“You mean aside from the fact that he stares at your ass all the time?”
That kind of made me feel delighted. “Are you going to give him the don’t-break-my-sister’s-heart speech? You know that’s Oscar’s job.”
“We both know that man will never do it.”
Jude and I shared a snicker at Oscar’s expense. Oscar plugged his ears when either Olivia or I talked about dating. He worked so hard to believe we weren’t anatomically correct that he’d cover his own eyes anytime he accidentally opened a cabinet and found a tampon box on the other side.
I studied Jude’s profile. “You really don’t like Russo, do you?”
“No, I do not.”
“Aside from his clothing choices—why?”
“For one, his alarming amount of hair product,” Jude said in a derisive tone. “And I’ve just got a feeling. Call it a hunch.”
“I didn’t think you believed in hunches,” I said. “I thought you believed in the scientific method.”
“The two aren’t mutually exclusive,” he said. “Besides, where is the excessively manscaped detective himself?”
“Investigating,” I said.
“Without you?” Jude said, sounding surprised.
“Yeah. He kicked me to the kids’ table and is off doing grown-up stuff.” If I sounded bitter about it, that’s because I was.
Jude just chuckled. “You’ve always belonged at the adults’ table,” he said. “If he didn’t want you around, that’s because he’s just worried you’ll make him look foolish. He puts on a show to be intimidating, but that’s just because he’s insecure.”
“Says the man who sounds like he’s intimidated.”
“Me? Please.” Jude made a gagging sound. “Russo is just one of those guys who likes to make himself look stronger by making other people feel weaker. It comes from a place of fear.”
“Did you learn that from the poster in the high school counselor’s office?”
“Hey!” Jude cried.
“Sorry. Low blow even for me.” I felt a tingle of guilt.
“Yeah. Geez! And it wasn’t a poster, it was a pamphlet. Get it right,” Jude joked. That’s the thing about Jude. It’s hard to really offend him. Thank goodness. Because I usually end up offending everyone.
I giggle. “Fair enough.”
My phone pinged. My heart ticked up. I didn’t want anotherReady or not…I grabbed it, hoping for a message from Russo. Instead, it was another message from Jared’s lawyer. I groaned.
“Bad news?” Jude glanced over at me.
“I’m going to be sued,” I said. Then I told Jude all about Jared Gatta, and how he had legal representation and it was only a matter of time before I’d be named in a lawsuit.
“You don’t know that,” Jude said. “Maybe he just wants to talk to you.”
I let out a low moan. “Right. Just talk. And get me to incriminate myself, so he can destroy what little is left of my reputation.”
“It can’t hurt to talk to him. Or, if you’re really worried, get an attorney to talk to him,” Jude suggested, his gaze flicked to his speedometer and then back to the windshield.
“With what money? I left Chicago with barely the shirt on my back.”
Jude slowed to a crawl and then made an even slower turn down a narrow road.
“Where are we going?”
