Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Darcy splashed water onto her face, squeezing her eyes tightly closed as she braced against the cold splash. As cold as the water could be, that was what she needed right now.
What the fuck had she been thinking?
She and Juliet had experienced a single decent day together, and she had come out to her?
Blinking her eyes open, she stared at herself in the mirror.
“What is wrong with you?” She asked mirror-Darcy.
She lifted her eyebrows up at herself, reasoning, “Well, I didn’t say the word lesbian. I never said that.”
No, Juliet had, and it had been the dose of reality that cut through to Darcy.
Mirror-Darcy rolled her eyes back, as she muttered, “What, like I can walk it back just because I didn’t say, hey I’m a giant homo?”
Obviously, that wouldn’t work.
Darcy had never been so reckless.
… Not when it came to the music, anyway. Fine, so she had a short temper. She’d gotten in some fights throughout high school, she’d mouthed off to assholes at the bar or the bowling alley. But all of her past impulsive behavior was before. Before she had something to lose.
She’d thought losing control around Juliet would hit its peak when it came to their media rivalry.
Apparently, she’d outdone herself! Apparently, what Darcy required to lose all control around Juliet was finding that perfect rhythm that made her feel electric inside, Juliet complimenting her, and two glasses of stupidly expensive wine.
There was a reason she hadn’t shared this with anyone. Well, there were multiple reasons, but the biggest one was that she typically wasn’t such a fucking idiot.
Eliana was concerned that her audience would start turning on her for having the audacity to publicly dislike Juliet. What would her publicist think if this got out?
Darcy had decided the morning after she’d slept with a woman for the first time that her sexuality wouldn’t deter her from making it. She’d had this one dream for her entire life; she wouldn’t let her sexual identity get in the way.
She’d come this far, only to confess to Juliet fucking Jacobs?!
Yes, she’d felt a connection, an attraction, when they’d been singing together. Which she should have expected, because she did admire Juliet. Of course, it was going to make her feel good and powerful and swept up with Juliet finally – FINALLY – admitted that she thought Darcy was talented.
Yes, she’d felt – god, she didn’t even really know. She’d certainly felt something taking a hold deep inside of her after having two and a half glasses of ludicrously expensive wine in a twenty-minute span, when Juliet had looked at her all intense bedroom eyes, pressing her about sex.
Stupid. Stupid.
She supposed she finally understood how Juliet fooled everyone for years and years into thinking she was a damn angel. She had that – that thing when she looked at you, pulling you in.
Now that Darcy wasn’t in her orbit, it seemed clear that Juliet had to have been goading her. Right?
She –
Darcy froze, the water still running from the faucet in front of her, when she heard the door to the bathroom open and close.
She blinked her eyes open just in time to see Juliet reach back and flick the lock on the door.
Darcy’s hands went to the sides of the sink, gripping the porcelain tightly as she stared at Juliet in the mirror.
“What the hell are you doing?” She asked, forcefully, rolling her shoulders back. “Why would you lock the door?”
If they were about to have some sort of bathroom brawl… fine. Not what she’d expected, but, fuck, maybe Juliet was just that homophobic, for all Darcy knew.
Darcy was one hundred percent sure she could take Juliet down. Physically, she was taller and scrappier. When it came to mental fortitude, Darcy had to fight for everything she’d gotten in the world while Juliet had gotten to sail through her life. No competition.
“Because while there’s hardly anyone still in the studio right now, I’m not careless enough to take that kind of chance.”
Darcy ticked her head to the side, confusion sliding through her. Were they actually going to fucking fight?!
Without missing a beat, Juliet held her gaze steadily in the mirror, before she reached down and grabbed the bottom of her flowy, white shirt – now stained with the red wine she’d spilled upon Darcy coming out to her – and pulled it right off.
“Juliet, what the hell are you doing?” She forced out, nearly choking on the words.
She was now reasonably certain that Juliet wasn’t about to throw down with her; why would she care if her stained shirt got messed up?
Juliet’s expression seemed to be the picture of nonchalance. But not her eyes. No, those were blazingly hot as she took another step closer to Darcy.
