Chapter 101 The Edge Of Reckoning
Chapter 101 The Edge Of Reckoning
ROSEMARY
The days had started to bleed together in what had become a haze of quiet fury and aching absence.
The two weeks left had now become forty eight hours. The contract’s expiration loomed like a storm cloud on the horizon, dark and inevitable.
My mind could not stop replaying scenes about Julian in my head - the way his hands had felt on my skin, the way his voice had cracked when he admitted part of the truth, and the way his eyes had followed me across that gala like I was the only light in a room full of shadows.
I hated how much I missed him.
I hated even more that I could not bring myself to apologize to him for telling him to leave. The anger was still there, sharp and justified, but beneath it was a hollow ache that no amount of work or wine could fill.
So I did the only thing that made sense in my unraveling state.
I went looking for a fight.
The hotel hallway felt endless. I stood outside his door for a long moment, my heart hammering against my ribs like it was a caged bird.
In my head, I silently prepared a script of how I was going to start an argument about how he had lied to me.
And then, I knocked.
Julian opened it wearing nothing but dark sweatpants, surprise flashing across his face as he saw me, before it melted into something hotter and something that felt more dangerous.
He didn’t speak and that seemed to melt all the words that I had just carefully planned to let out. He simply pulled me inside, slamming the door behind us.
The kiss was immediate and devastating. It was months of separation and reconciliation, frustration, and aching need colliding in one breathless moment.
We barely made it past the entryway. His hands were everywhere, shoving my dress up, and his fingers finding me already soaked as he backed me against the wall.
We tried for foreplay. His fingers curled inside me, stroking that perfect spot while his mouth claimed mine. But the impatience won. We were both too raw, too desperate.
He freed himself and thrust into me in one powerful stroke, most of our clothes still on. I cried out, my legs wrapping around his waist as he fucked me against the wall. It was deep, relentless, and possessive. His hand fisted in my hair, pulling my head back so he could look into my eyes as he drove into me.
“You still belong to me,” he growled, his voice raw with weeks of denial.
"Even when you hate me, Rosemary. Even when we’re destroying each other.”
I came hard, screaming his name, my body convulsing around him in an orgasm so intense it left me shaking. He followed with a guttural groan, burying himself to the hilt as he spilled inside of me.
We slid to the floor together, still joined, and our breathing ragged.
For a long moment, the only sound was our harsh breathing.
Then reality crept back in.
I pushed him away gently, fixing my clothes as my hands trembled involuntarily.
“Nothing has changed,” I whispered, my voice hoarse from screaming.
“This does not fix anything. It doesn't change anything.”
Julian’s eyes darkened with a mixture of what looked like satisfaction and pain.
"Then don’t come and see me again. I’m not one of the men Scarlet would use to fulfill her desires when she’s horny. I want to be the only man that her insides would ever long for.”
The words hit me like a spark on dry tinder. Arousing, infuriating, and devastating all at once.
I left without another word, stepping into the hallway in a haze of indecision, my body still humming, and my heart in absolute chaos.
JULIAN
I watched her go, the door closing behind her with a soft, final click that echoed louder than any slam could have been.
As she left, I realized that I was standing on the edge of the biggest confession of my life, terrified that telling the truth would be the thing that finally pushed her away for good.
The city hummed far below, looking on indifferently to the war raging inside of my chest.
I turned and walked back into the empty room, the weight of my secrets feeling heavier than ever before.