Chapter 491

Chapter 0491 We hadn’t been alone since the kiss.

While we weren’t exactly alone now, with the others nearby, we were speaking privately. A faint heat began * torise in my cheeks. I didn’t know I what to say.

Julian blinked. He lifted his head and looked at me more critically. “Piper...” I he started but didn’t finish. Maybe he didn’t know what to say either.

The moment stretched out. I racked my brain for something else to talk about — literally anything else — but all I could think about was how we agreed never to talk about that kiss ever again.

Maybe... the weather? It was sunny again today.

Ug! Why did he have to kiss me? It took our perfectly healthy friendship and turned it into something awkward and uncertain. I didn’t know how to react around him anymore.

Julian inhaled a great breath, as if he * was preparing himself for something.

“Piper, I'm —-” “How are you feeling, Julian?” Nicholas asked as he approached us.

Whatever Julian was going to say to me was instantly lost. We both looked at Nicholas instead.

Nicholas’s expression was mostly neutral, but there was a kind of worry in his eyes.

“Much better, thanks,” Julian said. He scratched at his head, where I'm sure a

nasty welt was forming. Though, with his werewolf abilities, any hurt shouldn’t last for long. He'd likely be fully healed in a few hours. This was the only reason I hadn’t insisted we rush him to the hospital after a head injury.

“Good,” Nicholas said.

If T had thought things were awkward before with just Julian and me, they were triply so now.

I worried my bottom lip with my teeth.

Julian rubbed at his head. Nicholas stood there, looking at both of us.

“Was I interrupting something?” he asked.

“No,” I said, just as Julian said, “Kind ofl Nicholas narrowed his eyes a little. Yet

before he could ask anything else, Bridget bounced over to his side and clutched his arm. Se Her closeness to him, while wearing that revealing bikini, made my jealousy rumble in my chest, but I quickly ~ patted it down, reminding myself that I was the one who had kissed another man. Well, he had kissed me, but still.

@ At any rate, I should have been grateful for Bridget’s interruption. If Nicholas asked about the awkwardness between Julian and me... If either of us had told him the truth...

God, the two brothers might actually fight for real.

“You sure you're okay, Julian?” Bridget asked. Hanging off of Nicholas’s arm, she leaned forward,

her breasts practically spilling out, Julian lifted his gaze straight up to the wooden ceiling over the deck. “I'm fine.” Bridget laughed. “I’m so embarrassed about what happened. I swear it’s never happened before. I guess I just got so excited in the heat of the moment. The match was so exciting, wasn’t it, Piper?” “Yeah...” I certainly wasn’t going to shame another woman for wearing whatever she wanted, but I feel like certain precautions could have been taken to keep from flashing the other team on the volleyball court.

Honestly, I still wasn’t sure it was an accident. She could have flashed Julian on purpose, knowing it would distract him, so that Nicholas could clench the

wo EA ld victory. €» She probably hadn't intended for Julian to be hurt, though she could act a bit more apologetic and caring toward him. As it was, she only ever seemed to care about him just enough ~ to keep him on the hook.

I sighed a little. This was just how things were.

I wondered if Julian would ever be able to break the cycle.