Page 32 of The Criminal’s Cure

It isn’t until I walk into the house and hear Ty and Roman laughing together that I feel like I can finally breathe. I’ve been on edge the entire afternoon, but that sound is like music to my ears and relief floods me. No matter what we’re up against, they’re okay.

“Hi guys.” I give them an exhausted smile as I come into the kitchen. Everything seems business as usual around here; Roman even has dinner started.

“Maddie!” Ty leaps out of his chair and throws his arms around my legs. “Dad said we can go to see the sharks at the aquarium this weekend!”

“Wow! That sounds like fun!”

Roman laughs. “Only if you get all of your school work done, though, right?”

He walks over to me and presses a hungry kiss to my lips. “How was your day?”

”Interesting.” I click my tongue. “Did you send one of your men to the hospital to babysit me today?”

Roman grits his teeth, completely ignoring me and the question. “Ty, let’s get the plates out so we can set the table for dinner.”

“Roman.” Frustration drips from my voice.

He catches my stare and then nods toward Ty. “We’ll talk about it later.”

Whatever happened, he doesn’t want Ty to know about it, and I can understand that. Although, by now, the anticipation is killing me.

Roman is tense. He’s distracted and quiet while we eat dinner, and when he does answer, he’s short and irritated. I do my best to keep up with Ty so he doesn’t know anything is off, but it’s a relief when Roman finally takes him upstairs to bed.

I get dinner cleaned up and change my clothes, and then wait for Roman in the kitchen.

When he finally comes back down, he leans onto the kitchen counter, bracing himself against the granite.

He won’t look at me, but I can see the darkness in his eyes from here, and every breath he takes is shallow and tempered.

I haven’t seen him worked up this way since the day that Ty was hurt, and I hate it.

“You’ve got to talk to me, Roman. What’s going on?”

He lets out a heavy sigh and finally looks up. He shoves his sleeves up, exposing his decorated forearms and folding them across his broad chest.

“I should have told you Ernie was going to be at the hospital, and I’m sorry I didn’t, but he wasn’t there to babysit you. Something happened this morning, and I needed someone there to keep you safe until I could talk to you about what’s going on.”

I chew on my cheek. The urgency in his voice sends a chill through me. It takes a lot to rattle Roman, and something clearly has.

“This morning, when I dropped Ty off at school, I found a picture in his backpack. It was of the three of us, taken the day we went to the zoo. It was a threat to both you and to Ty, and whoever did it was close enough to us to put it into his backpack.”

I suck in the short breath, blindsided, and unsure how to even respond. Luckily, I don’t have to. Roman hands me the picture, and I look it over.

I’m coming for you.

It’s ominous and creepy and a very brazen invasion of our privacy.

My hands shake as I hold it. I worried about a lot of different things when I thought about what it would mean to date Roman, but this wasn’t one of them.

It should have been, but I was too wrapped up in the other stuff, and now the danger he’s tried to warn me about stares me right in the face.

“I’m not going to let anything happen to you or to Ty, Maddie, okay? Nothing. I worked all day trying to find this guy and I’m close.”

When he reaches for me and rests his palm on my cheek, I notice the blood on his wrist and my mouth gets dry. Worked all day.

He tracks my eyes to his wrist and snatches it back. Raking his fingers through his hair, his desperate eyes met mine. “I’m sorry. I thought I cleaned up better. Do you want to know about it?”

“No, I don’t think I do.” I shake my head, pressing my lips together. I don’t pretend to know the details, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that ‘worked all day’ is code for ‘beat the living hell out of someone to get information’.

But somehow, his offer to explain makes me feel at least a tiny bit better.

“What happens now?” I swallow, a heaviness settling into my chest.

“We’re just going to tighten things up until everything is handled. More security around the house, Ty’s school…And Ernie will be with you anytime you need to leave the house.”

“Roman,” I sigh. “Don’t you think that’s a little overkill? It’s weird to have someone following me around all the time, and Ernie doesn’t exactly blend in.”

“Good. I want them to know that I have eyes on you, so maybe they won’t be as quick to try anything.

” He clenches his jaw, he’s so angry that his body shakes.

“Someone was in this house, Maddie. They managed to get past my security, close enough to my son and to you, and left this picture somewhere that he knew we’d find it.

It’s a direct threat, and I’ve lost too fucking much to be worried about you being uncomfortable that someone is following you all day. ”

His words suck all the air out of my lungs. He’s right. This isn’t my area of expertise, and I didn’t even consider how triggering this might be for Roman with all he’s gone through in the last few months.

I reach for his hand, regretting any fuss I put about the whole thing. “I understand. And I’ll do whatever you think is necessary. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” He shakes his head. “I know you’re not used to this kind of thing, and I know it’s hard to get used to. Hopefully, we’ll get the guy soon and things can go back to normal, but for now, I need you to trust me. I swear I won’t let anything happen to either of you.”

“And what about you?” I ask as he wraps me in his arms. “Who’s going to keep you safe?”

Roman grins, leaning forward and pressing a gentle kiss to my forehead. “Don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself.”

“Why don’t we make a deal?” I suggest, circling my arms around his neck. “I’ll let you take care of things when we’re out and about, but when we’re inside of these walls, I get to take care of you.”

His brow creases, trapping me against the counter with his hips. “Just inside these walls? You’re really going to limit the places that we can have sex that way?”

Roman is trying to make light of the situation, but I can’t help but worry.

He carries so much guilt that I can’t imagine it’s not eating at him.

