Page 134 of The Secrets We Bury

I hold it up. “My life is yours,” I whisper. “As is my death. Take what you see fit.”

Neither Gio nor Nolan move. They don’t speak. For several long seconds, nothing happens. Then, soft, slender fingers pluck the knife from my shaking hands. Fire cuts into my eye sockets as I blink away the new tears that form.

Shallow breaths. In and out. The quiet snick of the knife opening reaches my ears a moment before the sharp edge of the blade tucks under my chin. I close my eyes as she forces my head upward.

“Open your eyes, Lex.” A demand I cannot refuse, no matter how much it will flay me to see condemnation in her eyes. I open them.

Juliet’s face is a mask of cold neutrality. She doesn’t smile, but neither is she glaring and snarling. Those ocean midnight eyes of hers stare down at me, examining, analyzing, contemplating. I wait for her verdict, praying to a god I have long since stopped believing in that she still finds something in me worthy of her.

“I should slit your throat,” she murmurs.

“I will accept that,” I tell her.

She doesn’t seem surprised by my reply, but both Gio and Nolan exchange looks at her back.

“Why?”

I blink. “What?”

“Why are you offering me this?” she asks. “I could kill you and you say you’ll accept it. Tell me what you did that deserves death.”

“I…” Hurt you. Tried to kill you. Wanted to kill the one thing in this world that means more than the rest. The last piece of good in me is her, and I almost stamped it out.

When no words make it out, she twists the knife in her hand, scratching the side of my jaw with it. I don’t flinch away from the blade, not even when it nicks me and warm liquid bubbles up and slides down my throat.

“I didn’t scream.” Her words are a whisper, but they whip into me as loud as a lash. “You told me if I didn’t want what you gave, that I could scream for someone to come save me. Did you want me to be saved by you?”

Shame swallows the last of my pride. “Someone should have saved you from me.”

“I don’t want to be saved, Lex.” No words leave my lips, but they don’t need to because she’s not done. “I didn’t scream,” shereminds me. “You gave me that out. I didn’t take it. That wasn’t your choice, but mine.”

“I hurt you,” I remind her.

She shrugs. “Everyone I’ve ever loved has hurt me.”

The air leaves my lungs. Those words… it might have felt less painful if she’d actually taken that knife and stabbed it into my chest. “I don’t want to be another person that hurts you,” I whisper. “If my blood is the price I pay for loving you, then it’s yours to shed.”

Juliet’s hand sinks into my hair when my head dips again and she yanks, forcing me to look back up at her. Weakness is in the eye of the beholder and some might say that this woman—smaller and of average height—is the weaker of the two of us. When I look up at her, though, I know she could command me to become a rabid dog and I would. Her power is a quiet, lethal thing, and it controls me.

Shecontrols me.

“Sometimes dogs bite their owners,” she tells me, her hand still moving the knife, up and down my jaw as if she’s still debating whether or not she wants to slit my throat. I arch a bit to give her more access. “But the act of a good owner is to find the reason why and correct it. You are mine, Lex. Mine to love or to kill. Never forget that.”

“Does that mean you forgive me?” Hope claws its way up my throat. It’s impossible, and yet…

The knife leaves my flesh and flicks closed. She tosses it to the floor between my spread knees. Her hand is still in my hair, turning softer, stroking. Juliet bends until her face is right against mine. I stop breathing altogether.

“There’s nothing more to forgive, Lex,” she whispers just before her lips touch my own. “You have been and always will be…mine.”

Her kiss tastes of ruination and salvation. She dominates me in one second and then opens her own mouth to allow me to take over. Our tongues entwine and I reach up, cupping her face and kissing her until the last drop of my sanity is gone.

JULIET

In the aftermath of Lex’s groveling, he clings to me. At least, he tries to until I excuse myself to clean up in the hotel room’s bathroom. Gio’s jacket had been used to clean me off before we’d gotten here, but the sticky feel of his cum drying on my skin beneath the dress I’d readjusted into place isn’t comfortable. A quick rinse in the bathroom and wipe-down is enough to make me feel somewhat human again.

Once I’m back in the room and seated on the soft couch that takes up a large portion of the space, Lex practically wraps himself around me, arms holding my waist as he lifts me into his lap. His chest is pressed to my back and his head nuzzles against my throat. He really is like a big puppy. I pet his head, stroking through the strands of his hair.

On the coffee table between us, our masks sit like a quartet of creepy faces. I touch a finger to the scorpion mask in amusement. It’s good to be with them again.