Chapter 19 Juliet
JULIET
In the morning, all three guys are piled around me like puppies. It’d be cute if I weren’t so goddamn hot. Just one of them acts like a space heater, but all three? Fuck no.
“Wake up,” I grumble, smacking Nolan’s arm. “We have to get ready.”
Nolan cracks open one eye, looks at me, and then snuggles down harder before closing it.
“Hey!” I turn and smack Lex, reaching over Gio, who’s still clinging to me like glue. Lex groans and rolls over.
“Five more minutes,” I hear him mutter.
Normally, I wouldn’t mind sleeping in, but I’m sweating and I honestly can’t stand it.
Huffing with annoyance, I pry first Nolan’s arms off me before sliding out of Gio’s and then crawl my way towards the bottom of the bed.
King-sized is definitely not three giant-ass football players-sized and everyone’s limbs are crisscrossed with each other’s.
Any other group of guys would have likely been rolling off the mattress and jumping up to shout “No homo” or some other toxic masculine bullshit when they realized that.
But not my guys. They’ve known each other forever and I doubt they give a shit about sleeping in the same bed so long as they’re comfortable.
I, however, really need a break from all the hot, male heat.
Fanning my face as soon as I manage to break free and stand up, I glance back at the three of them and shake my head. The clock on the bedside reads just before seven a.m. which means we do actually have some time.
I don’t waste a second of it, rushing into the bathroom to brush my teeth and relieve myself, then into the closet to grab clothes and change into them.
By the time I’m done getting ready for the day, Lex’s actual alarm is blaring and all three guys are groaning as both Gio and Nolan demand for him to shut it up.
I snicker as I slip from the room and head for the kitchen.
Twenty minutes later, I’m cupping a mug of liquid mana, carefully sipping the scorching hot stuff as I scramble eggs in a pan with my free hand. One by one, each of the guys ambles in, noses lifted to the air as they smell the food and coffee.
“Something smells good,” Nolan muses as he stops nearby and grabs himself a cup. My chest squeezes tight as he moves up behind me and presses the front of his body against my back. “Morning, Princess.” He drops a kiss to the top of my head and then is gone.
Next, Lex pops his head around the corner and eyes the space between Nolan and me as Nolan opens a cabinet and pulls out paper plates. I roll my eyes at his suspicious expression. “Hurry up and get ready, breakfast is almost ready,” I tell him.
He nods and disappears again. I turn to Nolan, frowning as I reach and lower the stove’s heat. “Is Gio going to be okay?” I ask, lowering my voice just in case he’s nearby.
Nolan glances over at me as he sets out the plates on the counter separating them easily so that I can scoop spoonfuls of eggs onto each.
For what feels like an eternity, he doesn’t respond.
In fact, I swear I can hear footsteps in the hall when he finally does and I’m sure I won’t get any answers about what went down the night before.
To my surprise, though, Nolan doesn’t let that slight noise stop him as he looks me in the eye and gives me as honest an answer as he can.
“He will be, Jules,” he tells me. “We’ll make sure of it.”
My shoulders release tension I hadn’t known they’d been holding and I sigh in relief. That’s all I needed to hear, it seems. In the next instant, both Gio and Lex come around the corner. I turn off the stove heat entirely and start passing out plates.
“Hurry up and eat,” I say, “we’ve got to get going.”
No one argues as they grab their plates and forks and begin shoveling food into their mouths. Nolan is the first to finish and then Lex. Gio and I tie for dead last, but we’re fed and ready for the day and that’s what matters.
Together, the four of us gather our supplies—school bags, shoes, and anything else we need—and head outside.
“Do you want to ride with us today?” Lex asks, passing a look over Gio as he palms his keys and stares at the faded red of his Firebird.
I pause, waiting for his decision as I stand next to the passenger side of Lex’s SUV.
“I’m good,” Gio finally says, nodding to the SUV. “Go on, I’ll see you at school.”
I frown, wanting to ask how he’s feeling or at the very least if his side is hurting.
Gio’s eyes gaze back at me as if begging me not to argue, so with a frustrated sigh, I turn and hop into the passenger side of Lex’s car.
Nolan heads for his motorcycle as the SUV rumbles to life.
Lex backs up before rolling his window down as Nolan waves at him.