“I spilled wine on my shirt, so I’m taking it off. I thought that was obvious?”
Drawing in a long, deep breath through her nose, Darcy forced herself to release the sink and turn around to face Juliet head-on.
No matter what mess she’d gotten herself into, she wasn’t going to simply give Juliet her back to stab her knife into. Darcy wasn’t a doormat; if Juliet wanted to do… whatever the hell it was she was doing, Darcy would go into it with her head held high.
Admittedly, while her head was held high, her eyes were a little lower.
She’d thought Juliet’s breasts were smaller than they actually were. Even in gowns she wore to award shows that sculpted to her bust, Juliet’s outfits were always so… tasteful. Deliberately designed to showcase elegance and beauty, not to make her look sexy.
Darcy deeply regretted that wine right now.
Because she couldn’t stop staring, her lips parted, breathing coming a little faster.
“Are you nervous?” Juliet closed almost all of the distance between them, stopping only inches from Darcy. “You seem to be a little out of breath.”
Juliet’s question pinged through her mind, and she snapped her eyes up and away from Juliet’s chest, feeling her cheeks heat. “Nervous?”
Nervous because Juliet was standing in front of her without her shirt on or nervous because she’d come out to her? What, exactly, was Juliet playing at here?
Regardless, nervous wasn’t the entirety of what she was feeling. Wasn’t even close.
“A lacy black bra like that is a lot sexier than what I’d have imagined for you,” she stated, defiantly.
She hadn’t planned on coming out to anyone, let alone Juliet.
But she wasn’t going to back down or act ashamed.
If Juliet was going to try to play a game with her, Darcy wasn’t going to make it easy.
Hell, for all she knew, her commenting on Juliet’s breasts would make Juliet uncomfortable, and maybe that would throw a wrench into her plan of clearly trying to put Darcy in a tight spot.
So, there.
It wasn’t discomfort that slid over Juliet’s face, though. It was – fuck if Darcy knew what it was, because it looked like excitement.
And that really made no damn sense at all.
“Oh? What kind of bras did you imagine me in?”
Damn it, she had walked right into that.
Darcy narrowed her eyes into a glare; Juliet wasn’t going to trip her up.
“None. I haven’t imagined you in anything.
Because that would be…” She trailed off, searching for the word.
Normally, words came somewhat simply to her.
But not right now. Reaching back, she tightly gripped the sink that was digging into her lower back.
Finding comfort in the cold biting into her palms. “Insane. It would be insane.”
Juliet tilted her head, and her long, soft hair slid over her collarbones in a sweeping motion that – that did not attract Darcy’s gaze at all. Nope. “Insane… how?”
“How?” She echoed, incredulously.
There were a million reasons why it would be insane, but Darcy was going to take the higher road, here. When it came to this, she couldn’t let it devolve.
Whatever Juliet was doing, she was going to be better, even if it killed her.
Drawing in a deep breath, she started, “Look–”
“No, Darcy. You look. At me,” Juliet didn’t ask, she ordered, her voice slipping into something sultry and enticing, and Darcy’s throat ran dry.
Automatically her eyes dipped again, falling into line.
But – no.
No, because Juliet was only using that tone, Darcy realized with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, because Darcy had told her – like a fucking moron – what she would was looking for in a sexual partner.
She’d given Juliet not only a gun, but all of the ammunition.
She set her jaw, determined not to give in to Juliet’s machination.
“Whatever you’re doing here, it’s not going to work.”
She did, however, desperately wish she could understand Juliet’s angle. If only so she could prepare herself for whatever was coming her way after this.
“Are you sure?” Juliet asked, bringing her hand up between her breasts, then dragging it down. Over her flat, toned stomach, tracing so slowly over her skin…
Darcy’s grip tightened against the sink so hard, she was concerned she might fracture her fingers.
“I…” Her throat was so dry, she could barely speak.
What the fuck was wrong with her?
Actually, what the fuck was wrong with Juliet?
“You know what’s yet another thing about you that drives me crazy, Darcy?” Juliet asked, tilting her head up at her.
