Page 102 of The Hate We Breathe
All because I let the Scorpion Kings turn me into everything I said they wouldn't.
They made me theirs and because of that…
I have to die.
So, here it goes.
Life or death?
Me or them?
I choose them.
I said I’d never die for a man. Well, now that it’s about three of them—it’s timeto eat.
Those.
Fucking.
Words.
My feet inch back, the backs of my bare soles hanging off the edge of the barrier as I face out towards the sight of my potential end. My breath comes in rapid pants.
“Juliet!” Lex screams my name and my eyes shoot open because it’s not the kind of sound that’s trying to stop me, but to warn me.
Roquel is barreling towards me, obviously far beyond waiting for me to take the final step myself. Her hands push out, the gun dropping from one as she goes to shove me off the ledge.
“Just fucking die already!” she yells.
The hotel door flies open and Gio and Nolan shove their way onto the rooftop. Their eyes widen in horror as they take in the situation. It’s too late. Roquel’s hands slam against my calves and I teeter backwards, a shout lodged in my throat as I bite down, grinding my teeth.
Fuck this,I think.If she wants me dead, then she’s damn well coming with me.
One of my feet slips off the ledge and the wintry wind rushes up to greet me as I reach out, latching on to Roquel’s dress with one hand and her hair with the other. Fabric rips under my grasp, the neckline of her dress tearing straight down.
My momentum is slowed, but only barely as she tumbles over the half wall, and suddenly the two of us are in complete free fall. The world is going up while we’re going down.
There’s only one thought in my head as I fall. Even if I survive this—man, is it gonna hurt like a bitch.
38
NOLAN
“Juliet!” My heart is ripped right out of my fucking throat as Gio and I throw ourselves at the two women at the edge of the rooftop.
One second they’re both there, and then they’re not. “No!” At first I think it’s my denial that shreds the silence. Then, I realize, it’s Gio as he dashes to the ledge, nearly throwing himself over in his own haste, stopping only because I reach out to grab him by the back of his collar just before he, too, goes over.
There’s a splash and the two of us hover over the side of the building looking down, squinting as we try to make out if she survived. Below, the pool ripples with the impact of their bodies. The water glows under the floodlights, blue and red. I can’t tell if it’s blood or a reflection from the lights on some of the surrounding buildings. I’m not sure I want to know. My throat closes around her name as I try to shout it once more.
“Fuck—fuck!” Gio’s already moving, running for the stairwell. I turn to follow when a sound cuts through the chaos.
A strangled sob. My eyes widen and, of course, I should’ve known—there was only one way Juliet would be in that kind of danger. If Lex was incapacitated. And it looks like he is as he lies on the roof, blood pooling around him as he sobs, his bodyshaking with the force of the emotion. After all… he might have just watched our girl fucking die.
“Gio!” I call, halting the other man. “Wait!”
Lex struggles onto his knees, a hand pressed into his thigh and blood seeping through the once snow-white fabric of his button-up suit shirt over his shoulder. His face is twisted and wet. The sight guts me. My best friend—this unbreakable bastard—is shattering right in front of me and if I don’t find out if she survived, I’m going to shatter right alongside him.
“I tried—” His voice cracks, high and small. “I tried?—”
