40. Juliette
JULIETTE
“ I thought Alex was picking me up.” I frown at Paxton, who’s sitting behind the wheel of his Aston Martin.
Paxton quirks a dark brow. “If you wanted Alex to be the one to come, then you shouldn’t have texted the group.”
“Uh, no, I thought Alex was coming because he said he was coming. There’s nothing wrong with you other than that stick wedged up your ass.”
He smirks as he pulls away into the traffic, his watch gleaming as he steers. I don’t know what kind it is, but I’m sure it’s expensive. Paxton collects watches the way other people collect fine art.
“Don’t be pissed because she likes me more,” Alex cuts in, leaning forward from the back seat.
I yelp, my heart thundering as I press a hand to my chest. “Jesus, Alex, I had no idea you were back there.”
“That’s because you don’t pay attention.”
I scrunch my nose. “I don’t even know what that means.”
“Means you’re not situationally aware,” he says.
“Okay, well, not all of us are trained for deep-space survival scenarios. Sorry I’m not in Starfleet.”
Paxton’s eyes flick toward me. “Was that a Star Trek reference?”
I blink. “What? No.”
He raises a brow. “Pretty sure it was.”
Was it?
“Crap, maybe it was.” I sigh.
He chuckles. “Don’t sound so upset about it.”
“I’m not upset, just irritated that Felicity is invading my subconscious.”
“Felicity knows about Star Trek ?”
I stare at him. “Why are you asking that like it’s not your fault?”
“How the hell is it my fault?”
“Uh, I don’t know, because you let her watch it with you?”
He makes an affronted face. “I absolutely did not .”
“You did,” I say. “It was storming outside, and she got freaked so you put on Voyager to distract her.”
Alex hums. “I think I remember that too, actually.”
“See?” I gesture. “Don’t question me. I’m always right.”
Paxton’s mouth opens like he wants to argue, but then he closes it. And I could swear a hint of a smile passes over his face.
“Right,” he says quietly, turning on the blinker. “I forgot about that.”
I give him an odd look, and then put my feet up on the dash, wincing from how sore I am between my legs because Roman just fucked me silly.
My heart flips.
“Get your filthy feet off my dash, Juliette.”
I give him a pointed look. “Stick up your ass.”
He smacks at my shoes.
“Whatever,” I mutter, dropping them to the floor and taking out my phone. “This just proves my theory that Felicity’s words eat at my brain like a parasitic worm.”
Alex groans. “Can we not talk about space worms while I’m trapped in this car? It’s bad enough you both are talking about Felicity like either of you know her better than me.”
I twist in my seat. “She’s my best friend, you Neanderthal. Leave her alone.”
Paxton looks at Alex in the rearview mirror. “You’re an idiot.”
“Technically, I’m the smartest one in the family,” Alex corrects.
I scoff. “Says who?”
He smirks, leaning back. “They don’t have to say it. Common knowledge, I fear.”
“How’d you get away from your date, anyway? Does he know we came to get you?” Paxton asks, side-eyeing me as he flicks on the blinker and turns right.
My cheeks heat when I think about how I could feel Roman’s cum dripping out of me while I made excuses to Preston. My body still hums with the feel of his hands, and the way he was trying to mold me into something that belonged to him.
“He thinks I’m not feeling well.”
Alex laughs, and Paxton shakes his head.
My gaze whips back and forth between them. “What?”
“You couldn’t have come up with something a bit more original?” The corner of Paxton’s lips quirks up.
“It’s a perfectly reasonable explanation.”
“Every dude knows if a girl flees in the middle of a date, it’s because she doesn’t like him,” Alex chimes in.
“That’s not true,” I reply.
But maybe it is. They’d know, wouldn’t they?
I chew on my lip, wondering how convincing I was. “Preston didn’t seem to mind.”
“Your date was with Preston? Preston Ascott?” Paxton questions. “Your ex ?”
“Yeah, and? What’s the issue now?” I say sharply.
Paxton’s always been a grumpy asshole, but ever since I came back from school, it’s been on steroids.
“He’s not good enough for you,” he says.
“No shit,” I agree. “Take it up with Mommy Dearest.”
Paxton looks at me from the corner of his eye and harrumphs but doesn’t say anything else.
Alex has also grown quiet.
“ Anyway , I’m tired of talking about my failed date,” I say. “Thanks for saving me, even if you’re being a prick while doing it.”
Paxton nods, a muscle in his jaw ticking.
“Tiffany didn’t mind you coming to get me?” I press, because I feel like getting under his skin. Paxton never speaks about his wife.
He side-eyes me. “Tiffany doesn’t get to tell me where to go or what to do.”
Alex whistles from the back seat. “Trouble in paradise?”
“Things are fine.”
I smirk. “Convincing, Pax.”
Alex’s phone goes off from the back, and the screen lights up his face almost as much as the giant grin I see when I turn around to look at him.
“Who’s got you smiling like that?”
He wiggles his brows and looks at me. “Who do you think?”
“ No . Felicity?”
He slips his phone back into his pocket and leans back with a lazy grin. “I don’t kiss and tell, Jules.”
