24. Juliet
24
JULIET
E astpoint University is where the top one-percenters send their offspring and where any scholarship student would be honored to go. Four years ago, it was a given that I would attend. Now, as I gaze through the windows of Lex’s SUV at its beautiful campus, all I can see are dollar signs. How high is the price tag to go here when you’re no longer a one-percenter, and can I pay it?
It’s beautiful. Special. Private. Most importantly, it’s a world away from Silverwood.
I hadn’t expected to like it nearly as much as I had, given the way the tour had started out, but as the time had stretched, I found myself not bored by Ms. Bairns’ anecdotes about the school. How it was founded by four incredibly wealthy families in the industrial age. How those families still exist today, pouring money into both the economy as well as the school and especially the program that might allow me to still attend even now that my family is flat broke.
As the archway to Eastpoint’s entrance disappears in the rearview hours later, I have to acknowledge that the only real blight of the college is whether or not Avery and Bran decide to go there next year.
I sit back against the soft seat and lean my head against the window as Gio directs us onto the interstate. I don’t know why and I don’t ask, but the guys decided on playing musical car seats or something. They’ve all switched positions, Gio driving, Lex in the passenger seat, and Nolan sitting across from me in the back. I curl in on myself, lifting my legs onto the seat as I wrap my arms around my knees.
Driving to a destination and driving back are always two different journeys. Now, I find myself staring at the clock on the radio, watching the minutes tick down and knowing I don’t have anywhere to go once we get back. Just a few short hours and I’ll be homeless again. All of the light and excitement of being in Eastpoint drains away with each passing mile as Lex fiddles with something on the radio and Me & My Demons by Omido and Silent Child comes on.
“Juliet?”
I turn my head at Nolan’s quiet voice to find him staring at me in that enigmatic way of his. “Yeah?”
Someone turns down the radio, and the sudden silence in the car sets me immediately on edge. I drop my legs back to the floorboards as Lex turns in his seat to face the two of us. Unfortunately for Gio, because he's driving, all he can do is glance up occasionally in the rearview mirror.
"What is it?"
Nolan inhales and then releases his breath on a sigh. "We wanted to discuss this last night," he starts, "but we need to ask."
My gaze jumps between them. "Ask me what?"
"Where are we dropping you off?"
My heart thunders against my ribcage. Do they know? They can't know ... can they? "What do you mean?" I hedge. "You can just drop me off at Roquel's." God, when did I become such a liar?
Nolan's expression darkens and his hands clench into fists in his lap. "Yeah? You're still going to stay with her now that her parents are home?"
I shrug, forcing my muscles to release as I turn to look back out the window. All the while, my mind races. "Sure, why not?"
Silence, and then Lex speaks. "Baby..." I almost flinch. Almost let that tone of his and the softness with which he speaks get to me.
"I'd like it if you could come back to my place," Nolan says.
I snort. "I just bet you would."
" Juliet. "
"What?" I snap, turning back to face him again. "What do you want from me, Nolan?"
Danger swirls in the darker parts of Nolan's irises, the burned crimson brown of his eyes turning to ash as he battles with whatever he wants to say and what he probably knows will push me away. In the end, I don't know which part of him wins because Lex speaks again.
"We know you made a deal with Gio," Lex says.
"He's out of wishes," I reply immediately, "so don't think you can use that to get me to do what you want."
"No, no, that's not what—" Lex curses and then tries to reach back. I shrink against the seat, glaring at him. He's not on my side. None of them are. He lets his arm drop over the back of the passenger seat instead of forcing the issue, though his lips twist with hurt. My chest aches and I can feel the air in my lungs force its way up and out of my throat. Did Gio turn off the air? Why does it feel so hot all of a sudden?
"We know it needs to be your choice, Jules," Gio murmurs, catching my attention before I can swing it towards the old dials that control the airflow in the vehicle.
That makes me stop. I suck in a breath. "What... exactly are you asking me?" Surely, it's not to come back to them like nothing happened. I can't—won't—do that.
But what if they really had nothing to do with the fire? That voice penetrates my mind again, reminding me that I could be wrong about them. They didn't have to bring me to Eastpoint with them, but they had. I'd been given an out and even now, it's not like they're the ones forcing me to make a decision. Life is. My fucked-up circumstances are. Not them.
"We want you to be safe," Nolan says.
"I can take care of myself." Even as I say the words, they sound hollow to my own ears. I can take care of myself. I've proved that again and again over the last few months, but ... I'm fucking tired. Just for a little while, it was nice having someone in my corner. Having them in my corner.
"We know you can, baby," Lex agrees. "But there are things you need to know."
"What?" My brow puckers and I look at Lex, narrowing my gaze. "What does that mean?"
The SUV fills with silence. The tension winds tighter and tighter until I swear I'm about to break in half. "What don't I know?" Each word is tinged with razor-sharp anger. Inside, I'm screaming. Not again. No more lies. No more betrayals. I can't do it again.
"The guys that jumped Gio," Nolan starts. "They didn't rob him, and it wasn't because of what we do outside of ... um... it wasn't because of his father."
