Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Juliet prowled around her foyer.
She’d gone from heated anticipation to restless frustration in the last hour.
Where the hell was Darcy?
She’d asked Erin to let her know when Darcy left Shelby’s, under the guise of keeping tabs on her competition. Erin had been big into gossip tonight – unsurprising – and she’d wanted to know every little detail about her feud with Darcy, as well as their “Porchlight” collab.
She’d given Erin her tried-and-true smile, wide innocent eyes, as she’d informed her, “It’s all behind us, now.”
First, because that was the party line, now. Juliet had pushed against that line when it came to Darcy, but she knew when to stop. Even if she hated Darcy with a burning passion, she was done with the “feud.”
Second, though, because she didn’t wish for Darcy’s guitar-and-piano-playing hands to be maimed, anymore. She no longer hoped that Darcy’s temptingly soft-looking lips would develop some sort of painful rash that prevented her from singing another note.
She wished to see what else those hands could do. And she hoped to see what else her mouth was capable of.
The bathroom at the studio had been her own little test. Checking in on a little hypothesis that perhaps – perhaps – Darcy was just as attracted to Juliet as she was to Darcy.
If she’d pulled off her shirt and Darcy had been completely disinterested: okay, then. But she hadn’t. She’d stared. She’d stared, and she’d licked her lips, and the color had risen in her cheeks, and Darcy wanted her.
Juliet couldn’t remember when the stars had aligned for her perfect trifecta:
a woman who was also closeted in in the industry, and therefore had something to lose, just like she did, if it got out
a woman who was unattached
a woman who sent her pulse throbbing through her entire body
Typically, her hookups were some combination of the three.
Well, the first was non-negotiable. Sometimes, she had made allowances for the second in the past, though she resolutely did not feel good about it, and therefore couldn’t have an on-going affair.
And mostly, she had to make allowances for the third.
There weren’t many people she felt this sharp, needy hunger for. Very few, in fact.
Darcy being a lesbian? Darcy being attracted to her?
Who would have ever guessed she’d be able to put her impassioned fixation into such a – relatively – healthy outlet?
That outlet being that she wanted Darcy to fuck her brains out.
She’d thought of little else, despite how busy she’d been the last couple of weeks. She’d been anticipating tonight since she’d left the studio with Laura.
The second she’d laid her eyes on Darcy, she’d felt reaffirmed in her plan. That fucking jumpsuit? Her bare shoulders? That smokey eye shadow?
Juliet’s desire had pulsed to life in Shelby’s house.
And now – Juliet flicked her eyes to the large, ornate clock she had on the wall – it was eleven, and Darcy still wasn’t here?
Robbie-O – 11:09P.M.
Well? Did Mrs. Darcy show up?
Juliet – 11:10P.M.
Don’t try make a literary reference unless you’ve actually read the book
She shouldn’t have answered him at all. She only did because she had so much energy coursing through her veins, and –
Robbie-O – 11:10P.M.
Ooooof
So she didn’t come
What’s that about
She’d already planned to ignore those messages, even before she saw an alert pop up letting her know that someone had entered her gate code.
The strangest combination of relief and excitement shot through her, and she placed her phone down on the long entryway table, before walking to the door.
Some other time, maybe she’d play around a little. Maybe, with someone else, she’d be a little coy.
But this was Darcy. And she wasn’t going to do that.
So, she opened the door before Darcy even reached it, arching her an expectant look. “Took you long enough.”
“Yeah, well, I almost didn’t come,” Darcy shot back, marching forward.
It seemed Darcy wasn’t being coy, either, as she didn’t even pause. She walked right past Juliet and into her home. Then again, she wouldn’t imagine Darcy ever being coy; the very idea was ludicrous.
Juliet shut the door, the lock automatically resetting behind them as she followed Darcy into her large, open living room. “You left Shelby’s over an hour ago,” she pointed out.
Darcy crossed her arms over her chest. “How do you even know that? You left before I did.”
Yeah, she’d left before Darcy had. To prepare. Obviously. This woman was maddening.
“I have my ways.” She scanned her eyes over Darcy, taking a closer look.
Her hair had been artfully tousled earlier, down in long waves.
But it looked actually windblown, now. The tip of her nose was a little pink.
And – the dead giveaway – Juliet glanced down at Darcy’s feet to confirm her suspicion.
Darcy had worn fucking sneakers, because of course she had.
The bottoms that were just visible from her pants had been a pristine white, though, at Shelby’s.
Now, that same white was scuffed and dirty.
