Bitter Kisses (It's Just High School #3) - Thandiwe Mpofu Page 0,156
bad habit,” he says softly, his voice too low, too calm like a storm warning of some sort. “I told you no one will ever hurt you. No one will ever touch you. You belong to me, Little Minx I meant that.”
“And so, you… bought the contract?” I whisper, feeling odd. I still don’t know if I’m feeling horrified or something else. I can’t exactly hear myself think or even feel over the roar of chaos from the bomb he just dropped.
“I didn’t fucking buy a piece of paper, Mia.” His jaw is clenched tight. Even though he looks sophisticated, urbane and oozing major sex appeal, Julian stands like a warrior, reminding me of the time he saved me from the warehouse. Looking at him awakens memories, sure, but it also awakens my hunger for him.
“W-what does that mean?”
“It means I did what I always knew I’d have to do to keep you, baby,” he rasps softly. “I gave up everything for you.”
It’s there in his eyes, the truth of his words.
I can’t resist the allure of him anymore than I can look for lies in his eyes. I can see that something is different with him. Something deliciously sinister is close to the surface now than it was years ago.
“Everything?” I mutter.
“I wanted to play football,” Julian whispers instead. “You know how much I wanted that. And now, my best friend was a first NFL draft pick last year.”
Yes, Cole’s moving up the ranks and I knew that night got to Julian. I knew it probably hurt him that he was not there with Cole, being picked together or something.
“I know.”
“I gave that up way before my arm was broken in that warehouse, Mia.”
“Before?”
“In the years I couldn’t be with you, I’ve thought of a million things I never got to say to you and the ten things I did. I thought of everything I wasn’t aware that I was doing and guess what, the day I boarded that place to Paris, coming after you is the day I gave up everything for you.”
My knees weaken. My legs start trembling so hard that I stumble over to the nearest seat and plop down as shivers races down my back. I don’t know what Julian sees on my face, but he abandons the drinks of the bar and comes over to me, only to kneel before.
“Tell me what you’re thinking,” he mutters softly as he reaches for my hands.
“You… you seem so different,” I confess. “You feel different. That look in your eyes… Julian, what do you mean you gave up everything for me?”
I heat the deep breath he takes, but he never once looks away from me.
“Do you want to talk about it, really?” he demands, a feverish kind of energy radiating from him.
Do I? Do I really want to know?
“You disappeared on me for four years and now you tell me that you’re the one who bought the contract I was forced to sign and then ask if I want to talk about it? Julian, all I ever wanted from the day I saw you in that hospital hallway was to know you, otherwise why would I be so nosy?”
We stare at each other, the realness of this moment catching up to me. I never thought I’d have this, that I’d finally see him, the one my soul has been sobbing and moaning in grief for.
“You are a nosy, devious Little Minx, though,” Julian whispers. “But first, I have to show it to you before I explain. Will you let me?”
I can hear what he’s asking me. Do I trust him enough to explain everything to me?
“Against my better judgement, there’s no one I would let explain but you,” I whisper.
The smile he gives me is so breathtaking, I’m sure the Heavens we’re close to can hear me sigh with want.
“Well then,” he says, getting up now. “I’ve been working toward this moment and you have no idea how fucking nervous and ready I am.”
“Where are we going?”
“To our new home.”
“New home?”
“Yes,” he says, then he pulls me up. “But first, I need to hold you in my arms again, baby.”
I might regret this when we disembark, but for now, I don’t need to be told twice. I launch into his arms and he catches me… like he always does.
I’m still in Julian’s arms by the time we land, only this time, I’m in his lap and loving it way more than I should, especially now that we’re