"It wasn't?" It's pretty common knowledge that Darrio Vargas is a shady character. It'd never occurred to me that Gio's attackers could have jumped him for any other reason. If anything, it'd been proof that I should stay away from the three of them because they're bad news. I face forward, eyeing the rearview until Gio's gaze flicks up to meet mine.
"Before I passed out, one of them told me that I needed to stay away from you," Gio confesses. "They warned me to leave you be or else."
Shock silences me. Me? The attack was because of me? I shake my head. "That doesn't make any sense..." Except, maybe it does. In Silverwood, I'm the pariah. Unwanted. I could be a leper for the way people go out of their way to avoid me or worse, considering that they still pile the shit on, especially at school.
Scrubbing a hand down my face, I groan. "What does that even mean? Why would someone attack you because of me ?"
"We don't know," Nolan says and it's immediately followed by Lex's, "yet."
I drop my hands away from my face. "Someone attacked you because they want you to stay away from me, but you're still asking me to come back with you? Why ?"
When I lift my head to meet Nolan's gaze, the darkness has completely taken over. The various shades of red and brown that make up his irises are practically black. A tingle of awareness, of warning, spikes into the back of my skull. It's like an instinctive reaction to coming into contact with a predator when you weren't expecting one.
"They came after us." Nolan's voice is cold, unwavering. "It doesn't matter why, it matters that they did and that they haven't been caught."
"They could come after you next," Gio says, just in case I hadn't already thought of it—to my chagrin, I hadn't. Now that he's said it, though, I see that it could be a very real possibility.
My plans to head to the motel by the Veil catch fire. It wouldn't be simply stupid. It would be begging for someone to come after me—again, I remind myself, as I think about the reason I was staying with Nolan in the first place. A groan works its way up my throat. I thunk my skull back against the headrest.
"We want to keep an eye on you—and out for you," Nolan says. "We want to keep you safe—at least until whoever jumped Gio is caught."
"And you're asking me to come back?" I can't understand it. "Not telling?" They could do it too—force my hand. There's no reason for them to actually give me a choice.
"We don't want to worry about you running off the second we take our eyes off you," Nolan says. I almost laugh at how reasonable he sounds. "If you agree to come back, then you do it of your own free will. You won't run off. You'll stick with us."
"What about my job?" I ask. "You still going to let that happen?"
Nolan shrugs. "Why wouldn't we?"
I snort. "Because you're assholes who don't like it when someone else looks at what you think is yours."
A low noise—like that of an animal in rut—echoes into the air. I stiffen and bolt up, glancing out the window wondering if we're about to be attacked by something even as we fly down the highway. But no, there's no sign of any animal racing down the side of the road towards us or even barreling out of the woods. Slowly, I turn my head back until my eyes lock with the gunmetal gray of Lex's gaze. It's him, I realize a split second later. He's the one making that sound. My stomach bottoms out and completely falls away.
"Is that what you want, baby?" he asks, voice low, entrancing. "Do you want to belong to us?"
For once, my initial reaction isn't to scoff or immediately tell him no. I actually consider his words. Do I want to belong to them? The safety in being in a pack of men, of letting the Scorpion Kings face all of the bullshit I'll no doubt have to deal with for at least several more months until graduation is heady. I wouldn't be alone. I wouldn't be caught off guard if something else happens.
Men like pretty things, Juliet. My mother's voice stabs into my head, reminding me of all the reasons that I didn't want to stay with them in the first place. Men will treat pretty things much better than ugly things. Always be pretty.
My hands curl into fists, the crescents of my nails digging into my palms until the pain drives her voice back. People own pretty things, and I used to be controlled by that life. I'm not anymore. I don't want to be owned again because being owned means you can be thrown away too—whether you're pretty or not.
Turning away from Lex, I decide not to answer him as I fix my gaze on Nolan once more. "You want me to move back in with you," I state.
He nods.
"You want to keep an eye on me until you can find out who attacked Gio?"
His lips twitch, but he nods again.
"Do you think you can figure that out by the end of the year?" I ask. "By graduation."
Nolan's eyes sharpen. "I plan to find them well before then."
I have so few options, and this isn't even the worst one. What do I have to lose? I blow out a breath.
"Fine," I say.
Nolan straightens. "Fine?" he repeats. "Does that mean...?"
It's my turn to nod even as a pit opens up in my stomach as the flames of my plans burn a hot path over my freedom, erasing any possibility of me turning them down. It's better than being homeless, I tell myself. It's better than being helpless.
"This is a temporary truce," I tell them. "But yes, I'll come back with you."
At the front, Gio whoops, and I gasp as the action causes him to jerk the wheel and the car teeters to the side before evening back out in the lane. Lex growls and Nolan looks like he's ready to lean forward and smack the shit out of his friend. Thankfully, both keep their hands to themselves—likely in case injuring Gio in any way messes with the car again. Gio merely grins back at me with that wicked smile of his.
"You know what this means, don't you, Prep Girl?" he asks.
I dread the answer before it even comes out of his mouth, but when it does, I want to sink back into the seat and disappear into the upholstery because I know he's right. Everyone is going to think it, know it before the next week is out, and there's nothing I can do to stop it.
Gio's smile widens impossibly further as he gazes back at me from the rearview mirror. "You're a Scorpion Girl now, Juliet Donovan."