Page 17

Chapter 16

Trey

I yank the shower curtain open. “Fuck off!”

Luckily, the door is locked, so whatever Devil is fucking with us can’t get in. These drunk motherfuckers need to get better hobbies.

I jump out of the shower into the humid air, the mirror over the sink covered in a thick layer of condensation, and wrap a towel around my waist. Water tracks behind me as it streams down in tiny rivers, wet hair dripping onto my shoulders.

Behind me, Juliet clutches the curtain to her, lips pursed at the disturbance. At least they had the decency to wait until we both came.

When I open the door, no one is hovering on the other side. They left my bedroom door inched open. A quick glance tells me they left the rest of the room undisturbed. Fluffy is usually a good deterrent, even in a tank.

Apparently, in my hurry to get my cock in Juliet’s mouth, I forgot to lock the bedroom door behind us.

While Juliet scrambles to redress, I stomp out of the room. “Which one of you bastards is fucking with us?”

On the couch, Valentine and his girl don’t even stir, fully passed out. Rockefeller shovels cereal in his mouth from his perch on the counter while Vanderbilt stuffs his face with eggs like he hasn’t eaten for a week.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” Rockefeller mumbles around a full mouth.

“Someone was just in my room.” I’m done with this shit now. “Who was it?”

A door squeaks and Ashby slinks out, a phone in his hand. He scans the room before slipping the phone into his pocket.

“Were you the one who was trying to get into my bathroom?”

His eyes are flat, like I’m an idiot for even suggesting it.

“None of us want to see your cock.” Vanderbilt nods at Juliet who emerges from my bedroom, wet hair sticking to her dress. “No matter how badly we might want to see those tits.”

Juliet flips him off. “You’re all perverts.”

I take a dangerous step toward him. “Talk about her again.”

He smirks but keeps his fucking mouth shut. Wise.

Ashby closes the distance between him and Juliet, handing her the phone. She frowns down at it until her eyes light up. “Oh my god, you got into it!”

He only nods and stuffs his hands into his pockets. I wish they all kept their mouths shut as much as he does.

“What are you looking for?” Knox calls. “His dick pics or something?”

What the fuck?

A smirk spreads across Juliet’s face as she pins me with mischievous eyes. “Finn got me into your phone. One point for me.”

Right. Playing this off as another part of our game. Smart. “Good one. Let me help you find the dick pics.”

My heart thumps as we both try to play it cool, swiping through Ned’s phone to his texts. A few phone numbers without names attached. Juliet clicks through each of them before finally finding texts with a message from Ned that says, Hey Bran?

Juliet’s breath catches. Bran must be Brandon.

The Devils have long since lost interest in our little game, raiding the fridge and stuffing their faces.

Brandon and Ned have developed their own language that takes some decoding. Careful word choices for plausible deniability. But finally, we find a clue.

Whispering Pines Campground.

Brandon

Cabin’s not bad.

He sent the text the day before we showed up at Ned’s place.

“We’ve got him,” I murmur.

Juliet’s already searching for the location. She won’t let him slip out of her grasp again.

“Let’s go to bed,” she purrs, taking my hand.

I glare at the Devils. “Stay the hell out of my room.”

“Tell your sister that.” Rockefeller shovels another spoonful of cereal in. “She said she was going to knock. I didn’t think she’d be barging in.”

My blood goes cold, and in my hand, Juliet’s palm stiffens. “What are you talking about?”

He lifts a brow. “She came knocking and asked for you.”

“I don’t have a sister.”

Rockefeller stops mid-chew, and the other two Devils finally turn to face us. “Well. That’s what she said.”

“What did she look like?”

“Was she wearing a trench coat?” Juliet asks.

Rockefeller’s brows furrow as he tries to remember. The dude is useless. “Maybe? Definitely a long coat. Looked like an older sister. I guess she didn’t really look much like you, though. Just assumed it was a half-sibling or step-sibling situation.”

“It’s not.” I grit my teeth, the hand not holding Juliet squeezing into a fist. “What was her name?”

He shrugs. “Didn’t say.”

“Give us something, Knox,” Juliet snaps. “What did she look like?”

Rockefeller glances at the other Devils for help. “Uh . . . brown hair.”

“Shoulder-length?” she asks.

All three Devils nod.

“Did she look like she had Botox? Forties? Brown eyes?”

Who the hell is she thinking of? For once, I can’t read her mind. I’m in the dark. My chest tightens. Now that I’ve gotten used to her in the dark with me, I don’t like being here without her.

Rockefeller rubs the back of his neck. “Uh...”

“Yes.” The first word I’ve heard Ashby utter all night, resolute.

