Page 63 of Knockout (Whiskey Dolls 2)

“Jude, old sport! So good to see you.”

“Fuck me,” I grunted miserably.

“Old sport?” Layla leaned in closer. “Who’s theGreat Gatsbyreject?”

“Put your game face on,” I warned. “You’re about to meet Chandler and Leah. I was hoping to be drunk before this happened. Clearly Karma’s pissed at me for something.”

Taking my own advice, I braced myself and waited for the shit show to start.

28

Layla

Inearly choked on my tongue at the sight of the infamousChandler. Turns out, I’d been right in my assumption that Leah had seriously downgraded when she threw Jude over for his cousin. I’d had a certain image of the man in my head, and I was quickly taken aback at how spot on I’d been.

Chandler Kingsley was a weaselly little man, notonlyin the sense that the guy was total scum, but also in the fact that he really and truly looked like a freaking weasel with his beady little eyes that were too far apart and a long, pointed nose that stuck out too far on his face. Jude had told me once that this guy was around his age, but given the way the loose skin hung off his sunken cheeks and how he was desperately trying to cover the large bald spot on the top half of his head by combing over his stringy, mousy brown hair, he looked at least fifteen years older than my man.

He was also a shrimpy little man with a fat paunch of a belly that was nearly hanging over his belt buckle. He couldn’t have been taller than five seven, maybe five eight if I was being generous, meaning Jude towered over this man in both height and build. He was even a few inches shorter than the woman currently on his arm, thanks to her ridiculously high heels.

And speaking of the woman on his arm...Discretely as possible, I scoped out the woman Jude had once cared enough about that he’d wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, and I didnotlike what I saw. It wasn’t her looks that left me feeling unsettled. Sure, she was stunning, with long blonde hair, smooth, tanned skin free of wrinkles, and long, lithe legs. I was secure enough that I wasn’t bothered by her beauty. In my opinion, the only time women competed with one another over looks was when they were horribly insecure. I was past that childish nonsense.

What bothered me was the way she was looking at Jude, like he was a slab of tender, grass-fed, high quality beef that she was desperate to take a bite out of. She didn’t even bother trying to mask her lust and desire as she ogled the man she could have had if she wasn’t such an opportunistic, gold-digging shrew.

An overpowering, almost feral sense of possession washed over me at that look, and I found myself clinging tighter to Jude, pressing against his side in an effort to show this skinny bitch that she’d lost out. She’d passed Go, collected her two hundred dollars, and had tied herself to a man who looked an awful lot like the Monopoly guy. Jude was mine now. I knew what I had with him, and I had no intention of making the same dumbass decision she had. She might have matched me in beauty, but as far as I was concerned, I destroyed her when it came to brains, which made me the winner in this scenario.

“So glad you could make it, old sport,” Chandler prattled on as he all but yanked Leah to a stop three feet in front of us. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” He smiled up at his cousin with all the oiliness of a used car salesman. “Hope there are no hard feelings after all this time.”

From his tone of voice and the gloating expression on his face, it didn’t take a genius to figure that he thought he was the man on top since stealing Jude’s woman. God, what a freaking loser.

Reading the unsubtle dig just as I did, Jude released my hand and threw his arm around my shoulders, pulling me close to his side and grinning lazily. “Nah, not at all, cuz. As you can see, I bounced back pretty damn well.”

This weekend was supposed to be about having Jude’s back, and if I could do that while sticking it to as many of these slimy bottom feeders as possible, well that was just icing on the cake. Tipping my head back, I smiled up at Jude with warmth and affection that I didn’t have to fake at all while placing my left hand on the center of his chest, making sure Gram’s ring was on full display. “Aw, honey,” I cooed. “You’re just the sweetest.”

He lowered his head so he could brush the tip of his nose against mine. “What can I say? You make it easy, princess.”

Leah sucked in a gasp so big it was a wonder she didn’t pop a lung, and when I shifted my attention to them, I saw that they were staring at the rock on my finger. Leah looked white as a sheet while Chandler had turned a putrid shade of green.

“So sorry, I tend to forget my manners whenever he touches me.” I let the innuendo drip from my words as I extended my left hand to Leah. It wasn’t my dominant hand, but I had a point to make. “It’s so great to meet Jude’s family this weekend. I’m Layla, his fiancée. And you are?”

Neither of them reached out to take my hand, not that I expected them to. Instead, Chandler swallowed thickly and croaked, “Is that—?”

“Your grandmother’s ring,” Leah bit out like she’d just sucked on a rancid lemon.

I pulled my hand back and looked down at the ring adoringly before placing it back on Jude’s chest. “Oh, yeah. God, Sybil is just the sweetest, isn’t she?”

Jude’s arm tightened in an affectionate hug. “Yeah. She insisted I use the family ring when I proposed to Layla. Said it should stay in the family.”

“But Leah is family. When I asked for it when I was going to propose, Gram told me she was being buried with it.”

“Huh,” Jude started, infusing his tone with confusion. “Weird. Guess she changed her mind. She just loves Layla so much. When I told her I was popping the question, I half expected the woman to run out to change her will and add her to it.”

I rolled my lips between my teeth biting down hard to keep from bursting into laughter at the choking sound Chandler made.

Sybil came waltzing up just then with the air of owning the place and everyone in it, and it wasn’t lost on me how everyone in the lobby seemed to shift at her arrival, the air suddenly crackling with an intense energy that hadn’t been there a moment ago.

“Shows what you know, son. That’sexactlywhat I did,” she decreed as she came to a stop on Jude’s other side. She extended her arm to one of the workers who’d followed after her at a quick clip, handing him her purse and the expensive silk shawl that was curled around her neck and shoulders. The man took them like it was a privilege before scurrying off, most likely to personally deliver them to her room. “I like her more than you, after all.”

Jude smiled down at his grandmother, releasing me just long enough to pull the tiny woman into a hug. “Gram,” he greeted. “About time you finally showed up.”

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