Page 101 of The Venom We Bleed

“Come on.” She tugs on my arm. “I have to get some pics of them celebrating for the paper.”

I follow her a little numbly, my skin having long since chilled in the night air. My head feels full of cotton as we pass through the gate and she heads off to snap a few photos of the team jumping on top of one another. My chest echoes with a hollowness as I wrap my arms around myself and stand back on the sidelines—always on the outside.

My gaze lifts and moves over to the Silverwood Prep team as they trudge back to their coach. I used to belong there, I thinkto myself. Win or lose, I was one of them. Now, I don’t belong anywhere.

I really shouldn’t be here.

Without thinking about it, I turn to go and halt when a familiar voice calls out. “Juliet!”

My heart picks up speed as I slowly turn to face the man who hustles across the field in a crisp black and white suit that doesn’t really match our surroundings. Morpheus Calloway hasn’t changed much in the months since I've seen him. His hair is pushed back, slicked along the sides out of his face, but there’s a shadow of beard growth that he normally shaves dusting his jaw. There are hollows beneath his eyes, and the suit—an expensive Armani—appears slightly looser than it should considering I know for a fact that he has all of his suits tailored.

“Mr. Calloway,” I hear my voice even though I don’t recognize the decision to speak.

Morpheus slows to a stop in front of me, his face slightly flushed—likely due to the cold. He frowns at my clothes. “Where’s your jacket, Juliet?” he asks, his voice full of disapproval.

My shoulders come up in a shrug. “Don’t have one with me,” I state.

With a curse, he starts to shrug out of his suit coat. “Here, take?—”

I hold up a hand. “No, I don’t want your jacket,” I tell him with a shake of my head. “Thank you, but I’m fine.”

Of all the people from my old life I hadn’t expected to run into here, he’s at the top of the list. “What are you doing here?” I ask.

“I’m one of Silverwood Prep’s premiere sponsors,” Morpheus says, sounding gruff as he holds his suit coat in his hand. It’s clear he still wants to give it to me, and I take a step back to ward him off.

“Oh, right…” Guilt has me looking around for an escape. Where is Mads? Where are the guys? My heartbeat threads an uneven pulse in my chest. I swallow reflexively. “Um, well, it was nice seeing you.” I back away.

“No, wait!” Morpheus jerks forward and I go still as his free hand closes around my arm. “Don’t go yet.”

My hands clench and unclench as I resist the urge to yank myself from his grip. Why would he want to talk to me? What could he need? Is it about the business? Has my dad done something else?

I close my eyes and force myself to suck in a calming breath. I count to five before reopening them and focusing on the man in front of me. Morpheus Calloway is a good man. He’d been my dad’s best friend and the one who had saved everyone’s jobs when the embezzlement case had first come out. To Silverwood, he’s a hero. To me, he’s yet another reminder of how much I don’t fucking belong.

“Your phone’s been shut off,” Morpheus says. “I’ve been trying to reach you. I emailed. Do you need money? Please, Juliet, I’ve been so worried about you. You know you don’t need to do this. You can move back to your school. I’m happy to pay for your tuition. You can live with me. I hate that you’re here.”

I want Morpheus Calloway’s money as much as I want his charity—which is to say not at all. “That’s really nice of you,” I tell him, carefully extracting my arm from his hand, twisting towards his thumb to break the hold. “But I don’t want to take any more from you than what my family’s already taken.” I rub the back of my wrist where he’d touched and glance over to the Scorpion team. When will the guys be done? How much longer am I going to have to be here?

“You didn’t take anything from me, Juliet,” Morpheus insists. “Please, I consider you part of my family. I’ve watched you grow up.”

“You’re not my real uncle,” I remind him quietly. God, I don’t want to hurt this man, but how terrible of a person would it make me if I relied on him after everything that’s happened? He’s lost so much because of my dad, and I just … I can’t do the same thing. I can’t take from him because he’s a good person. I can’t be like my parents.

Morpheus sighs, his shoulders slumping in defeat. “I know,” he says, “but that doesn’t mean I don’t care about you.”

“I appreciate it.” I feel numb and unable to move, like my legs are full of lead.

“Have you heard from your mother?” he asks.

I shake my head. “Not since she left me the note.”

The note he’d given me. The note that had explained that she was sorry, but that she needed to be away and that Morpheus Calloway would take care of me, that he would take care of everything. As if I would allow that. As if I would be just as selfish as her.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Morpheus says. “I’ve talked to your father a bit. He misses you.”

That has me lifting my head and meeting his eyes. “You’ve talked to him?”

Morpheus nods. “Yes, he’d really like to see you.” He shifts closer and I still can’t seem to move. My legs remain firmly planted on the ground. “I know you sold the BMW, Juliet. I wish you would’ve let me help you. I know you can’t drive yourself, but if you need a ride—I’d be happy to take you to visit your dad.”

In prison. Because he’s a criminal. I bite down on my lower lip hard enough to taste blood. I can never get away from this. From the emails from my dad’s lawyers to Morpheus, the one man who should be the angriest at my father, everyone seems to think that giving my dad another shot is important. Why though? Why should I? He didn’t just betray the town. He didn’tjust steal from starving, struggling families. He fucking ruined his own.

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