He sighs and looks down for a moment. “I should have never pushed you. You almost died because of me—”
I cut him off. “It’s not your fault, Jude. You don’t need to apologize for that. I was dying anyway. Plus, I’m an adult, andI made my own decisions. I knew it would be a bad idea to do drugs with my heart condition, but I did it anyway, and on top of drinking a lot of alcohol.” I shrug. “I was reckless…so desperate to cram all these life experiences in the short time I had left, and I let that cloud my judgment. But in the end, I don’t regret any of it.”
His eyebrows furrow in confusion. “So you don’t blame me?”
“No, of course not.”
“Then why did you block me on everything when I tried to contact you?”
“It just felt weird talking to you, you know? I guess I didn’t want a reminder of that night. Plus, I didn’t think you would care all that much anyway.”
“Okay, I totally understand that, but I wanted to see you again…talk to you.”
I snort laugh. “Why? C’mon, Jude…be real, I was nothing more than a groupie to you. You couldn’t even remember my name. I was just a mindless fuck to add to your list, and that was fine by me because we were only going to use each other.”
His cheeks turn red at my words, so contradictory to his bad-boy looks. “True. But then I couldn’t forget your name or face after that night. You know, you’re the reason I got clean.” He swallows. “When I saw you collapse, I saw an image of me a few years from then in your exact position. I was going down a slippery slope…”
“I’m happy you got clean,” I say, a small smile curving my lips.
A tense silence stretches between us before Jude speaks again. “I’m sorry about your friend. Chloe told me you lost someone.”
“Yeah…thanks,” I mumble.
His eyebrows furrow. “So, I heard you’re with a guy. Is it serious?”
Shaking my head, I huff in fake annoyance. “Oh God, I need to have a talk with my best friend if she’s sharing every detail of mypersonal life with everyone.” Then, shrugging, I say, “It’s pretty new, but yeah…I think it is.”
“Knox told me about it. I think he’s tired of my obsession with you. He told me in hopes I’ll finally move on,” he says and lifts his hand to wrap it around my jaw. “You know, I wish you would have given me a chance,” he whispers as he drags his thumb over my bottom lip. “I think we would have been amazing together.”
My wolf growls inside my head. She is not pleased that a man other than my mate is flirting with me in a hotel room where anything can happen. I pull back from Jude’s hand and stand up. “Okay, mister, time to go. I need to get dressed,” I say.
He stands with his hands lifted in mock surrender and strides to the door, opening it. “I’ll see you later,” he says over his shoulder.
One hour later, a hunky bodyguard that’s all muscles and wavy auburn hair escorts Chloe and me separately from the band toward the two blacked-out SUVs waiting for us at the back entrance of the hotel. He is wearing dark sunglasses even inside, which I find pretty weird, and when he touches the back of my arm to guide me through the door, an ominous shiver skates down my spine. I shake it off and chalk it up to nerves.
Everything that’s happening seems too freakin’ surreal to me, especially that my best friend is now living like a celebrity. She’s already used to all of this, but I feel trapped in some kind of alternate universe. Like, how is this real life?
The bodyguard opens the door, and I get in after Chloe. The only seat available is the one in the back next to Jude since Chloeand Knox took the middle seats, the car being one of those fancy SUVs that looks more like a limousine.
Jude gives me a rueful smile and pats the seat next to him. “C’mon, Ava. I saved you the best seat,” he drawls with a devilish wink.
Rolling my eyes at his remark, I sit down as far as I can from him. The bodyguard closes the door with a loud thud and gets in the passenger seat. There’s something about him that irks me; I just can’t put my finger on it. The engine starts, and the car glides out of the alley into the evening traffic. Jude’s eyes burn a hole through the side of my face as I try my best to feign ignorance and scroll on my phone, though I won’t be able to do that for long. The battery is at one percent since I listened to music in a failed attempt to drown out Chloe and Knox’s sex noises, and I forgot to charge it.
I’ve barely spoken to Logan these past two days. Not by choice. Josh’s funeral was today, and between organizing the service and new patrols at their community borders, we didn’t get much time to talk, but I don’t mind. He has a lot on his plate at the moment. He also wasn’t happy when I told him I was going to the concert, but he saw the state I was in while grieving for Tony, and he agreed that I needed to do something to keep my mind off the horrible way he died, especially since the security will be tight at the concert.
When my phone dies, I watch the city pass by in a deep scarlet blur as the sun sinks in the horizon. It takes us about forty minutes to arrive at the venue. We all file out of the two SUVs, Chloe, Knox and the rest of the band getting into the building before Jude and I.
Just when I’m about to wrap my hand around the club’s door handle, the heel of my right boot gets stuck in the uneven pavement.Ugh, why does this keep happening to me?I want to kick myself for borrowing Chloe’s high-heeled spiky boots. Itseemed like a good idea at the time since they go really well with my leather mini-skirt and see-through mesh turtleneck. I pull my leg back with too much force, and I almost topple over Jude, who was walking behind me.
“You okay?” he asks as his hand wraps around my elbow.
“Yeah. Thanks,” I respond, turning my head over my shoulder to look at him.
His eyes lift over my head before snapping back to mine. Before I realize what’s happening, he steps into my space and kisses the corner of my lips briefly. I’m too stunned to act at first.
Suddenly, someone yells, “Jude! Are you two together? Is she your girlfriend?” Loud camera clicks and bright flashes of light follow before one of the bodyguards drags the paparazzo away.
“What the fuck? Why’d you do that?” I ask him through gritted teeth and push him a few feet back from me.
