Page 71 of Black Hearts
“If no one else is going to stand up to you, I’ll do it,” Tori proudly declared, puffing up her chest, as if she personally had to right this wrong. “I don’t care that you’re my grandpa. You’re a big, fat—”
“Tori,” I cut in, “that’s enough, for now.” She could badmouth him all she liked as soon as he was off my property.
My father didn’t wait for Juliet to accept his apology, turning to me and saying, “Good luck with everything, Markus. I will forward you the address to send a copy of that contract to.” He bowed his head somewhat, and then he walked off. That was his goodbye. Not a very good one, but I supposed people like him and I weren’t too good at saying goodbye or making apologies for the sins we’ve made.
He walked off. I didn’t follow him. He knew the way out, and I was right where I wanted to be.
Tori huffed. “You should’ve let me say something to him.”
“You did,” I told her.
“Yeah, but come on. He deserved more than that. He gave Juliet to her dad, and you let him. She could’ve died. If she was dead, I would never forgive you. I’d kill him, and then I’d kill you.” So matter-of-fact about it, and still such a child. I couldn’t imagine what she’d be like when she was older.
I looked at Juliet, who was still busy processing what had happened. “You okay?”
She was slow to give me a nod. “Yeah, I’m good. It’s just… I never thought I’d hear an apology from your dad. It wasn’t very heartfelt, but I know that’s as good as I’ll ever get from him.” There was an added weight to her final words, as if she was talking about me, too.
I took a step toward her, lifting a hand and sweeping the back of my fingers across her cheek. “I’ll never let anyone take you from me again, Juliet. That’s a promise. I’m many things, but I am—”
“No liar,” she finished, already knowing what I was going to say. She gave me a gentle smile and nodded. “I know, and I believe you.”
I took her head in both hands, tilting it back just a bit. Her lips parted instantly, and those eyelids fell halfway down. She was definitely expecting a kiss, so I might as well…
I brought my top half down, my lips meeting hers in a hungry display. I didn’t care that the patio was full of people, didn’t care that we were most definitely being watched, and I didn’t care that Tori was beside us, making exaggerated gagging noises.
Juliet was mine. Her soft, luscious lips were mine, and by God, I would never let her go. Never. Like I said.
That was a promise.
Chapter Twelve – Bennet
Having everyone at the house for a kumbaya moment was fucking disgusting. Like we were all one big happy family. Even the lawyer Markus used and his daughter. Or daughter in law. Or stepdaughter. Whatever the fuck the girl with Vaughn was to him. Jaz, I think her name was? Didn’t know, didn’t really care.
Seeing some of my siblings, adopted or not, that had been out in the field since I could remember was a trip, though. I didn’t like it. I liked it just us here at the house, and boy, was I glad to be back.
To have my own workout room again, with actual machines, to have Ed’s cooking…
Speaking of which, he had enlisted Lincoln’s help on the grill. Hamburgers and hotdogs, among a few side dishes. We were going ridiculously stereotypical for food tonight, I guess, but I wouldn’t complain.
Well, I might complain if there wasn’t enough food to go around. That would tick me the fuck off.
The sky still had a few hours of light left, the air not too warm, but not cold enough to make us go inside. I sat on one of the wicker chairs facing the pool. Tori, Juliet, Jaxon and Will had changed into their swimsuits, and they splashed around in the pool, laughing and having a good time. Theo was chatting with the lawyer dude and the girl with funky hair, a drink in his hand, which left me alone.
I was fine with it. After spending all that time in such close quarters with everyone else, I could use some alone time. Knowing I was never truly alone… kind of fucking sucked, you know? I liked being alone. I’d gotten used to it my whole life, being the outsider here. Not sure what was going to happen with that.
Juliet.
My eyes followed her around in the pool, watching her laugh and smile and be merry. She wasn’t dunking her head or doing somersaults in the water like everyone else, but she was still having fun. Her head turned in my direction, locking eyes with me, and the smile she wore grew.
Something in me hardened, something that told me nothing would ever be the same. That girl… she’d meant nothing to me in the beginning. Hell, I’d hated her fucking guts because Markus was so obsessed with her. I’d imagined ending her life countless of times, dumping her body in Markus’s room just to show him that I was done trying to belong to this family.
But that was a lie, wasn’t it? Because I didn’t really want to wash my hands of this family or what it did. I didn’t want to leave it. Sure, I’d skipped a lot of classes being with Juliet and the others lately, but after graduating Hillcrest, I didn’t really want to go.
I wanted to stay. I wanted to belong here. Everyone else thought I just didn’t give a shit; Juliet was the only one who ever saw through the bullshit and knew that I cared more than I let on. She was able to see me for me. No one had ever done that before. No one had ever tried. Even the other girls I’d been with in the past—they only wanted a good fuck. I wasn’t boyfriend material.
Hell, I still didn’t think I was boyfriend material, but look at me now: eyes glued to the blond girl in the pool, stomach full of butterflies. Sounded cheesy as hell, right? Eh, it wasn’t as cheesy as me knowing I could never go anywhere now. I had to try harder. I had to prove that I belonged here with everyone else, so I could stay with her.
God. How fucking stupid did that sound?
