Page 189 of The Comedown

One of his eyebrows tries to lift, but it’s caked in dried blood. “If the crown fits…”

“It fits,” I tell him, not even sure what either of those statements mean, just that he’s pissing me off the longer I have to sit here and watch him make a fucking mockery out of our relationship. The relationship he pushed for. The relationship he broke my walls down to get to. The relationship he made public before I was ready. The relationship he promised would lead to me being his wife and carrying his children one day.

The relationship that changed my life.

Goddamn him.

With a hard expression, he trails his middle finger up the back of one of the women’s thighs, and I don’t even hesitate to grab my knife out—my real knife—and flick the blade open. “I warned you, Julian. One finger. Remove it or I’ll remove something on you that’ll make you more like Osiris than you ever thought possible.” I punctuate my words with a smirk so nasty I’m not sure I even look like myself. I definitely don’t feel like myself.

All I know is I didn’t agree to a breakup, and as my man, Julian’s already been made well aware that I don’t fucking share.

Julian’s nostrils flare, but his hand drops to his lap, probably to guard his cock now that I’ve threatened to cut it off, then he scoffs, “’Cause you have a say.”

“Absolutely, I do. You’re my boyfriend. You’re my—”

Julian lunges forward off the back of the loveseat. “I’m a crack in your armor!”

Arms out wide, my ankle threatens to give out as I ask, “What armor? The one that just got stripped from me in front of millions of people?”

“All right, party’s over. Everybody out,” Axel speaks up, gesturing at the door. “These two need some privacy.”

“For what?” Julian leans back, the picture of blissed-out ignorance once again.

It’s an act though. It’s all an act. He’s not as trashed as I thought, and he’s not as clueless as he’s pretending to be.

Julian knows exactly what he’s doing.

Axel waves between me and Julian, saying, “To work that out.”

“This? This is nothing.” Julian shakes his head, glancing around at the bodies leaving as if he’s considering joining them.

Far from here, right?

How far we’ve come just to end up exactly where we started.

“What?” I choke out, swearing I must be the one that’s high because…what did he say? Nothing? “What did you just say?”

His glassy gaze hits mine. “You heard me.”

“Say it again.”

“This. Is. Nothing.”

“You bastard.”

Julian pretends not to hear me, and I lick my dry lips before telling everyone to hurry their asses up while tucking my knife away. Like cattle that need herding every now and then, they eventually manage to make it out.

When the door closes on the final guest, I say, “After everything you put me through tonight, you’re going to sit there and say this is nothing? That we’re nothing?”

“We are.”

“Since when? When exactly did you decide to end us?” Was it actually tonight? Or was it before?

He shrugs. “Right around the time you did.”

“Which was?”

“You tell me, Poohbear.” Usually he uses the nickname in a sweet, endearing way, but right now he’s wielding it with a derogatory edge, like a dull knife that’s still capable of permanent damage. “How exactly were we gonna work?”