33. Juliette
JULIETTE
“ W hy is Lance hanging out in the HillPoint?”
Tyler blinks like my question surprises him. He’s sitting across from me at the local theater in the town square, Fortune’s Fool, his feet propped on top of the auditorium seat in front of us.
We’re both here waiting for the acting class Alex teaches to end so we can go out to lunch.
“How do you even know he’s hanging out there?” Tyler replies instead of answering the question.
I shrug. “I know enough.”
“Jules, you have no business going to the HillPoint,” Alex pipes up from behind us, climbing over the seats and plopping into the one on my other side.
I glare at him. “You sound like Paxton.”
Alex flashes a boyish grin. “Is that a compliment?”
“If you like being compared to an uptight asshole, then sure.” I throw up my finger. “Also, I’ll go where I want, thanks. Besides, I went with Felicity, so it’s not like I was by myself.”
Alex straightens from where he was leaning against the wall, his honey green eyes sparking with interest. “Felicity’s back?”
“Yeah,” I reply. “Put your tongue back up into your mouth.”
He lifts a shoulder, pressing a hand over his heart. “She’s the love of my life, not that I’d expect you to understand.”
“ Christ , here we go,” Tyler exclaims, rolling his eyes.
My mouth drops open. “You can’t just toss that word around, Alex.”
“I’m not. I’m completely serious.”
“Obsession and love are not the same thing,” Tyler says like he’s chastising a kid. “How many times do I have to tell you that?”
“A great love is obsession.” He glares at Tyler like he’s offended, but when he glances back at me, a soft smile lights up his face.
“That is an exceptionally creepy thing to say,” I remark.
He gives me a look. “That’s how we get sonnets, poems, tragic plays where people topple empires just to feel their lover’s kiss. Art , you absolute ingrates.”
“So love is art,” Tyler muses, a deadpan look on his face. “Or art is obsession?”
“Art is life dressed up in prettier words,” Alex hits back, stretching out one leg in front of him.
Tyler chuckles. “Someone put that on a shirt.”
I force a smile, but Alex’s words have me free-falling. Because if art is obsession and love is the kind of thing that fuels it…
Maybe that’s why being around Roman is like standing too close to a fire, knowing how badly I could get burned, but reaching for it anyway.
“Hello?” Alex waves his hand in front of me, eyes wide, and then snaps his fingers in my face. “It’s disturbing you can disassociate like that.”
“I’m not disassociating, I’m thinking.” I bat his hand out of the way. “You should try it sometime.”
He scoffs. “I have a degree in philosophy . Thinking is literally my brand.”
“Quoting Aristotle in Italian cashmere while flirting with theater majors doesn’t count,” Tyler points out, nodding toward the stage.
“I am who I am.” Alex beams. “And besides, I’m incredible at monologues. You’re just a hater.”
Tyler leans forward, the auditorium chair squeaking. “Did we or did we not just watch you play a tree for the past hour while you called it teaching?”
“A tree with gravitas ,” Alex corrects, offended. “And anyway, I’m just using my degree the way Plato intended, by teaching through performance.”
“You mean seducing impressionable freshman with bad lighting and soliloquies?” I tease.
“You only get away with it because you’ve got the Calloway genes,” Tyler cuts in. “If you were ugly, none of this would be charming.”
“That’s probably true.” I nod along. “But it works if you work it, so my advice is to stay the course.”
“Thank you, Jules.” Alex smiles at me.
“I’m not condoning your actions,” I say, lifting a brow. “I’m just trying to let you down easy and give you a soft place to land because Felicity will never sleep with you. Keep your focus on the future Hollywood starlets, Casanova.”
Tyler snorts. “He does . It’s not like he’s celibate, waiting for Felicity to lower her standards. Did you see that girl he was just coaching? She could barely walk out of here, she had so many hearts in her eyes.”
Alex grins a movie-star-worthy smile. “I overheard someone say Felicity had a crush on a Calloway brother once.”
I laugh. “You’re delusional.”
“And you’re so sure she was talking about you ?” Tyler adds.
Alex lets out a chuckle, running a hand down his black Henley. “I’m going to ignore your implication that I’m not the best brother.”
Tyler points a finger at Alex. “You’re lucky she hasn’t put out a restraining order on you yet.”
“If she didn’t like me, she wouldn’t text me all the time.”
My hands fly up to my temples, a headache brewing. I squeeze my eyes shut. “Oh my God , please let me out of this conversation.”
“Actually,” Alex continues, whipping his head around. “You think she’s at Second Circle Market right now?”
“I don’t know, dude. If you two are so close, just text her and ask.”
He nods, tapping his phone against his hand and shooting up from his seat. “I should go find her. You know…say hi.”
“Hey!” I shout at his back. “I thought we were going to lunch.”
He waves his arm at us. “I’ll meet you there.”
“Try not to get arrested!” Tyler calls out with a grin and then looks at me.
I quirk a brow and cross my arms. “Well? Answer my question.”
He looks at his nails. “I can’t remember it.”
“What is Lance doing hanging out in the HillPoint?”
I watch his reaction carefully, but he’s got a damn good poker face. I’m not one-hundred percent sure Lance was even there, but if anyone knows, it will be Tyler.
“How the hell should I know?” Tyler shrugs.
“Uh, because you two are best friends?”
He frowns. “Like I said, we don’t hang out like we used to.”
“Okay,” I draw out the word. “Let me rephrase: What is Art doing owning the Round Table because of a debt collection? I thought you said he was his dad’s shadow now.”
“He is.”
“And you think the mayor of Rosebrook wants Art being a loan shark and owning some run-down bar in the HillPoint of all places?”
