Chapter 5
1932 Words
Aurelia's POV
The silence on the line is so long that I believe Julian has hung up. I yank the phone from my ear to look, but the call’s still on.
“Julian?” I say hesitantly.
And then his deep chuckle comes over the speaker. “You sure are something, Aurelia.”
I frown. What does that mean?”
“I figured you’d call, but I thought you’d be on board because you wanted revenge, not because you wanted me to save your father.” His voice turns serious. “You know that man abuses you, don’t you?”
I stiffen. “It’s none of your business.”
“It is now.”
I inhale sharply, holding the phone tighter. “So are you accepting my condition or not?”
Another pause, then he sighs. “Fine." I’ll get your father his job back. But after I do, there is no going back, Aurelia. The next two months, you’re mine.”
The way he says those words sends a shiver down my spine. I convince myself it’s only nerves.
“Deal,” I say before I can overthink things.
“Good girl,” he murmurs, and my pulse leaps, for some reason.
Before I can say anything, he tells me, “Meet me at the Blackwood Café tomorrow after school. You and I need to talk specifics of our relationship.'
And just like that, he hangs up.
I pull the phone away from my ear, my stomach churning with discomfort. What am I getting myself into?
The tension the next day at school is unbearable.
As I walk into the hallway, whispers trail me like a shadow. I don’t need to guess why. The news about yesterday’s cafeteria incident went around at lightning speed.
“She actually threw Sierra to the ground?”
“Drake called her a loser in front of everybody, and she’s still got the nerve to show up?”
“Did you hear that Julian Adams defended her? “And then carried her off like she was some princess?”
I bite back on my teeth and keep my head down as I walk to my locker. Let them talk. It doesn’t matter.
What does matter though, is that Drake is standing just a few feet from his own locker. And he’s watching me.
For an instant, we lock eyes, and something flickers in his expression. Something resembling regret, almost. But then Sierra comes up beside him, looping her arm around his. She luces me, a sode of triumph in those eyes of her.
I break my gaze away, pushing my feelings down. He is not worth it.
At that moment, the hallway goes completely silent. A silence so thick I can feel it on my skin.
I don’t have to look back to see why.
A tall, commanding figure strides up beside me and then suddenly, Julian’s voice — smooth and teasing — enters the space.
“You look tense, babe.”
Babe?
He does something that makes my breath hitch before I can respond. He reaches out, tucking a stray lock of hair behind my ear, his fingers brushing my cheek in a way that feels way too intimate.
A wave of gasps ripples down the hallway.
I jerk my head up to shoot him a glare. “What are you doing?” I hiss under my breath.
Julian just grins, unfazed. “Playing my part.”
I start to argue, but then I notice Drake.
He’s rigid. His jaw is so tight I can see the muscles ticking. His hands are curled into fists at his side, and for the first time, I notice it.
Jealousy.
Strangely, it makes me feel satisfied in my heart.
Perhaps this deal with Julian isn’t so terrible after all.
“Come on, sweetie,” Julian says smoothly, draping an arm around my shoulders. “Let’s get out of here.”
And as he walks me down the hall — past the stunned, open-mouthed gapes and hushed whispers and THE DAGGERS Drake’s glaring in my back — I let myself the smallest, tiniest smirk.
Let the games begin.
Julian’s arm remains slung around my shoulders like we’ve been going out forever, and those words echo in my head as he walks me down the hall. His touch has an odd weight to it, both comforting and foreign. My heart pounds against my ribs, but I will myself to keep calm.
The hallway remained deathly silent, the tension thick enough I could cut through it. They burn into my back, but I don’t let them see me falter. So I hold my head high, my stride matching Julian’s, as if I am supposed to be right by his side.
As if I’m not still giddy from the humbling of last night.
As if I can’t feel the weight of Drake’s stare boring into my spine.
Julian leans in closer, his lips brushing the shell of my ear as he whispers, “Just relax. You look like you’re going to punch someone.’
I freeze, my fingers twitching at my side. “Maybe I am.”
He laughs, a low, full sound that makes ripples in the throng of students watching us. “I like that fire, sweetheart. Keep it up.”
I steal a glance at him out of the corner of my eye. He seems entirely comfortable, as though his confidence were an electromagnetic field. Unlike me, he’s accustomed to the attention. To the power.
To this game we just started playing.
But for me, this is new territory.
I glance back one last time over my shoulder. My heart skips a beat when I see Drake’s face is a mystery. His hands are still balled into fists, his jaw so tightly locked that it appears painful.
