The Truth About Unspeakable Things by Emily Myers (novel24 txt) 📕

because she’s over five hours away. Not to mention, if he hurt her, he’d have the wrath of the entire Marshall clan on his ass. She’s not as good at keeping secrets as I am. But Julian? Julian is the one he will go after next, and as much as I’ve tried, I can’t think of a way to protect him. Nothing, except—I need to distance myself from him.

If Beaux is watching me, he needs to think I no longer care about Julian. Or else, he’ll find a way to use him against me. Not to mention, I can’t keep stringing Julian along like this. I can’t keep telling him yes just to turn around and tell him no. It’s not fair to him. I just . . . I hope he understands. If not today, then, one day in the future, one day when I can tell him everything.

“Hey, um. I’ll be right back,” I say, standing from my place on the couch.

“Okay,” Kat says. She watches me curiously. “Where are you going?”

“To see Julian.”

Kat smiles a mischievous smile and I play along. If this is going to work, she needs to think we’re still together. In fact, she needs to think we’re better than ever. I’ll use Julian as an excuse for staying out late and any otherwise unexplainable absences I may have.

“Take your time,” she says, shoving a handful of popcorn in her mouth. I nod and hold my smile until I make it outside.

The weight of what I’m about to do is unbearable. Julian excites me. He makes me laugh and smile. He’s there for me when I’m upset. His kisses and touches feel like what I always imagined true love would feel like.

Wait. Did I just . . .?

I lift my fingers to my lips and turn away from his door.

“I . . . I love him,” I say aloud.

The realization only makes this harder, and I pray he’ll one day find it in him to forgive me. I pray I find it in me to forgive myself too.

Against my better judgement, I turn and knock on Julian’s front door before I talk myself out of it. It’s because I love him that I have to do this.

Julian swings the door open only to have surprise wash over him.

“Emma?” he asks.

“Hey,” I say with a small wave.

“Hey,” he says, looking behind him. Oh, right. His brother is here. “Come on in.” Julian takes me by the hand and leads me inside.

“Uh, Emma, this is my brother, Mason. He just arrived from LA this morning, a total surprise,” he tells me, eyebrows raised. I meet his look with a smile. “Mason, meet Emma.”

Mason sits on the couch, lifting his eyes from the screen of his iPad to greet me.

“Now it makes sense,” Mason grumbles. He stands and moves to shake my hand. “Emma is it? As in, Emma Marshall, the journalist who covered the piece on Lucid?”

“Yes,” I say, shaking his firm hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“The pleasure is all mine.” Mason smirks. He removes his glasses and bends to kiss my hand. His brown eyes seem to shift into slits as he watches my reaction. My cheeks turn a hot red, as do Julian’s.

“Um,” I stammer, pulling my hand back to my side. “Can we talk?” I ask Julian. “In private.”

“Of course,” Julian says, moving his hand to my back. I close my eyes and relish in his touch. After all, it may be the last time we share such a moment.

“Well, if you’ve got another article to write, you might consider hearing from the other brother this time,” Mason says as I move toward the kitchen.

“It’s not work related,” I tell him.

“Of course it isn’t,” Mason says.

“Sit down and shut up,” Julian tells him. Mason backs away, hands raised as if in surrender.

Inside Julian’s room, I move toward the bed but decide it’s best I stay away from there. Instead, I stand just inside as I wait for Julian to join me.

“Breathe, Emma. Just breathe,” I whisper to myself. “It’s going to be okay. You’re doing this for him. He’ll understand and if he doesn’t, he’ll forgive you, eventually,” I tell myself. Though, I’m not sure I’m of much help.

Julian enters the room and apologizes for his brother’s behavior as he closes the door behind him.

“He just came in today. I—I wasn’t expecting him, and I know he can be . . .” Julian says, struggling to find the right adjective.

“No, no need to explain,” I assure him. “It’s nice that he’s here, that you two are spending some time together. At least, I would assume so.”

“Yeah, it is,” Julian exhales. “We are working through some things. I’m trying to make him fall in love with New Orleans the way I have so maybe he’ll be a little more supportive of my decision to stay.”

“Stay?” I ask. “Right. We talked about that,” I stammer.

“Emma, are you . . .? Are you okay? I know you weren’t feeling well last night,” he says. “You look better, but also—”

“Another struggle to find the right adjective,” I interject. I look down then and wrap my arms around myself. I couldn’t have picked a worse time to do this. His brother is here and if getting dumped isn’t bad enough, getting dumped in front of your family is worse. And just when I need to put distance between me and Julian, he’s more certain than ever that he wants to stay in New Orleans. But what if my breaking up with him isn’t enough? What if . . . what if Julian needs to go back to LA with his brother? What if that’s the only way to keep him safe?

I’m suddenly aware that the room is quiet. I look up and find Julian’s eyes on me. For the first time since meeting him, they are lightless. His cheeks are hollow. His lips part in anticipation of what I’ve come here to do, to say.

I sigh and drop my arms to my sides.

“There’s no easy way to say this,” I say. My voice is so