“I can’t believe you’re standing here like that, saying that I drive you crazy,” she answered, honestly, and was proud of herself for only being a little breathless.
Juliet’s lips tugged into a slow smile, one that was littered with sinful promise. “While my lyrics about you might have been incorrect, yours about me were dead-on. The sentiment, anyway.”
Darcy wasn’t really in a place to connect dots, as all of her sober faculties were going to not staring at how hard Juliet’s nipples were through her bra. “What?”
“Your name is on my mind far more than ‘my man’s.’” Juliet’s use of air quotes gave Darcy pause, but she couldn’t focus on what that meant.
Not when Juliet pressed even closer to her. Taking away every inch of space, leaving the barest whisper between them. So close that when Juliet inhaled, her stomach – her bare stomach – pressed against Darcy’s.
Darcy felt like she was burning up, her pulse jumping like crazy and then simply refusing to settle back down.
Her breath shuddered out, and she wasn’t able to properly bite back the sound that escaped the back of her throat when she felt Juliet’s hot exhale fan over her parted lips.
Every atom, every cell of her being was in arrested development. Holding. Waiting for Juliet to make the final move. Because even though logically, Darcy knew she, herself, should, she… couldn’t.
And – at the very least – if anything happened here… didn’t that also give her some ammunition of her own? That was the only logical thought she could grasp onto.
Juliet’s eyes were open, but heavily lidded, her pupils dilated – only inches from Darcy’s.
Her mouth was so close, Darcy could feel every exhale against her own lips.
For a second, just a second, she darted her eyes down to look at those lips.
They looked almost like Juliet had reapplied lip gloss before coming in here?
Shiny and soft and pouty, and… was she smirking?
Just barely, but there was a hint of something there.
“You want to kiss me, Darcy.” Juliet was so close, she swore she felt her words vibrate over her mouth.
She sure as hell felt like they vibrated through her body, and she shuddered. Had that been by design? Had Juliet known…?
Just the mental image of kissing Juliet Jacobs was enough to make Darcy’s breath catch in her throat. Enough to send the heat building inside of her down, anchoring between her legs.
Before today, she’d never have imagined this.
Well, maybe in her wildest dreams. But with this – with Juliet, topless and standing mere centimeters away from her – the image was starkly clear.
The vivid image of leaning in and connecting their lips.
She was a breath away from knowing what Juliet tasted like.
She swore she could almost already taste her.
“Do it,” Juliet’s voice was so throaty and so firm, it made Darcy’s knees weak.
It would be the worst idea in the fucking world.
Right?
There was no way this didn’t end poorly. Hell, there was no way this already wouldn’t end poorly.
But Darcy still gripped the sink behind her with all of the strength she could possibly muster, stuck in a limbo. Holding herself back from following Juliet’s order, but also holding on, unable to push herself away.
“Juliet?” There was a joltingly loud knock on the bathroom door. “Hey, are you in there? I’ve been calling you. If we’re going to make this flight, we have got to go.”
Juliet lingered right where she stood, even as she called out, “I’m in here, Laura. Be out in a sec.”
“I really hope you mean a sec. Traffic was actually worse than usual, so I’d anticipate it will be on the way to the airport, too.”
Huffing out a breath, Juliet finally – finally – took a step back.
Darcy was almost able to breathe again, but she still found herself holding it in.
Juliet hummed under her breath as she slipped her shirt back on, swiftly tugging her hair out from under the neckline.
“For the record, with regards to what I wrote about you in my song? I did very much intend for that comment to also include the fact that with the way you look – the way you dress – you obviously benefit quite a bit from attracting the male gaze. But I was also commenting on how much success you’re experiencing in the status quo world we’re living in right now as a whole. I’m not so one-note.”
Laura knocked again on the door.
Even though Darcy’s heart thundered in her chest and her head was spinning, she managed, “Seems like your chariot awaits.”
Read: she needed Juliet to get the hell out of here.
“Seems like it,” Juliet agreed, in a tone that was so… different. It wasn’t combative, the way it had been the last couple of days. It wasn’t really nice, either, but something entirely new. “Until next time.”