Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
Jude
The gas pump clicked once before settling into a steady flow. The overhead lights buzzed faintly, casting everything in that washed-out glow that made the night feel thinner than it was.
I leaned against my bike, one hand wrapped around the nozzle, my eyes drifting without really focusing on anything.
Oliver stood on the other side of his bike, scrolling through his phone like he wasn’t even here.
Ever.
My thoughts always circled back to her.
Didn’t matter what I was doing or who I was talking to.
I shifted my weight, dragging my free hand over my jaw.
I didn’t like that but didn’t hate it either. Just… wasn’t used to it.
A low rumble cut through the air, different from the cars.
Familiar.
Motorcycle.
My head lifted before I could stop it, and my eyes tracked toward the entrance of the lot.
Another bike rolled in, and then I saw her.
Ever on the back of the motorcycle.
The guy driving slowed near the pumps, pulling into the one across from us. The engine cut, and the light died, leaving just the overhead glow.
Jesse.
Ever swung her leg off the back of the bike, steady, easy, like she’d done it before. Like she was comfortable there.
I didn’t like that, not even a little.
She should’ve been on my bike.
The thought hit fast and I didn’t push it away because it felt right.
Jesse pulled his helmet off, shaking his hair out, then turned slightly toward Ever, saying something I couldn’t hear over the distance.
She smiled.
“Don’t do that,” Oliver said.
I didn’t look at him. “Do what?”
“Stare like you’re about to kill someone.”
I huffed a breath. “I’m not.”
“Yeah, you are.”
I finally glanced over. He had his phone down now, watching me with that look that said he knew more than he was saying.
I didn’t answer because Ever had looked up and she saw me.
Her body went still for half a second. Her shoulders tightened just a fraction before she smoothed it out, then she lifted a hand.
“Hey,” she called.
I pushed off my bike, setting the nozzle back into place as the pump clicked off.
“Hey,” I said, stepping around the bike.
Jesse’s eyes flicked to me, assessing and quick. Then back to Ever and then back to me again.
He was sizing me up and I did the same to him.
He wasn’t small and looked like he was built solid. He carried himself like he knew what he was doing and didn’t look out of place on a bike. Didn’t look like a joke, but I still didn’t like him.
“Jude,” Ever said, like she was filling the space between us, “this is Jesse.”
Jesse extended a hand.
I looked at it for a beat and then took it. I gave him a firm grip and he matched it.
“Jude,” he said.
“Jesse.”
That was it.
Simple, but there was something under it.
Just… aware of each other.
Oliver stepped up beside me. “Oliver.”
Jesse nodded at him. “Jesse.”
Ever shifted slightly, like she didn’t know where to stand in the middle of it.
I noticed that too.
Everything.
Her posture.
Her expression.
The way she looked between us.
She wasn’t all in with Jesse.
I’d seen it before. With Mason and Adley. Cole and Calla. Ender and Clove. Hell, even my parents.
You could see it from across the room—that pull, connection, and that something between them.
Ever and Jesse? Didn’t have it.
He looked at her like he wanted her. That much was obvious and I couldn’t blame him.
She was fucking beautiful.
But she didn’t look at him the same way, though. Not at all.
“Party should be something,” Jesse said. “Ever is looking forward to it.”
My jaw tightened just enough that I felt it.
I didn’t like that Jesse was going to be at the clubhouse. In my space, but I didn’t say anything. “Yeah,” I said instead. “Should be a good time.”
“Looking forward to it,” he said.
I held his gaze for a second. He looked away before I did.
Ever stepped closer to me just slightly.
Not enough to make a statement.
But enough that I noticed.
“Everything ready for the party?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Oliver said before I could answer. “Just finished up.”
She nodded and looked at me again.
There was something there.
Something she wasn’t saying.
Something she probably didn’t even realize she was showing.
Jesse swung his leg back over his bike, settling in like he was ready to go. “Ready?” he asked her.
She hesitated just a second, but I saw it. Then she nodded. “Yeah. Later, guys.”
I stepped back toward my bike with a nod to her and grabbed the handlebars, not taking my eyes off them.
Off her.
Jesse kicked the bike to life, and the engine rumbled under him. Ever climbed on behind him and her hands settled at his sides.
Jesse glanced over at me one more time. “See you tomorrow,” he said.
I nodded once.
Ever looked at me. Really looked like she was trying to figure something out. Then she turned her head forward as Jesse pulled out of the lot.
The sound of their bike faded into the night.
I stood there for a second. Then another and didn’t move.
Oliver shifted beside me. “Well.”
I exhaled slowly.
“That’s him,” I said.
“Yeah.”
He knew what I was thinking and feeling. Oliver was the closest to me out of the guys. We were all close, but Oliver and I just seemed to always pair off together.
I swung my leg over my bike and settled onto the seat. My grip tightened around the handlebars and I ran everything back in my head.
Every look.
Every movement.
Every second of that interaction.
And it clicked.
Clear.
Simple.
Final.
I didn’t like him.
Not because he was a bad guy.
Not because he had done anything wrong.
Because he was in my way and Ever wasn’t his.
Not really.
Not the way she should be.
I leaned forward slightly, with my eyes fixed on the road ahead. Before, it had been a thought. A want. Something I was figuring out.
Now? Now it wasn’t that anymore.
Now it was something solid.
Something decided.
Ever was going to be mine.