Jude (Beautiful Mine #2)

by DeLuca, Gia

  A short black dress hugged Carys’ curves, and nude pumps gave her a little bit of height that she clearly didn’t need. The girl was Hollywood, whether or not she knew it.

  The clicking of the girls’ heels followed us out to the hall, and within minutes we were loaded into my car, heading down the Pacific Coast Highway to a little beachside place in Malibu my buddy owned.

  Carys found herself sandwiched between Jax and Evie as we were seated at the restaurant, and I caught her rolling her eyes every time Jax snuck a peek at her.

  “I’ve never seen Jax so quiet before,” I whispered into Evie’s ear.

  She shrugged, a winning smile parting her lips.

  “Hey,” Carys said. “Stop that. No whispering. We’re not five.”

  “No kidding,” Jax huffed, speaking for nearly the first time all night.

  The breeze fluttered through the palm trees that surrounded us on the rooftop of Blue Wave Malibu, and outdoor lights casted the most perfect illumination on all of our faces. I silently chuckled at the romantic set up as I watched Jax and Carys make conscious efforts not to interact.

  “Excuse me, ma’am,” our server said to Carys when he came by to take our drink orders. “I’m supposed to ask if you’re on a date this evening.”

  Carys flashed a blindingly white smile that lit up her entire face. “Why, no. I’m not on a date this evening.”

  He sat down a pink, fruity-looking drink in front of her. “Compliments of that gentleman by the bar.” He nodded toward the bar on the other side of the rooftop where a balding, middle-aged guy dressed in tight rock star jeans and a logoed t-shirt waved and winked at her.

  She raised the glass to her lips and mouthed “thank you” to him, when all of a sudden Jax reached out and grabbed it from her.

  “Hey,” she said, annoyed. “Those are fifteen bucks. What are you doing?”

  “You don’t know that guy,” Jax said, drawing the class out of her reach. “Ever heard of roofies?”

  “Yes, I’ve heard of roofies,” Carys snorted. She leaned across him, grabbing the drink. As she brought it to her lips, Jax grabbed it once more. “I also know that waiters don’t roofie drinks, genius.”

  “You don’t know that,” Jax said. “People will do a lot of things, if you pay them enough.”

  “I’ll take my chances. Thanks.” Carys reached for the drink, only to have Jax scoot it further away.

  “I feel like we’re watching two middle-schoolers try to flirt,” Evie whispered to me.

  “Trust me,” Jax said. “If you want another drink, I’ll buy it for you. What do you want?”

  “You don’t need to buy me a drink,” Carys huffed.

  We watched in awe at what was happening before us. If anything, it was cheap entertainment.

  Jax said nothing as he left the table and headed toward the bar like a man on a mission. He made a comment to the balding, middle-aged man who raised his hands up as if to apologize. Then Jax returned with a fresh, new, fruity pink drink for Carys.

  “Freaking dumbass girls,” Jax said to Jude, rolling his eyes. He turned to Carys, “You’ll thank me someday.”

  “Thanks,” Carys said, sipping her drink with her eyes glued to him as if she was seeing him in a whole new light. Her demeanor shifted after that, and she seemed to lighten up a bit. “So, Jax, how long you been living with Jude?”

  “I don’t keep track,” he said with a shrug, scratching his long surfer hair. “Long time?”

  “Eight years,” I replied.

  Carys nonchalantly scooted her chair a little closer to Jax and leaned into him. “What do you do for a living? Are you a businessman like your buddy over there?”

  “Not really,” he replied, trying to play it cool.

  “He works in film production,” I interjected.

  Evie nudged me. “Let him speak. How will they ever get to know each other with Chatty Cathy over here?”

  “Okay, okay.” I stifled a chuckle.

  “What about you? What do you do?” Jax said, leaning into her to listen. The restaurant was beginning to fill, and it was getting harder to hear.

  “I manage a call center,” Carys said modestly. “It’s not glamorous, but I like it. I enjoy being in charge.”

  “I can tell,” Jax said, not missing a beat.

  Their eyes locked. Something magical was happening before us.

