Catherine’s POV
Julian had seen the picture, opened it, and decided to act like it ant nothing.
At breakfast, he sat across from , scrolling through his phone like I didn’t exist.
I kept convincing myself the picture wasn’t even that good, maybe that’s why he didn’t care. I an... if it was attractive, Julian wouldn’t act indifferent towards it.
Every bite of my toast felt heavier. I could feel his presence beside , the sound of his spoon scraping against the bowl, the scent of his cologne and yet it was as if he was miles away. When I finally looked up, he was already pushing his chair back, grabbing his car keys, and walking out without a single word.
Fuck you, Julian Vaughn. Acting like he hadn’t seen half-naked on his phone last night.
Gabriel gave a curious look from across the table. "Are you okay?"
I forced a small smile and nodded.
He must have noticed, the way I was chewing that sandwich like I had a personal problem with it.
We left for school together, and I buried myself in thoughts that I didn’t want to think. Collins wasn’t in school because lucky for him, he had no exams today and I was kinda relieved with his absence. With the whole picture thing that happened yesterday, I forgot to text him back and he was mad about it. I could tell because I found out he BLOCKED .
By the ti our exams ended that afternoon, I just wanted to get out of there. The hallways were loud, filled with chatter and laughter. I was walking toward the gate when I spotted Sasha and her group coming in the opposite direction.
Ugh! Not now. The last thing I needed was to hear her fake voice or see that stupid grin she always wore when she talked about the most uninteresting things.
I quickly turned away, slipping through a side corridor, hoping they didn’t see . My footsteps rang faintly as I ducked into one of the empty classrooms to wait them out.
I closed the door gently and exhaled in relief, until his voice ca.
"And who are you hiding from now, Wildcat?"
My heart leapt into my throat.
I spun around, clutching my chest. "Oh my —"
Julian was there, seated at the far end of the classroom, with his legs spread and his elbows resting casually on his knees.
"What the hell? You must really enjoy seeing my chest leap out of my heart!"
He didn’t answer. He just watched with an unreadable expression, like he was trying to figure out who I was.
I took a cautious step forward. "Don’t you dare ignore ! What’s your problem?!"
He rose slowly. His height felt like a wall as he moved closer, stopping just far enough that I could still breathe.
"What’s my problem?" he repeated quietly. "I think that question is for you, Wildcat?"
I frowned, raising my eyes to him in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
He gave a humorless laugh. "Don’t act like you don’t know."
My mouth opened, but no sound ca. My mind raced, trying to catch up and then, he lifted his phone and turned the screen toward .
It was my picture, the one I sent to him by mistake.
For a second, the world stopped spinning. My stomach dropped so hard it hurt.
"How—how did you even—" I stamred. "It was a one-ti view."
He smirked faintly, sliding the phone back into his pocket. "Don’t bother thinking about how I saved it."
I felt heat rush to my face, I was half embarrassed and half angry. "You have no right—"
"No right to what?" he interrupted, his tone dripping with mockery. "To look? To keep it?" His gaze drifted lazily down my body and back up again. "You sent it, Catherine. You wanted to see just how good your tits look. Applaud yourself, because it worked real bad. Now I can’t stop thinking of sucking them."
I clenched my fists. "You’re so disgusting. Stop sexualizing my body."
He tilted his head, that cruel little smile tugging at his mouth. "Sexualize your body? What else did you think would happen when you sent a photo like that?"
My cheeks burned. "It wasn’t ant for you, idiot! I sent it by mistake!"
The shift in his expression was imdiate. The smirk vanished and got replaced by sothing darker. "Who was it for?"
His voice had changed to a rougher, dangerous tone.
I knew the jealousy in it when I heard it. I could’ve just stayed quiet or told him to back off, but instead, a small, wicked part of wanted to push him.
"It was ant for Collins," I said evenly.
Julian’s jaw tightened, and before I could blink, his left hand shot out, wrapping around my waist.
"Julian. What are you doing? Take your hands off , soone might see."
"I don’t care, Catherine," he called my na like a warning, low and edged. His grip wasn’t painful, but it made my pulse jump.
I looked up at him with a thudding heart. "What’s wrong? Are you jealous?"
His nostrils flared slightly. He looked like he wanted to say no, to deny it, but instead, he just scoffed, shaking his head as if trying to laugh it off. Then that dangerous smirk returned.
He leaned closer, his breath brushing my ear. "You want to know what I did after you sent that picture?"
I didn’t answer, but my silence seed to fuel him.
"I used it to get off," he whispered. "You should have seen how horny you made ."
Every part of went rigid. I didn’t know if I was disgusted or dumbfounded. Either way, my chest felt like it was on fire.
I pushed at his chest. "You’re sick."
He didn’t budge. The look in his eyes was maddening, it held a mixture of arrogance and hunger that made my insides twist. I shoved him again, harder this ti, but his hold only tightened.
"Let go of !"
He didn’t and so, I did the only thing I could think of. I bit his shoulder hard.
"What the hell?" He cursed under his breath and staggered back, releasing instantly.
I didn’t wait. I turned, heading straight for the door but before my hand could reach the handle, his arm ca around again. He spun back and pressed against the wall, his breath uneven now.
"Stop running," he muttered with a rough voice. "Do you have any idea what you’re doing to ?"
I glared up at him, breath coming fast. "I’m not doing anything to you. Don’t bla for your lack of self control."
His eyes searched mine for a long, tense second. Then his tone dropped even lower. "Lack of self control, huh? I really tried to stay away," he said quietly. "But you’re not helping. Why did you fucking send that picture?"
Before I could react, his mouth crashed onto mine.
It wasn’t gentle. It was ssy and desperate and way too long overdue. He started from sucking my lower lip while I tried hard to resist by not kissing him back or parting my lips.
But Julian wasn’t planning on giving up. His tongue pushed open my lips and he continued to kiss in a way that made my legs shake.
Before I could even tell, I was kissing him back. My left hand wrapped around his neck. His hands moved from my waist to my butt, squeezing them hard.
Oh my goodness. This was all shades of wrong. We were in school for fuck sake. Anyone could see us and it would an trouble for Julian... and myself, most especially.
Sowhere between the struggles, the surrender, and my thought, we heard a soft clatter from outside and broke apart instantly, both of us breathing hard.
My eyes widened as I looked at him. "Soone’s out there," I whispered.
Julian moved and opened the door, after scanning the doorway, he turned back to . "There’s no one."
A small squeak broke the silence, and a rat darted across the floor.
We both froze, then almost laughed at the absurdity of it, though the tension in the air never really left.
He walked back to and slowly called my na again. I looked into his eyes and got lost for a second. His hands wrapped around my waist again and he tried to pull in for another round of kiss.
I placed my palm on his chest, stopping. "Stop, Julian. This is wrong, soone can actually see us."
"I should go," I added, my voice barely above a whisper.
He didn’t answer, he just looked at , while his chest continued rising and falling.
I didn’t trust myself to stay another second, so I pushed away from the wall, ran my hand through my hair, and hurried out before either of us did sothing we couldn’t take back.
"Catherine? There you are. Been looking for you."
My heart stopped beating for a second when I saw Sasha standing at the end of the hallway with a smile that looked so weird.
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