Chapter 375/A Passing Glitch
Chapter 375:
Julie’s POV
Jake’s entire body locked up under the weight of my venomous words. His fingers clamped down against the marble countertop with such unnecessary, iron force that his knuckles turned a stark, absolute white. Evading my gaze, he spun around toward Steve, his voice slicing through the air in a sharp, dry, and highly rattled clip to forcefully hijack the conversation and run from the confrontation.
"Steve... shouldn’t your ass be heading out to work by now? Look, it’s practically hitting eight already."
Steve glanced down at his wristwatch, his eyes widening in pure panic and surprise. He aggressively pushed himself up from his stool, muttering in a frantic rush, "Damn it... this conversation completely threw off my schedule! Julie, look out for your goddamn self while I’m gone. If a single thing goes south, you call my line instantly."
I gave a slow nod, instantly adjusting my expression into a warm, reassuring smile to completely mask the lethal fire burning behind my eyes. "Don’t stress about me, bro... just go get your work done safely."
Steve moved with rapid, frantic strides toward the front door, slamming it shut behind him with a violent force that echoed loudly through the silent house. In a single microsecond, the kitchen plunged right back into a dead, desolate silence a heavy atmosphere violently charged with pure raw tension and a mutual craving for psychological revenge.
I turned around with agonizing slowness, locking my green eyes boldly into the absolute depths of his burning blue gaze. I didn’t offer him a single shred of hesitation or fear. I dropped my voice into a low, quiet murmur that dripped with scalding sarcasm.
"A best friend’s sister is completely forbidden and off-limits by your strict, honorable laws... right, Jake? Then tell me, for Christ’s sake, did that goddamn law even cross your sick, twisted mind when you forced yourself on me and fucked me?"
His massive frame and broad shoulders stiffened as if a lethal electrical current had just blasted straight through his spine. The provocative, mocking smirk completely vanished from his harsh features all at once. He aggressively dragged his wide palm across his mouth, his fingers trembling with a visible, chaotic panic. When he finally spoke, his voice was a strangled, furious, and raspy growl, desperately trying to construct a cover for his sheer embarrassment and exposure under my unyielding glare.
"That was a solitary time and completely beyond my control, Julie... It was a cheap mistake, a passing glitch that will never happen again in my goddamn life. Just forget the whole fucking thing!"
My lips twisted into a bitter, venomous smirk, my hatred boiling over. I leaned my upper body slightly forward toward him like a viper ready to strike, throwing out a deadly challenge. "And do you honestly think Steve your ride-or-die best friend is going to view it as a simple, passing mistake if he ever uncovers the truth? If he finds out exactly what the fuck you did to his sister, Jake?"
He narrowed his blue eyes into sharp, highly dangerous slits. He lunged his hot face closer to mine with a creeping, menacing intensity, his heavy breath fanning directly across my skin as he asked in a highly guarded, deeply terrified whisper, "And do you honestly possess the raw balls to look him in the eye and tell him?"
I drew a slow, deep breath, delivering my answer with a total, unbothered chill that violently snapped the neck of his engineered pride. "I don’t fucking know, honestly... maybe I will one day."
He let out a hot, heavy breath that sounded like a low hiss. Desperately scrambling to claw back his dominant control and composure, he shook his dark head with an artificial, forced confidence, dryly trying to reassure his own panicked mind. "You won’t tell his ass a single thing. I am completely fucking certain of that."
I arched my left eyebrow in a definitive, bold challenge. "Don’t sit there feeling so goddamn secure and certain, Jake."
In that exact microsecond, with the air between us practically sparking like gunpowder, the heavy silence of the kitchen was violently shattered by the loud ringing of my phone coming from my bedroom. I casually pushed myself away from the counter, brushing completely past his massive, burning body without a second glance.
Taking long, rapid strides down the hallway, I entered my room and scooped up the device. My eyes scanned the screen with a tight, anxious frown it was a highly familiar number.
*Max.*
I aggressively swiped the answer button, pressing the phone tightly against my ear as I kept my voice entirely grounded. "Hey, Max... how are you holding up?"
His deep, gravelly baritone instantly flooded the line, vibrating with a warm, comforting familiarity mixed with raw longing and genuine worry. "Hey, Julie... Jesus, I’ve missed your ass like crazy. It’s been absolute hell running this club without you here."
A tight, painful lump formed in my throat, heavy with the ghosts of the past. "I miss you too, Max, seriously... You’re my coach and my closest friend."
He cut straight to the chase, the panic evident in his voice. "Tell me the absolute truth, are you and Steve completely safe and out of harm’s way down in that area?"
I forced my voice to sound entirely solid to ease his mind. "We are perfectly fine, Max. Don’t worry about us for a single second."
Suddenly, his entire tone shifted, dropping into a deadly serious, quiet, and highly guarded register. "Julie... listen to me very carefully. I need to give you a definitive, dangerous piece of news right now."
My brows knitted together, a cold knot of anxiety tightening in my gut. "What the hell is it? You’re starting to terrify me."
