When Stars Burn

Chapter Thirteen: When Worlds Collide

A/N: Hi everyone! Thanks for checking out the newest chapter for Star. Some people might think the progress is too slow but this isn't exactly a wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am kind of love story. LOL. Just because they're together, doesn't mean it's happily-ever-after. You know how it goes with my stories. =)

Anyway, hope you like it!

***P.S. Star is very outspoken about her views and some of you might not agree with her but I hope you don't jump into automatic defense or offense. Star's perception is limited by her own experience, by her own tribulations in life, by her own self-imposed edicts that have very little room for compassion—even for her own self. So yes, she's going to blame people when in truth, those people might be better served by more open minds, but give Star some room. She's growing and that growth has to come from somewhere. Thanks!

***

Later that morning, once Julian and I had both taken a shower—separately, to be clear—we walked to the café a couple blocks down to grab some lunch. A few steps out of the townhouse, he took my hand and held it in his. I glanced at our joint hands for a long time before looking up and finding him waiting for a reaction from me, a hint of anxiety in his eyes.

Julian Wilde is nervous about holding a girl's hand.

He's really been all kinds of contradictions to his notorious reputation since I met him.

I smiled and gave his hand a squeeze. "Do you really want to advertise this? People might see."

Just then, a petite blonde stepped out of a bookstore and saw Julian, her eyes lighting up with recognition as she gave him a little wave.

The little bubble I've been floating in since last night popped as I realized that while I was joking about people seeing, there was a good amount of truth to it. And it wasn't just about running into people in general—it was running into all the girls Julian had built his reputation on.

With Ram, the presence and accessibility of other women were a relief to me because they distracted him from taking everything he wanted from me.

With Julian, I was feeling the opposite of relieved.

I attempted to slip my hand, irritated at myself for being irritated at an unfortunate truth I was already quite aware of, but Julian held it in place as he tipped his head politely to the blonde. He probably couldn't remember her name either. The girl blinked maybe because that was a much milder reaction than what she'd usually gotten from him, but then she glanced at me, then to my hand intertwined with Julian's, and her smile grew understanding and she walked on.

"Don't even try to use that excuse to pretend this isn't happening," he murmured in my ear as we continued on our way.

I arched a brow. "Didn't you used to have many things happening all at the same time with different girls?"

He countered me by raising his own brow at me. "This has never happened before. And you know it."

Okay, that was way more forthcoming than I was prepared for. It actually left my heart stuttering a little, as if I'd just burst into a short, fast run and was out of breath.

"Don't make promises you can't keep," I said to Julian, unable to stop myself.

His dark green eyes bore into mine with a seriousness that was uncharacteristic of him. "And don't go into this assuming that the worst is going to happen. Give it a fair chance."

I was going to argue because I was expecting the worst, like I always did because it served me well, but I didn't get a chance because Julian leaned down and dropped a kiss on the top of my head, effectively silencing all my protests even though he'd left my mouth free.