Page 60 of Alive At Night

A strange fire danced in his eyes. A tick jumped in his jaw. Anger flashed across his face. Anger at…Noah?

“He didn’t do anything,” I assured. “Not last night.”

Frowning, Julian took another step closer. I really wished he wouldn’t do that. Being so close to Julian made it hard to focus on…anything. Thinking. Talking. And frankly, I was afraid of liking it.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he pressed.

All of this—it had been what I was trying to avoid. But clearly, it was unavoidable.

“It means he texted me this morning to let me know he can’t go with me to Sofia’s wedding anymore.”

My words lingered between us, hanging there. Julian sucked in a breath, almost like he needed to absorb what I’d said to make it true. Then his mouth opened and closed at least twice before he could say anything.

He was reacting better than Gemma had, although that was to be expected. Gemma had cursed Noah out in a string of text messages. But Julian was surprisingly calm.

“Why not?”

I shook my head. “Something to do with his football schedule.”

Julian’s frown deepened. “When’s the wedding again?”

“Not this weekend but the next.”

He nodded. And then kept nodding. Until finally, he cleared his voice. And for some reason, I realized he was about to say something that would mess with everything. It would make it harder to ignore the new mixing with the old.

“I’ll take you.”

Silence followed, broken only by my heart, which felt like it was hammering loud enough for the entire office building to hear.

No.

He couldn’t have said that. Julian volunteering to spend time with me? No.

“What?”

“Look, I know I’m not an NFL quarterback or anything, but…” He sighed, throwing his hands casually into his pants pockets and rocking back on his heels. And then an unexpected little smirk broke onto his lips. “But I clean up pretty well in a suit. And I owe you a date.”

Of course. It was his damn sense of fairness. His pride. Thedeal.But it wasn’t really fair. He likely didn’t realize exactly what he was offering.

“You’ll…go with me to New York for the weekend?” I clarified.

His restrained, nonchalant demeanor immediately shifted like I’d known it would. “It’s in New York?”

“It’s in New York,” I repeated, an odd mix of relief and regret filling me as soon as I said it.

He wouldn’t come with me to New York. There was no way.

“Noah was going to go with you to fucking New York? For the whole weekend?” He ran a hand through his hair, shaking his head. “Goddamn, Daisy.”

The first nickname of the day, and I didn’t even understand what it meant.

“It’s really okay, Julian,” I said, trying to slide away from him, scooting along the edge of my desk. It would be easier to have this conversation if I couldn’t see how blue his eyes were. “You don’t have to come with me. I don’t even think I’m going to go anymore, so—”

“If you want to go, you’re going.” He said it stubbornly, a finality in the words as he crossed his arms over his chest. “And I’ll go with you. If I’d known I was setting you up to spend an entire weekend away with a guy who you’ve just met, I wouldn’t have done it.”

“Oh, I—” My throat momentarily closed as I took in his insistence, his commanding presence that I usually found over-the-top and unnecessary, irritatingly so. But now…I didn’t know what to think. “And you’ll pretend to be my boyfriend?”

Skepticism laced the question. I wasn’t ready to accept this. A few hours ago, I convinced myself that I wouldn’t even be attending the wedding. In a moment of overwhelming rejection, I swore off taking risks—risks like fake dates and meeting new siblings.

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