Page 56 of The Hate We Breathe
“Do you want us to walk you over?” Nolan asks, even as he comes up next to me and throws an arm around my shoulders.
“No, that’s all right.” Mads practically beams at him. “Thank you, though.” She waves to me. “See you at school!”
“See ya…” I watch her walk away, her steps fast and sure and her ponytail swishing against her back.
“Come on, Princess.” Nolan nudges me around to where the SUV and Gio’s Firebird are parked. “Let’s get back.”
“I need to call Abel,” I confess.
“Already taken care of,” Gio says, stepping up to my other side. I glance over my shoulder to find Lex behind the three of us, his gaze scanning the otherwise deserted lot.
Mads’ ride is already pulling out by the time we reach our vehicles. I’m already shivering from the temperature drop, puffing out breaths that fog in front of my face. I stop when I get to the passenger side of the SUV. Nolan reaches past and opens the door for me and I turn, facing him.
“Why the hell does it feel like no matter how much I try to move forward the past just won’t let go?”
He’s quiet for a long moment, Gio and Lex shadows at his back. There are no answers in the dark of the night. Only questions.
Why did all of this shit have to happen tome? Why not someone else? When will it be over?
Rough hands cup my cheeks and Nolan’s brown eyes, ringed in a fiery tinge of cinnamon red, bore into mine. “People fear what they don’t understand, Jules. None of them can understand you. You’re too strong. Too vibrant. Too much. They wouldn’t be able to handle what you’ve been through. They can’t understand how you can.”
His breath is warm against my cheeks, smelling of spearmint gum and the citrus of his orange soda from earlier. I bite down on my lower lip to stop it from trembling. My eyes burn with the need to cry, but I won’t. I won’t let them have more tears from me. I’m tired of crying.
“I want this to be over,” I say, my words a whisper between us, but I know he’s not the only one who hears me. The others, Gio and Lex, hear me as well. They step up closer, boxing me in—three bodies surrounding me. Not a threat, but a promise of protection. Nolan stays close but lets his hands and arms drop from my face.
“It will be, baby,” Lex swears as he, too, reaches out and brushes his thumb over my lower lip, forcing me to release it from my teeth. The pad of his digit runs over the indentions I’ve made as if he’s not happy with the marring. “We’ll make sure of it.”
Last, but never fucking least, Gio reaches for me. His hand slips into one of mine—wide, big, calloused. It makes me shiver as I remember what those hands felt like roving over my naked skin.
“We just need to make it through this year,” Gio reminds me. “Then we’re gone. We’ll be out of Silverwood for good.”
Locking eyes with him in the shadowy darkness of the parking lot, I nod and repeat his words back to him, letting him see that I’m just as ready for that truth as they are. “For good.”
22
JULIET
The next few weeks go by in a blur. Football season comes to an end and there’s no more practices before or after school for the guys. College applications go out, tests are taken, and we fall into a waiting period to find out if any of the scouts are interested in offering the guys scholarships.
We meet up with Abel and Viks to discuss Detective Lann suddenly showing up at my job. Abel is pissed and launches a campaign against the man by calling him and every single person he can get hold of in the Silverwood justice system to get the man suspended. All the while, Viks reminds us that there’s nothing to worry about gaining acceptance to Eastpoint. According to him, we’re already accepted.
While we trust him, without a physical acceptance letter in my hand I can’t help but stress about all of the what-ifs.
Nolan picks up more shifts at the garage and Gio ends up following along to help them now that they’re not running errands for Darrio Vargas anymore. Lex, however, joins me at The Dionysus Lounge every time I’ve got a shift, and no amount of trying to convince him that I don’t need a bodyguard will change his mind.
It’s on one of my less busy shifts that Mads and I get a moment alone to just talk and breathe.
“Have you seen Roquel lately?” she asks, rubbing her fingers over a spot on the bar’s counter as the bartender, Tracy, heads off for her smoke break.
“A few times,” I admit, “but not for any considerable length of time. Just here and there in the school hallways. I think she had a pretty rough breakup with that Hudson guy.”
Mads’ big blue eyes widen. “Isthatwhat happened?” She frowns. “I didn’t think they were serious.”
I shrug. “She was pretty heartbroken, so it must’ve been more serious than either of us thought.”
“What an asshole,” Mads mutters as she turns away and reaches for one of the wet rags under the counter.
Hearing Mads curse is like seeing a kitten roar. I’m sure she means to sound tough, but really it’s just cute. She starts scrubbing a rough spot on the counter as if needing something to convert her energy into.
