Page 49 of Quake

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“Perhaps.”

We lay in silence for a moment, and just when I thought Juliette might’ve fallen asleep, she spoke.

“Do you want to talk a little?” she asked, much to my surprise.

“If you like. What about?”

“What’s your family like?” she came out with, causing me to close my eyes.

Right, if I wanted her to open up and trust me, I had to be willing to tell her everything. Even if it meant divulging the chaos that was the Carmichael legacy.

“Intense,” I replied. “I’m an only child. My dad is a world champion boxer. Won belts all over the world, but mainly made his career in Las Vegas. He made a fortune fighting in the casinos there.”

“Is that why you became a boxer?”

“Yes and no. It was always ingrained in me from a young age, so it was all I knew and wanted. My father’s a hard man, and he trained me with an iron fist. Failure was not an option so you can understand why we’re on the outs these days.” I snorted. “He wants me to go back. My mother wants whatever he wants, and it’s one great conspiracy devised to shit me to tears. I’m sure they think if they harass me enough, I’ll quit my job at Beat and go back into training just to get a bit of peace.”

“But…” Juliette began, raising her head. “They understand about your back, right?”

“Yep.”

She frowned, her forehead creasing and making her look really fucking cute.

“They weren’t exactly supportive when I was in the hospital,” I went on. “And I’m not surprised in the least Dad would risk his son not walking again over him working in a little shithole like Beat.”

“I don’t think it’s shit,” she declared.

“Neither do I.”

Her fingers traced over my lips. “I’m sorry.”

“It is what it is. I’ll stand my ground,” I murmured. “I like my legs. I’d like to fight again, but sometimes, the cookie crumbles, and there’s not a thing you can do about it. I’m doing okay at Beat. Sometimes, I struggle, but I have to remind myself it’s only been a year since I got out of rehab.”

“How long were you there for?”

“A year all told. I was flat on my back for months after the fight. Then I had to learn how to manage the pain.”

“You—”

I placed my finger over her lips. “I’m doing okay, Jules. Great, actually. You know, I can finally see tomorrow? For so long, I was just floating… Then you came along.”

She smiled, kissing my fingertip. “Really? Me?”

“We met at exactly the right time.”

Her expression changed, morphing from one thing to another, and I knew her mind was ticking over, attempting to figure out what she wanted to tell me.

“My parents,” she began, hesitantly. “They live on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland… They didn’t want me to move here. Said I was running away.”

“Are they good people?” I asked, wanting to absorb every little thing she told me.

“They are…it’s just… They changed after…” She sighed deeply, breaking eye contact and resting her cheek against my chest. “I needed to get away from everything and start again. Everywhere I turned… I needed to find a way out of the bullshit.”

“And you are,” I whispered. “I don’t think you realize how much you’ve changed in the short time I’ve known you. For the good.”

“Do you really think so?”

“Yeah,” I murmured, knowing it was hurting her to talk about her family. “I do.”