“I’ve got work this afternoon,” he calls to us. His gaze moves from Lex to me. “And Ma-Ri called.” I stiffen. “She said if you’re still willing, she could use a hand this evening.”
Lex’s intense charcoal eyes move over me and I tense.
“I…” I do need the cash, but I also don’t want to get my hopes up, to think I have my job back only for shit to go down and have it snatched from me again.
Nolan waits, no expectation on his face as he swings his leg over the Indian and lifts his helmet onto his head, visor up.
Is it stupid of me to say no? Even if I can’t work there forever, money is money.
I blow out a breath, annoyed with myself.
“Tell her I’ll be there,” I call out. “Four o’clock all right?”
Nolan nods and holds up his thumb and pointer finger in a circle to let me know he heard me loud and clear. I sink back against the seat as Lex rolls his window back up and begins the drive to school.
“I’ll drop you off,” he promises.
“Thanks.”
Just like that… normal has found me again, for however long it lasts this time.
The day passes in a blur and before I know it, the final bell is ringing and it’s over. I glance around, trying to catch sight of Roquel as I head for the student parking lot to meet up with the others.
They hadn’t been in class the last couple of periods, but I’d been told by one of the girls in class it was because all of the football players were being called out early to talk to their coach.
I hope it’s because one of the scouts had chosen them—I mentally threaten the universe that it’s Eastpoint.
I know Viks said he could get all of us in, but favors never come without strings and if they can get in under their own merit, then they should.
Roquel’s familiar head of black cropped hair never appears as I make my way outside and head down the first aisle towards the back of the lot.
I’m almost to the SUV when a shout sounds behind me.
I turn as a big body comes barreling towards me.
I tense as the man slams into me. My back hits the hard asphalt with a loud thump and a sharp slice of pain through my tailbone.
I shove against the wide chest over me with one hand and put the other on the ground to help me leverage up.
“Get. Off,” I hiss as my hand scrapes over loose rocks and glass. “Fuck!” I shove harder and the guy finally gets the hint, backing off with a grunt.
“Yo, sorry ’bout that, I was—Oh, it’s you.
” I glance up at those last words to find none other than Hudson Grey.
His hand is already stretched out to help me up, but the moment he sees who I am, his fingers curl away and he steps back.
“Uh… yeah, like I said, sorry about that.” He scratches the back of his neck before taking a few steps to the side and bending down to pick up a football. So, that’s why he’d been running.
“Asshole,” I mutter as I get to my feet and begin dusting myself off.
His head whips towards me and his eyes widen. “Wha— No, it wasn’t intentional!” he insists. I frown at the panic in his expression. “It was an accident.”
It dawns on me why he’d even care about knocking me over when I spy Lex and Gio walking down the aisle towards us at a fast clip. I roll my eyes. “That’s not why I called you an asshole,” I tell him even though my hand is currently throbbing like a hot poker was shoved through it.
Hudson’s frown deepens. “Then why?”
I scoff. “Maybe because guys like you who use girls to get what they want and then throw them away are all assholes,” I snap back. After all, he’d been the one Roquel had been so into. The one she’d practically jumped at every opportunity—at school and parties.
“Whoa, what?” Hudson rears back as if I slapped him. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Jules!” Gio’s voice is hard and angry behind Hudson. Then, he’s there, circling the other man and checking me over, his eyes landing on my scraped palm. “Fuck, let me see that.” He lifts my arm for closer inspection.
“I’m fine,” I say absently as I stare at Hudson over his shoulder.
“And you know what I’m fucking talking about, Hudson,” I say to him.
“Next time you want to get your dick wet, maybe do it with a chick who knows the score and isn’t expecting romance.
Plenty of girls are fine with getting dicked down without attachments—go after one of them. ”
“Excuse me?” Hudson’s expression morphs into one of complete and utter shock. Of course—why would he even think of Roquel? I shake my head and turn back to Gio as Lex steps in front of Hudson and murmurs something too low for me to hear.
Hudson’s face goes pale for a moment and he takes an automatic step back, but then he flicks me another confused frown before he turns and takes off back down the aisle. Gio prods at my palm and I hiss through my teeth, whipping my head back down as I try to tug away from him.
“Don’t do that, it hurts!”
