Under The Hood

Ch. 5

When I don't answer him right away, Jude knocks twice more on the bathroom door. "I heard a loud bang in there. Are you alright?"

"Fine," I bark back. I don't mean to sound so rude, but I can't speak as another wave of sickness washes over me. Jude finding me throwing up is not what I want or need. "I-I'm fine."

"Oh, I'm sorry," he says, voice laced with regret or embarrassment. I can't tell which. "The bang sounded dramatic, that's all."

At the sounds of his retreating footsteps, I close my eyes, surprised to find tears springing into them. I grab some tissue and dab at my cheeks, standing to drag myself over to the mirror. A slight glow from sweat marks my upper brows, smudging out when I rub my fingers over the skin.

Jude avoids eye contact when I surface from the toilet a few minutes later, so I hurry to the desk, smiling at the young couple talking to him.

"This is my younger brother, Elliott and his fiancée, Roxy," Jude tells me.

The young couple are all smiles, Roxy stepping forward to introduce herself to me. "It's so nice to have a woman's influence here. It reeks of testosterone."

I smile, lifting my hand.  "I'm pleased to be waving the flag for estrogen." 

I feel so lame, but Roxy enjoys my quick rambling and punches the air a little.   

I smile at her, and give a short, awkward laugh. "I'm enjoying it here."

I recognise Jude's brother, but I can't for the life of me think of where I know him from. He steps over to Roxy, wrapping her in his arms. "It's quite the experience here, isn't it?"

I nod. "Oh, yeah. There's rich, and then there's this. I've gone from someone who knows nothing about cars to someone who double-takes at the sound of a rumbly engine."

"Sounds like you'll fit right in then," he responds, smiling like his brother.

Jude goes back to the workshop, working intently through the glass. I offer Elliott and Roxy a warm drink, which they both accept, allowing me to test my cocoa dusting skills. You can't go wrong with the stencil, but the dust goes everywhere, even on me.

"Ah, thanks," Elliott says, standing to watch his brother through the glass. "It's mad to me how he works so many hours. There's no need for him to be here. The team he's got can run it with their eyes closed, yet here he is, working to the bone."

"It's his baby," I repeat Nathan's words, my hand touching my stomach. My mind adds that it won't be his only baby soon. "I get the impression he doesn't need to be here but chooses to be because it's his passion. Something he's built for years."

Roxy makes a noise. "It's not like he doesn't have his fun too."

Elliott sends her a careful look, shrugging when he goes back to his spectating. "It's none of our business what he does with his spare time."

Roxy ignores his careful look to spill her thoughts anyway. "I love Jude to death, but watching him flee at the word commitment gets tiring. I grow attached to someone he's seeing, then we never see them again. I need an ally and he's not giving me one—none of your brothers are, except Laurent, but they're in Paris."

My ears perk up, a sinking realisation dawning on me. If Jude's a commitment-phobe, it could mean he was blowing off steam with me... acting single for the night.

Is the blonde bombshell no more?

It's not uncommon for eyes to wander, plenty of people do it, but it's also shameful. If I was a distraction from his relationship, it forces me to see him in a worse light.