Only for the Week

The chapter opens several hours before the previous chapter. Rome is annoyed because Arnold is incredibly drunk: Cortez keeps plying Arnold with more drinks despite Rome’s efforts to help Arnold sober up. Cortez backs off from a fight but begins speaking disrespectfully about Amerie’s friends, implying that he could have sex with any of them if he wanted to. Jalen is upset about Cortez’s tone toward Evie, and Rome is furious when Cortez asks Arnold about sex with Janelle; he asks Cortez to stop but punches him when he uses even more insulting language. After some time in a haze of anger, Rome realizes that he is now at the police station and that Janelle is there, too.

At the hotel, Rome watches Janelle ignore her sister and Arnold. In her hotel room, she cleans and bandages his injuries from the fight. She thanks him for supporting her and gives him a massage with the oils he sent earlier with her room service. Janelle begins teasing him about changing from the supportive hero of traditional contemporary romance into the antihero of the dark romance subgenre. Rome assures her that she brings out both his tender and protective instincts.