Page 27

Chapter 26

Juliet

On campus, the student body buzzes with gossip and whispers, everyone outside enjoying the sun during the unseasonably warm, late-autumn afternoon.

My phone buzzes with a text from my mother.

Mom

Our flight just landed. See you soon!!!

Even though I got out of the hospital yesterday, they ended their business trip to London early to be with me. I’m not exactly eager to share all the details of the past few months with them—at least, the details that don’t incriminate me or Trey—but with my devil by my side, I know I’ll be brave enough to get through it.

With all the wounds we sustained, the lack of defensive wounds on Trey’s father, the shots fired from his gun, and the only fingerprints on the trigger belonging to him, the police believed our story of self-defense. They took the severed thumbs in for DNA testing and discovered thousands of images of sexual abuse across Charles Lamont’s various devices. Now, they’re looking for the bodies of missing people linked to Charles Lamont, but they haven’t uncovered any yet. The entire university is shaken that the Head of Athletics could have done something so heinous.

“Is that your parents texting you?” Sienna nods down to my phone. She’s sunbathing in the grass beside me, the straps of our tank tops pulled down, the hems of our shorts barely longer than our underwear as we soak in as much vitamin D as we can before winter settles in.

Next to her, Luke is flat on his back, shirtless with his arm shielding his eyes. He’s already enviably tan, and his nudity only rubs it in. But neither of them left my side in the hospital, and Luke helped the nurses keep Trey in his bed every time he insisted on seeing me, despite the bullet wound on his arm.

“Yep. They’re on their way.”

“Can’t wait to meet the parents,” Trey drawls from his perch against the oak tree.

He’s in jeans and his leather jacket, bike helmet by his side. He’s not ready for the world to see the rest of his bruises, but he can’t hide the black eye or the bruised nose.

His hand is still bandaged, even after a nurse at the hospital stitched up his wound. We left out the details of how that particular injury happened.

On his other side, Fluffy basks on a rock in the transportable container Trey moved him to. Finn was the only one brave enough to take care of him while we were gone.

“I can’t wait for Juliet’s parents to meet that creepy fucking thing,” Luke calls. “And the spider too.”

Sienna half-heartedly kicks him with the heel of her bare foot. “Thank you for protecting my best friend,” she tells Trey.

“She saved my ass,” he corrects with a smile in my direction.

We saved each other. I wouldn’t be here without him, and he wouldn’t be here without me. I don’t want to live another day of my life without him by my side.

“Sorry for doubting you,” Sienna says. “And for interrogating you while I was drunk.”

“No problem.”

“I still don’t like him,” Luke grumbles.

Trey nods and doesn’t bother defending himself. He knows his father briefly succeeded in making him his clone, and he hates that version of himself just as much as Luke does.

Sienna squeezes my hand and lowers her voice so only I can hear. “I just want my best friend to be happy and with a man who deserves her.”

I smile at her. “I am, and he does.”

“Do you think she really killed him with a piece of glass?” A deep, familiar voice makes all of us turn.

Three of the Devils approach, all wearing t-shirts with their team logo. None of them has spotted us lying out in the sun yet.

“Nah, I heard it was a gun. She shot him, like, five times.”

“Peanuts.” Finn’s ocean-deep voice still surprises me whenever I actually hear it.

“What do you mean peanuts?” Knox asks. “Like she killed him with peanuts?”

“Peanut allergy.”

“Has anyone told you that you three are a bunch of gossips?” I call. “And yes, it was the piece of glass.”

The Devils finally spot us, a huge smile breaking across Knox’s face as he strips off his shirt and tosses it directly at Luke’s head.

Luke shouts in protest, throwing it back. “Your sweat and BO are all over it.”

Damien strips off his shirt and does the same. He claims the empty spot beside me, and Trey stands, ready to rip him in half. “Glad you’re still with us, psycho.”

“Thanks.”

Trey picks up Fluffy’s container and saunters across the grass, planting himself in the few inches of space between me and Damien, forcing his teammate to move over. Damien grumbles and scrambles away when Trey plants Fluffy beside him, but Trey doesn’t give a shit as he wraps a hand around my waist and tugs me closer.

He lowers his head to my ear and strokes a finger down the ink he tattooed on my arm. “ My little demon.”

“Yours,” I whisper.

“So what happens now?” Sienna asks.

“I’m selling the place,” Trey tells her. I suppress the shiver that races down my spine. I hope I never have to go back to that island. Even if all the monsters that roamed it are gone, the ghosts remain. “And it looks like Coach is in line for Head of Athletics.”

“Where are you going to live?”

He smiles down at me. “Whatever apartment Juliet wants.”

My chest inflates with anticipation of a future in which Trey and I are living together after graduation. Countless nights of wild sex and debauchery lie ahead of us. “Penthouse suite,” I correct. “Only the best for your delicate, little princess.”

His grin stretches from ear to ear. “Only the best.”

Damien groans. “ Jesus . You two are almost as gross as the step-siblings now.”

Luke flips him off and Sienna narrows her eyes. “We’re not step-siblings.”

“Anymore,” Damien mumbles.

“Shut the fuck up, Vanderbilt.” Luke’s voice devoid of emotion makes me laugh.

Beside Luke, Knox hisses through his teeth. “Who the hell is that ?”

A girl hurries past us down the sidewalk. She’s already captured Finn’s attention, and Damien perks up, freezing when he spots her too.

A curtain of platinum blonde hair that’s almost white floats behind her. Flawless alabaster skin, hunched shoulders, and sleeves pulled to her wrists and leggings reaching her shoes, completely covering her. The opposite of me.

“She looks familiar.” Damien’s practically salivating next to me.

“You saw her last semester, idiots.” I roll my eyes. “In the dining hall.”

After they’d finished drooling over me and Sienna, they set their sights on the angelic beauty who seems entirely too pure and delicate for them.

“I want to see her again,” Damien murmurs, enchanted. “Without clothes.”

Finn hums his agreement while Knox groans, “ Fuck yeah.”

“You’re all so gross.” Sienna’s nose scrunches up. “You need to get laid.”

“And we know just the girl to do it,” Damien agrees.

God bless her if the Devils get their hands on her.

Trey isn’t paying attention to the conversation. His focus is entirely fixed on me, finger grazing idly over the tattoo inked on my arm, gaze tracing the features of my face like he’s memorizing every inch.

Grateful that I’m still alive for him to touch, to see, to breathe in. Grateful that he’s still alive next to me.

So am I.