I grin. “You think I’m pretty?”
She groans and slumps over the railing, the hand holding her joint coming out as she presses her forehead to the wood. “Fuck off.” The insult is muffled. My smile widens.
“Come on, Princess.” I nudge her side. “Tell me what’s up, maybe talking about it will make it better.”
She lifts her head and crystal blue eyes turn my way. “It won’t.”
The corners of my mouth dip as the smile fades. “How can you be sure?”
“Just am,” she mumbles.
Juliet’s profile is smooth—petite chin, angled jaw, a straight, pert nose. I trace it in the dark, standing back so the illumination of the lights coming from inside the house hits her just right to throw the other half of her in shadow.
“I went to The Dionysus Lounge.”
It takes me a moment to realize she answered my earlier question. When I do realize it, I stiffen. “You did?”
“Uh-huh.” She drops ashes over the side of the railing. “Asked Ma-Ri why she fired me and found out the reason.”
I close my eyes.Fuck.When I reopen them, she’s looking directly at me again.
“You already knew, though.” It’s not a question. I answer it regardless.
“Yes.”
She nods. “I figured that out.” Her eyes move back to the yard and the sky. “I was hurt, but then I realized that Ma-Ri doesn’t owe me anything. She was nice. She even tried to offer me severance money even though I’d only worked there a few months.”
The cherry red end of her joint lights up as she sucks back another mouthful of smoke and then releases it into the air. This girl is an enigma and no matter that I uncover small details about her, that I’ve started learning what her moods mean, I don’t think I’ll ever know everything there is to know about her. Is that what draws me to her?
“I know you liked the job, but when we get to Eastpoint there will be more opportunities,” I assure her.
She sighs. “It wasn’t the job I liked, but the freedom it gave me,” she replies. “I don’t have that anymore, and I don’t like relying on you.”
“You—”
Juliet doesn’t let me finish. “Don’t try to say that I’m not.” Her lips twist and though the corners tip upward, it’s more grimace than smile. “You have me right where you want me, but there’s nothing holding us together. Nothing that will keep any of you from waking up in the morning and realizing that I’m too much trouble to keep around.”
“You’re one of us now.” The words burst out of me, low and growly. Anger burns in my arteries. How can she fucking question us now? We’ve killed for her.
“Yeah?” She rolls her head back on her shoulders. “What does that mean? There’s no blood between us.”
“You think blood means anything?” I ask. “I would kill for Lex and Gio, they would kill for me, and there isn’t a drop of fucking blood between the three of us. Why would that change with you in the mix?”
“Why wouldn’t it?” she asks. “I’m just pussy to you. That’s all anyone says I am anyway.”
“They’re fucking wrong.” Whoever has been spreading that shit will find themselves sans fucking tongue if they say as much in front of any of us.
“It wouldn’t matter even if we had blood between us. Blood doesn’t keep people from leaving,” she says, sounding far too old to be an eighteen-year-old girl.
I stare at her, seeing past the smooth ivory skin and the dark lashes and further into who the hell this girl is. Why has Lex always been obsessed with her? What is it about her?
Reaching out, I carefully take the joint from her fingers and bring it to my lips. I suck back the smoke and let the weed calm my internal rage before I hand it back. “You’re wrong about that,” I tell her as she takes the joint.
“What?” Her face is illuminated by both the moon and the light of the windows as she tips her face up to meet my gaze.
Settling one hand on the railing, I shift in front of her, blocking her body against the fragile wood. “Thereisblood between us.”
Her eyes settle on mine and never waver as she puts the joint between those pouty lips of hers. My hand moves up, grazing the underside of her jaw and down the long column of her throat.
