Counting Stars

Chapter 19

Juliette's P.O.V.

I don't want to turn around. I don't want to look at him. I don't want him to be here. I don't want to be here. Why couldn't Peter just take me with him hunting? I think I would be much safer there than I am here right now with Leo.

I stand still as I feel an arm snake around my waist pulling me into a hard chest. I whimper a bit and shut my eyes tight. I just hear him chuckled. He plays with the hair in my face and rest his left cheek on the right side of my head. I could feel the edge of his smirk on the side of my head. "I couldn't think about anything else last night after that kiss but you." He informs me. "Did you think about me?"

I assume that it's a rhetorical question, so I just stay silent. Then I feel him pull me into his chest harder, inflicting more pain on my stomach. "I asked you a question, Juliette." He growled in my ear. "If I were you, I would be polite and answer my question. Did you think about me last night?" He asked again.

"Yes." I say truthfully. We may not have been thinking about each other in the same way, but I was thinking about him.

He loosens his grip just a tad and pest my hair. "That wasn't so bad." I roll my eyes at him. "I thought about you and me running from Pan and the other Lost Boys on the island, together." The thought of that was actually disgusting. "We could find a cave and spend eternity with each other. Is that what you were thinking as well?"

If he wants me to answer, then he gets the truth, regardless if it's harsh. "I was thinking about what Peter would do to you if I were to tell him what you did to me last night and what you are doing to me now. Trust me, what I was thinking wasn't that pretty."

He laughed darkly at my comment. I didn't know what to make of that laugh. Was he going to hurt me, was he going to tell me something horrible, or both? "I don't think you get it, Juliette. You won't tell Pan what happened last night and you won't tell him about now."

I break out of his grip and turn to look up at him smirking down at me. "What makes you so sure of that?"

He grabbed both my arms and pulled me back to him. "Because I could just as easily tell him something else to contradict this. Like that you were the one hitting on me."

"But that's not true!"

"Or I could say that you tried to escape again. I could tell him a number of things that could almost have you killed. I know what Pan is truly like when he gets mad. Trust me, he could kill you." I don't look at him. "Now who do you think he will believe? Will he believe the girl who has tried to escape and who he doesn't trust, or will he believe a Lost Boy who has been a Lost Boy for the past fifty years?"

Fifty years?! This is just wrong. He should be a grandfather by now. This just got extremely uncomfortable. "I have a deal to make you." I still don't look at him, but I listen anyway. "Everyday I will ask you to run away with me. Every time you say 'no', something bad will happen to you, done by me and no one would know. After a certain number of times you say 'no', I tell Pan a lie." I look up at him with wide eyes. "If you say 'yes', then we can run away and be together. What do you say?"

"How dare you do this to me? I know that Peter is into some sick games, but this is worst than any of those! I'm not going to be apart of any of this!" I struggle in his grasp, but he has some kind of bear hold on me and doesn't budge.

Then I'm on my side on the ground holding my cheek. It was worse than Peter's slap. "Wrong answer." He grabs my arm and pulls me up. We are only centimeters away. "We'll play again tomorrow. I hope I get a different answer. I don't want to have to keep doing bad things to you. I like you too much to do that, but it is kind of fun." Then he kissed my stinging cheek.

That's when I knew I was apart of two twisted games. One of them being Peter's game of trying to make me love him or something bad would happen. The other being Leo's game of trying to let him seduce me or something bad would happen. I don't know if he wants me to love him but I do know one thing...

These are games that there is no winning at.