Page 12 of Accidentally Falling
“I can’t fuck around.”
“I know.”
“I don’t know why I did with her. It just felt…different.”
“You don’t need to make excuses for it, man. You should text her. If nothing else, you need the closure and I can only take you bein’ a moody bastard for so much longer.”
“Fuck off.” My lips twitch and he grins.
“You first, big brother, you first.”
7
ARDEN
Today is not my day.
Understatement of the year.
I knew I should have stayed home, but after barely leaving my house the past week, I needed a change of scenery. My messages to Jude had gone unanswered. While I know I need to just put on my big-girl panties and go to the bar and see him, I’m not up for that level of interaction today.
So I settled on popping into Vetted Paws to talk to Sorren and Tanner about a new series I’ve been toying with. Tanner is usually up for anything but Sorren is a harder sell, unless he can make Tanner do it—then he’s all for it.
I’ve barely been inside the building for sixty seconds before the crackers and water I’d attempted this morning make their reappearance. More embarrassed than I’ve ever been in my life, I’m acutely aware that Bodhi is holding my hair back as I puke into the lobby trash can. No one says anything as Tanner hands me a tissue and Sorren offers me a cup of water as I apologize profusely.
All of that would have been bad enough, but the universe saw me desperately trying to hold myself together and saidhold my beer.
Vetted Paws isn’t in Blackstone Falls. It’s on the edge of Clementine Creek, and even though the two towns neighbor each other, it never crossed my mind that I would seehim.
Not today and nothere.
Jude’s eyes are locked on mine, the room so quiet you could hear a pin drop, but I don’t dare break the silence. One because I’m not confident I’m done puking and two, I don’t know what the hell to even say.
But then neither does anyone else.
So, awkwardly, I do my best to defuse the tension. “Jude, hey. What are you guys doing here?”
“Can I talk to you outside for a minute?” Jude’s voice is deep and gravelly, his eyes never leaving mine.
Straightening my spine, I tell Sorren I’ll talk to him later and stomp my way toward the door. Willing myself to breathe, I push it open, not bothering to hold it for the man behind me.He can get his own damn door.
“When the hell were you gonna tell me?” Jude’s voice is low as he follows me out to the parking lot.
Dangerous.
The question is laced with unconcealed rage, the kind that’s begging for a fight—which I’m all too happy to provide.
“Who says it’s yours?” I ask sweetly, watching his jaw tic and his fists clench as we face off. God, he’s beautiful—tall, dark, handsome—and dangerous, but not to me. And not to our baby. “Fine. It’s yours,” I concede.
“When were you gonna tell me?” he repeats, taking a step forward as I take one back.
“Maybe you should have answered one of my messages.”
“I’m a grown fucking man, Arden. I don’t talk about serious shit through a text,” he says, throwing his arms wide, arms that had held me as I cried out his name.
Arms that had made me feel safe and grounded when so much of my world was falling apart.
“It was the best I could do, okay?I’mstill trying to wrap my head around it. I’m scared and alone and?—”
