Chapter 33
Chapter Thirty-Three
Later that night, after she’d collapsed next to Juliet in her hotel bed, she was completely drained.
She’d given everything she could to her show. And… admittedly, had wanted it to be her best, because Juliet had been watching.
And now, she’d given everything she possibly could, physically, to Juliet.
Every ounce of energy, every scrap of emotion and missing her and craving that she’d experienced since the last time they’d been together, she’d poured it into the way she’d touched Juliet, into making her come as hard and as much as she could, before Juliet had completely tapped out.
After a day like today, drained was a very good feeling.
Especially when it was accompanied by Juliet’s lips placing kisses up the side of her neck, brushing her hair out of her way as she went. “You were amazing tonight, you know,” Juliet murmured against her skin.
A wide smile split across her face.
Juliet popped her head up, teasingly shaking her head down at Darcy. “Your tour has been extremely well-received. You’re out here stealing hearts and minds, Thief.”
“But it counts the most if it’s yours.” She hadn’t realized she’d said the words aloud until they were already out of her mouth, but she stood by them.
Even if her stomach flip-flopped upside down with the way a slow, satisfied smile slid into place on Juliet’s face.
“If my fifth album flops, I’ll consider a career as a critic.” Juliet’s voice was light and a little glib, but the pleased flush on her cheeks was very real.
Darcy rolled onto her back, shaking her head against the pillow. “You’re welcome for the inspiration.”
A jaw-cracking yawn escaped her right as she finished talking. Truly drained. Like she could melt right into the mattress, especially with Juliet’s warmth right next to her.
Unfortunately for her, Juliet sat up and slid off the bed, disrupting the pleasant warmth that was starting to lull her to sleep.
Darcy pushed herself up, frowning as Juliet quickly walked across the room. “Where are you going?”
“Impatient.” Juliet tsked at her with a smirk as she paused at the desk against the wall opposite the bed, then tapped on the top of –
“Is that one of your top-of-the-line humidifiers?” She asked when she realized what Juliet was doing, what the little machine was over on the desk. She hadn’t noticed it earlier, but she’d been preoccupied.
It wasn’t the same one Juliet had in her bedroom, which was freestanding and a lot bigger. But it looked, possibly, like the same brand?
It very quietly hummed to life, a background noise Darcy was now very familiar with.
“Clearly, yes,” Juliet answered, putting her hands on her bare hips as she nodded down at it. “Especially after today, it’ll be good for you.”
Darcy’s vocal cords could absolutely use a bit of a reset, especially given that tomorrow wasn’t a rest/travel day, and they had another show. “You sure came prepared to spend the night.”
Juliet’s eyebrows wrinkled together dismissively as she made her way back to the bed. “The humidifier isn’t for me. Yes, I have one that I travel with on tour. But that one,” she gestured across the room, “I bought for you.”
She’d looked up Juliet’s top-of-the-line humidifiers after they’d spent their first couple of nights together, just to get a sense of what that even meant. The brand sold those little machines for literal thousands of dollars.
And Juliet waved her hand at this one as if it was nothing, as she was handing it off to Darcy.
“That’s–” Her refusal of a gift that cost thousands was cut off by Juliet’s stern stare as she climbed back under the covers, settling in next to Darcy.
“Trust me.” Juliet’s tone yielded no arguments. “You, Blythe, and Emerson are all going to appreciate having it on the tour bus. You’ll see.”
And because she knew Juliet, she knew that if she argued with her on this, they’d get nowhere. Also, other than the cost, Darcy didn’t want to argue; Juliet’s special humidifier was great. She just couldn’t fathom spending that kind of money on one herself.
She leaned back against the pillows, softness washing through her. “You bought us one of your fancy humidifiers.”
“You have over twenty shows left on your tour,” Juliet said, as if it was that simple.
As if to say: of course, she dropped a ridiculous amount of money on a gift for Darcy, why wouldn’t she?
“I know. I just…” Darcy trailed off, narrowing her eyes slightly as she ran them up and down Juliet’s profile, really taking her fill.
Taking in those sweet, barely-there freckles on the bridge of her nose, and the softness of her lips, and the gentle slope of her nose.
“It’s kind of funny,” she whispered. “How carefully you guard your image of being a sweetheart.”
Juliet raised her eyebrows in acknowledgement. With interest, perhaps, at where Darcy was going, as she drawled, “Yes, that is so funny.”
Very lightly, she reached out and pinched Juliet’s thigh under the blanket, making her laugh and twitch her leg away. “The funny part is… so much of your image is just that. Image. But the reality of who you are is genuinely very sweet.”
Juliet’s eyes rolled so hard as she huffed out a breath. “Darcy. It’s a humidifier. Let’s not break out the comparisons to Mother Teresa just yet.”
“I’d never make that comparison, first of all, because I like the sharp parts of you,” Darcy promised, honestly.
She didn’t want the image version of Juliet, sugary-sweet.
“But it’s not just about the humidifier.
It’s about the hospital visits. And you coming here to see me today when my mom’s interview got out.
And the fact that you make personalized gift baskets for all of the producers and their families whenever you work together–”
“How do you know that?” Juliet broke in, turning sharply to face her again.
“Dustin told me about it when we did ‘Porchlight,’” Darcy informed her, thinking about how excited Dustin had been, telling her about the last time he’d worked with Juliet and what she’d sent him and his wife.
“He was very excited to work with you again. That’s one of the things we talked about before you arrived the first day. ”
Juliet’s cheeks tinged slightly pink, even as she shrugged.