Yeah, me neither.
“Felicity does, though, and she definitely would have told me if she was making out with you.”
“I’ll have you know, she’s this close to agreeing to date me,” he continues. “So, please go on with your theory about how she doesn’t like me.”
I’m not sure whether I believe him. If she decided to date my brother and not even tell me, I’ll be pissed.
“Too bad you blew it with Preston,” he jokes. “We could have had double dates.”
“I didn’t blow anything.”
My face heats and I stumble over the words because technically, that’s not true. I clear my throat and push Roman from my mind.
“Besides, you can double date with Pax and Tiffany.” I give a wide grin to Paxton.
“Absolutely not ,” Paxton chimes in, his fingers tight on the steering wheel. “I don’t want anything to do with that girl.”
“Good God, Pax. Dial down the animosity, she didn’t run over your puppy.”
We pull into the front of the estate, and the quiet overwhelms the car as Paxton kills the engine.
“Well, kids, it’s been fun, but I’ve got a girl to text.” Alex smirks and waves his phone in the air before slipping out the back and disappearing inside.
“Thanks for the ride.” I reach to open the car door but am stopped by Paxton’s hand on my arm.
“Hey, I don’t…” He sighs, shaking his head. “Do you really like Preston?”
Surprise filters through me, and I release the handle of the door and sink back into my seat, blinking at him. “What do you mean?”
He shrugs. “It’s a simple question. Do you like him, or is this really another setup by Mom and Dad?”
I cringe. “I think you know the answer to that question.”
Paxton’s lips press together. “You know, I married Tiffany for them.”
I knew that—of course I knew—anyone with a pulse can see how much he doesn’t love her.
But still, this is the first time he’s ever admitted it out loud.
At least to me. I don’t know why the confirmation that my brother is stuck in a loveless marriage makes me so sad, but it does.
Everywhere he goes and everything he does seems to be for someone else, and this is the first time I’ve realized that in that regard, we’re alike.
My stomach rolls, because I love my brother, but I do not want to end up like him.
As the firstborn Calloway, he’s been stuck to rules and rigidity in a way the rest of us never have, and if it feels like I’m in a cage, it’s most likely just a fraction of what it feels like for Paxton.
“Yeah, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you’re not very good at faking it,” I tell him.
A sad smile spreads across his face, and his fingers tighten around the steering wheel like he needs something to hold on to. “I didn’t do everything I’ve done just for you to suffer the same fate.”
I tilt my head, his words pressing heavily on my chest. “What does that mean?”
Paxton is six years older than me, and maybe it’s because of that age gap that this is the closest thing to a heart-to-heart that we’ve ever had.
His lips twist. “I want you to be happy, Jules. Out of anyone in our family, you deserve that. And if Preston makes you happy, then good. But if it’s just some sense of loyalty to Mom and Dad, then…I want you to know I’ll have your back.”
“Thank you,” I choke out, his admission making my throat swell and my eyes burn.
He smiles softly. “I know I’m not always the best brother.”
“Don’t—”
He shuts me up with a look. “But I’m here for you, even when it doesn’t seem like I am. I’m on your side.”
Swallowing, I nod. “Okay.”
“Okay,” he repeats, blowing out a breath like that took everything in him to say.
I’m frozen for a few moments, just blinking at him. “Are you worried about the accusations about our family?”
A giant part of me doesn’t want to even bring them up, because every time I do, I’m hit with the feeling of being torn down the middle. Loyalty to Roman, or loyalty to them.
He shrugs and runs a hand through his hair. “Nah. Everything will blow over. There’s nothing anyone can prove, and Dad seems to think he has it handled.”
I nod, chewing on the inside of my lip. “Is it true what the news is saying? That you might have to take it over?”
He shrugs again. “Maybe, yeah.”
“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
He gives me a confused look. “What on earth do you have to be sorry for?”
“I don’t know.” I lift a shoulder. “I’m sorry you’re not happy, I guess.”
“I never said I wasn’t.”
“You didn’t have to, Pax.”
He glances down at his hands and gives a brief nod, and I slip out of the car, a heavy feeling weighing down my shoulders.
I walk inside and jump a mile high when Beverly’s voice filters from around the corner. “How was your date?”
“Christ, Bevie, give me a heart attack.” I press my hand to my chest. “It was with Preston, so it sucked.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell her about Roman, but I don’t get the chance before she changes the subject.
“Well, your father’s home. So, I’d recommend you go up to your wing and stay there.”
“Sure.” I glance down the long hallway, wondering what my dad’s getting up to. There’s an overwhelming sense of dread whenever I think about him now.
But I listen, making my way up to my room, and pulling out my notebook, weaving my memories into fiction.
The girl let the wolf devour her. Not because she didn’t know better, but because she did. Because she was desperate to know what it felt like to be undone by him. He sank into her like a curse whispered on the wind, and now she walks around like he’s branded into her skin. Marked. Claimed.
She knows she’ll dream of blood moons and velvet mouths, and of simpler times…when she still thought she could survive the ruin of him.