Page 89 of Vicious Little Princess

“J, he’s right. Last time—”

“This isn’t like last time. I have the tools now to handle this. And, yeah, when I first woke up in the aftermath at the hospital, I might have doubted that, and it’s why I had you call in Roslynn immediately, but I’m more settled now. I’ve managed to get a handle on it. In fact, Cat and I—”

“We know you skull-fucked her,” I cut in. “She told us. And it was dangerous. Too early by far.”

“If it had been too early, I wouldn’t have been able to handle it. I certainly wouldn’t have been able to get off.”

“This is like piling on the pressure and weight upon already unstable foundations,” Nico warned him.

“The truth is, neither of you really knows that. You’re not me. You’re not inside my head.” He shoved his free hand through his thick blond hair. “So let me do this my way. You questioning it and treating my like glass really isn’t helping.”

“Because you’re trying to retreat into denial,” I pointed out.

“No. I’m moving forward.” He gestured between the two of us wildly, anger sparking. “Do the two of you want me curled up in the corner, rocking back and forth and crying about it like a little bitch? Or do you want me up and about and living my life again, beingmelike I always have been?”

“I just want you to feel better, Sunshine.” I closed the distance between us and stroked his arm, noting that he didn’t flinch, not even a little bit.

I wanted to believe that it was because he was actually feeling better, but given the limited time that had gone by and the brutal extent of what he’d endured, it was much more likely a case of him delving deep into denial.Goddammit.“That’s all any of us want.”

“I get that and obviously I want that, too. So, please, let me do this my way, all right? That’s what I need from you.”

No, it was what he wanted.

For us to back off, to let it be for now.

For nowwas all I could do.

“Okay,” I murmured, stepping back. “If that’s what you truly think you need.”

“It is, yeah. Thank you,” he said, smiling out at me, so close to the way my Sunshine was known for—bright and charismatic and full of hope and vigor.

“You can’t stop your therapy sessions altogether,” Nico said. “Less often, yes. At least for now, and we’ll see how it goes from there.”

“Fine,” Julian reluctantly agreed.

“Are you hurt?” Nico asked him.

“Hurt?”

“After what happened between you and Caterina? She loses control, and that’s become a lot more pronounced lately, that vicious edge of hers.” He smirked. “Sexyvicious edge,” he mused to himself. “Our vicious little princess. She’s bringing that out a great deal more.”

“Uh, no. She didn’t hurt me at all. Not even a scratch or any nail marks.”

“What?” Nico questioned. “That doesn’t seem feasible.”

“She submitted to me. That’s how it happened that way.”

Both Nico and I did a double take, exclaiming in unison, “What?”

Julian lifted a shoulder. “She just wanted something different, and she was still in the zone of treading on eggshells with me.”

“Sounds like more than that,” Nico uttered, worriedly.

Before anything more could be said on the topic, the formidable woman herself burst into the kitchen, her phone in her hand.

She brightened as she took in the three of us standing there, all of us in one place again. That only intensified when she saw the feast that Julian had made his staff prepare for us.

Instead of focusing on that for long, though, she gestured at her phone, and reported in that business tone of hers, “I just received confirmation on the Carlo Benzino situation.” She declared, “He can be trusted.”

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