Page 73 of Secret Submission

“It’s… I mean, I see what you’re saying, but it’s not the same.”

“Sounds the same to me,” Julie said, getting to her feet. “However, I don’t think this discussion has anything to do with me and everything to do with the two of you, so I’m going to leave you to it. I have a call to make.”

Perhaps talking to Connor tonight, after being confronted by Law, wasn’t the best timing, but she didn’t think it was fair to leave him hanging. At the very least, she could text him and set up a time and place to meet, but the main point was that she wanted to get out of there and away from Law and Iris’ back and forth. It wasn’t actually an argument yet but if it became one, she didn’t need to be there for it.

She had her own relationship issues to work out.

Unfortunately, when she stepped out into the lobby of Marquis, Olivia and Camille were there waiting for her. Since it was a Monday and there were no classes tonight, the club was closed, which meant they were both dressed for work rather than in fetwear. Camille must have come straight from the office.

“Oh, no,” she groaned, slumping. “Not you, too.”

“Well, you have to admit, we’re better than Law, at least,” Camille commented, her lips quirking up in a smile.

“You’d better be,” Julie grumbled, sighing as she made her way over to her friends. Despite their words, as soon as she reached them, they both opened their arms to hug her.

They knew she was hurting. They knew this wasn’t easy for her. The fact that Law was putting everything on her shoulders was definitely a big pain point for her. Did she recognize that she’d behaved unreasonably in some places? Absolutely. But she wasn’t the only one who’d been in the wrong. Connor had made mistakes, too. While she was absolutely going to own up to what she’d done wrong, she didn’t get the feeling Law had seen where Connor had stepped in it, too. And the fact he and Iris had apparently had a similar situation recently, and Law still didn’t see where Julie was coming from…

She squeezed her friends back, incredibly grateful for their support.

“So how much have you heard?” she asked as the hug broke apart, and Olivia gestured for them to go into her office. Pulling her phone out of her purse, she sent off a quick text to Connor, asking if he’d be free to talk a little later. Olivia took her own seat in the chair on the other side of the desk, and Camille settled into the one next to Julie.

“Just that the meet-the-family didn’t go so well,” Olivia said. “Something about Connor making too good of an impression on your family?” The dubious way she said it made Julie feel a little better since Olivia obviously didn’t put any credence in the idea.

Julie had to laugh.

“It’s sort of true.” She sighed. “Not that I didn’t want him to, but… well, we showed up, went inside to get drinks, and when we were about to head out to the backyard, I saw that John was there.”

“Girl, no…” Camille gasped, putting her hand on her chest, her jaw dropping. Olivia made an aggravated noise, picking up a pen and starting to twirl it around in her hands.

“Pretty much. So you know, I said we needed to go. Because that’s my boundary with my parents. I’m not going to try to keep them from maintaining their relationship with John if that’s what they insist on doing, but I’m also not going to be there for it.” She couldn’t control what they did; she could only control what she did. “Instead, Connor decided that we should stay… something about not letting John win since it’s my parents and my family, and then he took my hand and led me outside.”

“And you let him?” Olivia raised her eyebrows in surprise, and Julie grimaced. Yeah, she should have dug her heels in then, but…

“Honestly, I had kind of frozen. I don’t know why, but I really didn’t expect my parents to invite John. I saw him and realized what had happened and… froze. I also didn’t expect Connor to just decide for me what we were doing, and I wasn’t really thinking. I just went with him.” She sighed again, rubbing her forehead where it was creasing. For the past twenty-four hours, she’d been psychoanalyzing herself in the back of her head, trying to figure out why she’d acted the way she had, yet she felt no closer to answers.

“I’m sure him saying something about winning didn’t help,” Camille observed. “First, because that was definitely going to remind you of John. Second, because he was also right about that. If you keep letting John chase you off from your own family, he’s definitely winning.”

“But if I stay, my parents are getting what they want.” Julie made a face. “And then I have to put up with John. I divorced him specifically so I wouldn’t have to do that anymore.”

“Fair point.” Olivia was still playing with her pen, one end of it tapping lightly against her desk while she was thinking. “So, then Connor spent the afternoon showing off to your parents and focusing on them and what they wanted instead of you and what you wanted, which meant they won, and on top of that, you had to spend time around John again.” Her tone had definitely turned disapproving.

“I’m sure he wasn’t thinking about it like that.” Which was exactly what she’d been telling herself, but it hadn’t really sunk in until she was defending him to Olivia. Olivia smiled, and Julie rolled her eyes.

Yeah, she’d been set up for that one. She got it.

“Did he know about the boundaries you have with your parents?” Camille asked.

“Yeah, we’ve talked about how I deal with them. Granted, I didn’t say, ‘Hey, if my ex shows up to this, we’re out of here’ because I didn’t think I would need to, but he knows I don’t stay on the phone with them if they bring him up. He knows about me leaving as soon as John showed up the other week. That’s why I told my parents about him in the first place.” She sighed.

Her phone beeped, and she automatically checked it, blinking in surprise as she read the message back from Connor.

“He’s downstairs.” The text said he’d be happy to talk right now, but he was at the Marquis restaurant with Q and Asad.

“Who?” Olivia frowned, her pen coming to a halt.

“Connor.”

“Oh.” The pen started up again. “For a wild second, I thought you meant John.”

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