32. Juliet
32
JULIET
M onday morning rolls in with a dusky pre-dawn light. Distantly, beneath warm sheets and the solid mattress versus my futon, I hear the sound of a front door opening and closing. My whole body goes rigid where I lie, but a firm hand lands on my hip. The heat of Nolan’s palm delves past the fabric of my clothes as he leans in and whispers against my ear. “It’s fine,” he assures me. “Just my mom getting back from work. I’m going to go check on her.”
He doesn’t give me a chance to respond before his hand is gone and cool air hits my back when he slides out from under the covers, and on near-silent feet, leaves the bedroom. Once he’s gone, I roll over and stare at the room in a newfound light.
Last night was real. The evidence is in the soreness of my clit from his attentions and the still relaxed muscles of the rest of my body.
What the hell was I thinking?
Reaching up as my eyes pass over the bench press and football gear, I press two fingers to my lips. They still tingle from last night’s memory. Why did I agree to let Nolan go down on me? Why hadn't he demanded his payback? Is he going to wait for me to deliver? My mind rolls with question after question to which there are no answers. Only one man can give me those and I'll be damned before I ask him straight up. I'm not entirely sure what he's planning for today, but I promise myself that if he acts like nothing happened, I'm just going to do the same.
I lie in bed and listen to Nolan talking to a woman in the distant part of the small house. I’m not entirely sure if Eliza Pierce knows I’m staying in her house, but on the off chance Nolan is keeping me a secret, I stay in his room until I hear footsteps in the hall and the sound of a door across the hall opening and closing.
Nolan comes back a moment later. “My mom’s gone to bed,” he tells me.
I flip back the covers and sit up, glancing at the cell phone on his TV tray nightstand. Reaching over, I don’t ask for permission to thumb the screen and light it up to reveal the time. “Do you mind if I take a shower before school?”
He eyes me in that way of his—as if he’s trying to penetrate the layers of flesh and bone to see what’s going on inside my head. I’m almost glad that X-Men and mutants don’t exist because if anyone could do it, I swear it would be him.
Nolan steps away from the door and over to his closet. “Knock yourself out.”
Crawling out of bed, I rifle through the duffle for actual clothes and head out of the room, stealing across the hallway and into the small bathroom. Though I feel dirty down to my bones—and not because of what I’d done with Nolan—I only allow myself two passes of soap and rinsing. Last night feels further away with each passing second, and I’m almost grateful for my lapse in impulse control regarding the head Scorpion King. If anything, what we’d done has helped me forget my attacker’s hands on my body.
It felt like he allowed me to take back ownership of my own body even if I technically hadn’t been raped. I close my eyes and think of Nolan’s mouth on my pussy. That, more than any soap or scalding hot water, seems to wash away the lingering unpleasantness.
Once I’m done, I get out and dress in a pair of jeans and a loose-fitting shirt that was once a solid tee before I cut the sleeves off. Months ago, I wouldn’t have been caught dead wearing something so pedestrian as jeans and a self-made tanktop. Or rather, my mother wouldn’t have let me be caught dead.
The reminder of my mom, when Nolan’s is so close, makes my head throb. No doubt if I were to check my emails now, I’d find more from my dad’s lawyer, asking for me to visit him. I wonder if Dad knows that Mom left town. That she left me.
Gathering my wet hair, I rake my fingers through it and tie it into a loose ponytail before brushing my teeth with my finger and the paste I find on the bathroom counter. I should’ve gotten my toothbrush out of my duffle, but I’d rather get everything over with quickly. Spitting into the sink and rinsing out the last of the minty taste, I turn my head from side to side, examining my reflection in the mirror. The bruises aren’t so bad in the morning light, more sore than anything else. I don’t want to bother with answering any uncomfortable questions, though, so I dig through the drawers of the bathroom sink and sigh in relief when I come up with some old makeup. Thank you, Nolan’s mom. Hopefully, it hides the worst of the color.
Minutes later, I step out of the bathroom, holding my dirty clothes, and find Nolan waiting on his bed. His face is turned down to the phone in his hand and his brow is furrowed. I leave my PJs next to the duffle and find my converse and a pair of socks before dropping down onto the mattress next to him to pull them on.
“Problem?” I ask, hoping I sound casual when I feel anything but.
Nolan doesn’t respond immediately, his fingers swiping across the electronic screen with concentration. “No,” he finally says, slipping the cell into his back pocket. He must’ve dressed while I was gone because the wide, muscled planes of his body are hidden behind a black t-shirt, jeans, and a leather jacket that looks older than he is it's so faded. “Everything’s good.”