“Did you walk here?” She asked, incredulously.
“Yeah, why?”
“Darcy.” She stared at her with narrowed eyes, baffled and frustrated.
“You’re a public figure. A gorgeous woman, you’re wearing moderately expensive jewelry.
It’s after eleven o’clock at night. You’re alone.
In a neighborhood you’re not familiar with.
Could you not have borrowed the single brain cell you obviously share with your sister and best friend for the night? ”
What was wrong with her! Did she not have an ounce of self-preservation?
“I didn’t realize you cared,” Darcy rolled her eyes. “Who’s going to attack me in this neighborhood? I’d be a terrible target; most people who live here are worth way more than I am.”
“You’re being deliberately stupid, but I suppose it’s your own safety, so – whatever.” She rolled her own eyes right back. “I would have gotten you a car here, if I’d known you were going to walk.”
“So sweet of you,” Darcy’s tone reflected anything but her thinking Juliet was being sweet.
And, in fairness, Juliet wasn’t being sweet. Yes, she thought it was dumb of Darcy to move through the world without a reasonable concern for her safety. But also, she’d been fucking waiting here, driven crazy with wondering if Darcy was going to show up, because she’d walked?!
“I didn’t even plan on coming here. I figured I’d call for my own car, eventually, after gathering my thoughts. But then… I ended up here.”
Juliet could live with that. “I guess the journey doesn’t matter so much as the destination, in this instance.”
She took a step forward, closer to Darcy.
Who held her hand up, motioning for Juliet to stop. “Juliet, what the hell are you playing at, here?”
She huffed out an impatient breath, but complied. She waved her hand at Darcy. “Elaborate.”
Darcy looked at her like she was crazy. “Back at Shelby’s you looked at me like we’d never met before, like I completely imagined the last time I saw you. But I didn’t imagine anything. You – you…”
“I believe what you said earlier was that I left you unsure as to whether I was taunting you or was hitting on you,” she supplied, rolling her eyes at the very thought.
It had taken everything in her not to engage with Darcy at Shelby’s.
“Yeah, exactly!” Darcy said, like it was a smoking gun.
Juliet narrowed her eyes. “I was hitting on you. Jesus, Darcy. Then you think the best place to bring it up again is at Shelby’s party, in the bathroom? Are you out of your mind?”
She’d been willing to overlook Darcy’s idiocy, in order to get to the fun part of tonight. She’d been willing to skip berating Darcy for being so foolish. But, apparently, Darcy wanted to be berated!
Darcy’s green eyes glittered at her, narrowing. “You came onto me in the bathroom at the studio!”
“And I locked the fucking door,” she hissed back, reaching up to rub at her temple.
Amateur hour. “If anything had happened at Shelby’s, anyone could have walked in at any moment.
Or did you not think about that? Erin, literally, would have walked right in.
You’re welcome for shutting the conversation down when I did. ”
She had to remind herself: while this wasn’t her first rodeo, it was Darcy’s. Double-checking her every move to ensure no one heard or saw anything they shouldn’t see was second nature to Juliet, now.
“By your own admission, you haven’t fucked anyone since your life changed so dramatically.
Things are different for you now, okay? If you don’t want to be outed, you need to start being more careful.
Always lock a door before having a sensitive conversation.
And, for fuck’s sake, don’t come out to someone you’re having a drink with, just because it feels right in the moment. ”
… admittedly, Darcy’s naiveté wasn’t nearly as aggravating to her now that she knew she was a lesbian. Not only because Juliet had a possibility of satiating her desire for Darcy, but also because she felt a little sympathy. Just – a bit.
Juliet’s genuine, if not dressed up, advice seemed to rob Darcy of her momentum.
“You do realize that we’re only in this position,” she pointed between them. “Which… you seem to want, because I came out to you?”
“And you’re lucky,” she shot back, exasperation notching back up. “Because I’m not going to out you. For the record, I can’t believe you’ve spent the last couple of weeks worrying about that.”
When Darcy could have spent the last couple of weeks having sexual fantasies. What a waste of her energy.
“Yeah, I wonder how I could have gotten the impression that you’d use that against me,” Darcy’s sarcasm dripped off her tongue.
“We reached a truce, did we not?”
“Nothing about how we left things was peaceful.”
Darcy was right about that, admittedly. She’d thought constantly about Darcy in the last two weeks. Throughout her four shows on tour. Throughout the performance she’d had to do for Harrison’s fucking business. The last thing she’d felt was peace.