“Guess so.”
“And you’re fine with it. You, the person who hates anything Montgomery more than anyone else in existence.”
Tyler’s eyes flash, his jaw tensing. “The Round Table has nothing to do with the Montgomerys now.”
“I already know Art’s fucking that bartender, Ginny, or whatever her name is. Is that why?”
Tell me that’s all it is , I want to plead. But there’s a sickening feeling taking root inside of me, like there’re huge pieces of this town that I don’t know anything about. Pieces that everyone else seems to.
Tyler looks at me like I’ve grown three heads. “No…it’s because Art’s got business there.”
My face screws up. “Like he owns part of it?”
“No, Juliette.” Tyler exhales a heavy breath like he’s annoyed with me and then sits forward, dropping his head. “And stay away from Genevieve. There’s nothing good about her.”
“Then what is it?” I press. “You can try to avoid answering me all you want, Ty, but you know I’ll just keep pushing until you can’t stand the sight of me.”
Tyler groans, palming the back of his neck, then lifts his eyes to meet mine. “Like, ‘under the table, I’m in Montgomery territory for my dad because he’s the mayor and needs to keep his hands clean’ business.”
Something foreboding whispers against the back of my neck, but I shrug off the unease.
“What does that even mean?” I ask. “Are you insinuating the mayor of Rosebrook Falls is doing illegal activity with Marcus Montgomery and using his son for it so it doesn’t fall back on him?”
He blinks at me. “I did not say that.”
“You implied it heavily.”
“I just said it wasn’t Montgomery’s place anymore, actually. You’re twisting my words.”
My mind flashes with the mural Roman did on the side of city hall, the one depicting my dad controlling the mayor.
That isn’t surprising to me—I’ve known about our bribes and kickbacks to the town officials for years; it’s just part of this world.
But if the mayor is double-dipping and also fucking around with the Montgomerys, then…
He throws his hands up. “You know what? I shouldn’t have said anything. Just…give Lance a break, all right? Your brother’s loyal to the people he cares about, you know?”
I used to agree with that statement.
“It’s not his fault your dad doesn’t give a shit about him,” Tyler continues. “ And keeps a tight leash on his money. He’s doing what he needs to do. It’s not like he’s working for Calloway Enterprises.”
“Lance doesn’t want anything to do with the family business.”
“Not that one, anyway.”
“Huh?”
“Nothing.” He grins. “Lucky he doesn’t, you know? More for the rest of us.”
“Yeah, I already know how far up my dad’s ass you are. Quit deflecting.”
Ty chuckles. “Don’t hate the player, baby, hate the game.”
I laugh and shove his shoulder lightly. “That is not what that phrase means.”
His brow quirks. “It is if we’re talking about the deeply capitalist system we were born into.”
My lips twist, something unsettling in my gut. “That’s not a game, Ty. It’s just the way it is.”
He hums. “Maybe I’ll see if my loving uncle will let me be your bodyguard or something.”
I roll my eyes. “With your temper? You’d get me killed.”
He shrugs. “I don’t know, seems like you have a pretty cake gig doing nothing around here. How hard could it be?”
“That’s not by choice.” I cross my arms, insulted and a little embarrassed that it’s noticeable even to him that there’s no real direction in my life. “And please don’t. I love you, but if I had to put up with you every day, I might actually kill myself.”
Tyler presses a hand to his chest. “Quit pretending I’m not your favorite cousin.”
“Not a hard title to claim when Rosalie’s your only competition.”
He purses his lips, sadness crossing his face for a fleeting moment. “Fair.”
My stomach grumbles, and that’s my cue. I stand up and put my hands on my hips. “Whatever, this entire family sucks. I’m hungry. Feed me.”
Tyler smirks, but relief filters through his gaze, and I can’t help but wonder if it’s because I stopped questioning him about Lance.
He throws his arm over my shoulder, dragging me into his side. “As long as we can hunt down the lovesick puppy in time.”
“Yeah, what’s up with that?” I question. “Did… Are he and Felicity…?”
Ty looks down at me knowingly. “I think if there was any truth to what he was saying, you’d know about it.”
His words give me a bit of reprieve.
“You know Alex loves things he can’t have,” Ty says as we make our way down the hall. “You reject him once and he’s like a dog desperate for a bone. No pun intended.”
“Gross.” I screw up my face. “Can you not make sex jokes about my brother, please?”
“What?” he asks. “It’s natural . We’re all adults here.”
I make a gagging noise, and Tyler laughs.
We’re both so into our conversation that we don’t realize when we round the corner and run almost smack dab into Frederick Lawrence.
My breath stalls in my throat, the amusement draining out of me like a wine that’s been uncorked.
Tyler stiffens next to me. “Freddy, hi. Didn’t realize you were back in town.”
“Hello, Tyler. Juliette.” Frederick’s eyes are heavy as they land on me, something flashing in his gaze that makes my hair stand on end. But just as quickly as it came, it disappears.
“Hey, Freddy.” I take him in.
He’s been a fixture in my life for as long as I can remember, but it’s been years since I’ve seen him.
Once he started dipping his hands heavily into Marcus Montgomery’s life, my family pulled away.
I know my dad still uses him, when necessary, but it’s not like he still comes to the family cookouts.
I snort to myself. As if we’ve had family cookouts.
He looks older. Worn out, maybe.
“It’s good to see you,” I say.
He gives me a soft smile. “Actually, I was looking for you, Juliette.”
My brows hike up. “For what?”
He glances at Tyler and then back. “I need to talk to you about Roman Montgomery.”