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His eyes flare with anger. “Don’t go there.”
“No. I want to know. Why is there no evidence that she ever existed? Her kids deserve to remember her. They are a part of her but they’re being brought up as if she never existed.”
“Fucking get out!” he roars.
“You’re in my room. You get out!” I scream.
His eyes hold mine, and I can see that the comment about his wife hurt him. Regret fills me. “Julian, childhood is supposed to be filled with mess and love and laughter.” We stand in silence for a moment. “I just don’t want you to look back one day and wonder why you’re not close with your children.”
“I love my children. More than anything, I love my children,” he replies sadly.
“I know you do.”
“Well, what are you saying then?”
“I’m saying that you need to learn to give yourself to them.”
“I do. I give them my all!” he cries.
“You give them stability. They need compassion and understanding. They need you to be their friend, too.”
His eyes narrow and fall to my underwear on the bed. “And what about last night? I was just trying to protect you from gossip.”
“I don’t need protecting. Like your children, I want compassion and understanding.”
He shakes his head, pausing for a moment. “Before we went out… when we were here…” His voice trails off.
“When we were here, what?”
His eyes rise to meet mine. “You threw me.”
I frown. “Threw you?”
He runs both of his hands through his hair in frustration. “I don’t know. You just did.” His eyes rise to meet mine. “I was genuinely excited to be going out with you…”
“What’s wrong with that?”
He shrugs. “I don’t do normal relationships, Bree. I have no fucking idea what’s going on between us.” He throws his hands in the air. “I’m fucking confused, okay?”
“Julian,” I sigh.
He grabs my hand. “Don’t go out tonight. Stay here with me.”
I exhale heavily and he puts his arms around me to pull me close. “I just…” He hesitates. “I just.” He stops himself talking again.
I pull out of his arms. “Julian, I get that you don’t want a relationship. I get that we have no future. But I will never understand the way you made me feel last night. I would never treat a friend like that.”
His face falls.
“You need to get your shit together. I can’t be in a friends with benefits set up if there isn’t even a friendship.”
“Bree.” He goes to grab me again, but I pull away from him. “Don’t Bree me.”
His eyes search mine. “Are you really going out with someone else tonight?”
“Yes.”
His jaw clenches in anger. “Consider us done if you do.”
