7. Juliet
7
JULIET
S ilverwood General Hospital is small compared to other hospitals in the big cities, but it smells just the same. Antiseptic and bleach. The acrid scent burns my nose as I close my arms around myself and shudder at the frost-like air in the hallway.
Lex’s stride is confident and purposeful as he moves—as if he’s been here many times before. Based on what I know, that wouldn’t surprise me. The Scorpion Kings were known for getting into fights when they were freshmen, only now that they’re seniors and have proven themselves do they no longer really need to fight to claim what’s theirs. The right to rule the younger generation of Silverwood residents.
Nurses hurry from room to room, clipboards in hand and frazzled hair pulled into tight, messy buns. I scan the windows and doors of each room we pass until I nearly come crashing into Lex’s back when he stops too fast for me to notice. My nose smooshes against his spine and I quickly retreat, pulling away as he turns and gestures to an open door.
“—discharged before my ass permanently grows roots in these fucking sheets, Nolan.” The sound of Gio’s disgruntled voice reaches me a moment before the words do.
“You’ll be discharged when the doctor says you can,” is Nolan’s terse response.
Lex lifts a hand and knocks against the side of the open doorway, drawing both men’s attention. That's when I get a good look at Gio’s face. I blink and I know that I can’t keep the shock off my face. No matter what I think of Nolan and Lex, it’s clear that Gio’s not faking his stay here.
His face is battered and bruised, one eye so dark and swollen that it’s a wonder he can see out of it at all—if he even can. There are more mottled bruises peeking out from beneath the hospital gown he wears and an almost sheepish expression on his face. I’m the first to step into the room.
G shifts on the bed, gathering up the sheets in his fists—fists that look scraped raw where they aren’t taped up. “Hey, Prep Girl,” he greets me, ducking his head. Nolan stands, his mouth opening as if he wants to warn me not to be a bitch, but I shoot him a harsh glare before moving closer to the thin bed.
“Hey, Playboy.”
Gio’s head lifts, and warm chocolate-brown eyes meet mine. I lift my hand, pausing as it hovers over the bed and I’m not sure if I should touch him. He’s… rough-looking to say the least, and I don’t want to hurt him more than he’s already got to be. Before I can lower it again, though, he releases one hand from the bedsheets and grabs it.
“I’m glad you’re here,” he says. “I’m sorry about not taking you to see your dad.”
I shake my head. Right now, that’s the least of my concerns. Though I’m angry—hurt, it’s no longer by him. “It’s okay,” I whisper, letting our fingers twine together as I say the words and mean them. “I forgive you.”
What I can’t forgive, though, are his friends—and their ploy. For a moment, I contemplate calling them out in front of G. Asking why they bothered to burn down my apartment if this was G’s excuse all along, but nothing the Scorpion Kings have ever done has ever made sense to me. And I don’t want to stress G out.
We might not be friends—not really—but we’re not rivals anymore.
“How long do you need to stay here?” I ask, breaking the awkward silence that follows.
“Another few days,” Nolan answers at the same time that Gio announces, “Tonight.”
The two exchange dark looks. “You aren’t ready to leave,” Nolan argues.
“I don’t want to stay here any longer,” G shoots back. “I can heal at home as well as I can here—better probably, since my bed is far bigger than this piece of shit.” He shifts on the mattress again and the crinkle of the plastic topper under the sheets punctuates his meaning.
Nolan curses and shoves a hand through the thickness of his hair. “The doctor said you shouldn’t even be on your feet today,” he states. “You’re lucky that your ribs ended up being bruised rather than fractured or broken. As it stands, you’re going to have to take the sidelines at next week’s game.”
“Fuck that!” G lurches forward, releasing my hand. “The Eastpoint scout is going to be there for that fucking game.”
Eastpoint? I look between them as Lex comes to stand in the room, quietly shutting the door behind him.
“I know.” Nolan doesn’t look happy about the admission. “But you can’t play looking like you went five rounds with a semi and lost.”
Gio’s face scrunches up. “Fuck.” He rakes his hands—two fingers taped together—through his hair. “I can’t afford Eastpoint without a scholarship.”
“You’re going to Eastpoint?” It hadn’t occurred to me that the three of them would even contemplate college, but then again, why not? Just because they don’t come from money doesn’t mean there aren’t other ways to attend university.
“Well, not fucking now, and then we have to deal with…” Gio’s words taper off as his hands lower to his lap and he flicks a quick look at me before returning his attention to Nolan. “I can’t stay here,” he repeats his earlier words.