“You’ve got glass in here,” he says, ignoring my struggles. “I have to get it out.”
The fact that he’s right doesn’t make it hurt any less and after a bit of struggle, Gio finally sighs and glances back at Lex. “You’re gonna have to help me,” he tells him.
Before I can ask what the hell the two of them are going to do together to get the glass out, Lex nods and then leads us back to his SUV.
Popping open the back door, Gio sits me on the bench seat as Lex rounds the vehicle and climbs into the back behind me. “What are you—” Lex’s legs slide along either side of mine as he scoots up close to my back and wraps his arms around my waist and my uninjured hand. “Hey!”
Gio starts to squeeze the sides of one of the particularly deeper cuts in my palm like he’s trying to pop a zit and I thrash.
“Fuck!” I buck and curse and sweat as slowly, but surely, he slides the glass fragment out of my skin.
Lex continues to hold me, squeezing me each time I try to jerk out of his hold until it’s easier to just relax against him so at least I can breathe.
“You’re such dicks…” I mutter, wincing as the last bit of glass is pried from my skin by Gio’s fingers.
“Yeah, well, we’re all done, so we’re dicks who actually give a shit about you,” Gio says. He steps close and plants a hard kiss to my lips right there in front of the entire school lot—or rather everyone still left gawking.
There’s no embarrassment. Only annoyance. “That doesn’t put you on my happy list again,” I warn him.
His only response is a shrug and another kiss. “Doesn’t matter,” he tells me. “You’re on mine. Always will be, Prep Girl.”
With that, he and Lex both release me and I wobble a little bit on the edge of the seat, nearly slipping off it and down to the ground. Gio catches me before I can and helps me out and around to the passenger side.
“I’ve got to go deal with some shit,” he says. “Lex is gonna take you to work, but I’ll try to pick you up later, okay?”
I glance up at him as he reaches into the car and buckles me up as Lex jumps into the driver’s side seat. Normally, I’d be smacking his hands away because I can certainly buckle my own damn self in, but instead, I find my attention caught on him.
“Are you okay?” The question escapes me before I can stop it and as soon as it’s out, I regret it. “Never mind.” I look away from him. “I’ll see you later.”
Gio is quiet for a long moment and I know he’s still there, because even though Lex has started the SUV, the passenger side door is still hanging open and I can feel the heat of him along my side.
With a sigh, Gio reaches out and captures my chin, turning me to face him again.
Forced to look into his face, I scan his features, searching for any hint of what had happened last night to make him come to me the way he had.
But I’m not a mind reader and even if I were, Gio’s face is a collage of too many emotions to perceive the truth.
Anger. Pain. Sorrow.
Finally, he lifts my chin up some more and bends down.
This time, the kiss is less one-sided. I open my mouth, letting his tongue stroke softly over mine as I give in to the touch and kiss him back.
A beat passes and then another and another.
It actually takes Lex’s annoyed grunt for the two of us to break it off.
“I’ll see you later, Prep Girl,” Gio murmurs before flicking a glance up at his best friend. “Take care of our girl, Lex.”
“Always do.” Lex’s answer is followed by Gio closing the door and turning to head off to his own vehicle waiting a few spaces down.
“Where’s Nolan?” I ask, whipping my attention back to the man at my side.
“He’s helping Gio.”
“With what?”
No answer.
“Seriously?” I demand.
Lex shakes his head. “He needs to be the one to tell you,” he confesses. “But… baby?”
I look his way with an arched brow as I slump against the seat, crossing my arms over my chest. “What?” I ask.
“Gio’s going to be moving in with us.”
Dawning slams into me with all of the finesse of the guys on the football field.
The pain in my hand recedes. “His mom…?” I can’t even finish the question.
I don’t want to. I know a lot about Darrio Vargas both because of the guys and because of the fact that he’s such a big deal in the gutters of Silverwood.
Gio’s mom, though, is an entirely different being, but I know that he loves her and she’s the only reason he hasn’t left that house. Now… he has.
Lex reaches for me, taking my hand and wrapping his much larger one around mine, warming my suddenly cold fingers. “Let him come to you,” he says quietly. “He’ll be there when he needs you.”
I squeeze his hand back. “I’m here,” I whisper into the interior of the vehicle. “Always.”