Borrowed Time

Chapter Thirty

Game days had become good for one thing and one thing only, and that was letting Juliette watch Esme go fucking feral for her in her cheerleading uniform in the back of her van... Granted, it had gotten her thinking recently about the fact that at least two of Esme's ex's were on her squad... but she'd dated them outside of the season, she doubted that was why. She hoped that wasn't why, that would be something they'd have to talk about.

Esme kissed up her neck, sighing against her jaw before she pulled back, looking at her with darkened, mischievous eyes as she traced little patterns on Juliette's thighs with her fingers - hearts mostly, which made Juliette feel almost bashful... How could someone be so sweet and yet so fucking sexy all at the same time? It was a dangerous combination.

"You know, one of these days Ingrid really is gonna kill you for being late, you know." Esme sighed once they separated, and Juliette shrugged, running her hands up Esme's stomach as she grinned, leaning down to capture her lips again, feeling the small sigh from her lips... God, so fucking pretty... This was 1000 times better than some fucking warmup, she didn't care if she pulled a muscle because of it.

"Not right now, I've got a free pass because she's trying to get back on my good side." She murmured, and Esme looked at her, a little alarmed and a little amused as she sat up on her elbows, making Juliette lean back so she didn't get knocked off of her.

"You told her she wasn't?" Not technically, she'd kind of guessed it from how Juliette had snapped at her the day before she had a full body breakdown from stress, which wasn't technically her fault, Esme had just learned to be intuitive suddenly. It was so unexpected, no one could've accounted for her using her brain for once.

"Nope, she guessed it all on her own... I didn't tell her why, I even claimed I wasn't angry but I think that's why she's been acting so oddly accommodating, it's because she wants me to forgive her." Juliette explained, and Esme raised an eyebrow, looking at her questioningly. Her stance was clear, so that wasn't going to be the question, right? Why ask it again when they've already determined that no matter what Ingrid did, her forgiveness wouldn't be granted.

"Are you going to forgive her?" Nope. They'd already talked about it - Juliette might've been on the verge of passing out when they did, but she could still remember the conversation.

"Probably not, she's been a total bitch." She sighed, and Esme seemed to look conflicted as she nodded... It was like she was afraid of hating someone, of fully casting them away... Maybe it was because she'd been left behind and casted out, that's what Juliette would assume - she didn't want to make other people feel the way that she'd felt before.

"Right, but-." Did Juliette seriously have to remind her about the whole 'releasing revenge porn is a crime' thing? She thought they'd gotten that hammered into both of their brains by now.

"And she's threatening to leak your nudes. I can't stress that enough, considering it's a crime." She reminded her, and Esme sighed and glanced away from her, sucking air through her teeth... She couldn't seriously still see a world where she forgave Ingrid, right? That wasn't healthy.

"I get that." She clearly did not get that based on the fact that she still looked like she wasn't sure of what to do. "But part of that feels like it's on me because I sent them in the first place." Juliette furrowed her brow and shook her head, resting her hand on Esme's cheek as she stroked her cheekbone. Esme pressed her face into the touch, letting out a sigh as her eyes fluttered shut.

"You trusted the person you were dating with highly sensitive information, the only thing you're guilty of is being human." She reminded her gently, and Esme let out a chuckle and opened one eye to look at her. Wonderful, what was she going to say to ruin this sweet moment? Probably a joke to cut through the tension.