Page 13 of Goldsin

“Adrian and I were just talking.”

Why do I feel like this isn’t the first time I’ve been in this situation, with the need to reach out and touch him? To lose myself in his warm embrace.

What the hell is going on with me?

“Really?” he challenges, brushing his finger over my pulse. “Because it looked like more than just talking from where I was standing.”

“And why were you looking, Julian?”

His gaze flickers down to my mouth, then to the rise and fall of my chest, lingering there awhile before returning to my eyes. “Maybe because I think there’s something you’re not telling me.”

“Oh yeah?” I feign interest. “Maybe. Maybe not.” Closing the small distance between us, I look deep into his eyes as I grit, “Either way, it’s none of your business.”

His other hand moves over my waist before he tightens his grip and pins me in place. His touch is addictive, like the sensation of burning alive—I crave for more to burn faster.

“It is my business when you haven’t exactly been around lately. Who knows what you’ve been up to?”

Me?Me?I want to scream it at his smug face.He was the one who ruined our friendship my freshman year of high school and then acted like an absolute asshole the whole time I dated Adrian!

God, he needs to leave before I either claw out his eyes or do worse.Far worse.

“Like I said, it’s none of your business.” My voice wavers slightly under the weight of my growing anger. “Now, can we drop this?”

“No.”

I lose it. “Why do you even care? You haven’t cared about me foryearsand now you suddenly decide to? No. You don’t get to play hot-and-cold. So stop caring now!”

I’m heaving by the time the last word gushes out of my mouth. I stayed quiet all these years.Why?God, I don’t even know myself. Maybe I thought hearing how bored he was would hurt me more. Maybe because in the silence I could still hope.

“You’re right.” Julian’s hushed words slither out like needles to the skin. His expression is impossible to read. “I don’t give a fuck about you. Never have and never will. Yet I can’t help but wonder which pretty little mask you’re hiding behind.”

As he grips my chin, all the hatred I feel for him boils within me.

“You can’t stand the thought of him knowing something you don’t,” I spit, relishing in the way his expression sharpens at my words. “Adrian always gets better than you, and you can’t stand it.”

He clenches his jaw—hard—eyes narrowing. But just when I thought I hit him where it hurt the most, a smirk stretches his lips. “Maybe you’re right. What will you do about it, golden one?”

“Don’t call me that.”

“And what will you give me in return?”

Do I want something from him?

The real question is, can I get what I want from him?

Then, just when I least expect it, he licks the bare skin of my collarbone, all the way to my earlobe. “I’m waiting,golden one.”

I bite down on my lower lip, suppressing the gasp that tries to escape. “Is that the best you can do, Julian? You’ll have to try harder than that if you want to get under my skin.”

“Trust me,” he murmurs, leaning closer to me until I can taste his warmth on my lips. “Getting under your skin isn’t deep enough.”

His eyes follow the movement of my tongue as it dampens my parched lips, wetting his lips in the process.

And then he takes a step back. So fast his loss leaves a chill over my flushed skin.

His hands are back in his pockets, far away from touching me, as his eyes roll down the silver gown tightly caressing my curves. Then they roam back up, stopping at my breasts.

I cross my arms defensively on instinct, bouncing my breasts farther out in the process.

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