“I’m sorry. About the…” She pressed her lips tightly together, angling her chin up. “Bathroom. That was disgusting.”
Darcy continued to look at Juliet like she was out of her mind, as she took a few steps closer, reaching out to gently rub her fingertips over Juliet’s temples. Even if it wasn’t where her pain was, her cool, soft touch felt heavenly.
“I’ve worked in bars for nearly the last decade. A little puke is nothing to me.”
It took Juliet a moment to reconcile Darcy’s words with her gentle tone.
She fluttered her eyes open, pulling a face. But she didn’t step back from the little head massage Darcy was providing.
“That’s absolutely disgusting,” she informed Darcy.
Darcy seemed to be entirely unbothered. “I’m just saying. Nothing about you is disgusting to me, and you better not apologize for being sick.”
She didn’t have it in her to argue. And… how could she, when Darcy was so straightforward and sohonest, that Juliet had no doubt she meant those words. She believed without a doubt that Darcy actually didn’t see her any differently, now.
Even so, she found the resolve to pull back from Darcy’s touch, looking her in the eye as she firmly stated, “I made a commitment to perform tonight. We hinted at it on social media. People are buzzing.”
In fact, people werescreamingabout it. Darcy and Juliet planned for her to come in on three different We, The Romantics songs, and for them to not only do “Porchlight” but, for the first time, she and Darcy were going to sing “Hate You More” together.
Darcy’s eyebrows were drawn down so low they nearly formed a single line. “I don’t care what people are expecting. I care about you.”
Juliet’s breath caught in her throat at Darcy’s bluntness, the passion fused to her words.
Darcy reached out again, landing her hands on Juliet’s shoulders. She gently walked her back, until Juliet felt the backs of her legs hit the edge of the bed.
It was very humbling – and very, irritatingly, telling – that she went right down, her butt landing firmly on the mattress without being able to fight against it.
And still, Darcy urged her back, until Juliet was laying down.
God, the cool, soft pillow feltincredibleagainst her neck and cheek. Juliet’s eyes closed before she could help herself, her eyelids feeling so heavy now that she was horizontal.
“I’ll make you a deal.” Darcy’s voice was so low, it soothingly skated over Juliet, smoothing over her frayed nerve endings.
She managed to crack her eyes when she felt the bed dip slightly. Darcy sat at the very edge of the bed next to her, reaching her hand back up to Juliet’s head. She closed her eyes again as Darcy softly worked her fingers through Juliet’s hair, smoothing it down behind her onto the pillow.
“’ts the deal?” She asked, her tongue feeling as heavy as her eyelids.
“I’m going to take a quick shower. You stay right here. Do not move. Eyes closed. Lights off. No phone. Rest up a bit, give your meds a chance to really kick in. And if you’re up and at ’em when it’s time to leave, we’ll discuss it.” She pressed her fingers into the back of Juliet’s neck, modulating the pressure.
Juliet attempted topfft, but it was too pathetic for her to bring herself to own. “You’re on.”
She knewshe lost the deal immediately upon opening her eyes.
The room was still dark, but even darker than it had been when she’d accidentally fallen asleep. So, the sun had set.
There was a note on Darcy’s notebook paper folded on the bedside table next to her:
I know you didn’t want to do this, but I think you resting and waking up feeling back to normal actually means we BOTH win in the deal.
I’ll be back as soon as I can.
REST.
X
Thief
Right next to it was a glass of water, and a small pack of M&Ms, which Darcy must have noticed at some point that Juliet always kept in her fridge.
