Friends Forever Read Free Page B

watching her try
and gasp for air. “Why are you laughing at me?”
    “I want to see you kick your own ass.” She
spat out the words between chortling and almost gagging on her
words.
    “What?” Rome shook his head. “What the hell
are you talking about?”
    “You...you said, you'd k-kick the person's
ass that hurt me!” Kate's laughter was so uproarious that Rome
thought she might just choke on her words.
    “Kate!” He grabbed her shoulders, shaking
her slightly to make her focus. “What the hell do you mean?”
    “You! You're the reason for the tears, you
ass!” She wiped away a few stray tears. “You hurt me. You always
hurt me.”
    Her mood jumped ten paces in the blink of an
eye. She went from a hysterical crying woman, to laughing like a
fool, to a woman scorned. Rome stepped back for fear of what
emotion may erupt next.
    “Me?” He laid his hands on his chest,
questioning her charge.
    “Yes,.. you.” Her eyes dared him to
challenge her.
    “How?”
    So, he was a glutton for punishment.
    Kate tilted her head to the side, her
luxurious long hair falling over her shoulder, her eyes displaying
dubiousness of his question.
    “You really don't know, do you?”
    Rome shook his head. “Explain it to me.”
    Using the back of her hand Kate wiped away
the excess tears still visible on her cheeks. Sniffling she waved
her hand towards the sofa they'd just abandoned.
    “Sit.”
    “No, I'd rather stand.”
    “Fine.” The word escaped Kate's mouth with
despicable sarcasm and emphasis on the “F”. She crossed her arms
over her chest.
    “You always hurt me Rome, always have.”
    “So you've said,” he retorted, mimicking her
stance.
    Towering over her by at least five inches,
he knew his looming presence could be considered dangerous and
forbidden. Damned if Kate didn't dismiss his domineering mood, she
always had an uncanny way of dismissing his mass.
    “But tell me how.”
    “Every time I see you, you discount me. You
treat me like the plague… Like I'm still a child.”
    Kate's eyes, full of angst hidden behind the
anguish, were moist with fresh tears.
    “I can never do anything right in your eyes.
You're very...” She flipped her hand in the air searching for the
correct word. “Very... “
    “Annoying?” He offered.
    “Yes...but more.” She ignored his
sarcasm.
    “Domineering?”
    “That too,” she continued seeking the
word.
    “Arrogant?”
    “Oh yes.”
    “Sexy?” He changed his tone, but Kate was
too caught up in her own mind that she hadn't really heard him.
    “Yes, of course.” She bit her lower lip
while thinking, unaware of his word.
    “There is more here than a love/hate
relationship, isn't there?”
    “Rome, I'm trying to think here,” she
sighed, shaking her head. “Stop it, Rome.” Her annoyance was
obvious. She stared past him, thinking still.
    “Did you hear me?”
    “God, Rome.” Her anger was boiling again.
“It's not all about you...”
    Her eyes focused on him, almost as if the
light-bulb went on in her head.
    “What did you say?”
    He'd loved Kate for years and the only
reason he treated her the way he did was to keep his distance from
her. Just like he was about to do now, but he had kept his secret
long enough.
    “What did you say?”
    “I think you heard me, Kate.” He gazed into
her eyes. “Didn't you?”
    She nodded, her eyes deviating from his
gaze
    “And?”
    “And, I don't know how to answer that.”
    “It's really quite simple.” Rome's eyes
never wavered from hers. “Either we hate each other... or
we...”
    “Don't...”
    “Love each other.” They said simultaneously.
His meaning translated into his love for her, but her saying the
exact same words left him wondering if she was finishing his
sentence, being agreeable to not loving
him, or did she mean she loved him.
     
     
    *****

    Kate had never tried to contain her
excitement this much in her entire life. She was bursting and
smiling from deep within. She wasn't one-hundred