Seize Control

"Jules! Stop laughing so loud!" he whisper-yelled, glancing back to the window to make sure no one had heard them.

Immediately her laughter subsided, leaving her with red cheeks and a huge grin.

Silas shook his head. "You're gonna get me killed. If Clay knew I was out here with you at 2 o'clock in the morning, he'd come out here and kill me for sure."

Juliette rolled her eyes. "If your mom knew you were here, she'd do the same to me."

He sighed, running a hand through his short brown hair. "Why do our parents have to be such assholes?"

"It's simple, really. My parents hate you because you're not an MC kind of guy. Your parents hate me.....for the exact opposite reason."

"But you're not. You're kind, and smart, and good. You're nothing like your family."

Juliette nodded thoughtfully. "Maybe."

"Jules, come on. You have nothing in common with any of them, except blood. You're different. You can get out of here and do something with your life."

"You know, when I was five or six, my brother started dating this girl Tara. They were inseparable. They did everything together, including getting arrested a few times. Jax really thought he was gonna marry her one day. Then she split. Left Charming and didn't look back. The last I heard, she was about to finish medical school to become a surgeon."

"Wow."

"I think I could do it," she mumbled. "If she did it, why couldn't I?"

"You could, Jules. You could do the same thing she did. Run away from Charming as fast as you can."

"Maybe if I get out of here, I can make something of myself. I'd never look back."

He shook his head. "You family wouldn't have that. You'd at least have to come back to visit."

Juliette was silent. She knew he was right. There was no way she could leave Charming and never come back. She'd end up coming back for holidays, or just when her mother insisted on it.

"Do you think they'd even let me go in the first place?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe your brother would be okay with it."

"Mom wouldn't be. She doesn't like me that much, but she wouldn't be able to stand the thought of not having me right there to control me."

"Think Clay would be okay with it?"

"I don't know." She frowned as she laid back against the roof. "I wish my family was different."

"I'm pulling for you, Jules. I hope you can get out of here as soon as we graduate. I hope you go to Seattle instead of Sacramento. I hope you become a nurse just like you've always wanted to and help save lives because I know how important that is to you, considering your family's career path. I hope you create a perfect, wonderful life somewhere and I hope you never have to come back here."

"You think that could ever happen?"

He sighed, looking down to check his watch. "You should go in and get some sleep."

"You're avoiding my question."

He got up from where he was sitting and carefully walked over to the tree branch he had used to get onto the roof. "Go to bed, Jules. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

She huffed annoyed and got up from her spot, making her way back over to the window she'd crawled out of. Once he was gone, she climbed back through the window and tip-toed silently down the hall back to her bedroom. She slid between the cold sheets of her bed and pulled her blankets up to her neck, curling up in a ball and clamping her eyes shut.

She was almost asleep when she heard the gunshots.