Page 50 of Meet Me In The Dark (Skeptically In Love #3)
Julian is gone.
Not the kind of gone where he’s buried in meetings or lost to whatever empire-building keeps him busy. This is different. This is absence. Silence. A break in the rhythm we’ve fallen into.
It’s been two weeks since the night he showed up on my doorstep looking devastated, kissed me like I was oxygen, and fucked me like he couldn’t decide if he wanted to worship me or tear me apart. Two weeks since he kissed me with tears in his eyes and left me wondering what the hell happened.
The days that followed felt strange in ways I couldn’t explain.
Mornings were the worst. I’d lace up my shoes for our run, open the door expecting to see him, and instead find only the empty street and the sound of my own footsteps echoing.
Every time my phone buzzed, my heart leapt before reality dragged it back down.
Worry settled in my bones, tightening around me until I showed up at Mateo’s like some lovesick idiot, only to find Julian hadn’t been there either. I stood awkwardly in the spot where he usually trained me, with Mateo staring back at me with sympathy.
“I can train you today, if you want?” he said.
I swallowed my disappointment and smiled weakly, accepting the offer in hopes it would distract me from the heavy dread building in my chest.
Even his assistant, Avery, had nothing for me but clipped professionalism and some vague, useless line about Julian being “away on business.”
Away on business?
Fuck him.
By midday Thursday, worry morphed into a fury so intense it nearly blinded me. My fingers hovered over his contact, sending texts that remained cruelly marked as read but unanswered. Calls rang into mocking silence.
Was this his plan all along? To disappear and act like nothing happened, leaving me to figure it out on my own?
But I knew better. I witnessed the gentleness beneath his possessive touches and the vulnerability that flashed behind his guarded eyes. Julian was falling just as deeply as I was.
I was sure of it.
Fueled by that thought, I stormed out of the elevator onto his office floor last Friday afternoon.
Avery was at my side before I had time to blink.
“Mr. Blackwood is away on business,” she told me.
So I’d heard.
But it was her quick, subtle glance toward the end of the hallway that gave her away.
Liar.
“Thank you, Avery,” I replied stiffly, pretending to leave until she turned away.
When I was sure she could no longer see me, I moved toward Julian’s office door and threw it open without a single knock.
My breath caught in my chest when I saw him sitting at his desk with the phone pressed to his ear.
There was a roughness to him that wasn’t there before.
His gaze snapped up, eyes widening before settling into impenetrable coldness.
“I’ll call you back,” he clipped to whoever was on the line, hanging up without another word.
“You’re alive then,” I said, my voice shaking despite my efforts to remain steady.
“Celeste—”
“Don’t you dare,” I snapped. “Where the hell have you been?”
“Business.”
“That’s all you’ve got? Business?”
He leaned back in his chair, the picture of composure I wanted to smash to pieces. “That’s what it was.”
“ That’s what it was? You vanish for two weeks. No calls, no explanations. Nothing. And when I finally find you, you give me one word?”
“There’s nothing else to say.”
“Yes, there is,” I said, stepping closer to his desk. “There’s everything to say. We’ve spent months, what? Pretending this is just about sex? Because I know better. I’ve seen better from you. But then you disappear without warning, and I’m just supposed to—”
“Let it go.” His voice was calm, but there was something tight around his mouth, something he was trying to keep hidden.
“Why?”
“Because I said so.”
We stood there, frozen in a tense silence thick with unspoken accusations and unanswered questions. My eyes burned with tears I refused to let him see.
This wasn’t him, and something inside me screamed it louder and louder every second he looked at me with so much indifference.
He wasn’t the cold man he displayed in business. He wasn’t the charmer people often saw, either.
He was…
He was mine.
“I trusted you,” I whispered. “From the very first night. Blindfolded, vulnerable, in the dark… I trusted you even then. I let you in.” My voice broke no matter how hard I fought it. “I trusted you not to hurt me.”
“That was your first mistake, Celeste.”
I felt his words like a physical blow.
Silly Celeste.
Without another word, I turned and left his office, holding onto every shred of dignity I had left.
Only when I was safe behind my apartment door did I allow myself to collapse and let the tears fall freely, my heart shattered by Julian’s brutal silence.
“We’re ahead of schedule,” Darren says, pulling me back to the present. “The foundation work is solid, and the framing is coming along.”
A sudden prickle of awareness races down my spine, making me falter mid-step. Darren’s voice trails off when I go rigid. I don’t need to turn around to know who’s standing behind me. My body has become attuned to him.
Heart ready to explode out of my chest, I turn around, and at the sight of Julian, my knees go a little weak.
Stupid, stupid, heart.
Our eyes meet, and for a split second, I see a flash of guilt so raw it almost knocks me backward.
Then he blinks, and the mask falls into place.
A perfect, indifferent lie.
He nods curtly at Darren. “Continue.”
My teeth clench as anger simmers under my skin.
Fuck him.
Fuck his disappearing act.
Fuck his perfect, emotionless facade.
I force my voice to remain steady as I take over explaining the structural plans and the timeline, all while Julian listens silently, eyes fixed anywhere but on me.
It’s maddening.
We fucked like animals, and now he stands here pretending nothing happened, as if I’m a stranger he barely remembers.
“We’re making adjustments to the east wing,” I say, tightly.
Julian glances down at the blueprint, then shakes his head. “These adjustments aren’t necessary. They’ll delay the timeline.”
“They’re absolutely necessary,” I counter. “If you want this building to pass inspection and last.”
“I disagree.”
“You disagree?” I repeat, incredulous. “Since when?”
“Since right now. Revert to the original plan.”
I can’t breathe or think straight past the pulse hammering in my temples.
“You’re deliberately pushing me,” I bite out, fists clenched at my sides. “This isn’t about the plans. This is about you proving a point.”
“I’m making a professional judgment. Nothing more.”
“Bullshit. This has nothing to do with professionalism and everything to do with you needing to feel in control.”
Darren clears his throat. “I’ll, uh… give you two a minute.” He turns and practically flees the tension radiating from us.
Julian’s gaze darkens when I look back at him. “Keep your voice down.”
“Or what?” I snap, my anger finally boiling over, shredding whatever restraint I had left. “You’ll disappear again? Leave without a word?” He opens his mouth, but I cut his words from his tongue. “You don’t get to just disappear after months of mind games.”
“You’re making assumptions.”
“I’m stating facts.” My voice trembles, betraying the hurt beneath the anger. “You wanted to prove you could break down every wall I had, just so you could feel good about yourself? Congratulations. You succeeded.” My throat burns. “I knew I should have run the second I realized who you were.”
He holds my stare. “We’ll discuss this further.”
“We can discuss it now.”
He steps closer, voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. “We’ll discuss it in my office. Meet me there in thirty minutes.”
Before I can protest, he turns and strides away without another glance, leaving me alone and trembling.
Not for the first time .
“Fuck you, Julian,” I mutter under my breath.
Even as I say the words and fight the sting behind my eyes, I know I’ll be at his office in thirty minutes because when I look beyond my own rage, I know something deeper is going on in his head.
I can see it.
I can always see it because I see him.
And despite everything he’s done, despite the way he ripped me open and left me bleeding, I still want answers. I still want him.
And I hate myself for it.