With that, he stands, and just as we’re about to leave, he pauses and reaches back into my duffle. I scowl but don’t say anything as he withdraws the box and removes the cell phone. He doesn’t hand it over to me, but instead slips it into his own pocket.
I eye him warily. Boys are fucking weird, and Scorpion Kings—despite their reputations and the fact they got rid of the body of the man I killed over the weekend—are the same.
“Come on.” Lifting the keys to Gio’s Firebird and jangling them in front of me, Nolan leads me out of the house and to the driveway.
In the light of day, the street is just as cozy as it was the night before. Students hang out at the opposite end of the road waiting for the bus, and there are a few older ladies already in their gardens, bustling about with their curlers still in and their moo-moos billowing in the light morning breeze.
No one in this neighborhood has any obvious grand wealth, but neither do they seem to be scraping by. Middle class. Normal. Comfortable. It’s nice. And it’s not a place I belong.
Nolan hits the unlock button as he gets into the car. As I slide into the front seat, I frown at the sight of my backpack sitting on the floorboards. It hadn’t been there the night before.
Almost as if he reads my mind, Nolan chuckles. “The guys dropped it off for you last night,” he says. “They didn’t want to wake us up.”
I don’t know how to reply to any of that—not the fact that they’d cared about not waking us up or about the fact that they went out of their way to drop off my backpack—so I don’t say anything at all as I buckle up. Nolan reaches into the console, hooking up the phone Lex had given me to a charger before he cranks the engine.
The Firebird rumbles to life with a low growly purr that resonates through my bones. I sit back and close my eyes. Once I’d actually fallen asleep the night before, there’d been no more nightmares. At least, none of the fictional variety. Now they haunt the waking world with their presence, never once leaving me alone or letting me get too comfortable. Nolan drives in near silence, the only sound that of the vehicle and a classic rock station set to a low volume. I’m so far out of my depth and only in the light of early morning do I finally recall the problem that might assail me the second I show up to Silverwood Public with not just one of the Scorpion Kings but the head Scorpion King. Their leader. The powerhouse of the seedy underbelly of the youth of Silverwood.
By the time the Firebird pulls into the school parking lot, I’ve got a plan. A shit one, but it’s a plan nonetheless. The second we’re parked, I grab my bag and get out, slinging it over my shoulder. Every single person in the parking lot standing next to their shitty cars with their rusted rims and taped windows stares my way. I keep my head up, but I don’t acknowledge anyone watching me.
“Well, I’ll see you in class,” I say quickly. “Thanks for the ride.”
Nolan arches a brow at me as he steps out from his side and shuts the driver’s side door. I just need to get the hell away from him before the others show up. There will, of course, still be gossip, but if I can avoid them for the rest of the day, maybe it won’t be so bad.
Before I can make my way towards the school building, a black SUV swerves around in front of me, cutting off my escape as it pulls into the parking spot next to the Firebird. The roar of a motorcycle isn’t far behind, and a second later, Nolan’s Indian speeds down the row of cars and stops next to the SUV and Firebird. All three of them are here. And me. Together.
“Fuck.”
Nolan shoots me a look as the curse slips free. “It’s not going to be that easy,” he tells me, as if he knows exactly what I’d been trying to do. I glare up at him as he stops in front of me and holds something out. When I glance down at what it is, my glare turns into a scowl.
“I don’t want that.” I push his hand—and the phone in it—away.
“I don’t care.” Nolan reaches down and grabs my hand. He doesn’t even seem to notice when I attempt to yank away from him but merely moves forward with his intentions. He forces my fingers to uncurl and drops the cell phone, now somewhat charged, into my palm.
“I’ll dump it,” I warn him. “I’ll throw it away.”
Nolan just stares at me, dark cinnamon eyes burrowing into me with a silent warning. “Someone is obviously out to get you. Keep it. You need it for emergencies. It’s got a little bit of a charge, but it’s new so it might only last the school day. You can charge it in Gio’s or Lex’s car after we get out.”
“I don’t need a fucking phone,” I insist, gritting the words out through clenched teeth.
He ignores my words and continues. “If I know Lex, then it’s got my number as well as his and Gio’s. Meet back here after school so one of us can take you home.”
“My home?” I ask, hopefully.
On the other side of the Firebird, Gio removes the biker helmet and clips it to the handlebar of the Indian before hopping off.
“We’ve already contacted your landlord about the damage,” Nolan tells me, “but I doubt it’ll be ready to move back into yet.”
