Page 93 of Still Bruised
Jude searched Foster’s face, silent.
“All I could think about was having you there with me to celebrate,” Foster said. “I wish you had been.”
Jude wished he’d been asked. He wasn’t sure how he would’ve answered—probably no, knowing his stupid ass—but who knew, maybe a yes would’ve slipped from him for once.
“ShouldI have asked?”
“I don’t know.” Jude shrugged. “Probably not.”
Foster’s face fell.
He dragged his fingers from Foster’s and climbed out of bed. “What I do know is I’ve got to get downstairs.”
Jude marched to the bathroom, trying to ignore the disheartened look on Foster’s face. As he walked, Foster’s cum slid down the backs of his legs, making it hard to ignore anything. After a quick piss, he jumped in the shower, allowing the cold water to wake him all the way—and wash away the morning’s excesses.
There was one thing the water wouldn’t wipe clean—the disappointment that Foster hadn’t asked him to join them.
He hadn’t belonged there, with Foster’s family, celebrating something like that. Not only was he unsure what Foster’s parents would’ve said—or if they knew he wasn’t straight—but it would’ve given an illusion they were more than they were.
An illusion Jude was already struggling with enough as it was.
He was breakingallof his own rules. Sleepovers were a no-no.
Dates, too.
They were moving into uncharted territory and there lay terrors. False hope was a dangerous thing. Jude needed to get his head straight and stop allowing Foster to weave some fantasy around him.
Anton and Roan would tear him alive if they knew what he was doing, and it was only a matter of time before they found out. If there was time before Foster showed his true nature and taught him another life lesson.
Anything having anything to do with Foster could only end in tragedy. He’d been down that road before, and he wasn’t traveling it again.
They had to end things.
Hehad to end things.
When he emerged from the bathroom with a towel around his hips, Foster sat on the edge of the freshly made bed, dressed and dangling his keys from one hand. He sat up straighter when Jude walked out, spreading his long legs wider. Jude fought the desire to walk between them and push Foster back so they could mess up the bed again.
Get it together! This has to end!
“I wanted to say goodbye before I left.”
Jude opened his mouth, ready to tell Foster they were done—but he couldn’t force the words out of his mouth. He grunted instead and walked past to his dresser. As he pulled on a pair of briefs, Foster rose.
“When’s my next repayment?”
There won’t be another.“I don’t know,” Jude snapped, unable to say what he knew needed to be said.
“I’m free tonight,” Foster murmured. “I could come by after the shop’s closed.”
Jude spun to face him, ready to rage all hell and put an end to their torment.
One look at Foster and the fight drained out of him. The anticipation in Foster’s expression was a gut punch.
Holding Foster’s gaze he wasn’t ready to say goodbye.
Not yet.
“Bring dinner with you.”
