Page 130 of Reckless

This is surreal. I’d expect Emily to hate us. Maybe it’s a delayed shock reaction. But she chats happily to Jude, like nothing happened.

Luther puts his head in the room about twenty minutes later and I kiss Emily’s cheek and go out with Jude to find out what is happening. He has a tight hold of my hand again as we walk into a quiet room, passing Riggs, who is on his phone by the nurse’s station.

He’s pissed that he wasn’t able to protect Emily, but he had no way of knowing she was in danger. He seems to always takes the blame unnecessarily. It isn’t his fault either.

All I know is, if it were me coming up to that room, Riggs would have been with me. He would have protected me from her. As far as we knew, with our limited knowledge, Riggs did the exact thing he was told to do.

It’s clear as soon as the door closes that something is seriously wrong between Luther and Jude. I note the cut and bruise on his lip and remember Riggs saying Jude punched him.

I keep quiet about it because I don’t know the dynamic between these two. Luther has been with the band since the start, so I hope Jude can get over this.

He’s upset Emily got hurt, but I’m his priority, which is a pile of crap when someone did get hurt. One error in judgment doesn’t negate all the good Luther has done for them over the years.

I pull Jude down into a seat to stop him pacing and half dragging me along. He doesn’t seem to realize he’s doing it.

Luther fills us in on what is going on with the police. He reels off a myriad of charges she is facing both for this and what she has been doing towards Jude. He can’t say how it is going to go, but she has been arrested and taken to jail here in Chicago. Emily is pressing charges.

Jude leans forward in the seat, his elbows on his knees, and rests his hands over his face. I look at Luther. He gives me an apologetic look before turning back to Jude. He’s about to say something and I think both of them will regret it, so I stand up.

Jude moves his hands and watches me. Luther is still looking at Jude until I speak.

“Thank you, Luther. For everything. Riggs being here was your idea, I’m guessing. He didn’t leave my side. It’s unfortunate what happened. He did what you told him to, and I was safe,” I pointedly don’t look at Jude when he huffs.

“You don’t have to say that, Krista. But I appreciate it.” Luther’s voice is quiet.

“I’ll just see Emily and then we can leave.”

“You can’t go back to that hotel-” Jude starts.

“I know. It’s a crime scene, anyway.” I roll my eyes. “We’re going to my parent’s house. The neighbor has a key.”

“That’s a good idea,” Luther says. “I’ll get Riggs to drive you.”

He leaves the room and I turn to Jude. He looks terrible. I hate he feels guilty over this. Walking to him, I wrap my arms around his neck. For a moment, he hesitates, then he pulls me against him.

“Fuck, Krista.”

“It’s okay.”

“It isn’t. You were in danger because of-”

“Finish that sentence and I’ll give you a split lip to match Luther’s.”

He pulls back and gives me a confused look, but there is an edge of guilt to it. He eyes the door Luther just left through, and his jaw hardens again.

“It is because of me.”

“It’s because of her. Not you.”

“How can you be so… okay with this?”

“This is not me being okay. This is being upset about my friend, sad that you think you’re to blame, and pissed I can read exactly what is going through your head. Stop it.”

“What does that mean?”

“You think this is going to scare me off?”

He starts to say something, then closes his mouth and pauses. “Doesn’t it?”

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