Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Jude
“Spill.”
I looked up from the bar, one elbow resting on the worn wood, the other hand loosely hanging at my side.
“Or I’m not serving you,” Thorn added, polishing a glass like he was about to deny me something real serious.
I huffed out a laugh. “I just want water.”
Thorn straightened like I’d just confessed to a crime. “What happened to Drunk Jude?”
“Just don’t feel like drinking right now.”
That answer didn’t help.
Not even a little.
Penny and Thorn both went still for half a second, then slowly turned their heads toward each other like they were witnessing something unnatural in the wild.
“Get him,” Thorn said.
Penny didn’t hesitate. She leaned over the bar, closing the space between us, eyes locked on mine like she was about to interrogate me for information I didn’t even know I had. “What are you doing, Jude?”
I blinked at her. “Uh… sitting at the bar at the Social Club.”
She didn’t move. Didn’t blink and didn’t buy it.
“Mason said you guys need someone to cover the door tonight,” I added.
Thorn stopped polishing the glass. Penny didn’t move. They both just stared at me like I had grown a second head and it had started talking.
The back door opened, and Mason and Adley walked in mid-conversation, stopping short when they clocked the scene in front of them.
“What is going on?” Adley asked, voice dropping like she didn’t want to spook whatever situation she thought she’d just walked into.
“No fucking clue,” Mason said, looking between all of us.
Penny straightened, crossing her arms over her chest. “Jude is suddenly taking an interest in my Ever, but he’s acting like nothing is happening. I want to know what the hell is going on.”
I snorted. “Your Ever?”
She tipped her head to the side. “If she’s not mine, then whose is she?”
Thorn pointed at me. “Bingo.”
Mason frowned. “I don’t get the bingo.”
Adley patted his arm like he was a slow learner. “Thorn just bingoed too early for an unseasoned person. I’m picking up what he’s putting down, and the bingo was bingoing.”
Mason blinked. “That didn’t help.”
“Why are you giving attention to Ever suddenly?” Penny asked, cutting through the nonsense.
“Finally, a normal question,” Mason muttered.
I leaned back slightly on the stool, dragging my fingers along the edge of the bar. “I’m just being nice to her.”
Penny didn’t even hesitate. “Yeah, no. You’ve never been nice to Ever.”
That made me frown. “Have I been mean to her?”
She shook her head. “No. You’ve just been indifferent to her.”
That sounded… accurate.
“All while she has been—” Adley started.
Penny snapped her fingers at her. “Shh.”
I straightened slightly. “While Ever has been what?”
Adley folded her arms over her chest, looking at me like I was missing something obvious. “You really can’t be that clueless,” she said. “I didn’t even live here full-time, and I saw it every time I visited.”
I glanced at Mason. “Do you know what your hormonal girlfriend is talking about?”
Mason nodded. “Yeah, man. We’ve all seen it.”
I looked at Thorn.
“Saw it, man,” he said.
I let out a short laugh, throwing my hands up. “What the fuck are you guys talking about?”
Penny’s shoulders dropped like she was disappointed in me. “You’re an idiot, Jude.” She leaned in again, eyes sharp. “Ever has had the biggest crush on you since high school.”
Everything in my head stalled. “No,” I said.
“Yes!” Penny, Thorn, Mason, and Adley all said at the same time.
I stared at them, then looked away, then back again because that… that didn’t make sense.
I went over it quickly.
Every interaction.
Every time I’d seen her.
Talked to her.
Not talked to her.
Nothing about it had ever screamed that she liked me.
No obvious flirting.
No hanging around.
No—
Or maybe there had been.
And I just hadn’t noticed.
“How?” I asked, more to myself than them.
Penny huffed. “How did you not know?”
“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “I just… didn’t.”
That got me another round of looks.
The kind that said I was not helping my case.
Penny pointed at me again. “So why are you suddenly interested in her?”
I opened my mouth. Closed it. Opened it again because answering that felt like stepping into something I hadn’t fully sorted out yet.
“Because Ever isn’t interested in him anymore,” Adley said, like she’d solved a puzzle no one else had finished yet.
“She’s not?” Mason asked.
Adley slapped his shoulder. “She has a boyfriend, Mason.”
“Oh, yeah,” he said. “Right.”
“She doesn’t have a boyfriend,” I said.
That got everyone’s attention again.
Penny tipped her head. “You don’t know about Jesse?”
“I know about him,” I said. “But she said he isn’t her boyfriend.”
Penny and Adley exchanged a look.
“Ever told you that?” Thorn asked.
I nodded. “Heard it straight from her.”
“Interesting,” Penny said slowly.
“I’m sure it won’t be long until it happens,” Adley added.
Penny nodded. “Yeah. Totally.”
Then she turned back to me, expression sharpening again.
“So you need to back off and let Ever be happy.”
I held up my hands. “I’m not doing anything.”
She rolled her eyes. “Just you existing in Ever’s orbit is doing something.”
Mason shrugged. “Is that really his fault?”
Penny shot him a look.
“And you can’t blame Jude for being slow,” Mason added.
“I’m not slow,” I shot back.
“You’re freaking blind,” Adley muttered.
That earned a snort from Thorn.
Penny leaned forward again, finger pointed like she was laying down the law.
“If you make Ever cry one tear, I will destroy you.”
I laughed. “I don’t plan on making Ever cry,” I said. “And I should be offended that you’re choosing her over me.”
Penny leaned back, a grin spreading across her face. “Good. And I’m just choosing Ever because I like her more than you.”
Mason and Thorn both laughed at that.
Thorn moved down the bar, grabbing bottles, checking stock, getting ready for the night crowd. Mason followed, stepping behind the bar to help him set up. Adley grabbed a stack of menus and started straightening things up near the entrance.
Penny gave me one last look—half warning, half amusement—before turning to help Adley.
Thorn set a glass of water in front of me without saying a word.
I picked it up and took a long drink, letting the cold hit my throat, my chest, trying to settle something that had gotten… loud.
Ever had liked me.
For years.
And the more I turned it over, the more it did something I hadn’t expected.
It didn’t make me uncomfortable.
Didn’t make me feel guilty.
Didn’t make me want to back off.
It made me… I huffed out a breath, staring down into the glass.
It made me feel good.
Too good. Like I’d been handed something I didn’t even know I’d been missing.
I took another drink, set the glass down, and leaned back slightly on the stool.
Ever had liked me.
And now, now I wanted her.
That made me happy as fuck.