Page 82 of Accidental Fiancé

“What did you just call me?” I interrupted him.

He chuckled. “You always told me Maggie wasn’t short for anything, so I made up names for you in my head.”

“Maggitha?”

He shrugged. “It’s better than Margaret.”

I took a breath and shook my head, trying not to laugh when I really wanted to bark at him for making a joke during another serious discussion, and went back to packing. This time, I shoved things into my luggage. I had to speed this along. “Whatever you say, boss.”

Julian pulled my luggage across the bed out of my reach. “We are not having this conversation again. You know why I did it. I did it to protect you.”

“That’s all you’ve ever done, isn’t it? Protect me.”Not love me.

Worry etched across his face. “Why are you saying that like it’s a bad thing?”

I didn’t know how to answer that. If he didn’t understand it instinctually, how could I explain it to him? Did I even owe him an explanation? Not technically. But I wanted to tell him.

And where did following your instincts get you with Jules so far? Fucked.

“It doesn’t matter why I said it like that. Just give me my luggage.”

“Tell me why protecting you is a bad thing, and I will.”

A hard knot formed in my throat. I couldn’t look him in the eyes so I just stared at my clothes. My voice came out in a whisper. “Jules, don’t do this to me.”

He slid the suitcase next to my pile of clothes. His voice went cold. “Fine. Take it.”

Despair dug its way through me. I couldn’t keep my thoughts inside, no matter what lines they crossed. Tears trickled down my face. “You always protected me, Jules. When the football team picked on me, you were there. When Chloe and her idiot friends talked shit about me, you were there. Always defending me. Didn’t you think I could defend myself?”

He blinked at me, confused. “But you never did.”

“No, I didn’t.” I wiped my face, willing my tears to stop. But they didn’t listen and continued to spill down my cheeks. “But maybe I would have learned to stand up for myself if I didn’t always have you and Nora to do it for me. Maybe I wouldn’t have made up this huge lie about us when we were at the reunion and told Chloe to go fuck herself instead. I lied, and now… now your family hates me.”

He rushed around the end of the bed and took me in his arms. I let him. “It’s not your fault.”

His words choked me, and I shoved him off. “It is my fault, Julian! Don’t you get that? I fucked up.Me. I chose to lie about things to Chloe and I pulled you into it. I made that choice. Now I have to live with the consequences, and you have to stop protecting me from them. I will never be able to stand on my own against people like Chloe if I have people like you always there to swoop in and save me. That’s why protecting me all the time is a bad thing.”

He cleared his throat. “I won’t apologize for protecting you, Maggie.”

“I’m not asking for an apology. You thought you were doing the right thing. That’s all you’ve ever done. That’s all this ever was.” I finished packing and closed the suitcase. “You’re a good man, Jules. That’s why this hurts so much.”

“What do you mean that’s all this ever was?”

A sickening feeling struck my heart. More ugly words came rushing out. “I think you and Nora have it wrong. Our history, I mean.”

“What’s Nora got to do with us?”

“She said she thought you had a crush on me back then.”

“I did. I told you that.”

“I know.” The pancakes in my stomach turned to lead. “I know you think you had a crush on me. But?—"

“Don’t. Don’t you dare.”

I closed my eyes, noticing my tears had dried up. I felt empty inside. “Julian, you didn’t have a crush. You never saw me as an equal, so how could you have a real crush on me?”

He muttered, “What are you saying?”

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