Romero (29 page)

As soon as Valerie left, Isabel pulled out the answering machine from a drawer in the kitchen. Since Valerie had moved out she didn’t need it anymore so she’d put it away but she’d never erased the message Michael had left her. After sifting through several messages before finally finding his, she fast-forwarded it not wanting to relive that horrible morning and how God-awful it felt to listen to him go on about their fantastic date while Romero’s accusing eyes burned a hole through her. She got to the part with his number and jotted it down.

She was beginning to think he might not answer, but then he did. She cleared her throat after hearing him say hello. “Hi, Michael.”

This time,
he
cleared his throat. “It always looks worse than it feels. But I can assure you, I’m fine. I’m glad you called though. You seemed pretty upset last night. I can’t say I blame you. Is he always that violent?”

Isabel closed her eyes. This was going to be harder than she’d thought. She had to make Michael believe she didn’t care for Romero anymore. “Sometimes. It’s why I’m considering breaking things off with him.”

“Considering? After last night, I would’ve thought you’d all but washed your hands of him. The man’s dangerous.” He paused before adding, “I mean for you, that is. You’re really selling yourself short with this guy, Isabel. You don’t deserve that.”

As tempted as she was to end the call now, her decision had been made. She wouldn’t back out now. Romero could go to jail because of her. She had to do this. “I don’t know. I’d been sort of considering it for a while now, then after seeing you last night… well I was thinking maybe we could get together and… talk.”

Michael jumped at the bait. “Absolutely. As a matter of fact, I was just thinking about what I could do tonight. I took the whole weekend off for Charles’ party so I have a free night.”

Isabel gulped. “Tonight works for me.”

After hanging up, Isabel stood there in the kitchen contemplating what she was about to get herself into. She wouldn’t even think about what Romero might say or do
when,
not
if
he found out. She only prayed this worked out so he’d understand why she
had
to do it.

Nick said it may take a few days before they knew anything for sure. In the meantime, he was getting everything ready and told Romero to just go about his business, and stay out of trouble.

Romero took his uncles to Moreno’s for their Sunday brunch. He needed to talk to Alex. First of all, he wanted to find out if there had been any damage he needed to pay for. Then apologize for any trouble he may’ve caused.

Alex wasn’t there, only Sal and Angel were. He sat with his uncles for a while and ate, but he wasn’t feeling very hungry. Halfway through eating he walked over to where Sal was at the bar reading the paper again. He looked up at Romero from the paper and shook his head. “How you feeling?”

Romero shrugged. “Alright I guess.”

Angel walked up from behind Sal. “Dude. I heard about last night. How’s Isabel feel about all this?”

That dull ache had been present the entire morning. Even when he’d tried not to think of her. Romero wondered if it would be there permanently. It sure as hell felt like it. “I dunno. I haven’t talked to her.”

Sal lifted an eyebrow. “She’s that mad, uh?”

“I guess. Listen, I’m sorry about last night. I didn’t mean to cause any trouble for you guys here. I just snapped. Let me know if you need me to pay for anything.”

Sal’s face screwed up then he laughed. “Only thing broken was that guy’s face.”

Angel laughed. “Yeah, I heard you fucked him
up
.”

As much as Romero wanted to smile about that, the consequences from it were too dire. At this point going to jail and losing his PI license came a distant second and third to his main concern. He was already feeling the withdrawal effects of being away from Isabel. Not wanting to talk about it anymore, he changed the subject. “Where’s Alex?”

Feeling the ache even deeper Romero gestured toward the paper still in Sal’s hands. “That shit ain’t gonna blow over, Sal—not with her and especially not with her family. They didn’t like me to begin with.” He looked down and flexed his badly bruised knuckles, feeling a tightness in his throat he’d only felt a few times in his life. “I’m no good for her.”

A customer on the other side of the bar caught Angel’s attention and he walked over to see what he needed. Sal stared at Romero. “I think you’re wrong. Have you talked to her since last night?”

Romero shook his head, unwilling to speak, fearing the emotion he was feeling would betray him. He still stared at his knuckles; not wanting to even look at Sal.

“I’d talk to her, man. So you blew up. Alex said you had good reason.” Sal chuckled. “But then coming from another hot-head that doesn’t hold a lot of weight.” He seemed to wait for a response but Romero said nothing—he couldn’t. He was busy trying to swallow the softball-sized knot in his throat. “For what it’s worth,” Sal continued. “I think you two are good for each other. You balance each other out. And hey.” Romero finally looked up at him when he realized Sal wasn’t going to continue until he did. “Alex told me about all the bullshit that guy was yelling. You gotta know that’s all it was, right? He
had
to say something to try and make you feel as stupid as he felt. You beat his ass in front of all his Navy buddies. He knew he ended up looking like the pussy who got his ass handed to him. I wouldn’t believe a word he said.”

Romero wondered if Alex had also told him Isabel had admitted to venting to him. And he’d seen the look on her face. Even if Michael had taken her words out of context, there was some truth to it. He didn’t even blame her. What kind of future could she look forward to with him?

Sal would never understand. No one would. His whole life he’d dealt with the inability to hold back what was on his mind, especially when he was mad, but with Isabel everything was magnified a million times over. All his emotions for her, including what he was feeling now, were so overwhelming there was no way he would get a hold on them. He stood up and glanced at Sal. He had to get out of there. “Thanks, man. Tell Alex I’ll be calling him.”

