Chapter Fourteen Juliette
FOURTEEN JULIETTE
The early morning sun and a gentle shake wakes Juliette.
She blinks blearily up, her vision fuzzy around the edges. She can’t quite make out who is gently touching her shoulder.
“Jules, are you all right?” a familiar voice asks in Italian.
“?’m fine,” Juliette mutters, even if she isn’t. She somehow feels more exhausted than when she fell asleep. Her neck aches, her back muscles bent the wrong way, and her nose is stuffy.
“Jules?”
Juliette lifts her head, rubbing her eyes so she can see Leo clearly. He looks concerned, his warm brown eyes searching Juliette’s face and his lips curved into a frown. “I’m fine,” she says again.
“Why are you on the couch?” Leo asks, his brows scrunching in confusion. He’s switched back to English, now that Juliette is awake. His Italian is better than before they met but still limited. At least it’s better than Octavia’s rather poor attempts at Portuguese.
Juliette shakes her head, but her temples pound at the movement and she winces. “I don’t know,” she lies, not wanting to talk to her sister’s boyfriend about her problems. “What time is it?”
Leo straightens from his crouch. He’s still wearing his pajamas, a pair of sweatpants and a Brazilian fútbol T-shirt, so it can’t be too late. “Half-six,” Leo says. “You want coffee?” He gestures to the kitchen.
Juliette uncurls her limbs and shoves the blanket off her lap. “That’d be great.”
Leo pads into the kitchen, leaving Juliette to drop her head into her hands and collect her thoughts.
She allows herself a moment to wallow in the pain caused by sleeping on the couch before forcing herself to her feet.
She stretches her arms over her head, letting the near orgasmic relief of the early morning stretch ripple through her.
“Do you take cream and sugar?” Leo asks.
“In espresso? Hell no.” Juliette twists around to stare at Leo, who is making coffee from a packet of all things. Juliette shakes her head. “How does Octavia stand you?” she mutters as she pads over to the kitchen and slides onto one of the stools beneath the island.
Leo starts to smile. “We don’t do a lot of standing,” he says innocently.
Juliette gags. “Now I can’t stand you.”
Leo stirs his cup and takes a sip.
“Please, do not tell me that’s instant coffee.” Juliette might have to die if it is.
Leo smiles apologetically, and he’s almost handsome enough for Juliette to forgive him.
Still, death is more preferable than dealing with an instant coffee lover.
“I’ll make you an espresso, don’t worry, Jules,” Leo soothes as he turns to the espresso machine sitting on the counter behind him. “I have to make one for Tavvy anyway.”
Juliette looks Leo over. “You’re up very early. And very chipper.”
Leo shrugs. “I’m a morning person.” The conversation pauses as Leo grinds a double shot and takes his time tamping it down. “Sort of comes with the territory.”
“I mean, yeah, I have to be up early a lot, but that doesn’t mean I like it,” Juliette grumbles. None of the Ricci family are morning people—the only trait they all share.
Leo turns around and slides the double shot over the island to Juliette. “It’s nice to be up with the sun,” he says as he starts making another for Octavia. “And I meant I got up early as a kid to work in my parents’ shop.”
“Oh, right,” Juliette says, realizing she should have remembered. Unlike a lot of the people on the tennis tours, Leo hadn’t come from money and a fancy club.
The conversation cuts off as Octavia comes stumbling into the kitchen. She blinks, confused at seeing Juliette. “What the hell are you doing up?”
“Good morning to you too,” Juliette says, sipping her espresso delicately.
“I was going to bring this up to you,” Leo says, holding out the demitasse cup to her.
“Thank God for you,” Octavia says, tugging on his wrist and dragging him into a quick kiss.
Juliette busies herself by taking another sip of espresso to ignore the uncomfortable wriggling in her stomach. It seeps over her tongue, hot and bitter, waking up her body and mind. Sometimes she wishes she could inject espresso straight into her veins.
“No, seriously, Jules, what are you doing awake? Usually we have to drag your ass out of bed.”
Juliette looks up at Octavia, who lifts a dark brow, as if she knows what Juliette was doing last night. She tries not to flush at the memory of Kacic’s skin beneath her hands, hot and trembling. “Maybe I wanted to wake with the sun,” she lies, glancing sideways at Leo.
Leo, wisely, keeps his mouth shut and sips his coffee again.
Octavia rolls her eyes. “Whatever. Keep your secrets.” She turns to the fridge and pulls it open. “Did you get Claudia her energy drinks?”
Thanks, Juliette mouths to Leo, who winks. “Not the peach flavor she loves, but there is a blue raspberry one.”
