Page 98 of Juliet's Echo

Juliet.

When I spotted Mega and Yahya sitting near the back windows, I headed straight toward them.

What I saw on Yahya's face immediately threw me off.

She looked drained.

None of that loud, messy energy radiated from her. Her eyes appeared stained from crying, and two untouched burgers sat in front of them alongside fries, melted milkshake floats, and half-drank glasses of water.

Yahya locked eyes with me and immediately straightened up.

The discomfort in her shoulders was obvious.

Almost like my presence scared her.

She quickly tapped Mega, who had his head lowered toward the table. He slowly looked up and followed her gaze.

The second he saw me, his body tensed too.

Fuck was going on?

“Where Lucky at?”

The question came out more like a demand than anything else.

Neither one answered.

Instead, they exchanged a look that made my stomach tighten.

“Yah,” I pressed. “What's up? Where's Juliet?”

Their entire aura was making me uncomfortable, and they had one more chance not to answer me before Juliet was apologizing to her friends on my behalf.

“We thought she was with you,” Yahya finally said, clearing her throat.

Whatever had her looking like this was about to set me off. I could feel it in my bones.

“What? How the fuck could you think that?”

“Because I dropped her off at your house.”

“When, Yahya? What time?”

She visibly jumped at the increasing octave of my voice.

“An incident happened not too long ago,” Mega started.

“Incident?” I snapped. “Ayo, Mega, where the fuck my girl at, bro?”

These niggas weren't talking fast enough.

Pulling at the straps of my backpack, I began rocking back and forth.

Calming mechanism.

“Psalm, chill, bro. Physically she's fine, but she got into a word exchange with Ava, and Ava said some pretty foul shit. She didn't want to talk to nobody else but you. She was too distraught to drive, so Yahya took her to your house.”

“And y'all ain't make sure she got inside before y'all pulled off?”