His obvious reluctance to finish his last statement and the brief look he’d sent my way has my hackles rising. What do they have to deal with? I scan the three of them. Lex seems indifferent as he stands against the door with his arms folded like some unholy guard dog. Nolan blows out a breath, his brow wrinkled and dark circles marring the skin beneath his eyes. Gio… seems to be actively not looking my way.
Oh yes, they’re keeping something from me. My skin turns clammy and heat strokes nasty claws down my spine. I’m tired of liars, and yet I’m surrounded by them. Always.
Keeping my tone even, I crack my neck to the side and speak. “Well, why don’t I let the three of you figure this out. I’ve got to head out and find a new apartment.”
“ What? ” That shock of a question comes from three mouths and damn it, I have to give it to them, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say they were genuinely shocked.
Three pairs of eyes are on me, and not a single one of them is full of knowing. They might be better heading off to Hollywood for an acting gig. I’ve got a distant cousin who’s there now. I haven’t heard from Selene in a while, but she’s got connections there. Maybe if I don’t want to kill them all after everything comes out, I’ll offer to set them up and have her introduce them to some directors.
I take a step towards the door. “Well, I can’t exactly go back to my old apartment,” I state. “Not when it’s a pile of ash.”
A beat of silence passes and then Nolan turns to face me fully. “Why would you find somewhere else when you’re staying with us?” he demands.
“Is that what you were so mad about last night?” Lex asks. “Did you think we did that?”
The sound of my laugh sticks in my throat and becomes choked, a noiseless and unamused facsimile of what it should be. “Did I think you burned down my apartment to give me nowhere else to run?” I direct my look and the question to Nolan. “I don’t know, but I do know one of you threatened to keep me with you by any means necessary.”
Nolan’s already shaking his head before I’m even done. “I would never?—”
“Burn down my apartment?” I ask, cutting him off. “Of course not.” The smile I offer is razor sharp. “Just like you’d never kill someone or help someone else get rid of a body. You’d never do anything like that, right, Nolan?”
He shuts his mouth and glares. This time, my laugh is genuine. I point to Gio. “I get that G couldn’t have done anything,” I say, then lower my hand and offer him a sympathetic grimace. “I honestly do forgive you for not taking me to Hansgard yesterday. But you two…” My head snaps back to keep both Nolan and Lex in my sights. “You two have no alibi.”
“No alibi? Fuck, I was here all night, Princess,” Nolan says, gesturing around the somewhat messy hospital room. There’s a discarded Silverwood High jacket over the chair behind him and a woman’s knitting ball and needles on the other chair.
“Sure,” I say. “All night.” I cut a look to Gio and back. “With one of your brothers who was unconscious the whole time and another that would cover for you at the drop of a hat.”
“Baby.” I jerk away when Lex lowers his arms and reaches for me.
“Do not touch me.”
“Prep Girl, they would never take that from you,” Gio tries, and though it’s hard to keep him in the same category as his friends, the fact is—he’s theirs. Not mine. He might be innocent in forgetting his promise, but when it comes to the Scorpion Kings, his blood is just as venomous as theirs.
With Lex further into the room, the door is free game and I turn, dodging for it before either Nolan or Lex can stop me. I’ve got it open and I’ve stepped into the hall—in clear view of the full nurses’ station not twenty feet away by the time they realize what I’ve done.
“ Juliet .” Nolan’s voice is a warning, one I don’t heed.
“I’ll come by later to get the rest of my things from your house,” I tell him before casting a look at Lex. “And I’ll bring your clothes back to you.”
“I don’t want them back,” Lex replies. “I told you that I like you wearing my clothes, baby. Anything that I have is yours.”
A snort escapes, the sound indelicate and unladylike. “Anything but the truth, huh?”
“Juliet.” Nolan barks my name, stomping towards the door. “Get your ass back in this room, now. We need to talk about whatever it is you think we’ve done.”
“I think I’m done talking, Nolan,” I say, shifting back another step and then another and another until I’m a good distance away from the reach of his arms. I wouldn’t put it past him to snatch me up and drag me inside, and when he casts a look down to the nurses’ station, I know I’ve made the right call.
Oh, I still want my revenge on them, and I’ll get it, but I can’t stand here and pretend like they aren’t more jailers wanting to lock me down.
“You don’t have anywhere else to go,” Nolan reminds me.
