Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Jude
The Lords Social Club was loud enough to make thinking a pain in the ass.
Usually, that was part of the appeal.
Music pounded through the space hard enough to shake the air, people shouted over pool tables and giant beer pong, pins clacked in the arcade section, and every few seconds, somebody at the axe lanes let out some kind of cheer or curse depending on how bad they sucked.
The whole place smelled like beer, fryer grease, perfume, sweat, and whatever cleaner Mason used that never quite covered any of it.
It was Weston nightlife. Our nightlife.
The kind of place that stayed packed because there wasn’t shit else like it around and because the Fallen Lords knew how to run a room people didn’t want to leave.
Tonight, though, all the noise just sat wrong.
I was planted on a barstool with Oliver on one side of me and Ender and Basil crowding the other end.
Thorn was behind the bar polishing a glass like he had all night in front of him.
The light over the bottles hit the shelves behind him, making the liquor gleam.
Waitresses wove between tables with trays balanced on one hand.
Penny crossed the floor near the pool tables, Calla right behind her, both of them dodging a group of laughing idiots like it was second nature.
Adley was over by the far end of the room, taking an order from a table of women already half-lit.
Everything looked normal.
Felt normal.
I was the thing that wasn’t.
I tipped back the last of my beer and set the empty glass down harder than I meant to. “Give me another one.”
Thorn didn’t even look up right away. He kept working the rag around the glass, slow and deliberate, like he had all the time in the world. “Nah. I think you’re good, man. You’re already going to have to be a backpack tonight.”
“Not it,” Basil and Ender said at the same time.
Oliver raised his hand from beside me. “Also not it. Your ass can walk home, or you can charm one of the chicks to give you a ride.”
I scoffed and lifted the empty glass, turning it to catch the last drop. Nothing came out.
“Are you drinking something away?” Thorn asked.
I set the glass down and shook my head. “Just like beer.”
Thorn gave me a flat look. “We all like beer, brother, but none of us are drunk off our asses on a Wednesday night.”
I shrugged and didn’t care what he thought. Didn’t care what any of them thought. I felt like drinking, so I was drinking.
Simple.
At least, it should’ve been.
Oliver and I had gone for a long ride earlier, cutting through roads outside town just because it was one of those afternoons that made sitting still feel stupid. It had been good. Wind, road, no reason to talk. Exactly what I’d needed.
Until we’d rolled past the Dairy Bar.
Until I’d seen Ever outside with that guy.
The memory hit harder than the alcohol had.
Her hand on his chest. His arm around her waist. The easy way he’d pulled her in like he already belonged there.
I stared at the bar, jaw tightening before I forced it loose again.
He’d looked like some wannabe biker on his basic Harley. Who the hell rode a Harley and didn’t make it his? No changes, no edge, no personality. Just bought the damn thing and called it good.
And the way he’d kissed her… Fucking hell.
Something in my chest went hard again, mean and hot and impossible to name without sounding like an idiot.
I hadn’t fucking liked it.
Didn’t know the guy. Didn’t need to.
He wasn’t good enough for Ever.
A glass of water landed in front of me. I looked up.
Thorn was watching me now, the rag tossed over his shoulder. “Drink that and maybe I’ll pour you another beer.”
I grabbed the glass and knocked back half of it in one pull.
“And,” he added, “you tell us what the hell is bothering you.”
I finished the rest of the water, set the empty glass down, and slid it back toward him. “Nothing. Pour me another beer.”
Oliver snickered.
It was quiet, but it was there.
Thorn’s eyes cut to him. Then he reached over and took Oliver’s half-finished beer right out of his hand.
“The fuck?” Oliver said.
Thorn ignored him and looked between us. “What is wrong with Jude?”
“I didn’t say shit,” Oliver said.
“Yeah, but you know something. What is it?”
Oliver looked at me. “Problem is,” he said slowly, “I don’t think Jude even knows what his problem is.”
I turned toward him. “What the fuck does that mean?” It came out rougher than I intended, but I didn’t care. I didn’t have a problem; I just felt like drinking.
“Probably girl problems,” Ender said.
Basil leaned in, suddenly interested. “He got a girl?”
Ender shrugged. “God knows I would be drinking if Clove and I were having problems.”
“You got a girl?” Basil asked me directly.
I shook my head once. “No.”
“He wishes he had her,” Oliver said.
The whole end of the bar went quiet for half a second.
Then Basil, Thorn, and Ender all locked in on Oliver like he’d just dropped the only interesting piece of information in the room.
“What the fuck do you know?” Thorn asked him.
