Chapter 40 Lex #2
Eyes that are shadows in the dim lighting of the room bore into me.
I wait, silent, and stare back at them the same way that used to send my father into a rage when I was a child.
Viks doesn’t fly into a fit of anger and start swinging his fists.
He’s not like my father. Instead his lips spread into a small smile and it reminds me of someone else—my mom.
His half-sister, or so he claims.
“Just checking on my nephew,” he tells me. “Making sure you made it out of surgery, though I had no doubt you would. You’re too much like me.”
“How’s that?” I shoot back. “Stubborn and dumb as fuck?”
He snorts and shakes his head. “Something like that,” he replies.
“Take care of your people, Lex.” Viks moves back towards the open door and lifts a hand over his shoulder in a gesture of goodbye.
“See you when you get to Eastpoint. Whatever happens, know that I’ll be looking out for you.
You’re mine now, kid, and there’s no getting rid of me. ”
Viks disappears before I can form a response. A pit of emptiness opens up in my stomach as I stare at the empty doorway for so long that my vision blurs.
I must fall back asleep at some point because the next time I blink open my eyes, it’s to a brighter room and the sound of soft conversation. A groan rumbles up my chest and the speakers go silent, then…
“Lex?” Opening my eyes at that feminine voice, I turn my head to a somewhat bruised Juliet sitting up on the cot shoved beneath the window with Gio standing next to her and fuck… she’s gorgeous.
“Hey, baby…”
She tries to leap up only for Gio to catch her and force her to slow down. “Hold on there, Prep Girl,” he gripes. “You’re not healed yet either. Be easy.”
Juliet ignores him in favor of cursing me. “You fucking asshole!”
“Or… do whatever you want, I suppose,” Gio huffs, rolling his eyes. “What do I know?”
“Baby? You’re hurt?”
“Not as bad as you!” Juliet yells, her brow creasing as she glares at me. “You almost fucking died!”
“I mean… he did say he would die for you,” Gio comments drily.
Juliet whips her attention to him and narrows her pretty blue eyes. “He was drugged,” she snaps. “Morphine does weird shit to everyone.”
“Baby,” I say, calling for her as I struggle to sit up. “Just tell me you’re okay. What’s wrong with your arm?” I nod to the white-and-blue cast sticking out of a black sleeve that keeps one of her arms strapped to her chest.
Gio is the one to answer. “She broke her arm when she jumped into the pool,” he says. “Had a few fractured ribs too. Apparently, jumping from that height even if you hit water, is just as dangerous as concrete.”
“Pool?” The air whooshes out of my chest. She jumped… into a pool. That explains it. Why she’d been willing to go and how she’s alive now. I bend in half, one hand cupping over my chest as I clench my jaw from the pain that’s spreading over my shoulder and down my arm.
“I was never planning to let her kill me, Lex.” Juliet gets up from the cot and this time, G lets her, even helping her to walk the short distance to the bed.
Though it’s clear she finds it annoying with her pinched expression, she doesn’t stop him.
When she reaches the bed, she props herself on the side of the mattress. That’s not good enough for me.
Reaching for her, I curl my arm around her waist and bury my face in her hair. The scent of bleach and antiseptic ruins her otherwise natural smell, but if that’s the price of knowing she’s alive then I will gladly pay it.
“What happened?” The question croaks out of me and despite Juliet’s obvious anger and worry, she doesn’t pull away from me as she answers.
“No one showed up to the meeting place so Gio and Nolan called Viks. He had Rylie hack into the security cameras to see what was happening on the roof when we didn’t answer our phones or call. When they saw what was happening, they came up to get us.”
Air drags in and out of my lungs as I listen and Gio takes over for her.
“Roquel rushed Jules when we got there and tried to push her off the side of the roof.” Gio’s voice is cold as if the memory is enough to piss him off. I’d probably feel the same if the woman we both love wasn’t in my arms at this very instant. “She went over and hit the pool first.”
That has me lifting my head and frown. “She went into the pool first?”
Juliet strokes her free hand up and down my forearm. “Yeah,” she says. “Apparently, if she hadn’t hit it first, I probably would’ve died. The impact shattered several of her bones and snapped her spine—that’s how she died.”
My hold on her grows tighter and I press my lips to her shoulder when she doesn’t complain. Using my chin, I nudge the collar of the oversized t-shirt she’s wearing to the side and set my teeth to her skin. The taste of her makes my insides burn in a new way—and no amount of pain can take it away.
“The doctors said she was lucky to get away with a broken arm, dislocated shoulder, and a few rib fractures,” Gio admits.
“Don’t you ever fucking do that again,” I growl against Juliet’s flesh. “You could have fucking died.”
“You almost did.” Her words are quiet, but no less warped with anguish.
“You have Gio and Nolan,” I remind her, never more thankful for the two of them than I am now. “You have people who need you. If you die… if you’re gone… I’m nothing, baby.”
I’m not a good man and I never had any intention of taking my obsession this far, but now that she’s in my arms, there’s no turning back the clock. She is my everything. The air in my lungs. The blood in my veins. The pulse of my heart.
“Hey, man.” G’s voice cracks as he speaks. “We need you too.”
I shake my head without looking up, dragging the edge of my teeth back and forth and barely resisting the urge to sink them deep and leave her with my mark.
“It’s not the same,” I say hoarsely, and because I can’t help it, I repeat the words. “It’s just… not the same.”
Several seconds of silence pass between us and it’s Juliet that breaks the spell. “I’ll make you a deal,” she whispers. “You don’t die for me and I won’t die for you.”
My chest deflates and I nod against her. “Yeah,” I say. “Deal.”
Regardless of whatever promises she makes, I know she’ll never go another day without my eyes on her. Always watching. Always protecting. Always hers.