CHAPTER 74: PURE LIAR

Catherine’s POV

"That’s enough, baby," Julian’s hoarse voice came a few minutes after the blow job.

He bent and took my lips in a hungry kiss, carefully pushing me down, till my back hit the bed.

"My turn now."

His turn? What for?

I was still questioning his words in my head, when he knelt and his fingers moved to my panties, slowly taking them out.

He did the weirdest thing ever. He raised it and sniffed it in. "You smell so good down there," he complimented. A blush crept up my cheeks and I tried to hide it by putting a finger in my mouth.

He let out a low chuckle, then lowered his head, his lips touching IT.

Fuck! "Uhh, mmmm, Jul— Julian— oh my goodness," I cried, moaned, gasped. He was doing things to me, making me feel things I’ve never thought I could feel.

"Be quiet, Wildie. We don’t want to let the house know our little secret," his teasing voice came. I nodded and tried to quiet myself by biting my lips but it wasn’t that easy.

He stopped sucking me after a little while, he pulled me up again and kissed me.

The kiss deepened until it felt like my lungs didn’t know how to function without him. Everything inside me tightened, rising, trembling, begging. His hand cupped the back of my neck, forcing my mouth open wider, swallowing every sound I made. My fingers dug into his shirt, our breathing sharp and uneven.

We got to that very point, the one where everything felt too hot to pull back from.

Julian pulled his mouth from mine, panting against my lips, his forehead pressed to mine.

"Catherine..." His voice was low, rough, like he was fighting himself. "Do you... do you have a condom?"

I blinked dumbly, still dizzy from the kiss. A condom? How on earth was I supposed to have that? I shook my head, breathlessly. "No. I... I don’t."

He closed his eyes for a second like he was trying to steady himself. Then he kissed me once again; hard, fast, and frustrated, before pulling back.

"Okay. Wait for me. I’ll get one from my room."

I nodded, heat bursting through me, body trembling with anticipation. He slid off the bed, pulled his clothes back on and hurried to the door, running a hand through his hair as if trying to cool himself down.

The door clicked shut behind him.

The moment he was gone, I practically leaped off the bed. My heart was still sprinting at a dangerous speed. I ran to the mirror, smoothing my hair, trying to catch my breath. My lips were red and swollen. My cheeks were flushed. My chest was rising and falling too quickly for someone who hadn’t run a marathon.

"Fuck, I’m about to have see with my stepbrother," I whispered to my reflection, touching my face. I looked like someone who had just been kissed stupid.

I rushed to my dresser, grabbed my body spray, and sprayed it everywhere, on my neck, my arms, my hair, even my thighs. I didn’t know why. Maybe because I suddenly felt insecure or because Julian smelled good all the time and I didn’t want to be the only one who didn’t.

I sat back down on the edge of the bed, hugging a pillow to my chest.

A minute passed, then two, then five but Julian hadn’t returned.

Don’t overthink it... maybe he just couldn’t find it.

I waited longer, for another ten minutes and my stomach began to twist. Maybe he had to search for it. Maybe he misplaced it. Maybe he was trying not to look suspicious leaving his room with a condom.

But fifteen minutes passed and soon, twenty. A cold feeling began to slip under my skin.

What was he doing? Is he okay? Did something happen?

I stood up sharply. My heart felt like it was starting to throb instead of beat. I grabbed the first thing I saw, my fluffy cream-colored overall, and wrapped it around myself, tying it tightly. My hands were shaking. I didn’t know if it was from anxiety or panic or... embarrassment.

I hurried into the hallway and walked straight to Julian’s room. His door was closed.

I reached for the handle.

I was going to knock or push it open or call his name, I didn’t even know but before I could decide, I heard Lucy’s voice. Inside his room. Talking quietly, like they were in the middle of a conversation.

I froze.

My heart dropped into my stomach so hard I physically stepped back.

My skin heated first. It was burning, humiliation enveloped me.

He left me in my room... wanting him... waiting for him... and he came to his room to talk to her? With the door closed?

My lungs squeezed painfully. I didn’t wait to hear another word. I just turned around and fast-walked back to my room, almost tripping over my own feet.

I locked the door behind me and began to curse him. I cursed him a hundred times inside my head.

How dare he?

How dare he do all these things to me in this bedroom and still choose to abandon me?

How dare he make me feel like that?

How dare he leave me and go to her?

My throat burned. My eyes watered. I refused to let myself cry because that would mean I cared too much. So instead, I went to my bathroom, turned the shower on, and stepped under it, even though the water was still cold.

It shocked me instantly, exactly what I needed.

I started scrubbing my skin aggressively, like his touch was something I needed to erase. His hands, his mouth, his breath on my neck. I scrubbed like I was trying to wash off the memory. Wash off the stupidity. Wash off the embarrassment.

I was stupid to believe him. He chose her. He always chose her.

When I finally stepped out, I felt numb. Exhausted and pathetic.

I wrapped myself in a towel, went to bed, and cried quietly into my pillow until my chest ached.

—

Morning came by fast but I was woken up by a knock.

I groaned, pulling the blanket over my head. My body hurt and my eyes stung. I felt so emotionally heavy the moment everything that happened last night came flooding in.

"Catherine?" Julian’s voice came through the door.

Immediately, everything inside me tightened with anger.

I should’ve ignored him. I wanted to ignore him but I also wanted answers. I wanted to hear his excuse. I wanted to see what lie he would come up with.

So I dragged myself out of bed and unlocked the door.

Julian stood there. Hands in his pockets. Hair messy. Face tired. He looked like someone who hadn’t slept either.

"Hey..." he started softly.

I crossed my arms immediately. "What do you want?"

He hesitated. Then he looked down, exhaling. "About last night—"

"Yes," I snapped. "Let’s talk about last night."

His jaw flexed slightly. "I’m sorry. I didn’t come back because... something came up."

My chest burst into flames. Something came up? Something and Not Lucy. What kind of a human being was he? Instead of telling me the truth, he chose to lie.

Indeed, he was a pathetic liar. A liar who couldn’t even look me in the eyes while lying.

I stared at him with so much coldness. In my head, every single thing he’d ever told me came under questioning. If he could lie about this, what else had he lied about? Everything... probably.

"Something?" I repeated, with a sharp tone.

"Yes." He lifted his eyes to mine. "I didn’t plan to leave you waiting. I—"

"I don’t care," I cut in. "You owe me nothing."

The lie tasted bitter coming out of my mouth.

His brows pulled together, a faint confusion mixing with guilt in his expression. "Catherine—"

"I don’t care," I repeated harsher. "Do you understand? You don’t owe me an explanation. I don’t owe you anything either."

He swallowed, shoulders tensing like my words hurt him. He took a small step forward.

I stepped back.

He froze and a thick, unbearable silence stretched between us for a while.

Finally, he spoke quietly. "I... I’m stepping out for a bit. To get something."

"I don’t care," I said again, trying to be emotionless.

He flinched. I saw it. A tiny, tight movement in his jaw butI didn’t soften.

"I’ll be back later," he added, almost like he didn’t know what else to say.

"Good for you," I muttered.

Then I closed the door in his face and definitely not in a calm way. Yes! I slammed that door right in his fucking face.

And tears stung in my eyes. Breathing hard, I pressed my forehead against the door, not knowing whether I felt victorious or shattered or stupid. Maybe all three.

But one thing was clear and it was that I wasn’t going to be the girl waiting on a bed, half-naked and desperate, while he chose someone else behind his closed door.

Fuck you, Julian!