Chapter Twenty-One
Kendall
Tomorrow night.
The next morning, I stared at that text, wondering precisely what Jude meant.
Just the thought of him and butterflies massed in my belly. Heat spun like pinwheels over the surface of my skin, my pulse skittering wildly out of control.
“Jude probably just means some kind of reminder,” I muttered to myself. “Reminder for what? You haven’t seen him since you guys actually spent your first night together. This could mean…? What?” I kept on talking to myself.
Travis came trotting over, circling me and pressing his head against my hip. He looked up at me with his knowing, understanding eyes, bright blue and piercing enough that sometimes it felt like he could see right into my heart.
“You heard Jude’s name, didn’t you? You like Jude.” I scratched behind Travis’s ears.
Travis pressed his head harder against my hip, as if to remind me that he liked me too. As I stood there, rereading that two-word text again, as if somehow I needed to reread it. It wasn’t the words, but me desperately trying to decipher the meaning.
Okay, maybe not desperate, but on fire with an unsettling sense of anticipation.
My phone rang, vibrating in my hand. Jude’s name flashed on the screen. I hesitated.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I muttered aloud to myself. “Just answer the damn phone, Kendall.”
“Hey,” Jude’s voice came through the speaker.
“What?” I sputtered. I thought I might melt on the spot, even though I was alone in my studio apartment.
“You already answered the phone,” he pointed out, laughter and amusement lacing his words.
“Okay. So I did.”
“You sound a little stressed out,” he added.
“Well, I am!” I burst out. “You sent that vague text last night.”
“I did?”
“Yeah. All it says is tomorrow night. What do you mean by that?” I asked, exasperated.
“It means I want to see you tonight.”
“Oh. Okay. That would be nice,” I said, politely, as if we were arranging something formal. “Is there something you want to do?”
Quiet echoed through the line for a few beats.
Somehow, even though all I was doing was standing by myself, with my dog and my phone in hand, staring at it, and Jude was, who knows where, but not physically here, the silence that ran in the gap in that call was so weighted that I didn’t even know what to think.
“Yes. There is. Is there something you’d like to do?” he pressed.
I swallowed, and Travis circled my legs, letting out a happy little yip at the sound of Jude’s voice.
“Yes,” I finally said.
“And what would that be?” His words were slow and teasing.
Oh, my God. This version of Jude sent me spinning inside.
I knew him so well. We’d been friends for so long.
But this sly, teasing, charged version of him was something I hadn’t imagined, or ever experienced.
We’d always kept a lid on that. My belly flipped, and I felt tingly all over, almost bursting from the sense of anticipation building inside.
“Well…” I had to pause and clear my throat. “There is, and I think you know what it is.”
“Oh, I think I do know,” he said, his voice low. “But I just want you to be clear.”
“I want you to fuck me, Jude,” I said bluntly, trying to snatch the upper hand in this conversation.
I was gratified when he let out a choked sound. “Do you have to put it that way?”
I grinned to hear him sound flustered. “You said you wanted me to be clear. Is that clear enough?” There was a long pause. “Jude,” I prompted, when the silence kept stretching.
I heard him suck in a breath through the phone line. “Crystal clear,” he finally said.
“Is there anything else you’d like to do?” I asked. “Should we have dinner, or something?”
He cleared his throat. “Food is good.”
“Okay, how about you pick up some pizza on the way over?”
“I’ll do that.” Travis let out a yip, and Jude’s voice shifted to a lighter tone. “Hey, Travis, buddy. I’ll see you tonight, okay?”
Travis yipped in return, and my heart softened. Jude’s voice shifted again, quieter, deeper. “All joking aside, I can’t wait to see you tonight, Kendall. I missed you.”
Tears pricked my eyes. It felt like we were finally walking into something that had always been waiting for us.