Nodding, Julian peered down at me as we walked. “I admit, I was... jealous.”
“Jealous?” I jerked to a stop. “You? Since when?”
Julian turned to me, rubbing the hair on his jawline. “Since always.”
I gaped at him and then shook my head. “No, no way. For you to be jealous, that means you’d actually have to admit to having feelings for me, and you wouldn’t do that.” I shoved a finger into his chest. “Who are you and what have you done with Julian?”
“I never said I didn’t have feelings for you Jack.” He smiled slightly.
“Could have fooled me.” I snorted, sipping from the cup. “But sure, tell me all about these feelings that made you ignore me for a year, but now that I actually have other guys interested, you’re jealous of all a sudden.”
His smile wilted, his face turning serious. “It was never about my feelings for you. Or anything you did. I didn’t regret that night.” He stepped closer until there was barely an inch between us. “When President Fleming promoted me, it... killed me to push you away. But I also couldn’t very well turn it down without telling him a reason why. And we weren’t exactly telling people about us. I didn’t even know what we were. So... I made the decision for us.”
I nodded, understanding his reasoning. “And now?”
“And now...” He sighed, pulling his glasses off his face. “I’m jealous. Seeing you with them and them getting to freely be with you.” He shook his head. “Those feelings didn’t go away. I just shoved them down until I could bear to be in the same room as you and not want to touch you.”
“Well, you’ve done a pretty good job of it so far.” I took a long drink of the coffee. “Why break your record now?”
Without waiting for his reply, I started walking again.
I’d be lying if I didn’t say that part of me was overjoyed to hear Julian admit that he did and still had feelings for me. However, the other part was pissed that it took someone else coming into the picture for him to stop pretending nothing happened between us.
If Julian wanted me, then he would have to work for me. He could chase and grovel after me for a year and see how he liked it. And then, maybe, just maybe, I’d think about forgiving him.
“I’m actually glad you stopped by,” I commented, once he got over his shock and caught up to me. “I found this in my room.” I handed him the note.
“We know what you did,” Julian read out loud. “What did you do?”
I shrugged. “Hell if I know. But look at this.” I held out the picture I took of the seal before I broke it. “Do you recognize this seal from somewhere?”
Julian took my phone and put his glasses back on his face. “A cauldron and bones? I don’t know the specific house that this belongs to, but clearly it’s some witch coven.”
“There’s a party in the woods this weekend. Xinyi told me about it.” I hummed. “Apparently, it’s the harvest moon and all the witches celebrate it. This time, they’re letting the other students come. Might be a good place to ask around about this.”
“I don’t want you going alone,” Julian started. I opened my mouth to protest, but he kept going. “I’ll wear a charm to hide my scent and back you up. We don’t need another incident like the other night.”
Scowling at his reasoning, I relented. “Fine.”
My phone dinged in his hand, and his eyes dipped to the screen.
“I can still taste you?” he read.
I grabbed my phone from his hands and shoved it in my pocket. “Ignore that. Anyway, thanks for the coffee.”
“Jack.” Julian caught my arm, drawing me close. “I’m not dating Abigail. Nothing happened between us, I swear.”
Eyes locked with his, I offered him a small smile. “Even if it did, it’s not my business. You’re just my team lead, right?”
Before he could protest further, I withdrew my arm from his grasp and hurried down the hallway. If this was the way my day was going, I should have just stayed in bed.
Chapter 17
Jack
The rest of the week went by without much drama, something I couldn’t be more than thankful for. Tate had texted me nonstop and showed up at lunch and in the library, but Kyren was back to keeping his distance.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about that just yet.
