NovelEnglishChapter 0572 Nicholas stood still for a long moment. Long enough for me to cough politely and then step backwards, out of Julian's arms, Julian, noticing my distraction, followed the length of my gaze to Nicholas.
Julian stepped away from me and moved out to the center of the deck. Nicholas walked further away from the door, coming to stand a few feet in front of Julian.
They were squared off like this, both standing at their full heights, their arms hanging at their sides.
The tension in the air was palpable. | could have cut it with a knife, | was certain.
| waited for the growling to start, or for them to start shifting into a fighting posture. | tensed my entire body up like a coiled spring, ready to jump forward at any moment and separate them. | didn't care that they were two Alphas. | knew neither one of them would hurt me.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtYet the growling never began. They postured, but not enough that seemed physically threatening, like one of them might through a punch.
Instead, Julian just sighed. His shoulders slouched. He'd given up the fight before it ever began.
Nicholas watched him with confusion.
I wasn't confused though. Julian knew | loved Nicholas, and this was his way of respecting that choice. His Alpha instincts and his heart might have made him want to fight for me. But his head and his friendship to me told him that would no way to keep me in his life.
Julian nonchalantly walked toward Nicholas, then angled to move around him. He patted Nicholas on the shoulder as he walked by.
Not a single word was spoken as Julian disappeared into the house.
With Julian gone, Nicholas looked to me. He wanted answers, no doubt, and correctly suspected | had the answers to them. And as much as | wanted to trust Nicholas with all the secrets | knew, this one, | felt, wasn't
mine to share.
Julian was my friend, and we had agreed to ignore his feelings for me. Bringing Nicholas into it would only incite a pointless fight or worse. Since Julian's crush on me wasn't going to change any of our relationships to each other, it was not worth it to create needless drama.
But Nicholas was waiting for some kind of explanation. | couldn't really play dumb here. Obviously | had sought Julian out and we had been talking. | also didn't want to lie
to Nicholas.
So | said, "Julian and Bridget had an argument this morning." The confusion cleared from Nicholas's face. "Ah," he said.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmHe walked closer to me. He didn't touch me, but | could still feel the heat radiating from his body. | leaned into it, into him. If our arms brushed a few times, we could always pretend it was accidental. No one would know.
Nicholas didn't ask for more details. Instead he said, "l was just speaking with Nathan. Because of what's going on, we've decided to cut the trip short." "How short?" | asked.
"We will all leave tomorrow at midday, and return to the palace.” I wasn't surprised with this decision. With everything that's happened, | was more surprised this decision hadn't been made sooner. | supposed the television producer had
hoped for more steamy and thrilling footage. Well, they sure got the thrilling part of it - at my expense.
Yet, | couldn't deny that | was a bit sad to leave the island as well, despite all the hardships here. For all the bad things that happened, many good things occurred as well.
Elva seeing the water for the first time and even making sandcastles, seeing the merfolk palace and breathing underwater, making love to Nicholas for the first time.
They were memories that | would hold near and dear to my heart. Though, ultimately, yes, | was ready to go home. | yearned for the relative safety of the palace. | also missed Susie and Mark, as well as many of the other staff. | hoped Charlotte was okay as well.
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