I look back to the phone in my hand, fingers closing around it. “You can’t control me with this.” I’m not entirely sure why I say the words, but it feels necessary to tell him where I stand. To let him know that this doesn’t buy me—nothing will. This phone isn’t just a kind act or a gift. It’s a leash. Just like everything in my past life was. The house. The friends. The school. Nothing was ever mine. If it was, then it couldn’t have been lost so easily.
Arching a brow, Nolan nods to the gathering crowd of students watching us. “You really want to fight about it here?”
What I want to do is shove this phone so far up his ass that he can read the texts it receives by blinking.
“Keep the phone.” The words are a command, not a suggestion. “Don’t hurt Lex’s feelings.”
“What makes you think I care about his feelings?”
Lex’s SUV turns off and the creak of the driver’s side door echoes over to where we stand.
Nolan shrugs and drops his arms. “Maybe you don’t, but you do care about money and we’re not like your old friends, Princess. We aren’t rolling in Mommy and Daddy’s cash. Lex had to work to make his own money and he used that money to buy you a phone. So keep it or don’t at your own risk.”
Fuck. Him. I practically snarl as the implications of his words hit me. Fuck all of them. Goddamn it. I want to curse and stomp and scream like a child, but he’s right. It actually does mean something that Lex bought me this phone. It means more than any of the thousand-dollar tennis bracelets or Jimmy Choos Bran or Avery ever got me for Christmas or birthdays. They hadn’t worked for a damn thing they gave me, but Lex had, and damn Nolan, but yes, that does mean something to me.
A mixture of irritation and guilt burns a hot fire in my gut. I glance down at the simple black screen of the phone in my hand. It’s cheap, but that doesn’t mean shit to me. I no longer place value on things based on their price tags. Without giving myself a chance to think any harder about this decision, I shove the phone into my back pocket and whirl away. Hiking my bag up further on my shoulder, I start walking. Halfway to the building, I hear Gio—not Nolan—call after me.
“Meet back here after classes, Prep Girl!” he yells. “Don’t even think of running or we’ll come looking for you.”
Clenching both hands into fists at my side, I raise one over my shoulder and offer him and his friends a silent middle finger.
“Why did Erin Kennedy tell me you arrived in Giovanni Vargas’ car this morning with Nolan Pierce?” Roquel jumps on me the second I enter first period, her question shooting out of her mouth before I even get a chance to sit down.
“I don’t know who that is,” I say honestly. “So, I don’t know why she’d tell you shit about me.”
She points a chipped No. 2 pencil at me. “You don’t deny it though.” Roquel is a hound dog when she’s locked on a target, and right now that target is me and the juicy piece of school rumor that’s going around. Is it a rumor if it’s true? Roquel’s chair scrapes across the cheap tiled floor as she scoots closer to me. “Spill.”
I cut a look her way out of the corner of my eye. Leave it to the gossip mill to get her to talk to me again. When I don’t say anything, she groans and slumps over, turning her head so that her short crop of black hair flutters delicately all to one side.
“Come on,” she whines. “Your first day out of in-school suspension and you show up with all three Scorpion Kings in tow. Are they backing you now? Is Megan out? Are you dating one of them?”
The memories of what I’d done with Nolan the night before resurface and I shove them down as I focus on responding to Roquel. “I don’t know what they’re doing with Megan,” I tell her, “and I don’t care. I needed a ride. That’s all.”
Roquel sits up, her brows rising to graze the underside of her bangs. “That’s it?” She gapes at me. “They just gave you a ride?” She shakes her head. “I know I’m not the brightest bulb in the box, but even I can tell that what you just said is complete and utter bullshit.” That No. 2 pencil makes another appearance as she jabs the pointed end in my direction.
The door to the classroom opens then, and I’m saved from further questions as the teacher enters and jumps straight into calling attendance. My previously absentee guardian angel is either finally sober or luck is on my side today, because, somehow, I manage to escape Roquel’s clutches as first period comes to a close. At lunch, ignoring the gnawing hunger in my stomach, I find a quiet spot in the library and avoid the primary dining areas—and Roquel’s barrage of questions about my relationship with the Scorpion Kings. Even in the library, though, I find myself bearing the brunt of people’s curious stares. They’re all wondering the same thing. I can’t even blame them, not that I have any intention of feeding the hungry masses their drug of choice. Information.
Halfway through final period, I nearly leap out of my seat when my ass vibrates. No, not my ass. The phone I’d forgotten in my back pocket. Subtly withdrawing it, I hide it under the desk as I swipe across the screen and spy a text.
