Chapter 301

Veronica and I sat on either side of Julian on the couch on the deck. Veronica held the bag of ice I had retrieved from the kitchen to the top of Julian’s head, even though he continually insisted it wasn’t necessary.

“Your head could swell,” I said.

“We don’t need you growing a bigger head than you already have,” Veronica said in a flat tone.

Julian laughed and didn’t argue anymore.

After the good mood passed, I lightly scolded, “You worried us.”

“I can’t believe you were so careless,” Veronica said. “You warned Piper not to get distracted, but then there you were, even more so. And for what? A pair of breasts.”

Julian hung his head a little.

“You’ve seen breasts before,” Veronica said.

“Yeah, but…” Julian sighed. “It was Bridget.”

“So?” came Veronica’s sharp response.

“So…” Julian let the word stretch. “Bridget is special.”

Veronica narrowed her eyes. One minute, she was holding the ice to Julian’s head, and in the next, that same ice was suddenly on Julian’s lap. Veronica had teleported it!

“Why don’t you cool down, Julian,” she snapped.

Only wearing his swim trunks, Julian must have felt the cold instantly. “Veronica!” he gasped, and jumped up. The ice bag fell to the ground where it split open, and the ice cubes flung in all directions.

Then she abruptly stood and walked away. She didn’t look back as she went into the mansion. I watched her go the entire way, trying to remember the last time I had seen her angry. Had I ever seen her angry?

Julian flopped back down onto the seat. “What was that all about?”

I wasn’t sure. Unless…

Veronica had told me before that she wouldn’t have minded Julian dating someone, if that someone was me. I was starting to see the truth in that now. When Julian and I were together, she was fine. But when Bridget was on the scene, Veronica went frigid.

It seemed I wasn’t the only one who absolutely detested the two of them together. Bridget was toxic to Julian, and he seemed to love self-destructing.

“Do you have any idea?” Julian asked, glancing at me.

Of course I had ideas. I had several ideas, along with many, many choice words to say to both Julian and Bridget. I restrained myself now. I didn’t want to burn bridges. Julian was my friend, even if he continued to make the same stupid mistakes again and again.

For his sake, I had to explain why Veronica was frustrated with him without continuing to dig too hard.

“The people who care about you want to see you move on from Bridget,” I said. “We’ve talked before, many times, about how unhealthy your relationship is.”

“It wasn’t a relationship that tripped me up,” Julian said. He raised his hands in his defense. “It was her breasts.”

I rubbed my forehead.

“I’m not helping my case, am I?” he asked. “But you were checking out Nicholas…”

“You know why that’s different.”

He sighed then, and looked to the side. “Yeah, I guess I do. Sorry, Piper. I’ll apologize to Veronica too.”

“We only care because we are tired of seeing you hurt,” I said, certain that Veronica felt the same way.

“I know.” He sighed again, deeper. “Trust me, I’m tired of it myself. I wish I could turn my feelings on and off like a light switch, but it’s not possible. I loved her for years, Piper. That doesn’t just go away, no matter how often I get hurt.”

He looked up at me, his sad eyes through his long lashes. “She still feels like the one that got away.”

I wanted to continue to argue with him, but the way he was looking at me… it took me back to last night, when Julian kissed me under the starlight. He looked like this then too, helpless and lost, trying to find any lighthouse in his storm of emotion.

We hadn’t been alone since the kiss. While we weren’t exactly alone now, with the others nearby, we were speaking privately. A faint heat began to rise in my cheeks. I didn’t know what to say.

Julian blinked. He lifted his head and looked at me more critically. “Piper…” he started but didn’t finish. Maybe he didn’t know what to say either.

The moment stretched out. I racked my brain for something else to talk about – literally anything else – but all I could think about was how we agreed never to talk about that kiss ever again.

Maybe… the weather? It was sunny again today.

Ug! Why did he have to kiss me? It took our perfectly healthy friendship and turned it into something awkward and uncertain. I didn’t know how to react around him anymore.

Julian inhaled a great breath, as if he was preparing himself for something. “Piper, I’m –”

“How are you feeling, Julian?” Nicholas asked as he approached us.

Whatever Julian was going to say to me was instantly lost. We both looked at Nicholas instead.

Nicholas’s expression was mostly neutral, but there was a kind of worry in his eyes.

“Much better, thanks,” Julian said. He scratched at his head, where I’m sure a nasty welt was forming. Though, with his werewolf abilities, any hurt shouldn’t last for long. He’d likely be fully healed in a few hours. This was the only reason I hadn’t insisted we rush him to the hospital after a head injury.

“Good,” Nicholas said.

If I had thought things were awkward before with just Julian and me, they were triply so now.

I worried my bottom lip with my teeth. Julian rubbed at his head. Nicholas stood there, looking at both of us.

“Was I interrupting something?” he asked.

“No,” I said, just as Julian said, “Kind of.”

Nicholas narrowed his eyes a little. Yet before he could ask anything else, Bridget bounced over to his side and clutched his arm.

Her closeness to him, while wearing that revealing bikini, made my jealousy rumble in my chest, but I quickly patted it down, reminding myself that I was the one who had kissed another man. Well, he had kissed me, but still.

At any rate, I should have been grateful for Bridget’s interruption. If Nicholas asked about the awkwardness between Julian and me… If either of us had told him the truth…

God, the two brothers might actually fight for real.

“You sure you’re okay, Julian?” Bridget asked. Hanging off of Nicholas’s arm, she leaned forward, her breasts practically spilling out.

Julian lifted his gaze straight up to the wooden ceiling over the deck. “I’m fine.”

Bridget laughed. “I’m so embarrassed about what happened. I swear it’s never happened before. I guess I just got so excited in the heat of the moment. The match was so exciting, wasn’t it, Piper?”

“Yeah…” I certainly wasn’t going to shame another woman for wearing whatever she wanted, but I feel like certain precautions could have been taken to keep from flashing the other team on the volleyball court.

Honestly, I still wasn’t sure it was an accident. She could have flashed Julian on purpose, knowing it would distract him, so that Nicholas could clench the victory.

She probably hadn’t intended for Julian to be hurt, though she could act a bit more apologetic and caring toward him. As it was, she only ever seemed to care about him just enough to keep him on the hook.

I sighed a little. This was just how things were.

I wondered if Julian would ever be able to break the cycle.