I grit my teeth. Those words are a practical confirmation of guilt—that’s why they did it. Because he really thinks I don’t have anywhere else to go. “I didn’t have anywhere to go when my life fell apart the first time either,” I tell him. “Don’t worry, I’ll figure it out. I always do.”
Turning, I take five steps towards the elevators only to come to a harsh stop as a firm hand curls around my upper arm. “You have no idea what you’re doing, Juliet,” Nolan hisses at me. “There’s more that you don’t know. If you want that information, then you need to get your fuckable little ass back in that hospital room without making a goddamn scene.”
I contemplate his words for a moment. He’s smart, I’ll give him that. Dangle the carrot in front of the horse and she’ll follow it. Offer to give me information that he has no intention of releasing just to get me to do what he says. Jerking my arm away from his grip, I lift my cold eyes to his.
“Fuck. You.”
Cinnamon red-brown eyes flare and his lips turn down. “Oh, Princess, you have no idea how much I would do that right now if I could—if we were in a place other than my mom’s work.” He moves closer, but I don’t back down. I won’t allow him to intimidate me. There’s no point anymore. I can’t sink any lower.
“You think this little tantrum of yours will keep us off you?” he asks, lowering his voice so that none of the bypassing staff or visitors can overhear. “Believe me when I say that no matter where you go, who you go to, we will always find you, or have you forgotten that you owe us for getting rid of your little problem?”
There it is—what I’d been expecting ever since they’d taken my attacker’s body and disappeared with it. The blackmail. The leverage. Before I can shoot back something else, a familiar gruff voice calls out my name.
“Juliet?”
I pull away from Nolan as he lifts his head. “Dr. Pillard…” I stare back at my ex-boyfriend’s father, a tall slender man with dark brown hair streaked with gray. He’s dressed in his doctor’s coat and a pair of navy-blue scrubs and holding a clipboard. His eyes go from me to Nolan and then me again. He seems to come to a decision and marches forward, cutting between us and forcing Nolan to back off.
Despite the physical barrier, Nolan’s eyes glare at me over Dr. Pillard’s shoulder. I ignore him and focus on the man standing before me now.
“What are you doing here?” I ask. “I thought you were working out of one of the cities.”
“I was—still am,” Dr. Pillard says. “Outside of my department, though, I stop in to offer assistance here when they’re low on medical staff.” No doubt the hospital pays him a mint to be here, considering his reputation as one of the best surgeons in the state. “What are you doing here?” He glances over his shoulder at where Lex hangs back in the doorway of Gio’s room and Nolan remains against the wall.
“Visiting,” I deadpan. “But I’m heading out now.”
“Where are you heading?” he asks.
“Uh…” I have an idea of where to go, but I certainly don’t want to say it in front of the Scorpion Kings. No doubt, it would take them no time at all to call around and lock me down.
Dr. Pillard seems to understand, and his expression turns thoughtful as he lowers his clipboard to his side. “Why don’t you let me give you a ride?” he offers. “My shift is actually over and I was just returning some paperwork to the nurses’ station.”
Bless this man. If Dr. Pillard is with me, then there’s no way that the Scorpion Kings can stop me from leaving without making a fuss or scene. Nolan’s scowl deepens as he glares at the back of the doctor’s head like he wants to put a bullet in it.
“Actually, that would be really nice, thank you, Dr. Pillard.” I offer him my brightest smile—the very one that I’d perfected on Silverwood Prep’s cheerleading squad.
He smiles back, the action turning him from stodgy old doctor to passably attractive. “I’ll be right back, Miss Donovan.”
My smile doesn’t falter as he takes a step away, casting a wary glance to where Nolan and Lex stand side by side before he moves down the corridor to the nurses’ station. Nolan’s dark eyes find mine and I let my expression go back to normal.
“You’re making a big mistake, Princess.”
“So did you,” I tell him, “when you thought you could control me.”
Lex bumps forward and scowls as Gio appears in the doorway of his own hospital room. His features crease beneath the bruises. “Prep Girl, come on, don’t leave like this—Nolan’s right. There’s more you don’t know.”
My chest squeezes. I never would have thought that I’d trust him of all of them, and though I believe him when his words suggest that they’d be willing to tell me, I know that at the end of the day, he wouldn’t choose me. I gave that option to Lex and he, too, didn’t choose me. None of them would. They would choose each other. Over and over again. It’s the story of my life.
“Sorry, Playboy. I really am.”
He lurches forward and Lex turns, catching him before he can trip into the hallway.
When Dr. Pillard returns a split second later, I don’t offer them any more apologies. I simply turn and walk away.