He walked away leaving Sal staring at him. The sympathy in his eyes made Romero feel even worse. Romero needed to distance himself from Isabel and the sooner the better or this whole thing was going to kill him. The only thing he cared about getting from Isabel’s apartment was his laptop. Everything else, he didn’t give a shit about. Even the laptop could be replaced, but there was client information on it that he needed secure.

Once he had that he’d walk away forever. Having the willpower to stay away from her was not going to be easy. Already he was tempted to go see her now. Maybe being locked up wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

***

Taking the chance of Romero showing up while Michael picked her up was out of the question. So she agreed to meet Michael at his hotel room. Originally, she’d planned to meet him somewhere safer and far less intimate, like at a restaurant where there was no chance he’d try to make a move, but he finally admitted that he wasn’t really feeling up to going out yet.

She knew meeting with Michael alone would be bad enough in Romero’s eyes. Meeting him in his hotel room might be the final straw, but she had no choice. She’d never be able to live with herself if Romero had ruined his life because of her stupidity. She had to at least
try
to fix this.

When she got to his room, she realized why he hadn’t wanted to be seen in public. She wondered why he would even want
her
to see him this way. His face was one giant raw wound. Her heart sunk. How in the world would she convince him to drop the charges? Every time he looks in the mirror, he must be cursing Romero.

She couldn’t help herself and she brought her hands to her mouth. “Oh my God, Michael.”

He smiled. That alone had to hurt. “I told you, it looks a lot worse than it really is.” He took a step back, opening the door even wider for her. “Come on in.”

She walked into his room. The room service he told her he’d be ordering had already arrived. His suite had a front room and a small kitchenette. There was a tray of cheese and crackers on the coffee table. A bottle of champagne and two empty glasses sat on the counter of the kitchenette.

Michael poured them each a glass and asked her to have a seat on the small sofa in the front room. He sat next to her but not too close. “So did you have anything in particular you wanted to talk to me about?”

She couldn’t help staring at his banged up face. Both eyes were swollen and purple. The blood vessels in one of them had popped making the whites of that eye completely red and the other one had a big gash under it. His lip was ripped on one side and there was a knot on his forehead the size of a golf ball. As egotistical as he was, she still couldn’t understand why he would be okay with her seeing what her boyfriend had done to him. “Michael, I’m really sorry about last night.”

“Oh no. I already told you.
You
didn’t do anything. He did, and he’ll get what’s coming to him.”

Isabel bit her lip. “Did you see the paper this morning? They made a pretty big deal about it. And I saw it on the news. They were talking about how badly he’d beaten you.” So the last part was a lie. It hadn’t actually made the television news. Not that she knew of anyway. But it was working. She had his attention and he was frowning.

“Really? I saw the paper but didn’t see the television reports.”

“Yeah, and it wasn’t just the local news either. I guess because my father was there and someone got wind that it was his daughter’s boyfriend who had been arrested. I felt terrible when they kept repeating how bad your injuries were.” She took a sip of her champagne taking in his how rigid his expression had become. “The worst thing is my sister was telling me this will probably be all over the news at least until the election. My dad’s opponents will no doubt take the story and run with it. Making the Mayor’s daughter’s boyfriend out to be a monster who tore a poor Navy commander to shreds.”

The rigid expression was now an all out scowl. “Is that what they said? The paramedics weren’t even called. I wonder where they’re getting their facts from.”

“Probably the police report. I don’t know, or witnesses,” she sighed. “I can just see it now. The cameras and news crews will be there at every court appearance repeating the story over and over. This is a nightmare. My family is so upset with me about this.”

He sat up straighter, visibly disconcerted. “They shouldn’t be angry with you, Isabel. You didn’t do anything.”

“But they are, especially Pat. This may cost my dad the election. I only wish there was some way to fix this.”

Michael stood up and brought the champagne bottle from the counter. He filled his glass and refreshed hers. She could see his mind was working then he changed the subject. “Can I ask you something?”

“I don’t mean to be out of line here, but I don’t understand how someone as obviously intelligent as you could get involved with the likes of him.”

Tempted to defend Romero, but knowing she was there to convince Michael she was now having second thoughts about him, she refrained. Instead she lied. “I really don’t know.” But she did throw in a jab. “I think maybe I was just taken in by his good looks and his tough guy persona. A lot of women are attracted to that.”

Immediately, his face turned to stone. “Fighting dirty isn’t tough. It’s what cowards do.”

“Fighting dirty?” Anger almost overtook Isabel but she caught herself. Even though she didn’t understand how a one-on-one fight with no weapons and no one else jumping in could be construed as dirty, she nodded. “You’re right. He is a coward.” It almost hurt to say it. Romero might be a lot of things, but a coward certainly wasn’t one of them.

Seemingly content with her response, Michael’s expression morphed into a smile. “So does that mean you’ve made up your mind? You said you were
considering
breaking things off.”

Isabel sipped her champagne. “I need to talk to him. I haven’t today at all. I’m still too upset about it.”

“What’s there to talk about? The man is a raging monster. You saw him last night. He had no self-control. Don’t you ever worry that…” He stopped and his eyes opened a bit wider. “Has he ever gotten that way with you?”

Even with his face so messed up, Isabel was able to see the satisfied undertone of his smile. “I
thought
we’d made a connection on that first date your sister set up for us. That’s why I was so surprised when you didn’t call me back.”