Chapter l443

Chapter 0443

“Hi, Piper!” Susie said, suddenly rushing past me. “Bye, Piper!” She took the stairs of the stage.

Bridget’s gaze never left mine. She didn’t say anything more, just winked at me, then turned to follow Susie up the stairs.

I stared after her for a few long moments, shaken inside and out. Just what had Bridget meant by that? A true kiss of passion, she’d said. With Nicholas?

No. I couldn’t believe it. Nicholas had said he won’t kiss anyone he didn’t want to, and I couldn’t let Bridget’s words shake my faith and trust in him.

But what if Bridget was someone he wanted to kiss. The lights of the stage could be intoxicating, and Bridget was a good actress. If anyone could convince a man to kiss her, it would be Bridget.

My stomach twisted into tight knots. Maybe I shouldn’t watch at all. Maybe I should just return to the sitting room with Elva and wait for Susie to tell me what happened.

Yes, that was what I would do. Decided, I turned away from the stairs, only to notice a figure lingering at the other side of the backstage, half in shadow. No one really went to that side, since this side was far more convenient.

Yet I recognized that shadvenient

Julian.

My worries dimmed a little under the wave of determination that rolled over me now. I still needed to talk to him, and here he was. We could speak privately there, and an escape would not be easy for him.

Resolved, I started toward him.

Onstage, the scene began, with Bridget talking to Susie. Susie delivered her one line. Her voice trembled with obvious fear, yet she still managed to say the words. I was proud of her. I would tell her later. But for now…

“Julian, we need to talk,” I said.

Julian didn’t even glance at me. His eyes were glued to the stage.

“Julian,” I said, more forcefully.

“Shh.” Did he just shush me?

I moved into his line of sight, blocking his view of the stage. Face blank, he simply leaned over to look around me.

Okay, I got it. He wanted to watch this scene as much as I wanted to avoid it. Was he some kind of masochist? Liked the pain? Or was this way of dealing with the potential rejection? Did he need to see Bridget and Nicholas interact like some kind of proof? Even if it was only an act.

Fine. I wouldn’t stand in his way, if this was what he felt he needed.

+15 BONUS

Sighing, I moved to stand beside Julian instead. I was annoyed though, and wouldn’t put it past him to try to sneak away again. So I reached out and clenched his wrist in a vice grip. If he wanted to escape me, he’d have to break my hold. That would be much harder to do now, since I had a wolf.

Onstage, Nicholas had climbed through the makeshift window and was sharing romantic words with Bridget. The scene made my stomach clench no matter how many times I witnessed it.

I glanced at Julian beside me. His blank expression had not changed. Suddenly, I began to worry about him even more than before. It wasn’t like him to not be quick with a grin and a quip. Something was definitely going on with him.

I’d promised Nicholas I would speak with him, but I would want to anyway. Even if I didn’t want the truth about what happened last night, I would still want to talk to him, to find out why he looked so broken.

“Julian…” I whispered.

“Later, Piper,” he said, still not looking at me. “I’m watching the show now.”

I closed my mouth again. He really did want to torture himself.

I guessed that meant I had to be tortured too.

When I returned my attention to the stage, it was time for the kiss. Beside me, Julian tensed. I tensed too, holding onto his arm for dear life.

I couldn’t see Nicholas’s face from here, only Bridget’s. She looked up at him with such pure devotion in her eyes. She was a great actress, but I wondered if not all of that was fake.

Slowly, so slowly, they leaned in toward each other.

My breath caught in my throat.

Please, Nick. No. Don’t.

At the last moment, Nicholas turned his head and kissed Bridget on the cheek.

A rush of relief pushed through me.

But then, Bridget, apparently having expected this, grabbed Nicholas’s face to center him, pressed herself up onto her toes, and smashed their lips together.

The crowd began to wildly cheer. So much for being on my side.

Beside me, Julian sighed. He gently placed his hand over mine, and I realized how tightly I was holding him. Still, I couldn’t force myself to let go.

Nicholas stilled for the length of the kiss. He looked like a statue, unmoving. When Bridget pulled back, smiling, he knocked away her hands then stormed off the stage.

Bridget watched after him, surprised for a moment. But then she corrected herself. She smiled as she turned toward the confused audience.

“My lover waits for me in the bedchamber!” she said, adlibbing. “He’s so passionate! I must join him at once!”

+15 BONUS

The crowd hooted and hollered.

Bridget ran off the stage. She caught up with Nicholas halfway to the sitting room. Much slower, Susie came down the stairs. She gave the pair a large berth, inching around them.

“Nicholas!” Bridget hurried in front of him to stop his pace. He started to walk around her, but then she said, “Do you truly hate me so much?” Finally, he stopped.

“I made my position clear from the start, Bridget. No kissing,” Nicholas said. “You disrespect that and disrespected me.”

“I respect you,” Bridget said. “Of course I do. But you cannot think that a passionless kiss would have convinced that audience we are in love?”

“It is a play,” Nicholas said. “It does not need to be convincing.”

“It does if I am to have any chance in this competition!” Bridget said, voice raising. Then she cleared her throat and lowered her voice again. “Do you truly hate me so much that you want me gone? If we do not both play our parts, it makes me look bad.”

I could not imagine a universe in which Bridget, the professional actress, would receive less points in this event than anyone else. Especially not because Nicholas wouldn’t kiss her.

Perhaps it was professional hubris that drove her words now.

I suspected she just wanted a proper kiss from Nicholas. Jealousy rose like a growl in my throat. I bit it down. I bit it all down. To be fair, I couldn’t blame her. Nicholas’s kisses were hot and fiery. I would do so many things to be able to burn in him.

“I don’t hate you,” Nicholas said, sighing. “But the kiss was unnecessary.”

“I assure you it was very necessary. It’s the easiest way to convince the audience –”

“Easiest way, not the only way.”

“Nicholas.” Bridget placed her hands on her hips. “You are being purposefully difficult.‘

“You are being difficult, Bridget,” Nicholas said. His voice was proud and sure, unwavering. It had been for the length of this conversation. “In this, you are in the wrong.”

Bridget suddenly looked taken aback, properly scolded.

“You’ve overstepped,” Nicholas said. “See that it doesn’t happen again.”