should have told you that you looked nice.”
“Maybe he was shy to do it in front of you. Maybe he’s grown so used to seeing me schlep around in baggy jeans and sweatshirts tha
t he was struck speechless at the sight of me in a real outfit.”
“Maybe he’s an asshole,” Zoey mumbled, going back to her ironing. “And a damn dog to boot.”
“You used to tell me he was quiet and sweet.”
“He is. Until he decides he wants to fuck you. Then he becomes a damn dog. You are not fuck buddy quality, Angie. You’re high quality, and we’re going to find you a high quality man tonight to prove it.”
“I’d rather just spend tonight with Roman.”
“You will, but in good time. I know my brother, and I saw the look in his dog eyes the moment he caught sight of you in those shorts. When he sees the reaction other men have to you tonight, he’ll come to his senses so fast his damn head will spin.”
“Sounds like stupid games, which he and I have done a great job of avoiding during this entire arrangement. I like our arrangement.”
“Oh you like it, huh?” Zoey watched Angie nod. “I know you too well, Angie Colt, and I know when you’re firing round after round of bullshit my way. Hold your fire, okay? You don’t have to pretend with me.”
“I’m not pretending.”
“So you’re telling me that if Roman came up behind you at the party tonight, pulled your ass against his dick, and whispered in your ear that you were the only woman for him, that he didn’t want you to be with anyone else, you wouldn’t fall to your knees and suck him off right there, declaring yourself his for life?”
Angie faltered.
Zoey pointed a finger. “You hesitated.”
Angie sputtered.
Zoey snapped her fingers. “Too long!” she beamed. “You should’ve never slept with him. Never sleep with a man you have feelings for when you know he’s not in the right place to have feelings back. Now I have to step in and fix it for you. On my special day. You are so selfish.” Zoey kicked the side of her mattress, relishing when it caused Angie to spring up and down ever so slightly.
Angie almost laughed. “Is this the pregnancy hormones kicking in?”
Zoey’s eyes rose to hers. “Trust me. If it was the pregnancy hormones… you would know it.”
***
The moment Angie and Zoey surfaced from Zoey’s bedroom, Val, Roman, Leo and Gary all looked up from where they were slumped impatiently across the various chairs in the living room. Their eyes were glazed with boredom, even as the game played on the plasma before them, but the moment they saw the girls, they all jumped up.
Claiming Roman Page 18