We stopped on a red light and I turned to Julian, making sure my features were smoothened into a blank one. There was no need to play nice now that Violet was asleep but a part of me knew I wasn’t playing nice to Julian simply because of Violet. Since he had come over to my house with cinnamon cookies, I had been a little kinder to him. A little.
“Yea?” My voice sounded so muffled and raspy, as if I hadn’t spoken for such a long time.
“Thank you.”
Out of all the things that I expected him to tell me, saying thank you was nowhere near the list of things I had in mind. I expected him to bring up the moment we shared earlier, my lips brushing against his, and I expected him to tease me about it. But Julian looked at me with soft eyes and for the first time, I couldn’t see the familiar storm in them.
“Why?”
He chewed on his bottom lip and then shrugged. “You agreed to join us today. I knew you couldn’t say no to Violet since she’s probably grown on you as she does to everyone she meets-,”
I couldn’t help but chuckle in agreement at that. “You’re not wrong about that.”
But Julian continued on. “And I didn’t really anticipate the fans that would take me away from her with the pictures in all. I’m just thankful that there was someone who was willing to accompany her in my absence.”
My lips twitched into a small smile as I pressed lightly on the gas when the light turned green. “It’s not like we would just stand there and wait for you for an hour on your impromptu meet and greet.”
He chuckled and leaned his head against the window and I wondered if he had anything more to say. Julian let out a long sigh and then closed his eyes. “Vi’s always been such an angel, you know. It’s not that hard to love her. Maybe that’s why I and my brothers are head over heels for her.”
I remembered what he said earlier, about how they always meant to treat Violet as a queen so she was aware of her worth. “This comment might cross the line but it’s not like we ever bothered with it anyway.”
Julian let out a small laugh and nodded his head. “Go ahead and ask.”
“You treat Violet like a queen because you want her to be aware of her worth yet you take advantage of women and break their hearts without remorse.”
When I glanced at Julian, he was biting on his bottom lip. “If this is about Amber again…”
But I shook my head. “It’s wasn’t just Amber and you know that, Julian. You were the notorious heartbreaker during freshmen year of college and even after you dropped out of the university. There were girls you screwed with and hearts you’ve broken and you didn’t even think twice when you did it.”
He was quiet for a moment and I wondered if he was thinking of an answer to my question but we had already reached his house. His house that seemed to be alive with loud music and there were people in the front yard with red cups and I was certain that the music came from the back. My eyebrows shot up in surprise, remembering how José had mentioned he was having a party.
But then again, Julian had told him to change the venue of his party which was why neither of us expected this crowd. “Stupid José.”
When I looked at Julian, his eyes were back into its shade of storm as he jumped out of the car and rushed inside. He was fuming, that much I could tell with his body language as he marched into their front door and ignored those who were calling him. I winced when he literally pushed Dylan to the side and I caught Dylan pursing his lips, aware that they basically just pissed of Julian.
I wanted to get out of the car and see what would happen. I’d seen Julian pissed off at me but he never really acted upon it and would just retaliate at me verbally. There hadn’t been any rumors that he was violent when he was angry but Julian was tired and I had a feeling he just wanted to crawl into bed after the day we had.
I saw Julian and José head out from the house, Carlos and Dylan following closely behind. Julian was making exaggerated hand gestures and I could see that he was incredibly pissed off at José while the latter tried in vain to explain. I wanted to come between them because it seemed like Carlos and Dylan weren’t doing their jobs as referees.
But then Julian pushed José and stalked to my car idling in front of their house. I lowered the window on the passenger side. Up close, his eyes looked so dark and it made me want to be careful with my words or else his anger would be directed at me. “Is it okay if you drop Violet and I off at the nearest available hotel?”
José was standing in the same spot and looking at us with pleading eyes. I glanced back at Violet who was curled in a ball and sound asleep. If Julian brought her inside the house and to his room, she would wake up in an instant because of the booming music. As for the party, it didn’t seem like it would be stopping any time soon.
I could agree to what Julian wanted and bring them to the nearest hotel. If the odds were in our favour, then they could book a room and spend the night but if the odds weren’t, then we would end up looking for another one. The bottom line was that it would take time and they were both tired and there was another option that could be presented as the easiest solution if only I would be willing.
Glancing at Violet once more, I knew I had to present the suggestion. “You two could spend the night at my place. As long as you agree to sleep in the living room.”
I’d always tolerated the hours that I had to spend with Julian. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, there was no denying that today was an exception and even last night was too. Julian was a lot tolerable when he had his niece around and it seemed like Violet basked him in a different light, plus we hadn’t really finished our conversation.
Julian’s eyes flashed with shock for a moment and then he nodded his head curtly, acting as if he wasn’t surprised with the suggestion. “Give me a minute to grab our things and then we could head out.”
I nodded and rolled back the window and José was waving at me, calling my attention and I just waved him off. When he asked me if I could allow Julian and Violet to spend the night with me so he could have his party, I said no without hesitation. I liked my solace but I hadn’t met Violet then and I really didn’t want her to ruin her peaceful sleep.
My phone pinged from a message from José, asking me where Julian was going to spend the night but I ignored the message. If Julian didn’t tell them then they didn’t need to know I offered. After five minutes, Julian came back to the car, still ignoring his bandmates bluntly.
“You know you’re like a girl when you’re upset,” I mused as he slammed my car door shut and motioned for me to go.
He scoffed and ran a hand through his hair. “Anyone who had a long day like me could relate to why I’m absolutely pissed to find a party going on in my house.”
“There’s that or maybe you’re simply getting old and losing your party energy,” I teased as I drove us to my house. Rather than retaliating, Julian was peacefully snoring. I couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight of him. His lashes kissed his cheeks and he looked like a little kid fast asleep like that. There was no trace of the rockstar that everyone seemed to fangirl over.
We were in my house after 30 minutes when I woke up Julian. He stirred, his eyebrows furrowing and I anticipated him to yell at me or something because he looked pissed until he registered where he was. He rubbed his palm against his face for a moment and shook his head. “I’ll carry her to your house.”