Page 21 of The Demons We Hide

Her dainty chin tips upward and her glare is heated through the black reflective surface of her sunglasses. “None of your business.” This close I can pick out the hints of freckles on her cheeks and nose. They’re so light that only a light dusting of makeup would cover them, but I see them and I want to know each and every one of them.

Towering over her, I back her into the Camry’s side until both of my arms come down on either side of her, pinning her in. She doesn’t flinch or try to get away. Not my baby. She’s far too stubborn to fear me even when she should.

“You didn’t answer my calls.”

“Or your texts,” she agrees.

A growl rumbles in my throat. “Why?”

With a practiced move, she shoves the sunglasses up her face until our gazes collide for real. “Because I didn’t feel like it,” she says. “Did you think that just because you fucked me that it gave you the right to lay claim on me?”

Fucking her didn’t give me the right to claim her. Nothing did. I simply took it because I wanted it and whether she realizes it or not, Juliet has been mine since we were five. She will be mine until we’re old and gray and then after when we’re rotting in our graves side by fucking side.

“Alright, big guy,” Gio’s soothing tone is anything but as he wraps a solid arm around my waist and pries me away from her. I let him more out of deference to his still healing ribs than anything else, but I keep my gaze trained on Juliet’s. “Let’s take a deep breath and not give the vultures something to pick at later, yeah?”

Vultures meaning the eyes we have on us—that we always have on us. Juliet would know all about that sufferance, though. She’s been under close scrutiny her whole life too, if not for different reasons. Us—for what we might do, who we might hurt or how we’ll ruin them. Her—for what she wore, what she ate, who she pretended to be… until she didn’t need to pretend anymore. She doesn’t with us and she knows it. It’s why she’s drawn to us.

We scared her, I realize as Nolan steps in front of Gio and me, capturing her attention as her eyes snap to his. Instead of making his own demands, Nolan glances down the length of her body before reaching out and flicking a paint stain on the sweatshirt she’s wearing with the back of his nail.

“Nice clothes,” he comments. “Borrow these from your friend?”

Juliet rolls her tongue into the side of her cheek before shaking her head. “Nope. Bought them myself. Roquel’s shown me how great bargain hunting can be this last week. I had to replenish my closet after all, and she gives me a lift to work when she can if I give her gas money.”

Gio’s arm goes lax on me and he turns towards her. “We really didn’t burn down your apartment, Prep Girl,” he says, dropping his voice so that none of the onlookers watching can hear.

She cuts her gaze to him. “I believe thatyoudidn’t,” she says. “But these two?” Her eyes slide over me before moving to Nolan. “They have no alibi.”

The muscles in my arms bunch as I clench my fists, the reaction of each strained nerve and vein popping against my skin as I glare at her. “I wouldneverput you in danger, babygirl.”

Her lips curl down at the nickname and she shakes her head, turning away and sliding her glasses the rest of the way off her head, clicking the plastic ends closed against her side. “Yeah, well, we both know how great the three of you are at lying, so forgive me if I don’t trust you.”

Just as she’s about to walk away and I’m about to dive on top of her, Nolan reaches out and captures her arm. Her eyes go to his. “You can’t avoid us forever,” he warns her. “At some point, we’ll get tired of playing this game of yours and we’ll drag you back where you belong.”

The laugh that comes from her is dry and it makes my ears hurt. “Where exactly is that, Nolan?” Her hand lands on his chest and pushes him back. He releases her, but doesn’t move far. “I’m not a Scorpion girl, guys. I’m not even a real Public girl. I’m an outcast. You had your fun. You fucked the girl whose dad ruined the town and fucked her over in the process. You got revenge for everyone. Congratu-fucking-lations.”

Damn it. I know that’s what people are saying. What they’ve been saying all week after the information had come out about her apartment building burning down. There’s not a fucking complex or landlord in Silverwood that’ll take her application now. Being eighteen also exempts her from help from social services. She already turned them down once. Even if she hadn’t—she’s right about the town. They wanted revenge on her and no one is willing to help her now.

It’s a wonder she even has a friend willing to let her stay with them, but Roquel Lee has always been a bit of an odd duckling. Ma-Ri’s niece plays by her own rules and drifts in and out of the Public scene as she wants. She knows everyone and is close to no one.

None of that erases the fact, though, that someone is definitely out to get our girl. Someone hired Otis to break into her apartment and rape her. Someone had Gio jumped to warn him away from her. Someone burned down her apartment—and no matter what she thinks, itwasn’tus.

All of that makes me wonder if perhaps her father’s claims of innocence don’t hold some weight. It’s awfully convenient that in the last six months of her life, Juliet’s whole world has crashed and burned. Her father is in jail. Her mother left town and abandoned her. It’s beginning to paint a picture and she’s at the center of it.

“We didnot—” Nolan’s voice is dangerously low as he speaks before she cuts him off, ripping herself from his grasp.

“Do me a favor,” she bites out, pinning not just him with her furious gaze, but all of us. “Leave me the hell alone or I’ll make you regret it. You want to test me? You want to see what a fallen elite can do when she’s pushed to the edge? I can make that happen.”

She spits out each word like a poisoned dagger. Then, as if her whole demeanor shifts, she softens, moving closer. Trailing a hand down Nolan’s chest and leaving all of us frozen in confused surprise. Her eyelids lower and her lashes flutter as she pushes up against him, brushing his chest with her luscious tits. She rises onto her toes and in the distance, I hear other students murmuring, the snap of pictures being taken.

Then Nolan grunts as she palms his dick right through his jeans and by the way he stiffens, it’s not with pleasure in mind. “I can show you that all kings were meant to fall eventually, even the three of you.”

10

JULIET

“They’re watching.” Roquel’s whispered giggle hits my ears, and I grin even though I feel less than amused. Her words and, more importantly, the truth behind them are the reason for my deception.

“That was the point,” I remind her. This is just part of a larger plan that I’m meticulously placing. A trap for the Scorpion Kings.

---