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35. Interlude: A Safe Place
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Forever Jude 36. Cheesy, creamy?
Back to Jo’s POV“This means you are not working with him anymore, right?”I look up from the container I’m filling with leftover food and over at Jude, who’s standing in front of the TV holding the remote. “What?”He gestures to the screen with the remote. “Him.”My eyes rise to the screen, where footage of Brent Harvey from today’s game is playing. It was his first game back after his injury, and he performed quite well. “Um,” I mumble, switching my eyes back to the container. When I turn to stow it in the refrigerator, I say, “I might still be.”Might? I’ve already accepted the offer, it’s just that I’ve not signed a contract yet.And yes. I haven’t mentioned it to Jude yet. “What?” he asks, his voice full of confusion. “He’s fully recovered, right?”I turn back around to find him raising his brow at me. “Yes. But he offered me to become his full-time personal trainer.”That brow raises further. “What?”“I accepted.”“Why would you do that? You said you would only work with him f
Forever Jude 37. Good Enough
“Hey, have you see this boy around here?” Jude asks the owner of one of the only two stores still open at the local shopping centre.The man looks at the photo of Rico on Jude’s phone and shakes his head. “No.”Jude nods and puts his phone away. “Alright, thanks.”We move towards the exit of the shop and stop under the eave because it’s suddenly raining. As if this night couldn’t get any shittier. Where do we look next? Between us, the police, and a couple of Rico’s neighbours who volunteered, we’ve searched the entire neighbourhood. If Rico was anywhere nearby, someone should have spotted him by now. Jude sighs heavily, his breath condensing in the night air. “What, now?”I shove my hands in my jacket pockets and try to think of somewhere we should check but haven’t yet. Nothing comes to mind. We’ve been to every public place we could be. The only alternative now is to broaden the scope of our search area. When we started this search, I was optimistic that we would soon find Rico
Forever Jude 38. If You
“Jo, let me go.”I shake my head and squeeze my arms tighter around Jude’s middle, fighting against his attempt to remove them. “No.”“Do you want me to miss my flight?” he asks.“Yes. That’s exactly what I want,” I reply. “You are not going anywhere.”“I’m fine, I swear.”I shake my head. “You are not.”The last thing I expected when I woke up this morning was to find Jude getting ready to leave for work. He was in a daze when we got back to the condo last night. In bed, he tossed and turned all night. I was too worried to sleep, but the fatigue caught up with me around four in the morning. Thank heavens I woke up when I did because I would have lost my shit if he’d been gone.“I know what happened last night must have been scary,” he starts.I huff. “You think?”“But it’s perfectly normal,” he continues.Yeah, and he must be out of his mind.“I mean it was a perfectly normal reaction to that kind of thing rushing into my brain out of nowhere,” he adds. “It blindsided me. T-boned m
Forever Jude 39. Just Drive
Someone steps forward and offers to take Brent’s coat. I use the chance to look for an escape route. I spy a crowd of people milling around a room to the right. Other guests emerge or disappear through an opening to the left.“You look very beautiful tonight,” Brent’s voice draws my attention back to him. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in a dress before.”“Well, a tracksuit is hardly suitable for the occasion,” I say, forcing a smile onto my lips. I need someone to show up right now and steal his attention. I’m quite sure a lot of people will be all over him tonight, so can they hurry up?When I mentioned the invitation to Jude, he was worried about me running into Brent. But Brent took my job rejection well, and I did not think that would be an issue. Besides, we are in a house full of people. It’s the ideal setting to firmly turn him down if he brings it up.“No, it’s not,” he agrees, taking a step forward. He extends his hand, intending to touch me again. I step back just in ti
Forever Jude 1. Third Time's the Charm
I wake up to an empty bed. The sound of the shower running comes from behind the bathroom door. He is in the shower. Should I take this chance to run? Not run. Go back to my room. This is his room. I should not be here in the first place. This is either going to turn into nothing, something, or…a colossal mistake. What if this was a mistake? We’ve been waiting so long for the right time to get together but put us together at a wedding and suddenly it’s like we can’t wait. It’s the stupid wedding fever.All those flowers and lovey dovey-ness and suddenly everything was all rainbows and the next thing you know we are sneaking upstairs in the middle of the night while everybody else partied hard…Everybody else.Holy fuck.The last thing I want is for everybody else–or just one of them, really–to see me sneaking out of Jude’s room early in the morning. I’ll never hear the end of it. Ever.I push away the covers and then just as quickly pull them back over me when I realise I’m star
Forever Jude 2. Tonight's Plans
Trey bumps shoulders with Simon the moment we show up to breakfast. That’s how I know they know. They probably figured it out when we left together last night. Still much better than one of them catching me sneaking out of Jude’s room, though. Not that it matters now. Now, we are together. There’s nothing to hide.There’s only four people at the table; Trey, Simon, Sam, and Liam.Simon looks at us and a slow grin takes over his face.The look on his face promises a load of questioning later. I would like to say I don’t look forward to it. But I think I do. I need to shriek. In excitement. And have someone shake me and tell me I’m not dreaming. And then roll a hundred times on the beach and shout to the ocean. Simon is the perfect company for all of that.Right now, I’m biting down on my bottom lip to hold back the eternal smile that has wanted to take over my face for a while now. My cheeks already hurt. Even my head aches. I didn’t know it was possible to get a headache from being
Forever Jude 3. He Is a Total Man Now
We don’t go up after breakfast. We go outside, drawn by the ocean. There aren’t many people on this part of the beach at this time. There’s a bit of an empty stretch of land between our hotel and the next, then some more to the next one. It’s quiet for now. I can only imagine how it’ll be at night while people gather for the beach parties that are bound to be rampant at this time of the year.We hold hands as we walk down the beach, talking about everything and nothing. We talk about school, and work, and our families. Jade recently got engaged to her boyfriend of two years. Jude doesn’t like it. He says he has a bad feeling about the guy, and thinks Jade is too young anyway. She is in medical school, going into her fifth year. Jude thinks it’s the wrong timing, with the wrong guy. I don’t know much about Jade’s fiance, so I don’t know whether Jude’s reservations are based on fact or whether it's just him being an older brother who’ll never think any guy is good enough for his li
Forever Jude 4. How Long Will We Last?
The moment the house comes into view, my breath hitches in my throat. I’m not the only one who looks totally captivated, though. Beside me, Simon curses softly. On my other side, Maria whips out her phone for a photo. Yeah, that must be one amazing shot. I’m sure she is glad she didn’t bail out. She would have regretted it. Because the party is on a private island.Isaac only let us know about that amazing bit like an hour ago. He said like everyone else, he thought the party was going to be at the hotel the band was staying. Only for the manager to reveal at the last minute it’d be offshore.We are not even there yet–the boat is about to dock, though–but this is already the best party I’ve ever been to. Not that I’ve been to many, but yeah. Seriously, what can beat a private island party with your favourite band?From out here in the ocean, we can see the lit-up mansion, a few cottages, the palm trees, the party lights set up outside, and people walking around. By the time we get t
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