Absolutely. Here's
---
Chapter 15: The Quiet Between Us
Julian always thought silence was a kindness.
It was control. Professionalism. Boundaries.
But today, it felt like punishment — and it was all he had left.
---
He walked past Elliot's glass office for the third time that morning, documents clutched tightly in one hand, jaw locked.
He could feel Elliot watching.
But he didn't look up.
Because if he did, he wasn't sure what would happen.
Would he crumble?
Would he forgive him too quickly?
Would he scream?
---
He sat at his desk and tried to work, but his screen blurred. The numbers made no sense. The notes were meaningless.
All he could see was Elliot — that look in his eyes that night. Cold. Detached. Consumed by fear.
Julian had seen it before. Not in Elliot.
In his own reflection. After years of pretending he was okay with being loved only halfway. After being touched like a prize but never held like a person.
He thought Elliot was different.
He was different. Until he wasn't.
---
Julian touched the faint bruises on his wrists under his shirt cuffs.
Marks from someone he trusted. Someone he had given himself to entirely.
He hadn't safe-worded. He hadn't said "red." But it didn't matter.
It wasn't the rope.
It wasn't the roughness.
It was the emptiness in Elliot's touch. The way he refused to see him. The way he turned their ritual — their sanctuary — into punishment without warning, without care, without love.
That's what broke Julian.
Not the sex.
The betrayal.
---
He stepped into the staff kitchen for coffee, but when he saw Elliot approaching down the hallway, he turned and walked away.
Too fast. Too obvious.
But he didn't care.
---
The pain didn't come in waves. It came in stillness.
In the quiet moments at his desk. In the echo of Elliot's voice in his mind. In the way he still half-hoped a text might come through saying:
"I'm sorry. I know I crossed a line. Please, let me explain."
But it never came.
And he wasn't going to beg for something so basic.
Not again.
---
By 5 p.m., Julian was drained. Emotionally hungover. He gathered his things and left the building without saying a word.
As the elevator doors closed, he saw Elliot standing at the end of the hallway.
Neither of them moved.
And then the metal sealed between them.
---
Julian walked home alone, wind brushing through his curls. The same streets he used to take to Elliot's apartment now felt colder.
He didn't know what would happen next.
But tonight, there would be no knock at Elliot's door.
No blindfold.
No ritual.
No forgiveness.
Not yet.
He still loved him. That hadn't changed.
But trust?
That had to be earned back.
And Elliot hadn't even tried.