“She’ll have to deal then,” Octavia says, grabbing it and sauntering out of the kitchen.
Leo leans on the kitchen island. “Are you all right?” he asks again, so achingly sincere that Juliette’s guilt triples, swelling in her gut.
“It’s nothing that I can’t handle,” Juliette says, brushing her thumb along the edge of her cup.
Leo sighs. “But you don’t have to deal with it alone. This week is supposed to be about having fun, and you seem off.”
Juliette looks back up at Leo. Even though Leo is like family, she won’t even tell her sisters what happened with Kacic. “I’m fine, really. Don’t worry. You need to focus on your next tournament. Queens, right?”
“Is this about clay season?” Leo ignores her question. “Because those losses were—”
“No,” Juliette cuts Leo off sharply, even though she can’t help but feel that Leo is partially correct. “No, it isn’t. Thanks for the coffee.” She slides off the stool, effectively ending the conversation.
LUCA
For the first time in months, Luca wakes up refreshed. It’s a strange sensation. She glances at her shoulders and back and blinks.
There are no blisters, no scabs, no peeling. It’s as if she was never burnt at all; only lightly tanned skin is left behind.
She rips her phone off the charger and immediately searches the internet for answers, fingers shaking.
Can a soulmate’s touch cure sunburn?
She clicks on the first article from a nonsponsored site and reads through the research. Most of it is the theoretical hypothesis of soulmates being able to cure each other’s ailments. One couple claimed that by bathing each other every day, they’d been able to rid themselves of cancer.
Luca doesn’t know if she believes that, but she finds another reputable site that does say there is evidence that the touch of a soulmate heals superficial injuries like cuts, bruises, and burns, as long as there isn’t serious damage.
There’s more scientific jargon about how the physical connection energizes cells or something, but Luca feels satisfied with the answer.
She knows that Juliette is her soulmate. It shouldn’t be strange that Juliette can heal her burn with her touch. There is nothing significant to this and so she won’t give it any more thought.
But that’s the thing about trying not to think about something; it invades Luca’s brain and twists in on itself.
She thinks about it from every angle until it’s unrecognizable from the original thought.
Her brain focuses on the way Ricci’s hands had been so sure on her skin, but careful.
Just enough pressure to feel, but not enough that her calluses scratched against the burn.
Then Juliette’s hand had coasted down Luca’s sternum, fingers spreading to nearly touch her nipple.
Almost as if Juliette wanted to touch Luca lovingly, instead of just to help get rid of a nasty sunburn.
She shakes off the thoughts as best she can and heads downstairs. Most of the villa is awake and moving around. A basket of fruit sits on the island, and Luca snatches a banana even though she doesn’t feel particularly hungry.
She leans against the counter, feeling awkward and out of place.
Octavia, Claudia, and Remi are at the stove, scrambling eggs and chopping fruit.
Well, Octavia is scrambling eggs, Remi is chopping, and Claudia is pounding an energy drink at an alarming rate.
Juliette and Zoe are drinking coffee in the lounge, and from the snippet of conversation she hears, Zoe is complimenting the espresso, which makes Juliette’s whole face light up.
Luca isn’t used to being in a room full of other players. Especially not in such a casual setting. She shrinks into her hoodie, peeling her banana. She pulls out her phone to distract herself and sees a message from Nicky.
NICKY
good luck today! remember to try to make friends!
LUCA
Okay, Mom
Luca hesitates over the call button. Part of her wants to tell Nicky about the previous night, if just to ask about the healing touch of a soulmate.
But a larger part of her wants to keep it a secret.
Not out of shame, but because she wants to tuck that nice moment close to her chest. Nicky would probably scold her for not using sunscreen, then be annoyed that she let Juliette close to her.
He would remind her of her other relationships that had started with small gestures like that, and how they had ended.
Claudia tosses her empty can into the recycling bin, and it rattles, startling Luca out of her brooding.
“Good morning, Luca,” Claudia says with a yawn cutting through her words.
“Late night?” Luca asks, her throat sticking around the words awkwardly. She shoves her phone into her pocket and shovels half the banana in her mouth to distract herself.
Claudia shakes her head as she pulls another drink out of the fridge. “No, early morning. Can’t believe they’d make us practice this early.”
Luca shrugs. “Gets it out of the way. I like it.”
Claudia snorts. “I’ll let you get all the balls and take a nap on the back of the court.”
“I can see the tweets now. ‘Claudia Ricci caught sleeping during the Connolly Cup! Is philanthropy a snooze?’?” Luca jokes.