GIO: Meet in parking lot after school
Glancing up to ensure the teacher isn't paying any attention, I type a quick reply and hit send.
JULIET: I have to work. I'm going to catch the bus.
Gio's response is almost instantaneous.
GIO: No.
With a barely restrained snarl, I shove the phone into my pocket again without responding. Ten minutes later, as the last of the class ticks past, it vibrates again. Double-checking the teacher's position a second time, I pull it back out for the new message, this one from Nolan.
NOLAN: Don't make me send Lex.
Using each other as threats. How original. I roll my eyes. I can't even say it doesn't work though. Of all the Scorpion Kings, Lex is one of the deadliest.
Fifteen minutes later, as the final bell ending the day rings out, I snatch up my shit and am out of the door, powering through the hallways towards the cafeteria and bus loop before the rest of the classes have fully unleashed. I'm practically sprinting to make it before they realize I won't be meeting them in the parking lot. I should've known it wouldn't be that easy.
I get one foot out of the cafeteria doors and into the dull sunlight of autumn when a muscled arm covered in tattoos comes around my waist and plucks me right off my feet. "You were warned, baby." Lex's soft but deep baritone settles right next to my ear.
I go impossibly still and don't fight as he turns me away from the surge of students coming out of the cafeteria doors, making their way over the circle of big yellow monstrosities idling against the ring of concrete to take them home. There are more eyes on the two of us, but it's pointless to try and stop the staring. Tapping Lex's arm, I release a sigh of annoyance.
"Fine," I say. "You've caught me. You can put me down now. I won’t run.”
He seems to hesitate for a long moment. So long, I wonder if it’s not because he doesn’t believe me or if he simply wants to keep carrying me. I open my mouth to repeat my words, but then my feet touch the ground and he nods back towards the building, directing where we’re supposed to go without saying a thing. Grumbling under my breath, I hitch my bag higher on my shoulders and start walking away from the buses towards the student parking lot. Lex leads me back into the main hall and out a set of double glass doors. I spot Gio and Nolan, both who have adapted mirroring expressions of smug satisfaction, their arms crossed and eyes solemn.
"What was the point of that, Prep Girl?" Gio’s grin makes me want to sock him right in his handsome face. "Your shit's at Nolan's anyway. It’s not like you can run from us.”
“Who said I was trying to run?” I ask defensively. “I need to head to work and I don’t know the closest bus stop to Nolan’s.”
Nolan jerks his chin at the Firebird behind them parked right next to Lex’s SUV. “We’ve got practice, anyway,” he says.
“I’ll take her to work and be back—” Lex begins.
“No.” Nolan gestures to the Firebird again as Gio drops his arms and palms his hips. "G will take her; you’re with me.”
Lex doesn’t so much frown as his entire face pulls back, the skin tightening over the sharp jut of his jaw and cheekbones as his lips peel away from his teeth. “Don’t,” Nolan barks. “You and I need to talk.”
I glance between the two of them, but Lex doesn’t say another word. Instead, he turns and stalks away, back across the parking lot in the direction of the gym and beyond that, the football field.
“Come on, Prep Girl.” I nearly stumble under the weight of Gio’s arm as he slings it over my shoulder and directs me toward the passenger door of his Firebird. He opens it and holds it out for me. “Get in.”
I frown at him, my eyes moving down the bare flesh of his forearm and over the various whorls and lines of ink there. Each of them is tattooed, but Gio’s appear more out of sync—there’s no rhyme or reason to the lines that stroke over his skin. They almost look like veins rather than images or designs as they span across his arm and disappear into his sleeve.
“This is ridiculous.” I put a hand on the top of the car and turn towards him. "We're not friends. Why are you guys even bothering to do any of this?"
Nolan speaks up again, reminding me that he’s still there as he rounds the back of the Firebird and comes towards the two of us. “That's a very good question, Princess,” he says.
I whip around and pin him with a glare. His long legs eat up the distance between us in an instant. I sway backward, my ass bumping into the car’s door, but he doesn't let up. Hard fingers grip my waist from behind and hold me in place—Gio’s—as Nolan stands in front of me. I’m trapped between the two of them, their bodies creating walls on either side of me.
My eyes widen in realization when I spot a familiar face over Nolan’s shoulder. Roquel .
We’re in public. They should not be doing this.
Roquel lifts her head and comes to a halt between a set of beaters that both have matching rusted undercarriages. Her jaw drops and her brow creases, but she doesn’t move towards me. She just watches us as if she’s waiting to see what will happen. Just like every other person still in the student lot.
