Max says, “To be fair, if Daddy issues were plutonium, the three of us would have enough nuclear power to run the entire galaxy.”
“True,” says Fin, nodding. “We were all emotionally abandoned as children.”
“We’re emotional driftwood.”
We sit in gloomy silence until I say, “This sure has been a great talk. Very uplifting. I feel so much better now.”
While I’m busy marinating in my discontent, Max is looking at me funny. She says, “Wait. If my math is right, we’ve pulled off four jobs in the last year.”
“Yeah? So?”
“So you said you saw Liam Black on the news one year ago.”
“And?”
She eyeballs me. “And you’ve been stewing about him ever since.”
I issue an automatic denial, to which Max says, “No? Then why wasn’t his job the first job we planned after you saw that news story?”
“I was doing research.”
“Research. Uh-huh. An entire year’s worth of research.”
Her tone makes me feel defensive. “Exactly.”
She’s not buying it. “It takes you a few months to research and plan all the rest of our jobs…why did it take a year with him?”
“Maybe I was being extra careful!”
“Or maybe you knew, deep down, that this one wouldn’t be just another job.”
I sit up, drag my hands through my hair, and huff out a weary breath. “Please don’t start with the fate stuff again.”
“Fate is a real thing, Jules.”
“Sure. So is the Tooth Fairy.”
“No, that’s a BS story parents tell their kids. Fate is as real as…well, as love. Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. All the most important things in life are invisible.”
Fin and I look at each other, then back at Max. She shrugs.
Fin says, “What other invisible stuff is important? The mental break with reality you’re having?”
Good. She doesn’t believe in fate, either. I knew Max was wrong when she claimed to be the smarter of the two.
But Max is undeterred. She lifts her nose in the air just far enough to look down it at us. “Things like loyalty. Things like faith. Things like friendship, dumbasses.”
“One could only wish friendship were invisible,” says Fin with a sweet smile.
Max scowls at her. “I’m gonna make that condescending smile invisible in a minute. When I slap it off your face.”
I stand and head into my bedroom, calling over my shoulder, “Wake me up if I need to help one of you bury the other one’s body. Otherwise, I’ll see you two nightmares in the morning.”
I head to my room and lock the door, knowing they won’t be the only faces I’ll see in the morning.
Knowing without knowing how that tomorrow, Killian Black will be right where I left him, pacing in agitation outside the window.
My dark, deadly Romeo waiting for his Juliet.
Thank god I don’t have a balcony.
14
Killian
By the time Liam answers the phone, I’m ready to smash something.
“Brother,” he says, his voice thick with sleep. “Tell me this is an emergency. Tell me you’re not calling me at three o’clock in the morning for a family chat.”
I growl, “It’s two here. And aye, it’s a fucking emergency.” I spin on my heel and turn back to pace the other direction, ignoring Declan inside the SUV. He’s watching me, shaking his head like I’m a lost cause.
Hearing my tone, Liam’s sharpens. “What is it? Are you all right?”
“No, I’m not all right. I’m the opposite of all right, whatever that is.”
“What’s going on?”
I glance up at Juliet’s apartment window. It’s dark. The whole street is dark, except for the streetlights and the nuclear glow of my agitation. I demand, “How did you make Tru fall in love with you?”
After a short silence, Liam says warily, “Come again?”
“You heard what I said. Answer the question.”
“I don’t understand.”
“There’s nothing to understand. It’s a simple question.”
“Not coming from you, it isn’t.”
I stop short, drop my head back, and stare up into the starry night sky. Closing my eyes, I exhale heavily. I encapsulate the direness of the situation into three words.
“There’s a woman.”
Silence. Then, flatly: “You’re joking.”
“No.”
More silence. Somewhere off in the distance, a dog howls at the moon. I know exactly how the poor creature feels.
Liam says, “Thank you for waiting while I picked my jaw up off the floor. How bad is it?”
My laugh is low and disbelieving. “Bad. Fucking…bad.”
After another heavy pause, Liam says, “Does she know?”
“Aye.”
“Does she feel the same way?”
I picture Juliet’s face. The way she looks at me with those big brown eyes filled with anger, disgust, curiosity, and