“Pale skin? Freckles across her cheeks?”

“What’s going on, Juliet?” I shake her hand, still clasped in mine.

She chews her lip, lowering her voice. “I saw a woman watching you at the game. Something just seemed...off about her.”

The eyes I’ve felt on me around campus. The sedan that followed me.

“Oh shit!” Rockefeller half-shouts. “Do you think it’s that girl you warned us about in the locker room?”

“He’s full of shit,” Vanderbilt grits out. “Nobody’s following him around except that psycho.” He nods to Juliet. “He’s paranoid.”

My heartbeat echoes so loud in my ears, I almost don’t hear myself ask, “What color lipstick was she wearing?”

She blanches. “How do you know she was wearing lipstick?”

“Juliet.”

“Pink.”

“Did she have a mole? Right here?” I point to the corner of my eye, hoping with every pulse of blood through my veins that Juliet will deny it.

Because it can’t be her. It can’t be. She’s dead.

My little demon’s blue eyes widen. “Yeah, she did.”

Fuck . I can’t swallow around the lump in my throat. “So it is her.”

“Who?”

“She’s alive.” She’s alive, she’s alive, she’s alive. Fuck . “Rachel.”

Rachel is still fucking out there. I assumed my father took care of her years ago. Made our problem go away forever.

But he let her live. Let her live long enough to come back to haunt me.

Now she’s somehow found me again. She’s been following me for god knows how long. She dyed her hair from its signature strawberry blonde to brown so I wouldn’t recognize her from a distance.

Why is she showing her face again? And what the fuck does she want from me?

In the passenger seat, Juliet shivers despite the heat blasting from the vents. As soon as I whispered Rachel’s name, Juliet flew out the door and shouted for the bitch to show herself. But by then, she was long gone.

I made a reservation at the campground as soon as it opened this morning—we couldn’t risk Brandon taking off again, especially without any clue about where he might head next. According to the owner, the water is shut off for the winter, but we’re welcome to stay in a cabin.

An unusual silence has settled over me and my little demon since we left campus. She can’t stop thinking about everything she’s going to do to Rachel, and I can’t stop thinking about everything I’m going to do to Brandon.

The pieces of shit who hurt the one we love. We’ll make them suffer exactly the way they deserve.

Despite her trembling thighs and chattering teeth, Juliet’s eyes blaze like blue fire. “We’ll find her next. We’ll make her pay too. She won’t get away with what she did to you, Trey. I promise.”

“I know.” I grab her hand and kiss her fingers, her delicious amber scent coiling up my nostrils. I’d inhale every inch of her if we had the time. When this is finished—all of it, every one of them wiped off this earth—that’s all I’ll do. Spend every second of my life wrapping myself up in her, breathing her in, counting my blessings for finally finding my perfect little demon.

When we finally reach the campground and park beside the cabin reserved under my father’s name, I nod to Juliet’s outfit. “Why is it always a white dress?”

Before we left campus, she ditched her usual jewelry. Weird seeing her without the white gold studs and hoops. The tattoo I inked on her arm is obscured by the lace sleeve of her dress, soft and innocent for a girl so hard and vicious. I’d love her in any color, but I miss her in black. This is her costume—not her.

“That was his favorite color on me.” She keeps her chin high, shoulders back. But she’s still shivering. “When I kill him, I want him to see the girl he hurt. And I want him to know that he didn’t bury that girl—she’s a fighter, and she’s the one who will bury him.”

Despite the surety in her tone, Juliet is still shivering, her normally fiery blue eyes round and soft, glued to the single light shining from the lone occupied cabin.

For the first time, I can see her the way he must have—a frightened, vulnerable girl with no one to protect her.

Hot tears sting my eyes as my hands tighten around the steering wheel hard enough to rip it from the dashboard. He put her through hell, and she shouldn’t have to face him all over again. She deserves so much fucking better than the shit hand she’s been dealt.

“You don’t have to go through with it.” In the darkness, she doesn’t speak. Not sure she even hears me or if her mind is somewhere else entirely. The same place she used to go when he was hurting her. When they each took their turns. “You can stay in the car, and I’ll handle it. Autumn would be proud of you for coming this far. She’d understand.”

Juliet isn’t just doing this for herself—she’s avenging a girl whose life was stolen. Stopping the monsters from sinking their claws into more victims.

Slowly, Juliet turns to face me, the same bright tears glistening. The rage returned. There’s my girl. My little demon. “No. I need to face him. For Autumn, and for me.” Her hands clench into fists on her lap as she returns her attention to the cabin. “He made me so afraid. In his final moments, he’ll be afraid of me.”