Page 114 of The Demons We Hide

With a sigh, I shift to put the gun back in my holster when Juliet’s smaller hand latches on to my wrist. My eyes shoot to hers and this time, she stares back.

“I didn’t say I didn’t want to,” she murmurs. “But I know I shouldn’t…”

Is that it? She’s still hooked on what she should and shouldn’t want, on what society has told us is right or wrong?

Flipping my hand over, I press the gun into her palm. “Don’t worry about what you shouldn’t want,” I say. “Focus on getting justice for yourself. We’ll take care of the rest.”

Juliet doesn’t look like she quite believes me, but she also doesn’t rear back and slug me in the face—that’s progress, right? Maybe shewantsto believe me. God, I hope she does. I’ll prove it to her again and again if that’s what it takes.

Her slight fingers curve around the grip of the gun, and I chuckle when she fumbles and almost drops it. “Here.” I adjust her hold and force her finger to adjust against the trigger. Even with the safety on, I point the barrel down to the dirt. “Just like this, Princess.”

It does something to me to see her wield my gun. To look down at it not like it’s nightmare fuel, but as if it’s the key to her own freedom. I want to be that. We all do. The key to Juliet Donovan’s freedom starts tonight. One bullet. One life. One death. All ours.

“Don’t be afraid.” At first, I don’t realize I’ve spoken the deeply rooted desire aloud until her head tips back and azure-blue eyes meet mine, deeper than the stormiest ocean waves.

“Of what?” she asks.

My lips part. “This.” I nod down to the gun. “That.” I glance over to where Gio and Lex are laying into the men who thought they could steal her from us while our backs were turned. “Us.” I return my gaze to hers.

Juliet straightens, standing up taller as she shakes her head. “I’m not,” she says. Then, she turns and walks towards the others.

“Lex!” Even though I only call one of their names, both Gio and Lex stop what they’re doing. Lex’s eyes lock onto the woman making her way towards him. He’s so fucking gone for her. I thought it was bad before, but in the last few months I’ve watched how much worse it’s gotten. Getting his hands on her, his dick inside of her, has changed him.

Some stalkers lose interest with their obsession when they finally get what they want. They’re more into the chase than the actual woman, but not Lex. I might pity Juliet if I didn’t know any better. If she doesn’t realize how we’re all in this for her—that we won’t just kill for her, but that we’ll die for her now—then she will soon. Because now that we’ve had her, there’s no getting away.

Juliet stops as she nears Lex and looks at the man he’s holding up by a firm grasp on the back of his head. “Do you want this one, baby?” Lex’s voice lowers, dipping into one that is almost sickeningly sweet in his attention to her.

She doesn’t look at him, but glares at the man whose face looks more like pulverized meat than two eyes, a nose, and a mouth. I doubt she recognizes them now, but I do. I recognized the one Gio killed as well as the one he now presses into the dirt with a foot on the back of his neck.

They’re not just faceless kidnappers or assholes who thought they could take what didn’t belong to them. They’re from Silverwood. Old Public jocks that graduated years ago and disappeared into the gutter like so many before them have.

“Yeah,” Juliet glares at the man who coughs, spitting up blood as it dribbles down his chin. “He’ll do.”

Lex reacts immediately, setting the man back onto his knees, still bound and unable to get away. I suck in a breath as Jules looks down at the gun in her fist. The bound man sways, likely concussed because he doesn’t even seem to hear or recognize the exchange. It’s not like he can see much out of those swollen and bruised eyes of his. He probably doesn’t even know he’s about to die by the hands of the hottest woman I’ve ever had in my bed. The only one I’ll ever have there again.

“There’s a safety on it.” I watch as Lex moves to Juliet’s side and helps her to figure out the mechanics of shooting a handgun for the first time. “When you pull the trigger, there might be a bit of a kickback,” he informs her. “It’ll also sound loud since there’s no silencer on it. Don’t be scared.”

Juliet looks over her shoulder at me, her brow puckering. I read her concern in an instant as I cross my arms over my chest and nod to the man she’s chosen. “No one will hear you out here,” I tell her. “Do it. Take back your control.”

That’s all it takes. That one last sentence has her stiffening her spine all over again and swinging her attention back to the man. All three of us—Gio, Lex, and I—are riveted to the sight as she steps up to her kidnapper and presses the gun right up against his forehead.

Lex takes a step back but remains close, and I can’t help but drift nearer myself. Her upper lip curls back from her teeth and I half expect her to say something snide, to remind the douchebag that even if he thought he could take her earlier, she’s got the last laugh. She doesn’t though.

Juliet doesn’t say a word. There’s none left in her. She just levels the gun and pulls the trigger.

The echo of the shot disappears into the night sky, and the fluttering of bird wings sounds in the distance. The man’s body slants sideways, a plume of loose dirt rising up around him as he thumps down. Juliet lowers her arm and rubs it—no doubt sore from the kickback.

“Good job, baby.” Lex takes a step up to her side and when he reaches for the gun, careful to keep the hot barrel from touching her, she lets him. She doesn’t respond to his praise and he frowns. “Baby? Do you want to do the next one?”

My mouth opens to tell him “no,” that we need to keep the last one for information, when she shakes her head. “No, I…” Juliet blinks and stumbles away from the dead man at her feet. “No, I-I just want to go…” Home. I know that’s what she wants to say, but she doesn’t because to Juliet, there is no home anymore. At least, she doesn’t think there is.

I lower my arms back to my side and cross the distance in a few long strides. I take the gun from Lex’s hand. “Why don’t you take her back to your place,” I say. “Let her get showered and cleaned up, yeah?”

Lex frowns. “I don’t?—”

“Yeah, I want that.” Juliet turns and glances between us. “Can we go back to your place?”

Relief hits me. Thank fuck she’s making this easy for me. If I were to let Lex stay behind, the final kidnapper wouldn’t live long enough to tell us his blood type much less any valuable information on who hired him and his friends.

---