Page 34 of Juliet & Her Romeos

It meant cradling my arms around Silvanus, while he pretended that he wasn’t crying.

Yet that doesn’t change the fact that Silvanus bullied Ambrose.

Once, I was meant to meet Silvanus on the field after football practice. In horror, I saw Silvanus and three hulking Alpha players pinning Ambrose to the ground.

Silvanus’ lavender eyes gleamed, as he held Ambrose down by the shoulders.

My nose wrinkled at the scent of Silvanus’ curdled scent.

My cousin had the same blond curls as me. He looked like an angel, meaning that his rivalry ran to his popularity with the both male and female Omegas in school as well, but his thrill seeking, self-destructive personality didn’t match his looks.

In fact, it matched Ambrose’s.

If they would only accept how similar they were, then they could have become best friends.

If one wasn’t a Cinders, and the other a Romeo.

“Silas,” I gasped, “what are you doing?”

The rest of the team were simply standing around and casually chatting and laughing.

What the fuck?

Ambrose’s expression was shuttered.

His beautiful golden hair was smeared with toothpaste. His jersey was stained and ripped.

A pile of empty Gatorades littered the ground next to his head.

“He made mistakes on the field.” Silvanus darted me a quick glance. “It’s only a bit of hazing. The bitch needs to know his place on the team. Wait for me inside, Juliet.”

Except, I was certain that my cousin wanted me to see this.

He was humiliating Ambrose in front of me on purpose.

My cheeks flamed. I hugged my arms around myself.

Had Silvanus guessed how much I was crushing on our enemy? Was this happening because of me?

I couldn’t help how obsessed I’d become over the last few months.

I couldn’t stop myself constantly checking for Ambrose’s updates on social media, watching him as he leaned against his locker, constantly thinking about him when I should have been concentrating in science, doodling his name in the back of my exercise books.

I’d been listening to the gossip, desperate to find out whether he’d made a Promise Bond to another Omega…or kissed anyone.

He hadn’t.

In that way at least, Ambrose was different to my playboy cousin, who’d dated half the Beta cheerleading team.

Yet the constant ache inside me had been killing me.

Every moment that I wasn’t able to look at or think about Ambrose, I felt like I was dying.

Silvanus held up a new Gatorade, before tipping it to Ambrose lips. “Lucky number five. Drink up. I want to see whether you can vomit further than you can throw.”

The other Alphas laughed.

Ambrose narrowed his eyes, attempting to turn away his head. But Silvanus gripped him hard by the chin to hold him in place.

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