Page 35 of Knockout (Whiskey Dolls 2)

Jude returned Bax’s unhappy look with one of his own. “Was doing great until about ten seconds ago, Georgie Boy.”

The atmosphere in the room shifted. The air went electric, growing thick and soupy, making it difficult to pull in a deep breath. Sensing the shit was only mere seconds from hitting the fan as the two men glowered at each other from ten feet apart, I decided to intervene before things could escalate toward catastrophic.

Stealthily putting myself between them, I turned to Bax and gave him a congenial smile. “How’s it going?”

He returned my smile. It was one I’d seen on his face countless times over the months, the very same one he’d given me every time we crossed paths, complete with dimples and everything, but for some reason, it hit me differently than it ever had before. It came off far too cocky, almost slimy. I suppressed an unpleasant shiver as he dragged his gaze down my body before lazily returning his eyes to mine. “Much better now that I’ve run into you, gorgeous.”

It sounded like screeching tires in my head. A look and sly comment like that would have had me blushing and giggling just weeks ago. But looking back to every other encounter we’d share, I realized that was the exactsame line—or an extremely similar variation—that he used on me every single time.

Jude coughed from behind me, and I could have sworn I heard him mutter “real, original, asshole.” I had to say, I agreed with the man on this one.

“Um, thanks.”

Either forgetting Jude was in the room all together, or simply choosing to ignore his presence, Bax moved in close, invading my personal space, and lowered his voice. “Listen, town council is hosting a movie night in the park this Saturday, and I was thinking that maybe we could check it out together. What do you say?”

“Uh...you mean, like on a date?”

Those dimples pressed even deeper as his grin stretched, but for some reason—one I wasn’t letting myself consider at that moment—they weren’t having any effect on me. “Yeah. Like a date. I thought it would be fun. I mean, we’ve been tiptoeing around it for months now, right? Don’t you think it’s time to pull the trigger already?”

I took a step back, a clammy sweat covering my palms and trailing in beads down my spine. I couldn’t remember a time in my life where I’d felt this uncomfortable. I’d been hoping for this practically since the moment I moved into the building, but now that it was here, I wasn’t thinking about the man I’d spent months flirting with. I was thinking about the one I’d spent months battling. Talk about a mind fuck.

“Oh...” My focus shifted from Bax to Jude like a heat-seeking missile.

He slammed the lid shut on the washer he was using before turning around to face me. Resting his hips against the machine, he folded his arms over his chest and crossed his booted ankles on the floor, ever the picture of total relaxation. But I saw something swirling in the midnight depths of his eyes that made me think he wasn’t as calm as he was trying to appear.

“Yeah, Layla,” he started. “What do you say? This must be like a dream come true for you, right?”

The sarcasm sprinkled through his tone put me instantly on edge, and I narrowed my eyes in a glare as I bit out, “Don’t be an asshole.”

He widened his eyes in mock surprise and gave his shoulders a shrug. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just excited for myfriend, that’s all.” He said the wordfriendlike it left a funky aftertaste in his mouth. “It’s finally happening for you. This is what you’ve been wanting since you moved in, after all.”

I opened my mouth to spew venom at the jerk face when Bax spoke up again. “Great. It’ll be a lot of fun. I’ll swing by around six to pick you up.”

It wasn’t a question. The man wasn’t even giving me a chance to turn him down, which was exactly what I’d intended to do before Jude the Jackass decided to jump in.

Standing there frozen in place, shell-shocked into silence, I watched as Bax dumped all his clothes into a single machine without bothering to take the time to separate the whites from the colors. As soon as he finished, he moved back to me, reaching up to twist a strand of my hair around his finger, that dimpled grin still firmly in place. “See you then, gorgeous. Can’t wait.” Then he was gone.

I stared at the empty doorway for several seconds, my mouth gaping open, when Jude’s sardonic snort pulled me back to the present. “Looks like your wish just came true, princess,” he said impudently.

Jerking around, I stomped over to him and drilled my finger into his chest. “What the hell was that?”

“What the hell was what?”

“Don’t play dumb,” I accused. “You know exactly what I’m talking about. You inserted yourself into that conversation, not letting me get a word in edgewise!”

He cocked a single brow almost defiantly. “Like you would have said anything different. Isn’t this what you’ve been wanting?”

“No! Well, yes. I mean, it was—Ugh!” I threw my arms out at my sides and let them flap back down. “I don’t know!”

Something I couldn’t quite place darted across his expression, stealing the air from my lungs as he shoved off the washing machine and closed the rest of the space between us with a single step, coming to a stop right in front of me. “Would you have said yes?” he asked, his voice raspy and jagged as broken glass. “If I hadn’t said anything, would you have said yes?”

His gaze was so intense, I felt like it was burrowing inside me. The tension in the room shifted to something heady and intoxicating, making me dizzy as I stared up at him. “Is there a reason I should have said no?” I asked on a whisper, my heart feeling like it was dangerously close to pounding right out of my chest. It felt like something important was happening just then, something both of us were fighting but were dangerously close to losing.

Then just like a knife had cut right through the air, the connection holding us captive was severed. Jude pulled in a ragged breath and took a step back before exhaling. “No. No, of course not.” My whole body deflated in disappointment. “It’s your life. Your choice. You don’t have to answer to me. You should go and have fun.”

I was very suddenly and irrationally pissed right the hell off. Stomping over to the table where I’d been folding my clothes, I scooped them up in my arms and threw them into my laundry basket. “Then we’re on the same page,” I clipped as I yanked the basket up and started out of the room. “Have a great day,” I said in a way that made it clear I hoped his day wasn’t great at all. “See you around, buddy.”

With that, I stormed out of the laundry room, leaving my last load in the dryer, and not giving a single damn.

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