“See?” Darcy pointed at her face, delighted by the response. And more than a little besotted. “I’m just saying that you do a lot of kind and thoughtful things. Things that you could publicize a lot more for public praise or recognition. But… you don’t.”
Which, actually, didn’t make a whole lot of sense, when she thought about it. She wanted to know every nook and cranny of Juliet’s mind, wanted to hear her explanations for every piece of information.
But Juliet was quiet, staring across the dark room as the seconds crawled by. For so long, Darcy didn’t know if she intended to respond at all.
Juliet finally moved, plucking lightly at the down comforter with her fingertips as she said, “I need the distinction. There’s Juliet-the-public-image, and there’s Juliet-for-real, but if I do Real Juliet things and let it mix into the perception of who I am, it…
it muddies things. Not for other people, but for me. ”
Darcy supposed that made sense. “Country Sweetheart Juliet always keeps it light and friendly. Cute–”
“Except with it comes to someone who got under her skin, yes,” Juliet interjected.
At this point, Darcy loved that. She loved that she’d gotten to Juliet and had flustered her even when she was supposed to be in public-image mode.
“And, look, I don’t know if my visits to the hospital can count as entirely kind or unselfish,” Juliet whispered, thoughtfully.
She was already shaking her head in disagreement, because… no. “I’m very intrigued as to your reasoning on that.”
Juliet snuggled down into the bed, moving onto her side to face Darcy. She mirrored her, tugging the blanket up around their shoulders.
“My mom used to bring me to the San Antonio Children’s Hospital.
A long time ago. Pre-Harrison,” Juliet explained, curling one of her arms under her head, placing the other delicately on the mattress between them.
“Once or twice a month, we would go and volunteer, and we would put on little concerts. I mean, I was just a kid then, too, and I wasn’t famous or anything. ”
She shrugged.
Darcy reached out, lightly tracing her fingertips over the back of Juliet’s hand. “Yeah, who cares if you volunteer at the children’s hospital if you aren’t famous. Boooo.”
A smile flashed over Juliet’s face, even as she scoffed. But she didn’t pull her hand away from Darcy’s touch.
“When we started going, she talked to me a lot about how it was good for us to spend our time and energy there. Maybe we didn’t have a lot, but there were people who were dealing with far worse than we did.”
“That’s great. Really… aware.” Her movements stilled briefly, unable to totally contain her surprise.
It simply didn’t align with what she’d imagined about Juliet’s mom, after hearing everything about Harrison.
Juliet obviously was able to read her, her tone wry, “Yes, I know.” She paused, her bottom lip poking out in a small pout. “It’s… she was different, then. I don’t know. I don’t really know her very well, anymore.”
Juliet roughly cleared her throat, waving her hand as if needing to make sure they continued the conversation along. “Anyway. When she and Harrison were married and we went to go to do one of our regular visits, Harrison put his foot down.”
That made Darcy freeze completely, pushing herself up higher onto her elbow to stare down at Juliet. “I’m sorry. He what? Why would he stop you from volunteering at the children’s hospital?”
Was he a literal monster?
“Because it was a ‘waste of time.’” Juliet used air quotes, shaking her head as disgust laced through her tone, before she unceremoniously dropped her hand back down.
“When I say that Harrison controlled every minute of my schedule, I mean it. Going to the hospital was an hours long endeavor. And those were hours that I could be spending working. After all, he was paying for all of these instructors and tutors. What was the point if I was taking all of this time off?”
Anger boiled up inside of her like battery acid, making her throat taste bitter. But she bit back her choice commentary, because she knew that Juliet was already thinking it, herself. And she didn’t want to possibly interrupt Juliet again, didn’t want her to stop.
Juliet did, however, slide her hand back toward Darcy, lifting her eyebrows. Silently inviting – no, telling – Darcy to continue her ministrations.
Darcy was happy to do so, feeling herself shiver slightly as she drew her fingertips over the skin and tendon and bone on the back of Juliet’s very talented hands.
“So, when I moved to L.A., when I finally wasn’t living on Harrison’s time, I started going to volunteer again.
I mean, I obviously believe that it’s the right thing to do.
If we could all give a little bit of our time and money to people who need it, when we have a lot to give, imagine…
” She cut herself off on a sharp breath. “I don’t need to get on my high horse.”
“I’d love to hear you on your high horse,” she encouraged, utterly riveted.
This – this was exactly the side of Juliet she was talking about. The part of her that was very much real and not public image, but was so fucking good.
“Some other time. When it’s not after two in the morning and you have another show tomorrow.
” She aimed a firm stare Darcy’s way. “The whole point of my telling you this is… sometimes when I’m going there, I’m mentally giving Harrison the middle finger.
I feel good about spending my time there because it’s the right thing to do.
But, also, it makes me feel a different kind of good knowing how much he’d hate what a ‘waste’ it is. ”
Darcy bit at her bottom lip, tracing her eyes over Juliet’s face. A feeling that was equal parts warmth and heat pumped through her veins. “On a scale of one to ten, how fucked up is it that I find all of that – both the sweet, good thing and the fuck-you-Harrison thing – really attractive?”
“Ten,” Juliet answered without hesitation. “Weirdo.”
But there was a smile on her lips, caught somewhere between teasing and gentle.
“I guess I’m a weirdo, then,” she accepted. “Because I don’t think it makes you any less of a good person.”
In fact, it only made her like Juliet even more.
Even if Juliet didn’t believe it about herself, Darcy had a very clear picture of who Real Juliet was. Complicated and messy and sometimes snappy and had some very sharp edges. But also incredibly loyal and thoughtful and kind. Flawed, in the best – most perfect and honest – ways.