Chapter 70: Caught In Action?

My heart leaped out of my chest with enough severity that I was expecting myself to foam at the mouth and faint. Julian, thankfully, had enough common sense to fix our position at the last second. Hell, he may have done it the second he heard his dad’s footsteps on the other side of the door. I couldn’t sense anything at all around me at the time since my entire focus was on Julian. Before I knew it my legs were closed and my sweater adjusted, both of my legs were together and towards the side.

Julian was pretending to fix up my messy hair before he turned and looked at his father with a surprised look that you couldn’t even tell it was fake. “Dad?”

*Damn. His acting will never cease to amaze me.*

At first, Gabriel looked like he had just witnessed the devil but he quickly relaxed when it looked as if no sexual interactions were going on between us. “I just heard Sukia’s voice and I was excited to see her reaction to her own little art room.” he looked around with his hands on his hips and pride sparkling in his eyes. “A darn good room I’d say. You’ve really outdone yourself, son.”

Julian took a step away from me as that cute, sheepish smile his crossed his lips. “I was only trying to help out.”

“*Help* doesn’t even compare! Hm?” Gabriel’s enthusiasm shifted into curiosity when he began to stare at me. “Sukia? Are you alright?”

I didn’t realize I was still staring off into space in my daze until Gabriel snapped me back to life. “Oh! Uh…” *Fuck. What were they talking about? What’s happening??* “Yeahh…”

Gabriel squinted at me as if he were playing whack-a-mole in his head trying to figure out what was wrong with me. As expected, Julian spoke up first to clear the air. “She’s still trying to take it all in.”

“Ah! Of course, I would be too!” Gabriel gave one of those signature hearty laughs that practically showed his childish naivety in shock waves. “Well, I’ll leave you two be.” before he left the room he looked between me and Julian one last time with a hint of suspicion. My assumption of him being completely naive and innocent may have been too swift to judge. The older man clearly suspected something between us but left it unspoken.

*Fuck!* I smacked my forehead and hung my head. Of all people, it just had to be Gabriel to waltz in on us. *Next, it’ll be my mom walking in on us when Julian is 12 inches deep inside of me.* As soon as the moment to ourselves returned, he grabbed my thigh and pulled me closer again. The first thing he did was tackle my sweet spot with intense kisses, making my legs tense in response but I pushed him away before my willpower could fade again. “Fuck, man, I just wanna see my friends!” I hotheadedly snapped while crossing my arms. “I don’t gotta take you along. I got my own car too now.”

“A car without a driver's license.” he countered my sass while running his hand up and down my leg as if my skin felt like silk. “I can help you with both if you’d like me to.” his voice grew quiet as he leaned back in and started to kiss my bare shoulder when my baggy sweater partially slid down my arm.

My palpitating heart made my cheeks react with another blush as I turned my head away from him. “Yeah, sure, whatever, will you get off of me already??”

*Before you get me hot and bothered again!?*

I screamed my thoughts in my skull but Julian finally showed some obedience, and restraint, as he took his hands off of me and stepped back. I couldn’t hold back my loud sigh of relieved annoyance. “Fucking hell. Alright, let me get changed and I’ll meet you in the garage.”

*I’d rather not run into anybody else seeing us together.*

He didn’t say anything at first and I didn’t give him a chance to as he slid off of the polished wooden table. I snatched up my new drawing tablet before leaving the room and heading to my bedroom. The whole art room thing was definitely excessive but this baby? It was embarrassing to admit but the thought of doodling on it made me feel giddy.

When I got to my bedroom I got dressed into the first clothes I saw: a skin-tight tank top that was a little ripped up and stained at the bottom from being mistreated over the years. My baggy, ripped-up jeans fit well with it and just slightly showed my dirty, old sneakers that I’ve owned for fuck knows how long. I let my hair down completely and gave my head a rough shake, letting my curly locks flop past my shoulders–messy as always but I didn’t care.

Half of me expected Julian to be waiting outside my door despite telling him to go to the garage but, thankfully, he obediently obeyed me again. *For fuck’s sake. It’s like he turned from a begging puppy to a dog I can’t get to stop humping my leg.* Any other time I would’ve been annoyed out of my mind but for some reason this felt exciting to me, to drive a man crazy just by being in his presence. It made me feel like I got my superiority back and I was beginning to feel that I left back on the west-side streets.

Along my way I heard my mom with Gabriel in the library, laughing lightheartedly as they talked about something in one of her stupid novels. I smiled to myself when I overheard them. To hear my mom sound so happy again was an incredible weight off of my shoulders.

*I hope Gabriel never leaves her.* My peace of mind turned into a hateful fire in a split second. *If he even thinks about it, I’ll fucking kill him*.

My homicidal thoughts came to a stop when my shoulder bumped into another person’s. My expression reflected off of the other person–from surprise to frustration. Of course. None other than my beautiful, stuck-up, sister.

“Will you watch where you’re going?” her sass reminded me of a high school bully as she crossed her arms and looked me up and down with an unimpressed look in her eyes that mirrored Julian’s. “Where do you think you’re heading off to all prettied up?”

I lifted my brows with an insipid look in my olive-green gaze and fake astonishment. “Do you really think I’m pretty? All I did was slap on clothes off the floor. Gosh, sis, you’re so sweet to me.” my classic smirk returned when I took a step closer to her. “You wanna come see where I’m goin’? *Sister?*”

Grace grew flustered by the seductive look in my eyes. She dramatically rolled her eyes and flipped her ashy blonde hair over her shoulder. “Keep talking, mutt. You’ll get what’s coming to you.”

My smirk turned into a nasty scowl as I took a step closer to her, Grace had an unbelievable knack for pissing me off faster than anyone else in the world. “And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

Before Grace could give me a smart-mouthed response, we heard a worried voice behind us.

“Honey?” of course, the first person I saw when I spun around was my mother looking between the two of us. “Is everything ok?”

“...Yeah.” I turned my gaze from my mother back to Grace, my voice darkening along with the glare. “Everything is just peachy perfect.” I shouldered past Grace when I walked away. I’d rather leave Mom clueless than lie with an explanation. I did hear Gabriel lecturing his pretty princess.

*Ha. Fucker.*

However, there was still one thing that she said that still rotated my head. *Get what’s coming? The hell did she mean by that?* The memory of the worst blackmail anybody has ever had against me crossed my mind and how Grace changed her mind so quickly after a single conversation with Julian. I had almost forgotten all about it. *Just what the hell did he say to her? At first, I thought it may have been a warning or a threat. A little lecture wouldn’t be enough for someone like her. So it was either a threat or a promise–*

“Babe.”