smitten | h.hart

Chapter Two

C H A P T E R T W O

THE boys had barely slept, pacing around the hospital room, impatiently waiting for Juliette to wake up; Henry and Jasper had agreed to go with the lie that the Dunlop boy had called Henry to the hospital in a panic.

"Jasp?" A groggy voice ripped through the silence, causing the curly haired boy to snap his head in the girl's direction. "What's going on?"

She was squinting, the harsh light hurting her eyes as she looked around the room. It smelled like medication and misery, which is what had made her realize she was in the hospital.

She hated hospitals.

"Jules!" Jasper exclaimed, a relieved smile on his lips as he approached the hospital bed. "How're you feeling?"

"Like I just got hit by a truck." She tried to joke, wincing as she sat up. "Why am I here?"

The older twin sighed, "That dickhead in the park last night busted your head open."

Juliette groaned, her hopes that the incident had just been a bad dream being ripped away from her. She looked over her brother's shoulder, eyebrows furrowing at the quiet boy across from them. "Hen?"

"Hey, Jules." He smiled, finally approaching the bed. She could tell neither of them had gotten much sleep, abnormal bags hanging from their eyes like vines from a tree. "I'm glad you're awake."

Her blood had almost run cold at the sound of his voice, the events of the previous night crashing down onto her frontal lobe like a tidal wave.

"No fucking way." She thought.

Clearing her throat, she'd decided to keep her realization to herself. "Yeah, me too. How long have you been here?"

"Got here about the same time as Jasper," he admitted. "He, uh, he called me while he was driving you here."

Juliette's eyes then widened as another realization dawned on her, snapping her gaze to her brother with a hint of homicide glistening in her irises. "You drove my fucking car?!"

"Hey! What was I supposed to do?" Jasper defended, scooting his chair back a bit so she couldn't reach him. "An ambulance would've taken forever!"

"Please tell me you didn't scratch it."

"No, of course not! I put in on Barkley!" He reassured, swearing on their childhood dog's life — which neither of them did unless they were being truthful.

Juliette sighed in relief, glancing briefly back to Henry Hart on her left. How had she not been able to connect the dots beforehand? His random disappearances, weird bruises he'd try to hide from her, the weird beeping watch—

The watch.

Charlotte and Jasper had also received the same watch when they'd begun working at Junk 'N Stuff with Henry. Were all three of them working for Captain Man?

She then remembered Piper's raging crush on the sidekick, shuddering as she realized Piper was unknowingly crushing on her own brother.

"You okay?" Henry asked, concern laced throughout his cinnamon eyes as he sat down beside the bed. "You cold?"

"Yeah," she lied, not realizing she'd visibly shuddered. "Just a little bit."

"Here," he pulled off his jacket, helping her lean forward as he threw it around her shoulders. "Better?"