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Chapter Thirty-two
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Thedoorslammedinmy face. I swung around to Julien, who wore a satisfied smirk.
“Why was my girl coming from your bed, wearing your clothes?” I demanded.
He shrugged. “Not your girl. She can do as she pleases.”
I stepped into my house—my fucking house—and stared down a man I considered a friend who wasn’t looking like much of a friend right now.
“Care to change your answer? That one wasn’t acceptable.”
He leaned against the wall behind him, taking some weight off his crutches. “Was there something untrue about what I said?”
I hit my chest. “There’s no loyalty? Is that what’s happening here?”
Julien straightened, giving me a withering glare. “If that’s what Elena and I wanted to happen, you’d have no say. You willingly gave up those rights, remember?”
My hands went to my hips as I paced back and forth in the entry. If I got closer to him, I’d lay hands on him. If he’d been more able-bodied, I might not have been holding back. This was beyond the pale. I couldn’t believe what he was saying to me. After months of driving him places, talking, living together, he did this?
Andshedid this?
“Are you telling me you slept withmy girl?” My heart was thrashing. My body craved violence. “You fucked my girl?”
“That’s not a question you get to ask.”
I saw red at his refusal to deny it. “The second I’m done, you come and pick up my castoffs? Can’t walk out of here and find your own?”
I didn’t see it coming. One second, Julien was using his crutches for support. The next, his fist flew in my face, connecting with my jaw. My head snapped back, a bell chiming in my skull.
“You’re suchan idiot,” he seethed. “Of course I didn't do anything with her. But if you refer to her as a castoff again, we’re gonna have huge problems, big man. It’s not gonna be just me you’re facing with that shit.”
“Fuuuck,” I bellowed, which only sharpened the pain in my jaw. “All you had to do was answer.”
“Allyouhad to do was not disrespect Elena. She doesn’t deserve that, and, you little shit, neither do I. So, fuck you for that too.”
Bending at my waist, I cupped my aching head. How the fuck was this saving me pain? How was this better? This last week had been miserable. Couldn’t sleep. Couldn’t eat. Couldn’t concentrate. I continually questioned whether I’d done the right thing. None of this felt right.
I looked up at Julien. “What I said to you was uncalled for. I’m sorry. I need answers, though.”
His mouth puckered like sharing the room with me was making him bitter. “Even if I wanted to get with her, do you honestly thinkshe’ddo that? You should know her better than I do.”
He was right, but his answer did nothing to cool the fire in my head.
“So, you deny she was coming from your bed?”
“I don’t deny it. She slept in my bed for a few hours.”
I yanked at my hair, disgusted, panicked, manic from his admission. I wasn’t disgusted at her, but at myself for allowing this situation to bloom. This was my fault. All of it.
“You wanna ask me why?”
Stopping, I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down. It didn’t do much good, but it was something.
“Why, Julien?” I gritted out.
His face was perfectly serene when he dropped the bomb on me. “You weren’t here.”
