Wanna Be Yours

chapter three: jude

August 12th:

He was brilliant.

Jude hated that he was brilliant.

His stage presence was undeniable, his voice was addicting, his band members were filled with ecstatic energy, and their chemistry with each other could have lit the entire stage on fire. Jude felt her every muscle tense as she watched. She was aware of her breathing, her heart beating faster, and annoyance swelling in her chest. The crowd was practically melting at Cardan's feet, and Cardan, of course, enjoying every second of it, winked at every person he made eye contact with. It erupted loud cheers from the crowd here and there, and as every second of the song passed, Jude felt a violent urge to stab Cardan in that cursed winking eye.

She's a silver lining, a lone ranger riding through an open space.

Cardan threw his head back, his hair bouncing perfectly, the reds and blues from the stage light hitting him beautifully. It was truly an enraging sight. He smirked as he swayed those hips of his. He was sensual, he was demanding, he was soft, and he was electric. It was impossible not to take your eyes off them.

You just had to watch them.

You had to watch him.

Jude felt her breathing fasten in her fury. He was good. Why must he actually be good? Cardan Greenbriar had no right to be good. She felt like groaning, but she swallowed the urge. Especially since, sitting right beside her, the entirety of Nightfell was swooning over these boys.

Wren was wide-eyed, Bomb was watching them with one of her smirks plastered on her face, Taryn bobbed her head sweetly, and Vivi danced slightly in her chair. So, Jude resigned herself to keep on watching, determined to find any and every flaw in their performance. She already had a list of a few, of course, but she was eager to find the exact spots where her band would have the upper hand against them.

Silently, Jude calculated what she was going to do once that stage was hers. Contemplating on what she wanted her performance to look like, and what message she wanted to send along to Cardan and his band when they were in her place.

That's when it happened.

That's when the bastard found her eyes across the bar.

For a horrid second, everything seemed to go quiet. He couldn't possibly be looking at her, right? She was so far from the stage, sitting at the back of the audience. It was ridiculous to think he would ever find her so quickly, so perfectly. But sure enough, as more seconds passed, and his eyes didn't falter, Jude was sure. His endless black eyes were definitely on hers.

He tensed for what might have been half of a second, so slightly, she was sure only she had noticed it. Jude was not fond of how well he was taking this versus how her entire body couldn't seem to control itself of its shock.

Jude's nape hairs stood on edge as an unpleasant shiver ran down her spine. Suddenly, she was aware of her entire body, feeling her clothes somehow tighten around her skin. Jude shifted uncomfortably with the newfound feeling of her black boots around her ankles, her itchy fishnets around her thighs, and the skin under her crimson leather jacket as it began to sweat even more than before. Though she would never show this, on her face was a challenging look as she glared harder.

Cardan was impossible to read. A complete mystery onstage as he was offstage. Who knew who he was right then? The King? The rich snob? An infuriating celebrity? A secret another thing Jude never had the displeasure to meet, perhaps.