Page 125 of Still Bruised
“I’ve got about thirty to forty-five minutes after she announces a craving to make it materialize. If I take much longer, I’ll get the waterworks with her telling me I don’t love her anymore.”
“Ohthatsounds like fun,” Anton said.
“Hey, she’s nine and a half months pregnant and exhausted. She’s allowed to be a little emotional and grumpy. A little—I can deal with. The waterworks?No,thank you.” Roan grinned before running toward his car, yelling over his shoulder, “See ya next Sunday… maybe.”
Jude and Anton waved as Roan pulled away.
Anton eyed Jude. “Ready?”
He nodded and adjusted the weight of his backpack on his shoulder. They walked through the door in the chain-link fence and out onto the sidewalk. A gust blew his hair around and sent a pile of dead leaves into a whirlwind on the empty court they’d left behind. Jude shoved his hands into the pocket of his hoodie and sidled up beside Anton for the walk home, hoping the guy’s size might block some of the wind.
“Idohave reason to be worried, you know?” Anton said after they’d walked a half a block.
Jude sighed. “We’re still harping on this?”
“Are you going to lie to me and say you haven’t been a little down lately,” Anton said.
“I haven’t been down. I’ve been exhausted.” It wasn’t exactly a lie. Hewasexhausted.
Anda little down.
“I’ve seen you go through holiday rushes before. This is different,” Anton said. “You’ve been in the dumps… ever since you ended things with Foster.”
Jude clenched his jaw.“Bullshit.”
He could feel Anton’s gaze on him. His faced warmed under the inspection.
“Did you catch feelings for Foster Price?”
“No,”Jude snapped. “Absolutely not.”
“I saw the way he was staring at you Halloween night, all forlorn and shit. It waspathetic.”Anton gave him a spiteful grin. “And you looked just as fucking pitiful as he did, so don’t lie to me.”
“You’re imagining things.”
Anton grew quiet. Long enough, Jude hoped he’d dropped it. Sadly, that wasn’t the case.
“You both looked so miserable that I had to wonder why you bothered ending it. When he left, it looked like you were about to go run after him.”
Jude came to a halt a half a block from their corner. Anton realized a couple of steps later. He stopped and turned to face Jude, one brow lifting.
They stared at one another a few seconds.
“It had to end. It did. Leave it at that.” He’d told Foster there was a chance, but it had been what they’d both needed to hear. There was no way they worked in the real world. Sneaking around in the dark? Sure.
But not the light of day.
“Why?” Anton asked.
“Why leave it?”
“No, why did ithaveto end?”
Jude sighed. “There was no point.”
“No?”
Jude growled. “Even if I had caught feelings, my best friends would never have approved of our relationship, so there was no point.”
