“I’ll admit, I was jealous.”
“Ha!” I threw my hands up and gestured at him. “There you go. Even you can’t be objective about this.”
Julian’s jaw tensed, his hand movements controlled. “It’s not like that, Jack.”
“Then what’s it like?” I growled, pacing in front of him. “Tell me. Tell me how the guys I’m falling for are the bad guys. No better yet, show me proof,” I shook my finger at him, “and not just your asinine jealousy.”
“Enough.” The hard tone of his voice told me he was on the edge.
But I wasn’t done yet. I’d had enough of his controlling hot and cold act. I finally had two men who wanted to give me everything, men who I cared for, and I wasn’t going to let him take them away from me.
“This is about your inability to let me be happy, isn’t it?” I let out a dark laugh. “If you can’t have me, then no one can. Is that it?”
Julian finally snapped, shoving his chair back as he smashed his glass against the wall behind me, making me flinch.
I breathed in heavily, watching him. Waiting for him to give me some kind of explanation for his outburst.
Julian took a deep breath, his hand on his hip as he dragged the other over his face. Then he leaned forward, his hands on the edge of his desk, his head dipping.
“Kleon made him,” he said quietly.
I blinked, then shook my head. Laughter spilled out of my lips. “I’m sorry, I think I hallucinated for a second. What did you say?”
Julian’s gaze settled on me, something akin to pity in his gaze, his voice low and unbreaking as he said three words that destroyed my world.
“Kleon made him.”
“I…” I stepped back, my hand reaching for the chair then remembered I’d knocked it over. Julian raced around his desk and righted it, pushing it under me. “I… uh… you mean Kyren, right?”
Julian knelt by my chair, not touching me, just watching my face. “Yes.”
“You’re wrong.” I let out a disbelieving laugh. “How do you even know?”
“President West — Tristen — I put in a background check on both of them, and Tristen told me. It was after you left before. Kleon is Kyren’s sire.”
“Don’t say his name.” I shook my head, my vision swimming.
“Jack…” He reached out and placed his hand on mine.
I jerked away from him. “Don’t touch me!”
Shoving to my feet, I grabbed my stomach, my mind whirling, a sick feeling pressing down on my chest, making it hard to breathe.
“This can’t be real. He’s lying.” I rubbed my forehead, moving back and forth in tight circles. “There’s no way that, in all the world, in all the schools, that… he… that I…”
My eyes lifted to Julian’s who watched me with increasing distress. My hand covered my mouth. “I let him touch me — kiss me — oh god, the things I let him do to me…”
I swallowed and lurched forward, grabbing the trash can by his desk, emptying my stomach contents into it.
A hand held my hair back, while the other smoothed up and down my back. Julian sat there while listening to me vomit until there was nothing left to come up.
The room tilted, and my skin felt clammy. My heart raced so hard that each beat stung in my chest. Who knew heartbreak was akin to the flu?
I breathed heavily, leaning against Julian. “I bet you’re happy about this.”
“Shhh.” Julian brushed my hair away from my forehead. “Nothing that causes you pain could ever make me happy.”
My eyes lifted to his face. “What am I going to do, Julian? How can I face them?”