  “You want to go get some air out front?” Jax asked her. “It’s hard to hear you out here. And our little audience is starting to get on my nerves over there.”

  They both turned toward us, and Evie and I glanced away in tandem.

  “Sounds good to me,” Carys said, grabbing her clutch and scooting out from the table. Jax followed her with his hand on her lower back as they headed downstairs and out to the front of the restaurant.

  “Hm,” I said, reaching over and resting my arm on the back of Evie’s chair.

  “What?” Evie asked with a smirk.

  “You just might be right about those two.”

  “Told you.” She nudged her elbow into my ribcage. “So, what do you think of Carys so far?”

  “She’s exactly how you described her,” I said. “Opinionated. Independent. Stubborn.”

  “Yeah, but do you like her?” Evie asked.

  “I do,” I said, not quite sure why it mattered.

  “That’s good,” Evie said. “She’s going to move out here with me, so you’re probably going to be seeing a lot of her.”

  “Evie, Evie, Evie,” I said, rubbing her back.

  She leaned away and nervously adjusted her hair. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to embark on this new journey with a familiar face around.”

  I threw my hands in the air. “Okay. Fair enough. But you think it’s a good idea fixing those two up, then? What if it doesn’t work out? Is it going to be weird for them?”

  Evie shrugged. “Didn’t think that far ahead.”

  Carys and Jax came back, exhilaration written all over their rosy faces.

  “What did you do?” Evie mumbled to Carys.

  I shot Jax a knowing look.

  “Nothing,” Carys said to Evie. “They going to take our food order or what?”

  ***

  “Can I go out to the balcony?” Carys asked at the condo later that evening.

  We’d all been sitting around the living room laughing, drinking, telling stories, and getting to know each other.

  “Of course you can,” I said.

  “Jax, you coming?” She stood up, locked eyes with him, and he followed her out like a lost little puppy. In all my years of knowing Jax, I’d never seen him this way around a girl before.

  “This is highly entertaining,” I mused when they left the room. “I have to admit.”

  Evie sighed, her full lips twisting into an admiring smile. “No man can resist her. It’s been this way our whole lives. I’m pretty sure she’s been proposed to at least three times, and she’s never dated anyone longer than six months. It’s going to take the right guy to pin her down, and I kind of think she may have met her match tonight.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “He’s so different from everyone back home. She’s never met anyone like him,” Evie said as we stared out toward the balcony where they sat together on the loveseat. Jax slipped his arm behind her, and she pretended not to notice.

  “We’ve been focusing on them all night,” I said, reaching up to cup her face and turn it toward me. “Let’s focus on you and me.”

  I leaned in and kissed her lips with a tender fervor, slipping one arm around her waist and pulling her close. The taste of sweet wine lingered on her tongue and the faint scent of her gardenia perfume radiated off her warm skin.

  I hadn’t been close to a woman in years, and even with Veronica, I kept myself at a distance, never giving her a hundred percent of me. But Evie felt safe, like I could trust her with my heart. I could feel a bit of the ice inside me melting away every time I looked at her.

 
; You don’t deserve her, man. Don’t do this. She’s too good for you. You’re just going to screw her over like you do every other girl.

  I kissed her harder, trying to quiet the voice in my head that told me I had no business trying to forge a relationship with this beautiful soul.

  “Whoa, slow down,” Evie said, feeling the passion in my kiss. Breathless she said, “What’s the rush?”

  “Sorry,” I said. “It was hard being away from you all afternoon.”

  “Really?” Evie asked in disbelief. “It was just a few hours.”

  “You’re addictive.” I leaned in to kiss her again, attempting to silence the intrusive thoughts beginning to form again in my mind. “I can’t get enough.”

  She kissed me back, allowing me to claim her mouth as if I’d said some sort of magic words.

  “You look so beautiful tonight,” I said, stopping for a moment to take her in. “I’d been thinking it all night, but I forgot to tell you.”

  “Thank you,” she said with a gracious smile, burying her head in my neck. She ran her fingers over my left arm, outlining my tattoos with her fingertips.

