Chapter 16 Juliet #2
Morpheus Calloway wasn’t a pillar of the community. He wasn’t a good man. He was evil who knew how to wear a convincing mask. Some of them have to know that.
Yet, here they all are, surrounding his grave as if he was someone they all treasured.
Flowers clasped to their chests. Several older women have tissues clutched against them as well.
Every so often, they reach up to wipe away a tear or two.
Men stand, stoic and calm, sunglasses covering their eyes as if that will hide their own emotions.
Sorrow. Loss. An ache that permeates the air around us. This entire cemetery is filled with those feelings.
Inside me, though, there is nothing but rage.
Morpheus doesn’t deserve to be mourned. He doesn’t deserve this many people attending his funeral. He doesn’t deserve to be remembered as a person he wasn’t.
My chest pumps up and down as I suck in lungfuls of air.
I know I should try to be looking for something else amongst this crowd—the real killer—but I can’t.
I’m not sorry he’s gone. In fact, I’m glad he’s dead.
Whoever the murderer is, I want to thank them.
Shake their hand. Help them get away with it, but not if it puts me on the chopping block in their stead.
The only reason we want to find the real killer now is because I refuse to go down for something I didn’t do. I refuse to let these people—hypocrites that they are—villainize me again and make me their scapegoat. I’ve committed enough crimes for them to blame me for, but this is not one of them.
“Juliet?” Lex’s soft whisper nearly jolts me out of my skin as he brushes his fingertips lightly over my arm.
I look up, only then realizing that the priest has stopped speaking directly to the people and is now reciting some biblical verse as a line begins to queue for those who wish to drop their flowers onto Morpheus’ casket. Our hands—the Scorpion Kings and I—remain empty.
“Are you okay?” Lex asks, keeping his voice low.
Okay? No. God, no. I’m not okay.
“Why don’t you take her down the hill,” Nolan says, moving in close to my other side. “There’re a few benches down there. You can wait there until it’s over.”
Guilt swamps my chest. This is the exact reason they didn’t tell me about the funeral. I’d gotten so mad, been so pissed off, and yet, here I am, proving them right. Showing just how incapable I am of handling a monster’s demise when it’s what I’ve wanted for years.
I want to tell Nolan that I’m fine, that I can stay, but the words stick in my throat. Lie to myself? Fine. Lie to them? I can’t anymore.
“Come on, baby.” Lex’s voice is soft, soothing, as he takes my hand and tugs me away from the funeral. I stare at the backs of everyone standing over Morpheus’ grave for the longest time. I don’t look forward, instead trusting Lex to lead me where I need to go and keep me from falling.
When we’re down the hill and I can hardly see anything but the tops of people’s backs and shoulders, I turn towards him. Lex stops and cups my face in his palm.
“I love you.” I blink, not so much surprised by the words as I am by the location he chose to say them.
Lex has been obsessed with me for years.
He’s stalked me. Watched me. Took pictures of me.
Had his friend make me come on video just for him to watch.
Toxic doesn’t even begin to describe our relationship.
Yet, there’s no doubt in my mind that he speaks the truth.
He does love me. And in my own fucked-up way, I love him too.
Closing my eyes, I press my forehead against his chest and just breathe. I don’t reply. I don’t mimic the words back to him. I don’t have to. He knows me better than I know myself.
“I’m not sad,” I say, though he hasn’t asked me any questions. “I’m just…” My words drift off, somewhat muffled by the way my face is pressed to his chest. A finger moves under my chin and I tilt my head back, looking up into a pair of the most stunning gunmetal gray eyes I’ve ever seen.
The corner of Lex’s mouth quirks up, and when his lips part, the edge of one canine peeks through. My insides clench tight. My fingers dig into his black coat. I want nothing more than to push him onto the ground and fuck him.
An image of me riding Lex atop Morpheus’ fresh grave makes me grin back at him. Maybe later, after everyone has gone and night has fallen, he can make that particular fantasy come true.
“You don’t need to be sad for that piece of shit,” Lex says. “He deserved what he got in the end. I’m only sorry it wasn’t one of us that killed him.”
My smile fades and I look back over my shoulder and up to the hill. “They think it was me,” I murmur. “Or if they don’t, then they think it was one of you guys.”
