I woke up to the sounds of someone banging pots and pans. I rolled over and smacked into a wall of flesh.

I blinked open my eyes blearily. I was faced with a muscled chest.

Julian.

My eyes went wide.

We’d slept together.

My brain went fuzzy as I tried to process the previous night.

The concert. The bar. The roof.

And then…

Should I curse and jump out of bed? Or should I stretch lazily and let myself press against his warm skin?

I laid there, blinking in the harsh sunlight, trying to decipher what I was feeling. A thousand emotions swirled within me.

I did know one thing.

None of those emotions was regret.

I finally let myself smile. I did stretch then, arching my back and wiggling my toes.

The movement woke Julian from sleep. He let out small, annoyed groan before opening his eyes. They landed on me and he stilled. I waited.

His face relaxed into his own pleased smile. He tugged me to his chest and pressed a kiss to the top of my head.

“Morning,” he said.

“Good morning,” I replied, stifling a yawn. I rested my head against his chest, basking in his sleepy-warm scent. “Although I think it’s actually past noon. I hope you don’t have anywhere to be.”

“Nowhere but here,” he said.

My heart sang a little thrill.

A loud bang sounded from outside my closed bedroom door.

“Shit,” I said. “Abby’s home.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Julian asked.

“No, but…” I flopped onto my back and put an arm over my eyes. “She’s going to flip out if she sees us.”

Julian frowned. “Flip out how?”

“She’s always looked up to you like you were her big brother,” I explained. “She never really got over us breaking up. I think she missed you as much as I did.”

Julian bent down to touch our noses together. “And how much did you miss me?”

I smacked him with a pillow. He chuckled and scooted to the side of the bed to pull on his jeans and t-shirt.

“Do you want to tell her about us?” Julian asked. “Or do you want to wait?”

I still wasn’t sure where I stood with Julian. We hadn’t exactly talked about what happened between the two of us. There had been no explanations or apologies. Not yet.

“I’ll get her out of the house,” I told him. “You wait in here.”

I quickly got dressed, opened the bedroom door only a few inches, and slipped out, making sure to close the door firmly behind me.

I shuffled my way to the kitchen where Abby was unloading the dishwasher. That had been what the noise was all about.

“Don’t you have class today?” I sat down on a kitchen chair, feigning a casual tone. “What are you doing home?”

“It’s Sunday,” she reminded me as she put one last dish away in the cupboard. She straightened, then turned to me with a pointed stare.

“So…?” she drawled.

I raised an eyebrow. “So… what?”

She nodded to the entryway. I didn’t catch her meaning at first, until my eyes fell on Julian’s shoes, clearly a man’s and several sizes too big for either of us.

So much for being discreet.

“I know you like to keep your cards close to your chest,” she began, “but if Julian Woods is on the other side of that bedroom door, you better tell me immediately.”

Before I could open my mouth and deny it, Julian opened the door and stepped out.

“Hey, Abby.” He ran his hand through his messy hair looking almost sheepish, his lips curling into a small smile.

My little sister let out a squeal and practically flew across the room to throw herself into Julian’s arms and squeeze him to death.

“Julian!” she cheered. “Welcome back!”

He accepted her bear hug without complaint and patted her on the head.

“Good to see you, too, kid,” he said.

She made a face. “I’m not a kid anymore.”

“I thought you had a study group on Sundays?” I said loudly. “Shouldn’t you be taking off soon?”

She caught my hint and gave me a silly little grin. “I’ll leave you lovebirds alone.”

She gave Julian one last hug and went to grab her bag from the table. She bent down to whisper in my ear.

“Don’t mess it up this time.” She turned her bright smile to Julian as she left the apartment. “Have fun!”

I put my hands in my face and sighed deeply. “Great.”

“Is it the worst thing in the world for Abby to know we’re together?” Julian asked.

“Is that what we are?” I peeked at him through my fingers. “Are we together?”

“I thought that’s what last night was about.” His expression turned worried. “Are you regretting it?”

“No…”

“I sense a but,” he replied.

“Julian…” I let out a long breath. “We never actually talked about what happened.”