  I stood up, scooping her up in my arms and carrying her back to my room, caveman-style.

  “Where are we going?” she asked with a giggle. “What are you doing? Is this really happening?”

  I tossed her on the bed and locked the door. A burning urge inside me told me I had to have her. Fuck it. Fuck logic and reason and everything else that told me I couldn’t have her, that I shouldn’t have her.

  I crawled onto the bed, sliding my body over hers and slipping a hand around her back as my position forced her legs to part. “Do you trust me?”

  She nodded, powerless as she bit her lip. “I do…”

  I leaned in, pressing my lips into the soft flesh between her jaw and earlobe and breathed her in.

  “…but I think we’re moving too fast,” she said, her voice nearly apologetic.

  I collapsed on top of her and slid to the side. “Fuck. You’re right, Evie.”

  She inched closer to me, likely sensing the sting of her rejection, and curled herself up into my arm.

  “I just can’t control myself around you,” I said. And knowing I shouldn’t have her made me want her even more.

  No, not want—had. I had to have her.

  EVIE

  Three weeks later…

  “First day today?” Carys asked, groggy-eyed as she cupped her coffee mug and shuffled around our apartment in her fuzzy slippers.

  “Yep,” I said, practically breathless with anticipation. My first real nursing job at one of the top hospitals in the nation started in less than an hour. I glanced around our new apartment, filled to the brim with unpacked boxes from Carys’ move.

  I’d managed to score us a condo not far from Jude’s place, though it paled in comparison. It was a modest two-bedroom, one-bath with a tiny living room and an even smaller kitchen, but it was all we needed. What it lacked in amenities and character it more than made up for in location. Excitement was just a short walk away. Everything we needed was right outside our door.

  “You going to finish unpacking today?” I asked Carys, running my hands down my dark blue scrubs and looking at myself in the mirror in the hall. I tried to swallow, but my throat was dryer than the Sahara.

  “You need to eat something before you go,” she mother-hened me, ignoring my question.

  “Not hungry,” I said. I couldn’t have eaten if I’d tried.

  “Jude picking you up?” she called out.

  I rolled my eyes, walking into the kitchen. “Of course. He insists on taking me until I can get a car. Who the hell knows when that will be?”

  I hated that he had to take me to work and pick me up. I told him I could take the bus, but he refused to allow it, saying girls like me didn’t take the bus. Never mind that I could probably walk there from where I lived.

  “What’s your plan for the day?” I asked her.

  Her lips twisted into a devious smirk. “Jax. Need I say more?”

  She’d been in town a mere week, and she’d seen Jax at least five of those seven days. In the history of our friendship, I’d never seen Carys so obsessed with a guy before. They couldn’t get enough of each other.

  “No, you need not say a thing,” I teased. A small part of me was well aware that, deep down, Jax may have had a little something to do with Carys’ motives to move west.

  My phone buzzed on the counter.

  “Sounds like your ride is here,” Carys said in a sing-song voice as adrenaline pumped through my veins. I scrambled around, grabbing my cell phone and shoving it in my purse and pulling a bottled water from the fridge on my way out.

  “Wish me luck,” I said, stopping in the doorway for a second. “And if you could get a little, um, unpacking done today, that’d be great.”

  She rolled her eyes playfully and nodded. “Yeah, yeah. Have fun at work. I’ll probably be at Jax’s when you get off.”

  “Shocker,” I said, shutting the door. Heaven help us if those two ever had a falling out. As feverishly as they got along, I could only imagine the kind of ugly break up they’d have.

  “Morning,” I said, slipping into Jude’s BMW. “Aw, is that for me?”

  Jude handed me a cup of coffee, warm and toasty. “You sleep much last night?”

  “Nope,” I said, taking a careful sip. “How’d you guess?”

  “I offered to come stay the night with you,” he playfully reminded me as we pulled out onto the busy street.

  “I know,” I sighed, sipping my drink. “I thought I’d sleep better on my own.”

  “Ha,” Jude laughed. “And now you know.”

