Page 72 of Black Hearts
It was the truth, though. All my life, everything I’d done, it all led up to this moment. Everything I’d tried to be, everything I wasn’t. Juliet didn’t care about any of it. Ironically, the girl who made me see how big of an ass I’d been was the one who didn’t care if I pretended or not. She just wanted me for me. Don’t ask me what I did to deserve her, because I had no fucking clue. Your guess was as good as mine.
Juliet walked over to the edge of the pool, waving her arm at me. “Come on,” she called out. “Come in the pool with us.” She looked so expectant, so happy to be back.
I glanced around, spotting Markus near the French doors to the house. He stood near Killian, discussing something, but his gaze was on Juliet; I could see it from where I sat. Returning my eyes to her, I shook my head. Pools weren’t really my thing.
Juliet pouted.
“You can pout all you want, but I’m not getting in,” I said. Behind Juliet’s pouting figure, Will was busy holding Tori’s head underwater and grinning—at least until Tori socked him in his stomach and surfaced in a rush of water, clinging to his top half and forcing his head down with maniacal glee.
“Come here, please?” Juliet asked, blinking those big, blue eyes at me, as if that would get me to bend to her will.
It wouldn’t.
Except… except it kind of did, because the longer she looked at me while hugging the edge of the pool, the more I could feel my resolve weakening. It’s the power she had over me, I swore. I couldn’t stop myself from rolling my eyes as I got up and strolled to the edge of the pool. I knelt down just as I overheard Stella complaining about the meat smell.
“What are you doing to that meat, Ed?” Stella shouted, and Ed looked like a deer in headlights, not knowing what the hell he did wrong. Personally, I didn’t think it smelled bad; smelled like food to me. “Whatever it is, stop it.”
I focused on Juliet, who was grinning at me from the pool. “I’m not getting in,” I repeated, meaning it. “No amount of pouting is going to change my mind.”
She sprang up like a coiled snake, ready to strike, grabbed the collar of my shirt, and pulled me with her, using her legs on the edge of the pool for more added strength. It happened so quickly, before I knew what was happening, and in a matter of seconds, I was fully submerged in the water. My feet found the bottom, and I pushed myself above the water, growling at her.
Growling and coughing. Some of the water got up my nose.
“I’m going to kill you,” I hissed, water droplets falling from my lips.
The others in the pool had begun to laugh at me, but Juliet was totally serious as she said, “No, you won’t.” And then she smiled again, walked up to me, and planted a soft kiss on my cheek, as if that would make it better.
Hmm. Okay, it did.
A little.
“You’re lucky my phone is waterproof,” I muttered, snaking one arm around her back to hold her to me while using my other to grab my phone out of my pocket and slide it onto the stone near the water’s edge.
Not going to lie, Juliet looked damn fine in that bikini. Black wasn’t really her color, but the way it hugged her body made me think of certain things I probably shouldn’t when we were surrounded by people who were not in the group who was allowed to see her naked.
I didn’t know what I was going to say, but I started, “I—” A strange sound caused everyone’s heads to whip around; a heaving sound. “What the fuck?”
Will was busy watching Stella, who stood near bushes on the side of the patio. “Stella just upchucked on that bush.” He sounded both slightly amused and a little disgusted.
“Oh, no,” Juliet whispered against me. “Is she sick? This is her suit—do you think I’ll get sick?”
I couldn’t answer, because I was too busy watching Markus storm over her to and demand, “Can you ever keep it in, for fuck’s sake?” For obvious reasons, anyone originally near the bushes had moved away.
“I don’t make a habit of throwing up,” Stella shot back. “It’s the meat. It smells disgusting. I don’t know why I’m the only one who smells it.”
“Hold on,” Will whispered. He must’ve been putting the pieces together faster than Juliet and me, because something dawned on him. He pointed at Theo, flicking some water his way. “Get that woman a pregnancy test, stat!” He chuckled softly to himself.
Tori swam closer to the side her mother was on, clinging to the edge of the pool. “Mom, are you pregnant?”
Stella openly glared at Ed and Lincoln, then at Killian. “I better not be.”
Theo had stepped in, gesturing for her to go with him. “Come on. Let’s just be sure, one way or another.”
“Killian, clean this shit up,” Markus stated, walking away from the vomit bush. Killian groaned, but he did as he was told—a good thing, since I didn’t think any of us wanted to hang around an area that was covered in whatever Stella had eaten for lunch.
“It doesn’t sound like Stella wants to be pregnant again,” Juliet whispered, slow to turn her head back to me. Beneath the water, I still held onto her. I didn’t want to let her go. I couldn’t ignore the way it felt right to hold her.
“I hope I get a sister,” Tori proclaimed, launching herself backward into the pool. Once she resurfaced, she frowned. “Too many boys here.” That comment made Jaxon and Will laugh. Juliet smiled, too.