He took my comment at face value and turned it into something sexual, but I want to take care of him on every level.

I want to be there for him and listen to him and support him.

And I want him to want me to. When he drags his lips across my neck, I know I’m not going to get anywhere tonight.

“I have to go out of town this weekend.”

“What? To where?” He pulls back, turning his attention.

“St. Louis. To see my family.” The timing couldn’t be worse. And I can see the mix of emotion on his face—worried about me traveling and annoyed that I interrupted his advance for this.

“Since when? I don’t remember you mentioning it.”

“Well, since a few weeks ago, but I only just remembered after talking to my dad today. He’s getting some stupid award and they’re having a big party.”

“I’ll come with you,” he says without question.

“Roman, you can’t.” I sigh. “I need to do this myself and I’ll only be gone a few days.”

“I don’t like the idea of being away from you. Especially with everything going on.”

“I’ll be gone forty-eight hours. I just feel like I need to talk to my parents before I show up and have to explain a boyfriend I haven’t mentioned to them.”

He snickers, his tongue grazing my ear. “I like it when you call me your boyfriend.”

“Me too.” I smile, melting into his touch. “I’ll call you every day and I promise, I won’t say a word if you want to send Ernie.”

“You want to explain a bodyguard to your parents over a boyfriend?” He chuckles, scratching his chin.

“I won’t have to explain it to them at all. I don’t think they’ll even know he’s there. Ernie keeps a good eye on things, but you’ve got the poor kid terrified to even look at me.”

“As he should be.” Roman smirks. “But I could keep my distance, too.”

I laugh out loud. “No, you couldn’t. There’s no chance we could be together all weekend and you could keep your hands to yourself.”

“You’re right. Keeping my hands to myself sounds like fucking torture.”

“And besides, I feel like with everything going on, you should be with Ty.”

“Yeah, I should. Hopefully, we’ll have some answers soon and things won’t have to be so tight.” His arm slides underneath me and he lifts me into his arms. “I guess if we’re going to be apart all weekend, I better send you off with a bang , then, huh?”

Maddie snuggles into my chest, still trying to catch her breath after the little cardio workout I just put her through. Something about the thought of not seeing her for a few days made me even more desperate for her than normal.

As she settles in, she looks up at me with a sleepy smile on her face. “Would you be surprised to find out that having my life threatened by an assassin wasn’t even the craziest thing to happen to me today?”

I can’t help but laugh. “Do I even want to know?”

“Well…” Her fingers trail up my chest. If she wants any semblance of a serious conversation right now, she’s going to have to stop touching me like that. “Dr. Bauer came to talk to me. I guess the fast-track trauma program in LA has an opening and they’re offering it to me.”

It takes a second for her words to register.

Her dream program is offering her a position.

In LA. I don’t say anything. I don’t trust what might come out of my mouth.

What the fuck? Things have been going so well with us and now she might be leaving.

It’s selfish of me to even think, because I know how much this means to her, but I hate every second.

“Wow. That’s…So you’d move to LA?”

Maddie bites her lip and nods. “I’d have to, yeah. But maybe you and Ty could come with—”

I cut her off with a low, exasperated groan and slide out from underneath her. “Maddie, this is what I was talking about. You said you understood that you couldn’t change me.”

“Roman.” She lets out a nervous laugh. “I’m not trying to change you. All I did was suggest that potentially we go to LA for a while. Sorry, I thought things were going well enough between us that I could.”

“Yeah, so did I,” I growl. The way her face falls guts me, but, true to self, I can’t stop the bleeding, I just make it worse.

“Look, I’m happy for you. And if that’s what you want, then you should do it.

But I need to know sooner rather than later because Ty is really attached to you and it would really hurt him if you left. ”

Maddie arches her eyebrow. “Just Ty?”

I know what she’s doing. She wants me to reassure her. To tell her how much it would fucking wreck me for her to leave. To do something besides shoot my walls up and block her out.

“How long have you known about this?”

“I found out this afternoon. It’s not like I was planning this behind your back, Roman. Honestly, I don’t know why you’re so upset. I don’t even know if I’m going to take it or not. You haven’t—”

“Of course you are.” I shake my head. “It’s your dream. It always has been, right?”

“It has, but that doesn’t mean—”

“Then I don’t see what the holdup is. Congratulations, I guess.”

Maddie’s face twists into a ferocious glare.

“Jesus, Roman. If you’d stop interrupting me and actually let me talk, then you might know what the holdup is.

It’s you. You and Ty.” She huffs, throwing herself out of bed and dragging my sheet with her to keep her body covered.

“I’m in love with you and I actually picture a life together.

At least I was. I think I’ll sleep in my own room tonight so I can pack. See you in a few days.”

“Maddie, wait—”

She doesn’t wait, though. She storms out of my room, slamming the door behind her. I hear her heavy, furious steps down the hall until she reaches her room.

Fuck! I feel like an absolute asshole. Even more than usual. I know I’m being selfish and unfair to her. There’s no way in hell that I’d ever ask her to give up her dream, no matter how badly I want to.

Love . That stirs up a storm of emotions in my heart, and I wish more than anything I would have told her I felt the same. Admitting it feels unbearably hard when I know she’s leaving, though.

The thought of her moving to LA kills me, so why couldn’t I just say that? Why did I have to revert to my old bastardly ways? Drive her away? Push her buttons until she was angry and upset?

I tried to make her hate me once, and it didn’t work then, but maybe it has now.