Nolan’s head lowers inch by minuscule inch until the hot fan of his breath drifts over the top of my ear. "Why do you think we’re doing all of this?" His voice is practically a purr. Cruel arousal stabs viciously at my insides and I beat that shit back with all of the self-control I can muster.
Needing the distraction, I force my attention back to Roquel. As soon as I do, a spike of unease slams into me. There’s something about her expression that bothers me, but before I can decipher what it is, Nolan’s lips brush the tip of my ear. I gasp, swinging my gaze back to him.
“What are you doing?” I choke out, reaching up and clamping a hand over the side of my head.
“Isn’t that the question of the century?” Gio chuckles behind me.
Neither man moves away, and I have the distinct impression that they’re doing this on purpose. They’re all over me in the school parking lot and there are dozens of eyes on us.
Reality is a cold-hearted bitch. “You’re using me.” Slowly lowering my hand back to my side, I turn my head to gaze at Gio over my shoulder. He frowns. I pivot back and meet Nolan’s eyes and let emptiness fill me as my tone comes out flat and even. “Did you already tell everyone?”
Nolan’s brows dip and twin lines form between them as he backs up a step. “Tell everyone what?”
The Scorpion Kings saved me.
The Scorpion Kings drove me to school.
The Scorpion Kings are practically dry-humping me in front of the entire student body.
I’ve been played. Again.
“Did you tell everyone that you fucked me? That you got into the ex-prep girl’s pants?” I look back at Gio. “He did by the way—get in my pants that is,” I say truthfully. “But he didn’t fuck me. Was that the plan?”
The hands on my hips disappear and Gio looks like I just slapped him. I don’t care. Turning, I get into the car, ripping my backpack off and throwing it onto the floorboards as I grab the door handle and slam it shut behind me. Neither man stops me; both remain outside, staring down through the tinted glass of the passenger side window. After several beats, they move away from where I’m sitting to the rear of the car.
The back of my skull meets the headrest as I stare up at the ceiling of the car. I was a fucking fool last night. Of course Nolan doesn’t actually want anything else from me but what he can use. There must be a reason they came to my rescue after the attack. Hell, what if the Scorpion Kings are the ones who instigated it in the first place?
My thoughts are driven away as the driver’s side door opens and Gio gets in. Silence stretches between us as he cranks the engine and puts on his seat belt. A large part of me wants to call him and his fucking Scorpion brothers out on the shit I’m just now starting to work out, but another part of me warns me to stay quiet. If they’re responsible for the attack last night, then they’ll learn I’m not just an ex-prep princess; I’m the girl that will ruin them.
I stare at Gio’s profile as he backs up and heads towards the parking lot’s exit. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, Juliet.”
Juliet. Not Prep Girl. I smile, and I know it’s anything but sweet and amused. “Are you mad because Nolan got to me first?” I ask.
He doesn’t respond, but the skin of his knuckles turns white as his hands tighten on the steering wheel. They’re not the only ones who can play this game. They’re not the only ones full of venom.
“Nolan didn’t fuck you,” Gio finally says, the words sharp and angry.
I laugh. “But he wanted to.” Worse yet, I’d wanted him to. Like an idiot.
Gio’s eyes flash to mine, dripping with venom. “Look in a fucking mirror, Prep Girl,” he snaps. “Any man with a working cock would want to.”
“The whole school knows I’m involved with you somehow now,” I say, ignoring his claim. “You know what they’re going to start saying.”
“Fuck what they say.” Gio slams a palm on the steering wheel. “You think we care what they say?” The Firebird jerks to a stop at a red light and he turns to face me. “People in this town talk; it’s what they do.” He glowers at me. “You should know that better than anyone. If you think we feel any need to hide simply because you don’t want people to talk…” He lets his words drift off because his meaning is clear.
I face forward and cross my arms over my chest. “The light is green,” I snap. “Drive.”
Gio curses and the Firebird eases forward, but not before he gets one last statement in. “We’re not your enemies, Juliet. Sure, we tested you when you first got to Public, but I’m sure you’ve noticed how everyone’s stopped shoving you in the halls. How they’ve all stopped leaving trash or rotten food on your desk and in your locker. We saved your ass last night, and if that doesn’t prove you can trust us, then nothing will.”
But I can’t trust them. Maybe it’s not even about them. I can’t trust anyone. I’ve been stabbed in the back too many times and I’m tired. Tired of trusting and tired of betrayal.
If history has taught me anything, it’s that I’m a poor judge of character and nothing has changed except my zip code.