Shaking my head in dismissal of her apology, I replied, “What’s up?”

“My daddy and I had a fight… over you.”

Raking my hands through my hair, I cursed to myself. “What happened?”

“Daddy said it was my fault you were refusing the marriage, that I hadn’t tried hard enough to be your girl. He said he only wants you to take his place at Prince Oil to keep it in the family, and if you don’t, he wouldn’t be able retire as planned, and he already has a heart condition and said that he’d end up working himself to death.”

Shit. I couldn’t imagine Mr. Blair being that harsh—he adored Shelly—but f**k, look at my folks. People are completely different when the world doesn’t see.

“Shel, I’m sorry. If it helps, I know how you feel, okay?”

Sniffing, she looked up at me and smiled. “Yeah, I know.”

A few moments of uncomfortable silence passed, then, suddenly, she moved in, throwing her arms around my neck and pressing her lips against mine. It only took me a second to realize what was going on, and, gripping her arms, I ripped her off me, shouting, “What the f**k, Shel?!”

“I just… just… Why don’t you want me? Everyone else at this damn college does, but not you! Not the great Romeo Prince!” I stiffened as she said that name. Only Mol could get away with calling me that.

“Calm the f**k down, now,” I said flatly.

Taking a deep breath, she seemed to mellow out. “I just don’t get you. You have this perfect life mapped out for you, richer than you could dream, but you choose to fight it all the way, and for what? For football—a career that will last, what? Maybe ten, fifteen years if you’re lucky. If you don’t get on board with the plan, I don’t get that life either, and it’s all I’ve ever wanted… I don’t know what else to do to make you change your mind!”

“Well, sorry, Shel, but I’m not marrying you. And that’s the end of it.” I folded my arms across my chest to keep my control.

A cold expression drifted across her face. “Face it, Rome. This marriage has to happen. The quicker you accept it, the better everything will be.”

“All this, this little performance, was all fake, wasn’t it?” I hissed through gritted teeth. “You haven’t fallen out with your daddy?”

“No, believe me, it happened, keeps happening, and I’m sick of it! I thought if maybe you saw what your stubbornness was doing to me you’d reconsider. It’d be a piece of paper. It wouldn’t even have to be a real marriage. Just, please, I’m begging you, change your mind!”

“I can’t, Shel. Things are different for me now.”

Her eyes narrowed. “It’s because of her, isn’t it?”

“Who?” I answered, feigning confusion.

“Molly!” I could see the disbelief on her face and she snapped, “Whatever, Rome. The sooner you get over your little obsession with that nerdy horror show, the better it’ll all be. We all see how you watch her. It’s friggin’ weird if you ask me. People have been talking, and just so you know, I’m going to tell your folks, and we both know they won’t be happy.”

Fuck! I never wanted Mol to have to deal with my parents, but Shelly was playing hardball, and by threatening to tell my folks, she’d just started a f**king dangerous game. One thing made me feel better, though, and that was the knowledge that apparently everyone already saw my interest in Mol, knew I was gone over the girl. Perfect. No need to keep it a secret anymore, then.

Leaning down to Shelly, I warned quietly, “You stay the f**k away from me, you hear? Molly too, for that matter.”

“You’re choosing wrong, Rome.”

“The hell I am! You know, Shel, you weren’t always such a bitch. What happened to the happy-go-lucky girl I knew when we were kids?”

She seemed to choke on a bitter laugh. “The same thing that happened to the kind little boy you once were… life! We’re both pawns, Rome, and we both have our parts to play.”

Hell, that hit home. I suppose, in a way, we were the same, both jaded. But it didn’t change anything.

I abruptly turned as fast as possible before things got out of hand, hearing the click of Shelly’s heels as she stalked angrily away. The sooner she saw Mol on my arm, where she belonged, the better. My girl would hate me for it, making us so public, but by end of classes today, the whole damn campus would know she was mine. No more hiding, no more pretending we didn’t belong to each other.