Max delivered the words heavily, the pain palpable in his voice. "Your piece-of-trash father... I saw his ass with my own two eyes yesterday. He showed up right here at the club."
My entire body locked up instantly, a freezing wave of dread rushing straight through my limbs until the blood practically turned to ice in my veins. "My father?! Why the living hell would he show up at the club? What the fuck does he want now?!"
Max issued a flat, chilling warning. "I am completely certain he is hunting for your exact location. Robert refuses to back down, Julie. The man is completely unhinged, flipping the goddamn earth upside down and tracking every single available lead. You need to watch your back."
I swallowed hard, a painful lump scraping against my throat as my fingers clamped around the phone in a frantic, white-knuckled grip. Tears blurred my vision, but I forced out a strangled whisper of gratitude. "Thank you for getting this to me in time, Max... seriously, thank you for staying loyal."
"Just take care of your damn self," he pleaded heavily. "And whatever you do, don’t you ever think about stepping foot back in this city, no matter what happens."
I hardened my jaw, determination flaring through my chest. "I won’t, Max... not even if it costs me my goddamn life."
I ended the call, lowering the phone with a hand that was visibly vibrating from the sheer shock of the news. Not even a handful of seconds slipped by before the device aggressively vibrated in my palm again, making me jump. I looked down at the screen it was Stella. I swiped the answer button with a detached chill, but before I could even utter a single syllable, her loud, energetic, and completely hyper voice exploded through the speaker.
"Hey, Julie, sweetie! Morning to the most beautiful girl in the world!"
I let out a slow breath, feeling an immense wave of psychological exhaustion washing over me. "Hey, Stella... what’s up?"
She spoke with an unshakeable, joyous rush. "Later this afternoon, I am absolutely dropping by your place so we can officially start prepping and doing you up!"
My brows knitted together in complete annoyance and confusion. "Prep me for what? What the hell are you talking about?"
She let out a dramatic gasp followed by a playful, teasing giggle. "Duh! Did your ass seriously forget your big dinner date tonight with my gorgeous brother Mike? The one out in the city?"
I let out a heavy, utterly defeated sigh, my tone dripping with obvious mockery. "Stella... what is with this ridiculous, overblown drama? Am I heading to a royal goddamn wedding, or is this just a casual dinner between two old friends?"
She cut me off with a stubborn, feminine finality that left absolutely no room for debate or retreat. "Julie, I am absolutely coming over later, and I’m bringing my entire stash of supplies. So don’t you dare try to argue with me using that stubborn attitude of yours, got it? Bye!"
Surrendering entirely to her relentless, annoying persistence, a faint, exhausted smile touched my lips. "Fine, Stella... do whatever the hell you want."
I cut the line, a bitter, mocking smile pulling at my mouth at the sheer, chaotic absurdity of my situation. Poor Stella actually believed I was heading out on a legitimate romantic date, a night charged with intense feelings and grand confessions with her brother. Meanwhile, my mind was trapped in a completely different abyss, writhing under the weight of my past and the lethal shadow of Robert’s threat.
I stepped out of my bedroom with quiet, measured strides. I caught sight of Jake out in the hallway, aggressively throwing on his black leather jacket with extreme irritation. His massive, towering frame completely filled the narrow space. He violently yanked the front door open and stormed out, slamming it behind him without casting a single glance my way or offering a goddamn goodbye.
I didn’t give a single shit about his attitude. Instead, I headed straight into the kitchen, gathered the dirty dishes and the leftover pancakes from the table, and began scrubbing them under the freezing running water, desperately hoping the cold would numb my frayed nerves.
I took absolute advantage of Jake’s absence and the complete stillness of the empty house to claw back some of the raw strength, stamina, and physical armor I had been losing lately. I made my way into the massive living room and began training with a violent, hellish intensity exactly the way I used to push my body under Max’s brutal supervision.
Even though this place lacked the specialized fighting gear, heavy bags, or fitness machines of our elite New York club, I relied heavily on the sheer brutality of calisthenics to shock my muscles back to life.
Dropping my body flat against the floor, I launched into rapid, grueling sets of push-ups, my breath turning heavy and scorching as I used the rigid edges of the solid wooden furniture to elevate the challenge, forcing my body through pure effort and pain to violently purge every ounce of negative energy and weakness from my system.
Once my slender frame was completely drenched in a thick layer of sweat and I felt that deep, positive exhaustion wash over me, I walked on heavy, spent legs into the bathroom. I took a long, hot shower, letting the steam completely loosen my tight, worked muscles. I stepped out, wrapping my body tightly in a warm, white towel. Not even five minutes slipped by before a series of heavy, rapid, and frantic knocks violently rattled the front door.
Moving quickly, I dried myself off and cautiously cracked the door open. Stella was standing right in front of my face, aggressively gripping a massive, oversized makeup train case. A broad, wildly enthusiastic, and playful grin stretched across her face as she hollered with pure, unadulterated excitement:
"Julie! Look at that, I made it right on time without a single second of delay! Move your ass, gorgeous, let’s get inside right now so we can start transforming you into an absolute queen for tonight!"