46. Juliette #2
Tyler is glaring at me like he knows all my secrets and wants to flay me alive for them.
It makes dread trickle down my spine, and my fingers twist in my lap as I clear my throat and force myself to look away.
With everything that’s been going on, I had forgotten that Frederick had shared my secret.
“Excuse me,” I say, pushing back from the table and catching Tyler’s eye. I haven’t spoken to him since Frederick stopped us and sloppily said Roman’s name in front of him, and I know it’s overdue. I can’t leave here without smoothing things over.
He’s always been one of my closest friends, and I can’t stand the thought of him thinking the worst of me. Even if I know he’ll hate me when he finds out I’m gone.
I walk out front until I’m in the night air and sit down at a bench in the VU courtyard.
The red and brown bricks are what I choose to focus on until Tyler slips into the space next to me.
His arm goes around the back of the bench, his legs sprawling out in front of him, a frown on his face and his eyes alert.
“Roman Montgomery won’t stop staring at you, you know? You two are fucking obvious, and it’s disgusting.”
My stomach twists, and I shrug, hoping it comes across as nonchalant. “I fail to see how that’s my problem.”
He gives me a knowing look. “Do you think I’m stupid?”
I shrug again. “A lot of people stare at me.”
He nods, gazing out over the space again. “Maybe I’ll tell Lance, then. He’d fuck him up so he couldn’t stare at anything again.”
“Even he’s not that overprotective.” I watch Tyler carefully and then ask, “Why do you hate him so much? You don’t even know him.”
“He’s a Montgomery .”
“He can’t help that any more than you can,” I say.
Tyler’s lips twist, and he crosses his arms with a grunt. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“And whose fault is that?” I snap. “Maybe if all of you dropped the brutish ‘I’m strong man, she’s weak woman’ act, you’d realize letting me know things is better than keeping me in the dark.”
He grunts, his jaw tensing.
I lean in, hopeful that maybe I’m getting through to him, just a little. Because if I can get through to Tyler, then maybe I can get through to everyone else, and I really will be able to come back here one day. “Tyler. It’s me . Be honest. Do you only hate them because my father tells you to?”
He slams his hand on the bench, the metal rattling beneath us. “I hate them because they’re responsible for my parents’ deaths.”
“Roman didn’t do that.”
He lets out a humorless laugh. “He’s the whole fucking reason it happened, Juliette. Take off those rose-colored glasses and look around. You want to know who the bad guys are? We’re it. Killing my parents was retaliation for your father trying to kill Roman and his sister.”
I rear back like he slapped me. “What are you talking about?”
He tilts his head, a pained smile crossing his face. “Don’t act surprised. I thought you wanted to know.”
“I don’t?—”
“I’m on the city council because your father gives us all kickbacks to vote accordingly.
He funded Art’s father’s campaign because Mayor Penngrove makes sure the Calloways come out on top with building codes and property taxes.
The judges have their wallets lined so they’ll look the other way when our land agents suddenly threaten a business owner within an inch of their life to give up their property. ”
My brows furrow. “I know they do things that aren’t necessarily aboveboard, but Art’s dad wouldn’t…”
He laughs under his breath. “He’s in on it, Jules.
All of them are. The police. The mayor. The governor.
The criminal organizations you don’t even know exist because they don’t have to step foot in town to make people do their bidding.
” He throws his hand out toward the building.
“There are things going on underground, underneath these very buildings, that would make your skin crawl.”
My mind whirls. How could I not have known?
“Okay, fine.” I try to make my voice sound strong. “That doesn’t explain why you hate Roman; it sounds like we should hate ourselves. Hate his dad, hate everyone who has lived here. But he’s a victim of circumstance, Ty. Surely you can see that.”
Tyler lets out a sardonic laugh. “Roman Montgomery should have stayed dead.”
There’s fire in his gaze, and I know that no matter what I say, it won’t change a thing.
Tyler has had serious anger issues ever since he lost his family, and I grew up ignorant to the truth.
Civil blood stains civil hands.
I’m sick.
“My parents didn’t deserve to die. And for a long time, the only peace I had was knowing once Marcus was in the ground, it was over. I was this close to breathing again, Juliette. But now that piece of shit is here, and he’s got you twisted around his finger.”
I swallow, feeling ten inches tall from his glare. Tyler’s never looked at me like this before, like he’s seconds away from snapping and I’m seconds away from being dead to him.
“He’s taking another family member from me, and he doesn’t even have to try. It’s not fair .”
“It’s not like that.” I force the words out.
“Bullshit. He’s manipulating you the same way our families have played the game for generations. You’re just too innocent to see it.”
I shake my head, but his condescension is wearing thin, and I can feel the drip of anger bleeding through. “I’m not innocent, Tyler. I just want to make my own choices; I don’t want to be chained to a certain life because of my last name.”
He leans in to whisper in my ear. “Too bad, Jules. You’re caged just like Lance, only you’re too naive to see it.”
“No,” I say, my nostrils flaring.
He laughs, throwing up his hands. “Fine. Think whatever you want, but it is what it is. Don’t preach to me like you’re some minister of peace just because you’ve let Montgomery dick poison your vision.”
I swallow the hurtful words like sharp knives cutting through my insides. “Ty, I love him.”
He looks at me like I’ve stabbed him, betrayal shining in his gaze.
“You love him?” he says. “You’re playing right into their hands, Juliette.”
My chest spasms. “You don’t understand.”
But maybe he does, and that makes nausea surge through me like a tidal wave.
“I don’t need to.” He laughs and rubs a hand over his face like he can’t believe what’s happening. “I’m smart enough to recognize that not everything is black and white. That there’s nuance in every situation. But I promise you, Juliette. If you choose Roman Montgomery, then you’re dead to me.”
“Don’t say that.” I reach out and try to grip his arm, but he rips it away, scoffing, his eyes watering like even looking at me makes him sad.
“I’m telling your brothers. They need to know. He’s playing a mind game with you, Juliette. There are no innocents in Rosebrook Falls. You’re getting involved in something you don’t even know you’re about to be in the middle of.”
“What’s that mean?”
He shakes his head. “You’re fucking everything up, that’s what it means.”
“Ty.” My voice breaks.
He ignores me, standing up and walking away.
“Tyler!” I half yell.
A few random college students are hanging outside of the Sic et Non dormitory, and they turn toward me at the noise.
My chest aches, and I reach up to try and soothe the burn, but it’s no use.
I knew that choosing Roman would mean letting go of everyone else. I just hoped they’d understand why I was doing it.