Page 110 of The Hate We Breathe
Gio is the one to answer. “She broke her arm when she jumped into the pool,” he says. “Had a few fractured ribs too. Apparently, jumping from that height even if you hit water, is just as dangerous as concrete.”
“Pool?” The air whooshes out of my chest. She jumped… into a pool. That explains it. Why she’d been willing to go and how she’s alive now. I bend in half, one hand cupping over my chest as I clench my jaw from the pain that’s spreading over my shoulder and down my arm.
“I was never planning to let her kill me, Lex.” Juliet gets up from the cot and this time, G lets her, even helping her to walk the short distance to the bed. Though it’s clear she finds it annoying with her pinched expression, she doesn’t stop him. When she reaches the bed, she props herself on the side of the mattress. That’s not good enough for me.
Reaching for her, I curl my arm around her waist and bury my face in her hair. The scent of bleach and antiseptic ruins her otherwise natural smell, but if that’s the price of knowing she’s alive then I will gladly pay it.
“What happened?” The question croaks out of me and despite Juliet’s obvious anger and worry, she doesn’t pull away from me as she answers.
“No one showed up to the meeting place so Gio and Nolan called Viks. He had Rylie hack into the security cameras to see what was happening on the roof when we didn’t answer our phones or call. When they saw what was happening, they came up to get us.”
Air drags in and out of my lungs as I listen and Gio takes over for her.
“Roquel rushed Jules when we got there and tried to push her off the side of the roof.” Gio’s voice is cold as if the memoryis enough to piss him off. I’d probably feel the same if the woman we both love wasn’t in my arms at this very instant. “She went over and hit the pool first.”
That has me lifting my head and frown. “She went into the pool first?”
Juliet strokes her free hand up and down my forearm. “Yeah,” she says. “Apparently, if she hadn’t hit it first, I probably would’ve died. The impact shattered several of her bones and snapped her spine—that’s how she died.”
My hold on her grows tighter and I press my lips to her shoulder when she doesn’t complain. Using my chin, I nudge the collar of the oversized t-shirt she’s wearing to the side and set my teeth to her skin. The taste of her makes my insides burn in a new way—and no amount of pain can take it away.
“The doctors said she was lucky to get away with a broken arm, dislocated shoulder, and a few rib fractures,” Gio admits.
“Don’t you ever fucking do that again,” I growl against Juliet’s flesh. “You could have fucking died.”
“Youalmost did.” Her words are quiet, but no less warped with anguish.
“You have Gio and Nolan,” I remind her, never more thankful for the two of them than I am now. “You have people who need you. If you die… if you’re gone… I’m nothing, baby.”
I’m not a good man and I never had any intention of taking my obsession this far, but now that she’s in my arms, there’s no turning back the clock. She is my everything. The air in my lungs. The blood in my veins. The pulse of my heart.
“Hey, man.” G’s voice cracks as he speaks. “We need you too.”
I shake my head without looking up, dragging the edge of my teeth back and forth and barely resisting the urge to sink them deep and leave her with my mark.
“It’s not the same,” I say hoarsely, and because I can’t help it, I repeat the words. “It’s just… not the same.”
Several seconds of silence pass between us and it’s Juliet that breaks the spell. “I’ll make you a deal,” she whispers. “You don’t die for me and I won’t die for you.”
My chest deflates and I nod against her. “Yeah,” I say. “Deal.”
Regardless of whatever promises she makes, I know she’ll never go another day without my eyes on her. Always watching. Always protecting. Always hers.
41
JULIET
Months later…
Gio’s teeth scrape down the side of my throat, eliciting a gush of wetness between my legs in reaction. “Hey, I’m trying to text,” I mutter, though I’m far from annoyed.
“I’m not stopping you,” G replies even as he nuzzles against my skin. I hurriedly finish the message I’d been sending Mads, telling her to be safe on her flight, and shove the phone back into my pocket.
“Done?” Gio asks.
I hum in the back of my throat and relax against him. “For now.”
“Worried about your friend?” Gio guesses, continuing his ministrations, lips trailing a path up and down the side of my throat.
