Page 17 of The Plus One
“—I don’t actually want you to choke on your toenails.”
Jude’s lips quirked, the closest he could get to a smile. “I’ll give it my best effort not to.”
“Better go check on the monster,” Indira said, eyes rolling toward the ceiling.
Jude nodded, gaze tracing down the long line of her neck before falling to the floor. He pushed to stand, then turned away from her and roughly dragged his thumb across his forehead.
He heard her chair scraping against the tile and then the pad of her steps, but he couldn’t watch her leave.
“Jude?” she said, voice soft.
He risked a glance to where she stood in the doorway, an odd surge of feelings he couldn’t name rising in his chest.
Indira licked her lips. “Seriously, thank you. I really appreciate it.”
Jude nodded, then looked back to the ground. “Of course.”
After standing there for a few minutes, waiting for the noises above to stop until he was confident she was settled down, Jude collected his things and headed up the stairs.
Making a beeline straight for his room, he collapsed facedown on the bed, feeling like he’d sink into it, completely spent and exhausted from the coiled tension of his muscles, chest aching and breathing short like he’d run a marathon. He hated how much work it took for his body to do the things that should come naturally.
But, even in the heavy weight of all the aches, a foreign warmth glowed in his chest.
And Jude couldn’t shake the feeling that the warmth had originated at the touch of Indira’s fingers against his skin.
CHAPTER 7
Jude
Jude had picked up running during the summer GHCO assigned him to various areas around Indonesia after a series of devastating earthquakes. It started as an escape, a way to lull his screaming thoughts. He was about eighteen months into his GHCO service and was desperate for a distraction.
The punishing heat on his shoulders, the muscle-twisting hills, all of it turned his attention away from the memories that haunted him.
Running was the one constant Jude had from place to place, giving him some momentary peace as he pushed his body.
Jude was searching for a similar escape when he’d laced up his sneakers that morning—hoping to outpace the constant stream of Indira that had looped through his dreams all night.
Instead, he got an extremely chatty companion.
“I really don’t think there could be a worse time to plan a wedding,” Collin said as they turned a corner. “Everything is so expensive and there’s supply-chain issues… Like, we had to go through five different invitation designs before we got one that could reliably be sent out on time.”
“That’s rough,” Jude said, concentrating on the burn in his legs.
“But that was nothing compared to agreeing to tuxes. We went backand forth for probably six weeks over that. Jeremy was trying to convince me we should wear these hideous burnt-orange plaid suits,” Collin said, voice straining as they ran up a hill. “I mean, Beetlejuice’s wedding ensemble would have been a better option thanthatugly thing.”
“That’s wild,” Jude said, sucking in lungfuls of cool air as he picked up the pace. He wanted to put miles between himself and the flooding memories of Indira’s naked skin, the way her hands dragged over it.
“And he tried to argue that we’re having a November wedding and the color palette would match the autumn vibe,” Collin said, pushing his hand through his wavy golden hair as he kept up. “But I didn’t want to be walking down the aisle in something that’s more of a Halloween costume than anything else.”
“Oh wow.” Jude pushed his legs even harder.
“And then pigs flew and I vomited up a kitten after binge-drinking with Bruce Springsteen.”
“That’s—” Jude did a double-take. “Wait, what?”
Collin laughed, then stopped running, putting his hands on his knees. Jude reluctantly slowed down, circling back to his friend.
“I know you’ve always skewed toward the moody and aloof,” Collin said, fixing Jude with a good-natured smile as he squinted up at him. “But you could at least pretend to have some interest in what I’m saying.” He straightened, hands fixed on his hips. “I plan on only getting married this one time so I’m allowed to obnoxiously indulge in all the mundane wedding details.”