Sierra is next to him, still holding his arm, but the smirk is off her face. Instead, her expression contorts into something ugly — anger, disbelief, perhaps even a touch of fear.
I breathe in deeply and turn my gaze forward again. That is precisely what I wanted. To hit them where it hurts.
Just to remind Drake of what he gave up.
Julian leads me clear out of the school building, and it’s only outside that he finally steps back. I pull back from him, my arms crossing over my chest.
“What was that?” I demand.
Julian grins, c*****g his head. “That, my dear Aurelia, was a statement.”
I glare at him. “I didn’t consent to you touching me like that.”
His smirk deepens. “You didn’t say yes, but you didn’t stop me either.”
My cheeks flush, and I resent how easily he gets under my skin. “You took me by surprise.”
He shrugs. “Get used to it. If we want to make this convincing, we have to sell it. That means touching, kissing, acting like we’re absolutely, totally in love.’”
I nearly choke on air. “Kissing?”
He leans in, winter-grey eyes boring into mine. “You kissed me first, don’t you remember?”
I swallow hard, images of last night flooding my brain. The impulsive way I’d just thrown myself against him, in an effort to be spiteful to Drake. As Julian answered, his lips were equally demanding as my own.
I shake the thought away. “That was different.”
“Was it?” he muses, tilting his head. “Because it seemed to me like you enjoyed it from where I was standing.”
I grit my teeth. “Well, listen, I made this deal with you because I need something from you. That’s it. So don’t get any ideas.”
He grins, completely unfazed. “Noted.”
I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose. “So, what now?”
“Now,” he says, retreating, “we ensure everyone believes this little love story.
I scoff. “And how do we do that?”
He gestures to the parking lot, where a sleek black sports car is parked right at the front. “Let’s go on a date.”
I blink. “A… date?”
“Of course,” he winks. “We have to make it real, don’t we?”
There’s something about this that feels like a trap, but I know that I have no choice. If I want to make Drake suffer — if I want to keep my father from kicking me out — I have to commit to this.
I exhale sharply. “Fine. But no funny business.”
Julian smiles like he’s just won something. “Scout’s honor.”
**
Thirty minutes later, we’re sitting in the Blackwood Café, a popular hang-out for students and pack members alike. I immediately feel out of place, but Julian, as if he owns the joint — it’s tech casual (jeans, button-down shirts) done in a way that makes me feel like an animated potato — directs me to a booth by the window with the easy confidence of a seasoned local.
We can’t sit down without turning heads. Whispers spread through the café like wildfire.
“Is that Aurelia Wilson?”
“Why is she with Julian Adams?”
“They’re dating?”
I can sense their eyes on me, their confusion, their curiosity. Their eyes prick me in my skin.
Meanwhile, Julian looks utterly relaxed. He reclines in his booth, draping an arm over the backrest, fingers inches from my shoulder.
“You’re tense,” he observes.
I grab my menu and use it like a shield. “No kidding.”
He smirks. “You’ll get used to it.”
I look up at him from the menu. “I doubt that.”
Before he can answer, the door chimes: someone’s at the door. My stomach twists the moment I see who it is.
Drake.
And Sierra.
I averted my eyes instantly and focused intently on the menu. But what I don’t miss is the way Julian’s lips twist into a knowing smile.”
“Well, well,” he muses. “Things are about to get interesting.”
I glance at Drake out from under my lashes. His gaze is fixed on me, his face inscrutable. Sierra is trying to talk to him, but he is not listening. He’s too busy watching me.
Watching Julian.
I don’t know what makes me do it, but before I can talk myself out of it, I stretch over the table and put my hand on top of Julian’s.
His fingers jump in surprise, but then he recovers, turning his palm up to interlace our fingers.
I force a smile. “So let me ask you something, babe.”
Julian’s eyes glimmer with amusement, but he plays along easily. “Anything, sweetheart.”
I lock in the tilt, giving Drake a perfect profile view as I ask, “What do you love most about me?”
Julian’s smirk widens. He knows exactly what I’m doing.”
He leans in, his voice dropping into something softer, something almost … sincere.
“I do love the fire in your eyes,” he says. “The way you never shatter, despite how the world would rather shun you.”
There’s something about his tone that takes my breath away.
For a nanosecond, I forget that we’re pretending.
Then the back of his thumb brushes against my hand, and I remember something terrifying.
Julian Adams could be a threat in more than one way.
It was like I had just walked directly into the lion’s den.
- Writer
