Page 29 of The Demons We Hide

She vibrates, from her arms to her shoulders, her whole body pulled taut like a bow and ready to snap. “Fuck you.” Despite how low and hissed the words are, this time, I can hear them clearly.

She’s used to people giving her a reason not to trust them, and we merely proved to her what she already knew—that no one can be trusted.

“Prep Girl…” Gio grimaces when her cool blue eyes switch to him.

“Don’t.” That one word holds a whole breadth of meaning in its warning. “Just…” She sucks in a breath and slowly releases it, forcing her shoulders to drop back down to their normal level. She turns her head back and forth, the soft strands of azure swiping over her shoulders and lower, barely just grazing above her breasts. “You need to let this go.” Her eyes slide over mine once more. “You need to letmego.”

Tilting my head to the side, I stare back at her. She wants us to let her go? No. Slowly, I shake my head, denying her request. I step closer, reaching out before she can slip free and snagging her wrist in my grip.

“Nolan.” Ignoring the hint of simmering caution in her tone, I turn and pull her behind me. She resists because she’s Juliet—she wouldn’t be our sweet obsession if she didn’t fight against me a little bit. And that’s the truth, I realize. She is no longer just Lex’s obsession—she’s all of ours.

She’s in danger and she doesn’t even realize it. We haven’t told her about Gio’s attackers, what they’d said. Knowing that there’s someone out there makes sense—after all, all of Silverwood hates her family. They can’t go after her father or her mother. She’s the only target left. It doesn’t matter that she had nothing to do with the Donovans’ betrayal of the people of Silverwood. In their eyes, she’s guilty by association.

Maybe that had held us slightly back before. Maybe that was why I’d been so resistant to Lex’s demands and insistence to haul her into our circle, but now … it’s too late. Whether she meant to or not, Juliet Donovan wormed her way into our hearts, into our very souls, and I would split my own chest open before ever letting her go.

The second we’re out of both earshot and eyeshot of the rest of the club as we enter the back hallway, I drag her forward and spin her towards the wall. The second I release her, I slam a hand against the wall just over her shoulder and cage her in.

Any other woman might shrink under the scrutiny or the wide berth of my body pinning her in, but not our girl. Not her. With a snarl that’s all bite and violence, she slaps both of her palms against my chest.

“What the fuck is your problem!”

I lean in. “I get that you’re pissed at us right now,” I say, stepping even closer, forcing my hips to trap hers as she tries to squirm out of my grip. “But don’t for a second think that you can get away from us.”

Her mouth opens, and I cup a hand over it to stop whatever tirade of anger I expect to spew from lips I have far better uses for. Teeth sink into the fleshy skin of my palm, and my cock leaps against my zipper, a low groan choking in my throat. I close my eyes as the sharp pain of her attack slides through me. Bending my head, I breathe in and out, counting backwards from ten.

She doesn’t let go, though. Instead, she bites down harder until wetness oozes against my fingers. A second later, she yelps and releases me. I jerk my head up to find Lex at my side, his fingers locked into her hair as he grips the strands tight in his fist.

“Be nice, baby,” he warns her.

“Fuck you!” she snarls at him.

“I’d love to,” I tell her honestly, and she whips her head—or tries to—in my direction. “But I don’t think you want that right now. I think you might take a little action right now and use it as proof that we’re not what you need.”

“I don’t?—”

“Finish that fucking sentence,” Lex’s voice cuts through her words, dark and dangerous. “I fucking dare you.”

Lashes lower against high cheekbones, but my gaze goes to the spot of red on her lip. It’s blood. My blood.

I’m going to have the outline of my zipper permanently tattooed to the shaft of my cock if we drag this on much longer.

“Prep Girl, we just want you to understand that you can trust us,” Gio insists, stepping up on my other side.

She refuses to look at him—no doubt because the sight of his bruises and still healing features soften her.

“We’ll leave you for now,” I say, using my bleeding palm to capture her chin and force her to meet my gaze. “But remember this—” I lean forward until my lips brush against her earlobe. The grin that graces my lips at her responding shiver is full of self-satisfaction. “Everything you have now—this freedom you have to run from us—is because we allow it. We’ll give you time, Jules, but eventually you will come back to us. I promise you that.”

13

JULIET

My skin is on fire. Invisible trails of some unknown substance dripping down my abdomen and over my thighs. It makes me itchy, like something is there—or was—and I don’t know what.

My eyes crack open. My chapped lips smack as the taste of vomit sits on the back of my tongue. I wrinkle my nose against the burn of expensive cologne. Where are my clothes? I look down to find my dress gone. My bra and panties are gone.

Where did they go? Did I take them off? My head pounds as if a thousand jackhammers are trying to break their way out of the inside of my skull.

Feeling both too cold and too hot, I’m left in nothing but my skin. A shameful feeling skitters over my breasts and down my stomach. I wrap my arms around myself as a chill seeps into my skin, burrowing until it reaches my bones.

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