Page 12 of The Secrets We Bury

Juliet sucks in a sharp breath. “Who?”

Nolan doesn’t even bother to pretend as if he doesn’t know what she’s asking. He gives her the answer without preamble. “Morpheus Calloway.”

I’ve always watched her, so I know the way her reactions usually tend to show even when she doesn’t want them to. Just the mere mention of Morpheus’ name has her shoulders stiffening and the muscles of her arms tensing as she balls herhands into fists. Her lips firm, pressing together as the edges of her eyes crinkle the smallest amount.

“Morpheus?” she repeats his name with the soft lilt of a question at the end, almost as if she’s making sure she heard it right, and Nolan nods.

“He said that was the name of the man who hired them.”

Juliet remains quiet for a moment longer before her lips turn down. She turns away from us, stalking across the room before flipping back around. There’s a nervous energy about her. Her limbs tremble the slightest bit and she crosses her arms before uncrossing them again immediately.

“Are you sure?” she presses, tone tight and body still pulled taut, as if she might snap at any second.

Nolan frowns, but Gio beats him to the answer. “I promise you, Prep Girl,” he says. “That man wouldn’t have had the guts to lie when his were spilling out in front of him.”

Juliet wrinkles her perfect little nose. “That’s disgusting,” she mutters before shaking her head. “No, I believe that’s what they told you, but…” She lifts her hand and bites down against her thumbnail as she plants her other hand on her hip, contemplation taking over her features.

“What is it?” I ask, pressing.

She huffs out a breath and drops her hand from her lips. “They got a phone call,” she says. “When I woke up in Trail’s End, one of them was around the other side of the train car I was next to and I overheard him—someone had changed the requirements of their job. It sounded like they were only meant to take me, maybe deliver me somewhere, but then their leader got that call and he said something about getting rid of me—of making me disappear.”

Kill. They had intended to kill her.

Violent desire slams into me. If Morpheus Calloway thinks he can steal her from me, I’ll skin the fucker alive. I know exactlyhow I’ll do it too—slow, starting from the top of one toe and carving a path across every inch of him, flaying back his flesh until he’s nothing but bone and muscle. Then, once that’s done, I’ll carve out his own eyeballs and stuff them into his ass so he can watch as he shits himself to death while I start on the individual tendons and muscles.

“It doesn’t make any sense.” Juliet’s words drag me back to the present and out of what I’m planning on being a very near future. When no one immediately responds, Nolan takes the first step towards her.

“Why?” he asks.

Her head lifts and Juliet looks at him. Her lips twist into something that’s halfway between a frown and a grimace. “It’s… Morpheus is…” She bites down on her lower lip and I tense at the familiar emotion that enters her eyes. It’s only there for a brief moment, a flash of something sinister in her gaze, before she looks away, hiding it. When she looks back it’s gone, but I know what I saw and I won’t let her hide from us anymore.

“What are you afraid of?” It’s my turn to make a demand.

Blue eyes snap to my face. “I’m not afraid of anything.” She says the words so quickly that I know she doesn’t mean them. Everyone has fears. Mine is losing her.

“You’re afraid of Morpheus,” I snap. “Why?”

She shakes her head. “He wouldn’t want me dead,” is all she says. “It doesn’t seem like something he would ask of them.”

Then what does he want? I narrow my gaze on her, but before I can push for more answers, Nolan speaks again. “Regardless, he does seem to be a problem. He’s also attached to a lot of the issues that have been circling you,” he says. “Lex has been looking into your father’s embezzlement.”

“I know.”

Nolan blinks and then looks at me. “She knows everything,” I tell him.

Gio gapes at her before swapping to just outright staring at me. “Everything?”

“I know he’s been stalking me for thirteen years,” Juliet answers.

From Nolan: “Shit.”

From Gio: “What the fuck did we miss?”

“It happened not long before you showed up,” I say.

Gio’s attention lands back on Juliet. “And you’re… cool with that?” He sounds surprised. If he only knew how close I think we came to me having to tie her to my bed to keep her from running.

Juliet shrugs. “I’m not cool with the porno I unintentionally starred in.”