Page 40 of Black Hearts
“It’s getting cold out here. Come on,” Markus grabbed my hand, leading me back to the motel room. When we walked in, hand in hand, both Will and Bennet shot glares our way, but Markus didn’t seem to mind. Jaxon was still in the bathroom.
“So,” Will broke the uneasy silence of the room, “shall we discuss sleeping arrangements?”
That got Markus to release my hand. “Right. I should get another room.”
Jaxon must’ve heard, for he strolled out of the bathroom right then, his brown hair damp. He wore nothing but jeans, showing off his lean torso. “Rave’s room is next door. It’s where he stayed when he had to watch Fred. You could crash there. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind since he’s not using it.”
Markus’s dark stare shifted to me, and I wondered what the man was thinking, if he wanted a room further away from here so he could take me with him. The old Markus surely would have; he wouldn’t have wanted me to be alone with anyone besides him. I wondered if we were past that point, now.
It was a long while until Markus relented, “Fine.”
And that was that.
Days passed. Eventually we left the cheap motel and made the journey back to Midpark, but we didn’t go to the house. No, not everything was set how Markus wanted it, so we went to one of the fancy hotels in the city. Nine floors high with a penthouse suite at the top, everything new and fancy and the rooms spacious. The very opposite of the motel we’d been staying at.
Definitely a change, but I think that’s what the guys needed, especially Markus. Markus had hated that dingy place, how cramped it was, how small the television set was. He hated there was no room service, that they had to either go out or get something delivered since there was no kitchen. It was unsurprising that Markus was so high-strung. I couldn’t blame him. I couldn’t blame any of them, really.
The room we rented out was more like a house, but it wasn’t the penthouse suite, which the guys told me was even larger and more impressive. We got a room on the eighth floor, and it was big enough for each of us to have our own room. The guys had to share a bathroom, but they didn’t complain. I was sure they were more than happy to leave that motel in the dust, too.
I took my pills like I was supposed to, and everything was good. Everything was good, except for the fact that I missed someone something fierce.
And, no, I wasn’t talking about my father.
I couldn’t help but mope around sometimes. It was like the rug had been pulled out from under me, like everything I thought was true was nothing but a lie. It was only a matter of time until that Rave guy caught my father. Or the cops, I guess. Either way, his days out there were numbered. I only hoped I was there to see it all crash and burn around him.
I wasn’t spiteful, but he’d tried to kill me. He would’ve, if Rave hadn’t been on watch. It was hard to forget that.
I was in the kitchen, wondering if I should try to cook something for lunch, when there was a knock at the door. Markus had gone off to make some arrangements, which left Will, Jaxon, and Bennet with me, and when a knock echoed in the air, they practically leaped up from where they were in the living room and readied themselves for a fight. I watched them huff and puff and posture as they stormed over to the door.
Bennet was busy cracking his neck and his knuckles, while Jaxon checked the cameras. Because, yes, this place had cameras in the hall so you could look down upon anyone visiting and speak to them before deciding to let them in. I know. Fancy.
Jaxon waved the guys off, and I wondered what was going on. I leaned over the island in the kitchen to see what was happening; the whole place had a pretty open-concept design, at least in the main living areas. I couldn’t see the screen on the wall, though, so I had no idea who it was or why Jaxon went to open the door for him. If it was Markus, he would’ve walked right in since he had a key.
My heart skipped a beat when I saw who walked in, and if there hadn’t been a counter between me and him, I might’ve thought to run to him, because God, had I missed him so much.
Theo walked in, giving the others a nod of his head before surveying the area—and once he did, he saw me, and his lips curled into the biggest, warmest smile I’d ever seen. His brown hair was getting a little shaggy, definitely needed cut, but besides that, he was the same old Theo. Wearing dark blue pants and a nice button-down shirt, he was the neat and tidy doctor I knew him to be.
And cute. He was definitely still cute.
He didn’t wait another moment. He came over to me, sweeping me into his arms and holding me close, bringing me in so tightly against his chest I thought he might suffocate me. “Juliet,” he breathed out my name in a sigh. All of the emotion he had was plain in his voice; he didn’t need to tell me he was glad to see me or happy that I was okay. I could tell just by the way he held onto me and the way he said my name.
I didn’t even care that the sudden movement made my stomach ache. I took the pain. I took the pain because Theo was here.
Wait. Why was Theo here?
I pulled away from him, about to ask, but he must’ve sensed what I was about to say, because he let me go, pulled something out of his pocket—my birth control pills, looked like. “Markus asked me to bring you these,” he said. “How is everything going here?” The other guys came around, but that question was mostly directed toward me.
I couldn’t stop looking at him. I was just so happy he was here. “Fine. How’s everything at the house?” I assumed it would take time to amass the army of Scotts Markus wanted to stand behind him, but I hoped it wouldn’t take much longer. I’d much rather be in the house than here. I missed it. I missed my room, Ed’s cooking, and Tori.
Theo nodded. “Everything is… let’s just say it’s going. I think Stella’s ready to kill Johnathan, but the same could be said of everyone else in the house.”
“How’s Tori?”
Jaxon, Bennet, and Will stood on the other side of the island, listening, watching. As much as I loved them, I’d spent days with them. Or a week. However long it had been since I’d woken up in the hospital and seen them. I hadn’t seen Theo in so much longer, so I was taking him in. It felt like we’d spent forever apart.
He chuckled. “I think Tori’s actually tried to kill Johnathan at least three times now. Once in his sleep—apparently the man still has lightning-quick reflexes—once with poison in his food, which he probably detected because Tori served dinner to him personally while he was still working, and once when he was on the toilet, of all places.”
Will burst out laughing. “The toilet?” He could barely get the question out. Even Bennet smirked at that.