  “I have orientation from eight to five for the next two weeks,” I said. “I really need to get a car, Jude. This is a lot of carting me around.”

  “I don’t mind. I told you that.” He pulled up to a stoplight and switched his blinker on. I could already see the hospital, and we’d only been in the car a couple minutes.

  “I can’t depend on you forever,” I muttered.

  “Why not?” He turned to me, flashing a smile that instantly brightened my day. He loved taking care of me. Almost too much.

  He pulled up into the drop-off lane of the employee entrance of the surgical wing.

  “I’m going to miss our days together,” I said, leaning in to plant a kiss on his hot mouth.

  “Me too.” He kissed me back, our mouths like magnets not wanting to let go, until I gently pulled myself away. “Have a good day, Ev. I’ll see you when you get off. I’ll be right here.”

  Outside it was just an ordinary Southern California Monday. Light, tepid breeze. Millions of cars. People going to work, running errands, and taking their kids to school. I stepped up to the entrance and swiped the badge HR had given me the week before when I came in to fill out paperwork.

  This is what you were born to do, Evie. Your life is only just beginning.

  JUDE

  “Where’s the G.F.?” Veronica twirled her siren red hair on the tips of her manicured fingers, throwing her best sultry look my way as I slid into the booth at our restaurant.

  “Working,” I said. “She’s a nurse at Cedars-Sinai now. Not that it’s any of your concern.”

  “Ouch.” She feigned hurt feelings. “Just trying to make conversation. Geez.”

  “We’re not here to make small talk.” I grabbed a drink menu. One in the afternoon was a perfectly acceptable time of day for a craft beer, in my book.

  “I ordered your usual,” Veronica said as a server carried a tray of food toward our booth. Despite the fact that we’d been broken up for years, she was constantly in girlfriend mode. She couldn’t shut it off if she tried.

  “I want to buy you out,” I said, cutting to the chase.

  Veronica became very still, her eyes locking onto mine like a bull ready to charge.

  “No,” she said. “Not happening.”

  “We both know J-Corp was my idea. I’m the
founder. I gave you a job and made you partner because we…” my voice trailed. We both knew why. We were stupid and in love, or so I’d thought. Two years with her and all I’d learned was that I didn’t really know what love was.

  “Because we were in love,” Veronica finished my sentence, her green eyes burning intense with a nostalgia she couldn’t find the strength to let go of.

  “But we weren’t,” I said. “That wasn’t love. That was fire and ice. We had no business being together.”

  “You made me partner,” she pouted. “I’ve helped make J-Coro what it is today.”

  “Right, but I’m ready to move forward,” I said. “And I’m prepared to buy you out. A million bucks, Veronica.”

  “Ha,” she scoffed, leaning back and tossing her long, red hair over her shoulder. “That’s insulting. J-Corp is worth a lot more than that and you know it.”

  “It’s a fair offer, Veronica.” My jaw clenched as her name left my mouth. I’d yet to tell her I’d found a buyer. The shit storm was brewing, and it was only a matter of time before Caroline found out that I wasn’t her dutiful little minion. “I do most of the work, anyway.”

  Her red lips formed an “O” shape and her angled brows furrowed. “I handle our social media. I do all the networking. I go to all those stupid parties you never want to attend.”

  “It’s time to move on,” I said. “You need to move on.”

  Veronica’s lips trembled for just a millisecond, long enough for me to notice, and then her face warped into a bittersweet smile.

  “How can you love that girl,” she asked, “when you couldn’t even love me? You’re not capable of loving another human being, Jude. You’re a fucking idiot if you think one girl can change you.”

  “I’m buying you out, Veronica,” I said, a slight boom in my voice that told her it wasn’t up for debate. “I own the majority of the company, and I’m buying you out.”

  For the first time in forever, Veronica actually looked defeated. She’d tried for years to get me back, using her sexual napalm as her M.O. But the night I returned home from Halverford after meeting Evie, Veronica became chopped liver, and she knew that.

  “I’m not hungry,” I said, pulling my wallet from my pocket and slapping some cash on the table as I stood to leave.