“I’m not a bully.” I huff, but don’t make a move otherwise, afraid that he’ll kill me.
“Just violent then?”
“I’m not the one who attacked myself or spoke about my family out of nowhere,” I accuse, unable to mask the pain in my voice. He notices but doesn’t react.
He doesn’t care.
“Besides, I told you. I didn’t mean to slap your brother.”
“So, it just happened?” he mocks. “You keep hurting my brothers and it’s just what, coincidence?”
I shrug and look away. I hurt Aiden by opening my big mouth that day, but I never meant to. And with Liam, it just happened. I didn’t know he was Julian’s brother at the party, and what happened just now, I didn’t start that mess. But I know better than to say that now.
He won’t believe me anyway, not when the damage I caused at the hospital and at the party is too great a price for an innocent bystander to pay and a relationship between two brothers to suffer.
“Was it a fucking coincidence?” he growls.
“I don’t know,” I murmur instead, the silence between us so damn loud, I can hear both our thundering hearts pounding.
“You don’t know?” He snickers, eyes darkening, but that’s the truth.
I don’t know what happened just now.
I’m still reeling from the fact that Liam called me and the women in my family whores. Then there’s the fact that I just remembered my dad accused Mom of sleeping around three years ago when life started to subtly change for us. I don’t know what happened that made me snap and slap Liam, but one of those two things made me see red and all I could do was act.
“Being a bitch is part of who you are, isn’t it?” he whispers. “You don’t care who you hurt so long as you come out as the bigger bitch.”
“That’s not true.” I feel small in front of him. So vulnerable and alone. “I don’t hurt people.”
I just correct them on their errors about me.
As we look at each other, it feels like I’m seeing something else in his eyes, something I only ever see in myself if I stare in the mirror too long.
Burden mixed with grief with a nice, cute bow of self-loathing wrapped around it, like a Pandora’s box.
I gasp, blinking several times. He narrows his eyes at me, as if trying to figure me out.
“I don’t hurt people,” I repeat, trying to convince him, convince myself.
“Are you sure about that?” he grunts, bringing his gorgeous face closer to mine, I can feel his hot breath on my face.
Maybe it’s the fact that my life is literally in this guy’s hands, or maybe I’m a glutton for punishment, but for some reason, I can’t look away from his dark turbulent gaze, forced to look up as he plasters his large body to my tiny frame, effectively blocking the cold breeze as his hot body shields mine.
But this isn’t about shielding me.
Julian’s instinct of protecting anyone who isn’t his brother, just for the hell of it or at the very least, because of humanity with a code for ethical morals—is off like a broken compass.
He doesn’t care about me. He kissed me, sure, but it meant nothing to him. As for me, it was everything. In a way, he broke my heart with that kiss.
I know it’s silly to even say that—the guy was a stranger when I met him—but we connected that day and I hate to admit it, but the truth is, I fell in love with him that day.
Pain flitters through me, making my muscles and my bones ache. And now, all I want to do is get away from him. I won’t subject myself to another night of being terrorized by him when even in my dreams he’s there, tormenting me.
“For Pete’s sake, I didn’t do anything to your brother!” I almost yell, trying to push him away from me. “Let me go, damn you.”
“You want me to let you go?” he spits out.
“Yes!”
“Because you did nothing wrong, huh?” he growls. “You’re an innocent little bitch.”
“I didn’t hurt him intentionally. It was an accident!” I counter but I’m not talking about Liam right now. I’m talking about Aiden. “Julian, I didn’t know—”
“Don’t fucking say my name,” he grits out, almost making me jump. I fist my hands at his sides, clutching his jacket like my life depends on it. We stare at each other as a familiar hum of electricity charges between us.