Page 37 of The Demons We Hide

She stiffens in my grip, and the reaction makes it easier to lift my head. I glance up, noticing one of those cheap long mirrors. It’s the kind I’ve seen girls get to hang on the back of their doors. This one, though, is propped against the wall across from us and it gives me a direct line of sight to her face.

Eyes closed, dark lashes throwing shadows down her cheeks, Juliet bites down on her lower lip. The ripple of pain is so obvious on her expression that I know she doesn’t remember the mirror, because if she did, there’s no way she’d show methatlook.

“Prep Girl…” I lift one arm away from her middle, and her eyes dart open. She releases her lip as I gently nudge her chin over so that I’m no longer using a reflection to look at her. “Tell me.”

She shakes her head. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Yes, it does.” Pressing my forehead to hers, I will her to hear my words, to actually fuckinglisten. “Everything you feel matters. What happened?”

“The same as always,” she says. “He denied the crimes. Tried to convince me that he’s innocent.”

It’s clear from the weary twist of her lips that she doesn’t believe it, but since Allen Donovan contacted Lex’s alter ego, I’m starting to wonder if maybe he’s telling the truth. Is it possible that her father is innocent? That someone else is responsible for the embezzlement? If so, who?

“He didn’t know about my mom, though.”

I frown, lifting my head away from hers. “Your dad didn’t know that she left?”

Her lips purse. “No, I thought that was weird. I was sure Morpheus had told him—they’ve been in contact or I thought they had. Morpheus was pretty insistent that I talk to my dad.”

“He also wants you to move in with him,” I murmur absently as I draw a lock of her still wet hair over her shoulder and toy with it. “Maybe he was hoping if your dad found out about your mom being gone from you that he’d insist you stay with his friend.”

Juliet shakes her head as if clearing it, and the blue strand of hair is ripped away from me. “He said that Morpheus wasn’t taking his calls anymore—I’m not surprised. He’s still fixing everything that happened with the company. So many people lost their jobs, their savings…”

It’s the very reason why the town of Silverwood hated her. Because Juliet is the last Donovan in their line of sight, the last one theycanblame even though they all know she’s an innocent. I let my hand fall to her thigh, gripping it and feeling smooth skin under my palm where the t-shirt has ridden up.

“What else?” I force the question out before I can distract myself with her body. I did come here for a reason and it wasn’t for sex. Maybe I’ll get the second, but the first needs to come as a priority.

Juliet shifts on my lap, her ass wiggling against my cock in a way that makes my head fill with hot air and want to explode. Gritting my teeth, I clamp my hand harder against her leg to stop the movement.

“Dad thinks I’m staying with Morpheus,” Juliet admits. “I didn’t tell him any differently. He’s got enough to deal with in prison than to think I’m not taken care of.”

I lift my head and look around the room before passing her an arched eyebrow. “You’re not taken care of,” I remind her. “You would be if you came back with me.”

An angry growl erupts from her throat and Juliet bursts out of my arms, standing and whirling to face me in the next instant. I sit there, rather stunned and frowning at my now cold lap. “I fucking knew it!” She snarls at me, baring her teeth. “You’re here to try and convince me to move back in with Nolan!”

I sigh and lean back on the mattress once more. “You have to admit it would be the smart move,” I tell her. “You can’t stay with Roquel forever, and there isn’t a place in Silverwood that will rent anything in your price range anymore.”

Shoving a hand through her hair, she turns and paces away from me. A moment later, she flips back around and glares at me. “I know what I’m doing,” she says. “You can’t manipulate me into doing whatever you want. I can take care of myself.”

Ah, but she didn’t deny my claim, and the fact that she hadn’t tells me she knows just as well as I do that she’s quickly running out of options. I sit forward, balancing my elbows on my knees as I look up at her.

“You can trust me, Prep Girl,” I say.

She snorts. “Sure, but what about your boys? They burned down my apartment building just to keep me from going back, G. That’s not sane. You have to know that.”

“You don’t know that they’re the ones who did it,” I tell her. “They swear they didn’t, and I believe them.”

“Of courseyoudo!”

I press my tongue to the inside of one cheek to keep from cursing and after a beat, I reply. “Those apartments were falling down anyway,” I remind her. “They were a health and fire hazard. There were five other units in that building alone—you can’t say it’s not possible that someone else might have accidentally done something to cause the fire.”

“The timing is too coincidental.”

The hard set of her jaw means it’s time to pull out the big guns. Standing from the bed, I take two steps towards her and she backs up, her spine hitting the wall. “Fine,” I snap. “You want me to give you something more substantial?”

Dark-blue eyes glare up at me. “Yes.” The word is a hiss from lips I want to slam my mouth down on. Instead of doing just that, though, I reach into my back pocket and withdraw my phone.

I swipe through the messages and find my email folder. It had taken longer for Silverwood’s fire department to upload the information on the fire than it had for Lex to hack it, but now I’m glad I asked him to do so. Once I have the document pulled up on the screen, I find her eyes with my own.

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