Page 103 of Honey Pot

What the fuck?

My heart sank.

Every single muscle in my neck and shoulders tightened as I composed all the anger and shock that stirred around; swirling so fast beneath my chest that it formed a tornado that threatened to destroy everything in its path.Why the fuck was that guy even here?This was a weekend for the family, and he wasn’t Clementine’s.

His entire demeanor annoyed me. Tall with dark hair, thin lips, and a thick nose that took over all his other features; Julien had the face of a dopey-looking dog and brown eyes that drooped with the shape of his limp eyebrows. Never in my life had I wanted to hit someone more than in that moment. I forced the nausea down as he wrapped a hand around her waist and dug his fingers into the side of Clementine.My Clem.

“Morning, Cael.” Dad was the first to notice my presence.

Clementine tensed against Julien before she turned with a heartbreaking look on her face that was quickly replaced with a tight, professional smile.

“Dad.” I nodded. “Clem.” I looked over at her as I made my way through the kitchen.

“Julien Hearst.” He held out a hand to me with a crooked smile on his paper-thin lips that felt insincere. His voice was a grating, low-grade Philadelphia accent that curled at the end and forced the R in his name to roll away. It annoyed me even more than I already had been.

“Cael Cody,” I said, extending my hand because I could be polite. “He’s shorter than I expected,” I said, looking down at Clementine.

My Dad groaned from behind me; a warning to behave.

Well… Icould, it didn’t mean I would be.

“Clemmy can make anyone look taller,” he teased and kissed the top of her head.

That was stupid. Clementine wasn’t short by any means, she was nearly five-nine. Annoyance flickered over my face, but I shoved it down, resisting the urge to roll my eyes.

“This is a surprise,” I said, grabbing a mug of coffee and sliding up onto the counter. There was no reason for me to hover, Julien’s handshake had been weaker than mine after major surgery and, frankly… He didn’t threaten me.

Dad could tell because his body relaxed a touch as I got comfortable.

“I figured Clem would want some comforts from home for the weekend, so I invited Julien to join us for a few days,” Dad said.

“How kind of you.” I didn’t take my eyes off Julien.

Clementine silently begged me to look at her, but I couldn’t.

Being blindsided by her ex-fiancé wasn’t on my bingo card for the weekend. The emotions that snowballed were laced and volatile and, given her silence, she wasn’t entirely into him being here either. Looking at her, seeing her big, apologetic brown eyes, would kill any willpower I had to not beat the shit out of that guy.

“I’ve been missing her so much.” Julien shook his arm around her and laughed as Clementine was jostled in his arms. “Jealous you lot have gotten tospend so much time with her. When Ryan called, I was surprised,” Julien said, looking between the three of us as irritation weighed down his fake smile. “She’s never talked about either of you.” His dejected beady brown eyes stared at me. “Not asinglemention.”

I had so much I wanted to say, but my eyes slipped from Julien to Clementine.

Please don’t,she mouthed and forced a smile to her face.

“Just old family friends,” I said. “It’s been nice to catch up with her.” I slid off the counter, hovering over Julien by a good four inches with a cocky smile on my face. “I have to go set up for later,” I said, my lips pressing into a thin line. “Do you play baseball, Jeremy?”

“Julien,” he corrected me.

“Right, sorry, it’s a forgettable name.” I smirked when Clementine dipped her head to hide her expression.

“I play a little,” he finally answered, his chest rattled with shallow breaths, like a peacock ready to fight for its mate, but I didn’t need flashy colors to win Clementine back.

I had never lost her.

“Awesome.” I pointed to the circle of them in the kitchen and clapped my hands together. “I’ll see you on the field, Johnathan.”

“Julien.” He sighed.

“Clemmy.” I looked at her, and she nearly snorted at my use of the disgusting nickname. “Enjoy your pancakes.” I winked. “Dad, make sure she gets extra whipped cream?”

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