ROMEO | 18+

10.

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I S L A

     LUCA'S WORDS ECHO inside her mind. Reverberate around all corners of her head like a song she dislikes but still manages to replay itself over and over.

It happened over a week ago, and she doesn't comprehend why she lets his words corrupt her soul.

"What the fuck, Isla?" Luca snaps as he drags her out of Romeo's driveway.

She doesn't utter a single word until they step inside his house, standing in the foyer whilst loud music fills the empty space. She does wonder if Romeo has been watching her being pulled away from his place all this time.

"You're scolding me for what, exactly?"

She is tired. She doesn't want to justify herself. Doesn't want to start going into explanations about what he has just seen. Doesn't need to say it was all a misunderstanding.

Luca blinks, a frown etched at his face. He leans back against the door, his jaw tight with anger and his eyes blazing with unyielding deceit. "You're hooking up with Romeo."

It isn't a question. It's a statement, like he is sure of it. Like it's a fact.

For a heartbeat, she is ready to deny it. Is ready to tell him he has walked in to witness a faux scenario, that nothing has happened behind those closed doors. But just because she is tired of being controlled, she decides to rile him up.

Her shoulders are lifted into a half shrug. "What if I am?"

Luca's features harden at the speed of lighting as he blinks again. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me," she remarks coldly. "What's it to you who I hook up with? As far as I'm concerned, I don't go snooping around your private life and judge your puck bunnies."

"It's not the same thing—"

"Yes, it is, Luca," she bites out. "What the fuck is wrong with you? Why can't you just let me be?"

"Jesus, Isla," he groans frustratingly, his gaze slipping to the ceiling as he lets a small scoff fly past his lips. "I wish you hadn't met Romeo."

She has to blink multiple times to process his words. Has to take a few seconds before lifting her brows, utterly astonished and confused by the confession.

Then, her eyebrows pinch together. "Why?"

She can't muster the fact she is completely shocked by the way he talks. She isn't going to let him talk to her this way.

"Because," he snaps, his angry gaze colliding with hers. "History is going to repeat itself!"

Isla's shoulders drop as a lump forms inside her throat. Her next words come out as a mere whisper, strangled. "You can't be serious, Luca."

"You don't know what it was like," he grits as he pushes himself off the door to stride towards the dazed brunette. "You don't know how it felt to see you heart-fucking-broken because of Tobias—" She winces at the sound of his name. "—I had to pick up all the pieces, had to watch you cry over some guy who had crushed your heart like it was a stupid piece of glass. I had to watch you mourn the loss of your love and I couldn't do anything except be the shoulder you cried on."