Forever Jude

41. I'll Take Care of Him

"Nothing!" I blurt out, turning around to face Jude. He is standing in the doorway, his gaze switching from me to Cole. Shit. Did I not close the door? How long has he been standing there?

Jude's brows pull together. "Are you talking about Brent Harvey?"

"What? No!" I deny. "We were just...just–"

"You were," he says, his eyes narrowing. He walks into the room. He gestures to his phone and addresses Cole. "Did you do this?"

"No," Cole says.

"But you know who did."

Cole shrugs. "Maybe."

Looks like we are both terrible liars. At least I tried.

"And what does it have to do with Jo?"

"Nothing," I say.

Jude looks at me. "Is that so? What business does Cole have with him that has nothing to do with you?"

I cross my arms over my chest. "It doesn't matter anymore."

"What doesn't matter anymore?" Jude asks.

"He was an asshole to her, and I taught him a lesson, that's all," Cole says.

"A lesson," Jude deadpans. "He might never play ball again."

"What do you care?" Cole asks. "Are you a fan?"

Jude scoffs. Then, he reaches for my arm. He walks out of the room, pulling me with him. He doesn't stop until we are alone in our room.

"What happened?" he asks, pinning me with a firm look.

There's no getting away from this. I take a seat at the bottom of the bed. He remains standing, hovering over me.

"He tried to hurt me at the anniversary party," I reveal. "But I got away and... Anyway, nothing happened."

He doesn't say anything for way too many seconds. I keep my eyes fixed on the floor, but I can just imagine the look on his face. I lift my eyes just enough to see his hand at his side fold into a fist.

"Don't lie to me," he says.

I look up at him. "Nothing happened, I swear. I only got a few bruises...you remember my bad wrist."

"I do. When I asked, you said you fell on it," he reminds me.

My wrist was still swollen when Jude got back the next evening. "I didn't want you to worry."

"And yet you told Cole," he points out.

"He was there. I couldn't hide it from him."

"That was two weeks ago."

I swallow and nod. "Yeah."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I didn't want you to worry. Besides, nothing happened."

"Just like nothing happened that night with Wyatt?"

I get up and get close to him. "I didn't really get hurt–"

He steps back, putting distance between us. "Did he threaten you?"

"Uh?"

"That's why you are thinking about changing careers, right? And why you haven't been getting any job offers."

"I didn't think he could actually blacklist me like that."

"So you didn't tell me about that either because you didn't think he was serious."