Chapter 67: Sealing Kiss

This time Julian definitely looked taken aback. This was the first time I had shown him genuine affection. I blushed as I stepped back and turned my head away. Just feeling his stare on me made me feel fidgety and awkward. “The hell you staring at? Didn’t you say you were needed in the kitch–” my words were stolen out of my mouth when he hooked his arm around my back and my lips locked with his, savoring the familiar taste and scent that I had grown more addicted to than my own favorite cigarettes.

Once he released me he gave me an endearing smile and brushed my button nose. “I’ll see you in a bit.” After that last gesture he left the room, leaving me behind. I was still steaming, practically cooking alive under my own skin from overwhelming emotions.

*The fuck… the fuck…?? What the fuck am I doing??*

I flopped onto his bed that looked nearly identical to mine and screamed my flustered frustration into his fluffy pillow. I had no idea what the hell I was doing. This was a completely new territory to me and I didn’t know where to step. But he did. And he was practically dragging me along by a thread wrapped around his pinky connected to the knot around my neck.

*I really don’t wanna move from here… part of me just wants to go hide under my covers and wait till night time to come out after everybody is done in their beds.*

But, we all knew that wasn’t happening for the next 12 hours. So reluctantly I got dressed into my baggy, white sweater and fixed my messy hair back into its loose bun before leaving Julian’s room.

*Fuck me. I think I’ll need a coffee and a ciga–*

“Suki?”

I bout lept out of my skin when I heard a voice that was the last person I wanted to see he walking out of my stepbrother’s room. When I whirled around to look, I saw none other than my very confused looking mother.

“What’re you doing in there?” she looked me up and down then at Julian’s room. “It’s so early, isn’t he still sleeping?”

“Oh, uh–” *Fuck. Fuck. Think. Think. THINK.* “Nah, he’s cooking breakfast. He just asked me to go drop something off for him in his room.”

“Oh.” she smiled. “That sounds delightful! Awesome way to start the day, huh?” she gives me a playful wink.

I accidentally let out a sigh of relief. *Phew. Nailed it.*

“Oh, honey.” her concern returned and I stiffened up like a cat not wanting to be messed with as she stepped closer and looked me up and down. “You look pale… I can see those bags beneath your eyes again.” she crossed her arms like a mother does when she’s about to lecture her child. “Did you have another nightmare?”

“What? No, Mom, I grew out of those.”

My mom narrowed her eyes and cocked up one of her dark ginger eyebrows with that ‘uhu’ look. I rolled my eyes in response.

“I’m hungry. I’m gonna go get some food.” my rough tone turned a little mumbled with shyness as I rubbed the back of my neck. “...You should join me. I mean, if you wanna. I don’t *need* you to join me. Just an offer.”

My mother snorted with an amused chuckle and shake of her head. “Yes, honey. Of course I’ll join you. Huh?” her humor died and she tilted her head as she moved my hand to the side. “What’re those?”

I looked at my mom confusedly till I realized she was looking at the area on my neck that Julian had been nibbling and sucking on all night. I swiftly took a step away from her and covered up the area with my hand. “Do you mind? You know I don’t like being messed with.”

Mom sighed when her attention turned from the marks on my neck to my attitude. She gave my cheek a painful pinch and a tug. “Sass, child. That mouth on you doesn’t know when enough is enough.”

“Ow! Mom!!”

When we went downstairs the first thing I noticed was the smell of bacon. *Damn. He’s really going all out.* I wasn’t aware of how early it was in the morning but I could tell that it was early enough that the princess shitface I had to call my sister was still passed out in bed. In the kitchen we saw Julian with Gabriel, they looked to be having a pleasant conversation then looked even happier when he walked in. Gabriel was practically beaming as brightly as the sun.

“My darling!” He came over to her and embraced her tightly as if he hadn’t seen her in a decade and gave her freckled cheek a kiss.

I made a “*blehk*” sound while pretending like I was barfing. So gross. My mother kept that sweet smile on her face the entire time even as she swatted me in the back of the head. Ow!

As the two began to talk amongst each other I took a seat at their side. The way the morning sunlight made my mother’s bright ginger hair glow like fire would forever both captivate me and make me envy her. What I’d give to have hair as beautiful as hers. Like now, she always wore it in a low ponytail but it didn’t dull the beauty one bit.

“Beautiful.” I heard Julian’s voice murmuring in my ear, barely audible to the point only I could hear. For a moment I thought he was talking about my mother and I was about to jump his ass until I realized that he was calling me by that little pet nickname he had given me.

“Goddamn it. Will you fuck off with that shit?” I whispered just as quietly with aggression.

“Nobody will ever be more beautiful than you.” His compliments continued, reassuring me that there was nothing for me to be jealous about. I crossed my arms and looked away until he put a plate of food and my mug of coffee in front of me.

“Such a gentleman.” my mother looked pleased as she watched the two of us. “I’m so happy that she has you.”

“My son has always been a well-behaved, kind man.” Gabriel said with pride.

*Well-behaved my ass…*

“I’ll always take care of Sukia, ma’am.”

I winced and placed my face into my hand. This was the first time he had referred to me by name instead of calling me his sister in front of our parents.

*Why do I have a bad feeling about this?*

“Oh, dear, you don’t have to call me ma’am.” my mother laughed at first but then I saw that look of hesitation on her face. “I know it’s probably too soon for you to start calling me mom either…”

The brief silence ended when I abruptly stood up. I couldn’t stand this talk anymore. For my mom to be his? Fuck that shit to high heaven and down to the stinking depths hell.

“Honey?” Mom looked surprised as I left them with haste. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m not hungry. I’ll see you later.” comes my curt response before returning to my room. That breakfast looked delicious and coffee was starting to become the best thing I could smell in the morning but all of that went down the drain the moment I became uncomfortable, the thought of food making me sick to my stomach.

*If my mom ever found out the truth… fuck. She’s so happy to see our lil ‘big bro, lil sis’ relationship. This might impact her harder than I thought. Did Grace really delete that video? I highly doubt it… that fucking viper isn’t gonna fuck off that easily. Not by a long shot, no matter what Julian said to her.*

When I returned to my room I unintentionally slammed the door and flopped onto my bed with a big bounce. The day just started and it's been shitty since the second I woke up. Actually, it was already shitty before my ass even woke up in the first place.

Before long I heard a knock on my door and I sighed while laying my arm over my eyes. “I’m fine, Mom. I just need a sec, aight?” I forgot to lock the door so the person who had been knocking had just strolled right on in without saying anything. I let out a loud groan before springing up into a sitting position. “I said–” my surprise turned into annoyance as I sighed and facepalmed myself. “Of course it’s you.” I grumbled as Julian came over to me. For the second time, he followed after me with my left behind food.

Julian laid the plate next to me. “I didn’t want you to go hungry. I won’t pester you.”

When he turned to leave, once again, I grabbed his wrist. “Wait.”