My Stepbrother Wants Me-Chapter 182: Punishing Kiss

Julian’s POV

I couldn’t breathe. Not properly. Not since the moment I stepped out of Catherine’s room last night, leaving her shivering and flushed in her underwear.

The image of her skin, the way her body had betrayed her mind by responding to my touch was like a parasite living under my eyelids. Every time I closed my eyes, I felt the dampness of her panties against my hand and heard that hitch in her breath that only I knew how to draw out of her.

I badly wanted to see her. Gabriel was sitting a few seats away, looking bored and scrolling through his phone. He was the easy mark.

"Gabriel," I muttered, leaning over. "My phone died and I need to make a quick call. Can you lend me yours for a second?"

Gabriel didn’t even look up. He just pulled his phone from his pocket and tossed it to me. "Don’t be long. I’m expecting a text back from a girl."

"Yeah, whatever," I said, sliding the device into my pocket.

I didn’t call anyone. My fingers moved rapidly over Gabriel’s screen. I knew he had her number saved simply as ’Catherine.’

Can you please come to Hall B-12? I need your help with something. Please hurry.

I hit send and felt an exhilarating jolt of adrenaline. B-12 was perfect. It was rarely used during the morning block. It was the only place where I could get her alone.

I kept Gabriel’s phone. I told him I needed to wait for a call back when he asked for it ten minutes later. He had a class to attend, so he told me he would get the phone back after that. I stood near the entrance of the B-wing, staring at the screen, waiting for a reply. Five minutes passed. Ten.

Nothing.

I leaned against the cold brick wall, closing my eyes and cursing myself. She wasn’t coming.

I headed back toward the main building, ready to find Gabriel and shove the phone back at him, until the device vibrated in my palm.

I looked down. It was a missed call from ’Catherine.’

She was there. She had actually gone.

I didn’t walk; I moved with speed. My heart was a drum in my ears, drowning out the sounds of students in the hallways. I reached the B-wing, the air growing colder as the crowds thinned out. I reached the door of B-12, my hand trembling as I gripped the handle.

I pulled it open.

She was standing directly in front of me, looking small and defiant against the backdrop of the empty desks. Her phone was in her hand, her face pale and etched with annoyance.

"Julian?" she breathed, her voice echoing in the hollow space.

I didn’t speak. I stepped inside and let the door swing shut behind me.

"What are you doing here? Where is Gabriel?" she demanded, backing away as I began to walk toward her. Her eyes darted to the phone in my hand. "Did you... did you send that text?"

"Gabriel is exactly where he needs to be," I said, my voice low and vibrating with the restraint I was seconds away from losing. "Away from you."

"So you deceived me into coming here to see you? Wow," she snapped, her voice rising. "What did you lure me here for? For your sick games, huh? Julian."

She tried to brush past me, her shoulder hitting my chest. I didn’t let her move an inch. I moved with a blur of motion, grabbing her waist and spinning her around until her back slammed against the surface of the nearest desk.

"Let go of me!" she hissed, her hands coming up to push at my shoulders.

"No," I growled. I leaned in, pinning her body with the weight of mine. Her scent was overwhelming. "Don’t you see that I can’t? It is fucking hard to stay away when I craze you every minute of the day. I can’t stop thinking about it..." I paused, sucking my lower lip, remembering her moaning sounds all over again. "I stayed awake for six hours thinking about the way you looked last night. Thinking about how you looked at me while I touched you. Do you think with all this, it’s that easy to stay away? It’s crazy how I don’t think I can breathe without you in my life. What have you done to me?"

"Go ahead with your bullshitted talks but it won’t change the fact that I belong to another now!"

"You don’t belong to him," I said, my face inches from hers. I could see the pulse jumping in her throat, the way her pupils dilated. "He doesn’t know you like I do. He hasn’t seen the way you break. I have."

Before she could spit another insult at me, I seized her lips.

It wasn’t a question. It was a forced, desperate claim. I crashed my mouth against hers with a raw violence that tasted of all the months of suppression. She tried to turn her head away, her small fists thumping against my chest, but I caught her jaw with one hand, forcing her to take the kiss. I bit her lower lip, pulling a soft, wounded moan out of her that I swallowed whole.

Her resistance lasted only seconds. It was the same as last night; the same terrifying, beautiful betrayal of her own will. Her hands stopped fighting and clenched into the fabric of my shirt, pulling me closer as her mouth opened under mine.

I broke the kiss just an inch, my breath hitching as I looked down at her. Her lips were swollen, her eyes glazed with hatred and pure want.

"Stop... Julian, stop," she whispered, though she didn’t move away.

"Why?" I taunted, my hand sliding down from her jaw to the curve of her throat. I squeezed just enough to make her gasp. "Tell me you don’t want this. Tell me you aren’t thinking about how much better this feels than anything Dante could give you."

I moved my hand lower, tracing the line of her collarbone before dipping beneath the edge of her shirt. I felt her shiver, her back arching off the desk as I found the skin I had been dreaming of.

"I told you last night," I whispered against her ear, my voice a dark, jagged thread. "I’m not going to take you by force. I don’t have to. Because despite all your lies, despite that suit-wearing prick you brought into our house, your body still screams for me."

I nipped at the sensitive skin of her earlobe, my hand moving with a slow, agonizing deliberate pressure. She was shaking, I could feel the heat radiating off her.

"I’m still waiting, Catherine," I breathed, my lips dragging across her cheek back to her mouth. "I’m waiting for the moment you finally stop lying to yourself. I’m waiting for you to crawl into my room, throw yourself at me, and beg for me to give you what you actually need."

I pressed my hips into hers, letting her feel the hard reality of my own arousal, letting her know exactly what she was doing to me.

"I want to hear it," I hissed. "I want to hear you beg for my dick. I want to hear you admit that I’m the only man who truly owns you."

She looked at me, her eyes brimming with fierce, angry tears. "I hate you," she choked out.

"I know," I said, a dark, victorious smirk pulling at my lips. "But you want me more."

I gave her one last, punishing kiss, my tongue deep in her throat, before I abruptly pulled away. I left her leaning against the desk, disheveled and gasping for air.

I knew she wouldn’t follow me immediately. She needed time to fix her hair, to wipe my taste off her lips, and to try and piece back together the lie she was living. It didn’t matter. The cracks were there, she would come to me soon.