“Don’t worry about that right now.” Lex draws me back around, forcing me to look at him. “That’s what Abel and Viks are for. All you need to worry about is which of us you’re going to let take you to the winter formal.”
A low groan erupts from my throat. “Are you fucking kidding?” I gesture behind us. “We’re at a damn funeral!”
Lex shrugs, unrepentant. “And? You never did give me an answer when I asked you before.”
I push away from him and start walking down the path. “That’s because I thought you were fucking with me then,” I call back. Lex’s shadow falls into step next to me as we head towards the parking lot.
“Now that you know I was serious, are you going to give me an answer?” he asks.
I roll my eyes. “No.”
“No, you’re not going to give me an answer or no you won’t go with me?”
Gritting my teeth, I stop in the middle of the walkway and pivot to face him.
“Why do you care anyway?” I ask. “It’s a high school dance.
We might have another semester before we can head to college, but you and I both know that neither of us gives a shit about any of that quintessential teenage bullshit. ”
Lex blinks back at me, but his face is unreadable as he replies. “It’s a rite of passage,” is all he says.
My shoulders slump and I lift my hands to scrub them down my face. “Do you really want to go?” I demand.
“I’ve never been,” he admits. “But I want to go with you.”
He’s never been… I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised by that. He’s been obsessed with me since well before high school. But it wasn’t like he was a virgin when we had sex either.
The look in his eyes bores into me, big and round and silently pleading. I curse under my breath and kick the ground. “Ugh, fine!” I snap. “I’ll go.”
Turning, I make it exactly two steps before his arms come around me, drawing me back against him. The heat of his chest burns into my back and I suck in a sharp breath. Lex’s lips touch the side of my neck as his fingers clench against my hips.
“Thank you, baby.” He whispers the words against my skin like they’re supposed to be filthy.
The hardness of his cock presses against my ass and I automatically part my legs a little bit as the fabric of my dress stretches over my thighs.
A low rumble of noise vibrates from him and into me. I nearly whimper.
Thankfully, in the next second, I hear someone call my name.
Lex’s body retracts from mine, saving me from making an absolute fool of myself by throwing myself at him and demanding he fuck me right now.
The two of us turn back to see that the funeral must be over.
People are spreading out and several are walking down the pathway in our direction towards the parking lot.
At the head of the trail are Nolan and Gio.
It wasn’t their voice, though, that I heard calling me.
Shuffling to the side, off the path to let the others pass through, I spot the speaker.
Mads. I lift my hand and give her a wave to let her know I heard her.
She glances back at someone and a dour-faced woman appears at the crest of the hill with her silver-blonde hair pulled back into a severe bun and her black dress covering her from throat to ankle.
She says something to Mads before scowling deeply and shaking her head.
The older woman casts a disgusted glare down at us before turning and saying something to Mads once more.
With my attention so focused on my friend, I catch the moment her normal facade cracks.
Her usually polite and happy expression dips and she flinches at whatever the woman says.
Mads doesn’t say anything back, but she does listen to her.
When the older woman is done, she heads off, disappearing into the crowd, and Mads turns back to us.
She holds up one finger and at my nod, smiles brightly again. As more and more people descend the hill, Lex moves me farther off the path and onto the grassy area with several other headstones.
“You ready to go?” Gio asks as he bounds up to us, his earlier somberness gone.
“Mads wanted me to wait for her,” I say, nodding towards the top of the hill.
Mads is gone now—disappeared behind the woman, but I’m sure she’ll come down as soon as she can.
I don’t mind waiting. After all, I hadn’t been able to do what I came here to do at the actual funeral.
This is my last chance to look over all of the people who attended.
Scanning the crowd, I spot a few familiar faces. Principal Long and Cory amongst them. The two walk side by side, neither of them touching, but their faces placid and calm as they talk amicably. I tilt my head to the side, watching them curiously.
“Interesting, right?” Nolan asks, and I look up to realize he’s followed my gaze to the couple.
“Yeah,” I say. “They look good together.”
“Who?” Gio asks, leaning around Nolan. “Oh, Long and Cory?” He hums in the back of his throat. “Yeah, I guess they kinda suit. They’re both pretty decent and have never been married.”
“How do you know that neither of them has been married?”
Gio snorts. “It’s a small town, Prep Girl. I’m surprised you didn’t know.”