Page 75 of The Hate We Breathe
Despite the dropping temperature outside, the air inside the house feels colder and stale. It’s more like a museum than a home. I find Juliet standing at the open doorway of a bedroom, hesitating at the threshold. Even when I step up behind her and cup her shoulders, her tension doesn’t ease.
“Fuck him,” I murmur, lowering my head until my mouth is right next to her ear. “He doesn’t know dick and he’s a piece of shit.”
“I know.” Her voice is quiet, too much so.
“Hey.” I turn her to face me. “You’re okay, Jules.” I catch her face in my hands and stroke back the faded blue strands until her expression is uninterrupted. “You don’t have to worry about him ever again,” I remind her. “He’s not here anymore.”
“I know.” She repeats the words in the same tone and it breaks my fucking heart.
“Talk to me,” I say. I know I need her to lead me to Calloway’s home office, but nothing is more important than her right now. “Tell me what you’re feeling.”
“I don’t know what I’m feeling,” she admits, voice cracking like a volcano about to erupt. “I— This place… it reminds me of how stupid I was in the past.”
“Trying to protect those you love is not fucking stupid.”
She shakes her head. When her eyes meet mine once again, she looks shattered and furious all at once. God, she’s so fucking beautiful like this—raw, unpolished, real.
Fuck.It’s like someone just dug their fingers into my chest, broke open my rib cage, and is gripping my still beating heart.
“No, not that,” she says. “Before—the night that he…” Her throat closes around the next word, but I already know. For a second I see her through Morpheus’ eyes: a porcelain doll he once thought he owned. My chest tightens with rage. She doesn’t belong to him. She never did.
When she closes her eyes, I growl low in my throat and they reopen with shock.
“Don’t.” The word is sharp, wrathful. “Don’t youeverfucking blame yourself for whathedid. You hear me? You survived. That’s not weakness, Juliet. That’s goddamn strength.”
Her eyes glisten. “I can’t wait to leave Silverwood behind. I don’t want to be her anymore. I want to be someone else.”
My thumbs brush away a tear before it can fall. I lean in, my forehead against hers, my lips brushing her mouth until she’s trembling.
“You don’t need to be someone else. I don’t want anyone but you. Neither do Lex or Gio. We want the woman who survived a monster. Who fought back against the entire fucking town that turned you into the scapegoat for their own problems. We want you, Juliet. We always will.”
She exhales a shudder, closing the gap, kissing me like she’s drowning. I give her my lips, letting her crush herself against my chest for a brief moment.
When I pull back, my voice is low, dangerous. “Let’s hurry up and grab a few things so we can do what we came here for.”
Juliet nods, her face still close enough to mine that I can see the wet shine on her lips from my tongue. Grinding my teeth with the urge to pull her even closer, I release her to the bedroom and Juliet moves inside. I stand vigilant in the hall, half expecting that piece-of-shit secretary to come up and make sure we’re where he expects us while Juliet gathers a few things, enough to make our excuse believable.
Once she’s done, I take her hand and she leads us through the hallways of the mansion, directing me to the home office. I scan the interior of the home, taking stock in all of the random relics that cost more than my fucking house.
This world—her world—was carved out of money, secrets, and power. I’ve never been part of it. Never wanted to be. Yet, this is the same world that she’d been born in. Silk sheets, false power, and lies.
I want to give her everything, but not this. Never this. She doesn’t belong to them anymore. She belongs with me, with my boys, with the messy, dangerous life we’ve built.
Juliet moves through the halls, her eyes dead set ahead. She doesn’t glance at the vases or priceless artwork on the walls. I worry that tonight, because of this mission, she’ll have nightmares of this place.
“Here.” She slows to a stop and glances in my direction as we stop outside a set of double doors. “This was his home office.”
I nod and move forward to test the handle. To my surprise, it’s unlocked and I let us in, her scurrying in after me before I let the door swing shut with a near-silent click. Night has fully fallen over the windows on the other side of the giant desk that takes up a large portion of the room’s space. Neither of us reach for the light.
On silent footsteps, I move to the computer. The screen is on, illuminating a password request. I duck down to the tower hidden in one of the alcoves underneath the surface of the desk and plug in the flash drive before shooting off a text to Rylie and Abel.
“How long do we have to wait?” Juliet whispers as I stare at the clock in the corner of the computer screen. My phone buzzes with a message from Rylie.
RYLIE:I’m in, give me twenty to get everything then you can leave. Take the flash drive with you.
I sendher a quick thumbs-up and turn to Juliet, but I don’t answer her question. Instead, I take careful steps towards her and grab the bag hanging from her shoulder. She frowns, but lets me take it.
“I’ve killed for you before,” I say, causing her eyes to widen. My thumb presses to her lips before she can reply. “And I’d do it all over again. Twice. Three times. As many as it takes.” Wide blue eyes peer up at me, illuminated only by the dim lightcoming in from outside—the moon and the lamps that line the property. “You are everything to me, Princess, and no matter who took advantage or hurt you before, I’m going to show you why nothing else should matter.”