Oliver looked annoyingly calm about it. “More than him, apparently.”
I leaned toward him. “Try me.”
He just lifted a shoulder.
A loud whoop sounded from the entrance, cutting through the moment.
Everybody at the bar looked toward the door.
Alice came in first, grinning like she was already halfway into a good night, with Wren, Clove, Star, and Bell right behind her. They came in as a pack, loud and bright and taking up space in a way only women who knew they were welcome ever did.
“Lord,” Basil muttered, “Alice is on the loose.”
That got a laugh out of Ender.
I turned back to the bar and pointed at Thorn. “Water’s gone. Beer me.”
Thorn didn’t move.
Instead, he looked past me, gaze shifting over my shoulder. His mouth kicked up on one side. “And the reason for Jude’s drinking problem just walked in behind her.”
Everything in me went still.
I looked over my shoulder.
And there she was.
Ever.
Fuck.
I turned back around slower than I should have.
Like if I took my time, she wouldn’t actually be there when I looked again.
Didn’t work.
Ever was still standing just inside the entrance, a step behind Alice and the rest of them, like she hadn’t meant to come in with that much noise.
She paused for half a second, taking in the room the way people did when they first walked into the Social Club.
Eyes moving, shoulders tightening just a little under the weight of it.
Then she spotted the bar.
Spotted us.
She shifted her weight, adjusting the strap of her purse on her shoulder, then followed the rest of them in.
Thorn didn’t say anything. He just kept watching me.
That was getting real old.
“Beer,” I said again, tapping the bar.
He ignored it.
Of course, he did.
Alice led the group toward a table off to the side, already talking, already laughing. Wren and Bell slid into chairs, Star grabbing one of the stools and spinning it around like she couldn’t sit still if she tried.
Clove dropped into the seat next to Ender.
Ever hung back a second longer.
Then she moved toward the bar.
My fingers tightened slightly around the edge of the wood before I forced them to loosen.
She walked up and stopped a couple stools down from me instead of right next to me.
That was new.
Penny spotted her first, grinning as she came around the end of the bar. “Look who finally decided to leave the Dairy Bar.”
Ever smiled back, a quick, easy thing. “Don’t get used to it.”
“Too late,” Calla said, sliding past with a tray. “We’re making this a regular thing now.”
Ever huffed out a small laugh, setting her purse on the stool beside her. “That sounds like a terrible idea.”
“Yeah,” Penny said, leaning her elbows on the bar. “You’ll have fun. Horrible idea.”
Ever glanced down at the bar, brushing her fingers over the surface for a second before looking up at Thorn. “Can I get a soda?”
Thorn nodded once, grabbing a glass. “Sure.”
She didn’t look at me.
Not once.
Thorn set the soda in front of her, sliding it across the wood. “Here you go.”
“Thanks,” she said, wrapping her fingers around the glass.
She knew I was there.
I knew she knew.
And still, nothing.
No glance. No nod. No quick comment tossed my way like always.
Just… nothing. I leaned back slightly on the stool, angling just enough to look at her without making it obvious.
Up close, she looked the same.
Same hair pulled back, a few strands loose around her face. Same clothes she always wore. Nothing flashy, nothing trying too hard.
But her shoulders were set differently. More… closed off.
Penny said something that got her attention, and she turned toward her, smiling again, answering like nothing was off.
Like everything was normal.
“Ever!”
Alice’s voice cut across the room, loud enough to turn a few heads.
Ever glanced over, lifting her hand in acknowledgment.
“Get your ass over here,” Alice called. “You’re not sitting at the bar all night.”
Ever hesitated just for a second and then she nodded. “Coming.”
She picked up her soda, slid her purse over her shoulder, and turned. For a split second, her eyes flicked in my direction. Not a full look, but just enough.
Then she walked away.
I pushed off the stool without really deciding to.
“Where you going?” Oliver asked.
“Nowhere.”
He snorted. “Yeah, looks like nowhere.”
I ignored him, grabbing the second water Thorn had set down earlier and finished it in one go before setting the glass back down.
“Jude,” Thorn said.
I didn’t look at him.
“You good?”
“Yeah.”
“Bullshit.”
I dragged a hand over my jaw, exhaling slowly as I turned back to the bar.
“Another water,” I said.
Thorn raised a brow. “Not beer?”
I shook my head. “Yeah,” I muttered. “Water’s fine.”
He didn’t say anything else, just grabbed a glass.
I leaned forward, bracing my hands on the bar as I stared down at the wood.
Ever had ignored me, and that bothered me way more than it should have.