He came to sit next to me and took my hand. “What’s there to talk about?”

I looked at him, incredulous.

“You left me! You left the band. You threw out everything we worked so hard for, and all for what? Because you didn’t like the terms of the contract? You thought we’d have to give up too much creative control?”

I yanked my hand from his and stood up to pace. All the outrage and frustration I’d been tamping down for weeks started seeping to the surface. My heart thumped an angry beat, my cheeks flushed.

“That’s how the music industry works,” I continued. “You don’t always get everything you want. Contract negotiations are all about making deals and compromises. If you had just stayed—”

“I thought you’d change your mind,” Julian said loudly, interrupting my rant.

I paused, halting in the middle of an angry stomp. “What do you mean?”

“I knew how much you wanted this contract,” he said. “But I didn’t trust Keith. He seemed slimy. Slick. Like a snakeoil salesman. I didn’t trust him. Neither did Seth.” Julian looked weary, his eyes downcast. “We tried to tell you, but nothing we said would make you budge. I thought if I left, you’d see how serious I was about this. I thought you’d change your mind.”

“You thought…” I trailed off, astonished.

“I know it was stupid and immature of me to turn it into some kind of ultimatum,” he said. “I shouldn’t have made you choose between me and the contract. And then when I came to my senses… I saw you with Keith.” Julian’s eyes burned with heartache and pain. His fist clenched. “I started wondering if maybe you and him…”

“I never cheated on you,” I said. “Never.”

“I didn’t think you did,” he said. “Not really. But I couldn't help feeling betrayed, like you’d chosen him over me.”

“And I thought you chose Seth over me,” I said. “I know how much the two of you care about the music, even more than the money and the fame. I thought he decided to leave and you choose to go with him.”

“I guess we both kind of suck at communication,” Julian said.

My rapidly pounding pulse slowed down. I returned to the kitchen table and flopped onto the chair next to Julian. His hands were clasped, his head bowed over them, hair falling over his cheeks.

“The only reason I was with Keith was because I was messed up over you leaving,” I said. “He gave me comfort. He gave me hope. He talked about all the amazing things we were going to do together. I was weak and I didn’t see him for what he really was.”

“You weren’t weak,” Julian said. “You were hurt.”

“He told me I was better off solo,” I said. “He said I had better chances of making it without the band dragging me down.”

“I know.”

I shot my head up. “What do you mean, you know?”

“I didn’t want to tell you this but…” Julian looked hesitant. “I spoke to Keith after our breakup. Or, more like, Keith spoke to me. He told me what you just said. He told me you were better off without us, that we were just hindering you. He really only ever wanted to give you the contract. We were just dead weight to him. And I knew that if I tried to get you back, if I tried to keep the band together, he'd pull the contract from you. He didn’t want the band. He wanted you.”

I barked a derisive laugh. “You’re right. That’s exactly what he wanted.”

Julian looked confused. “What?”

“I should have known,” I said with a shake of my head. “He swooped in so fast after you left. Made all these promises. Made me feel so special. I really thought he cared about me.”

Julian reached out and took my hand. “You never told me why you’re not still with him.”

A spike of panic went through me. I didn’t want to get into this. I didn’t want Julian to know what had happened. I didn’t want him to know how stupid I’d been. How weak.

“It just didn’t work out,” I said. “So I left.”

Julian pressed his lips together, and I knew he didn’t believe that was the whole explanation. I darted forward and placed a kiss on his cheek, patting his hand.

“Let’s go make some breakfast,” I said.

He eyed me carefully, but seemed to accept the change in topic.

“Sure,” he said. “What do you want to make?”

“Whatever you feel like.”

“You’re doing it again,” Julian noted.

“Doing what?”

“That indecisiveness thing,” he said.

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. “I just don’t care what we have for breakfast.”

“Ev, you’ve always cared when it comes to food. When it comes to most things, really.”

“So I’ve mellowed out,” I said. “What does it matter?”

Julian pinned me down with a stare, his eyes glinting. ”I’ve got an idea.”

“What is it?” I asked nervously.

A slow, wicked smirk cross his lips.

“Let’s play a game.”