I don’t even know why I wasted my breath, because he pulls me out of the house and we walk, our fingers tangled together, toward the Bullies’ arena. I shiver once the cold air hits me and lean closer into Jude. Pulling off his own long-sleeved shirt, leaving him in a black tank, he hands it over to me, and I smile in thanks before putting it on as we continue to walk.

Wrapping his arm around my shoulders, he pulls me in, kissing my temple before saying, “That shirt looks good on you.”

I look up at him with doubt in my eyes. “It’s huge on me.”

He smiles. “Yeah, but it’s mine and it’s on you. That’s hot.”

Giggling, I cuddle into him, loving the way he smells. It’s a woodsy and spicy smell, and as I bring the collar of his shirt up over my mouth and under my nose, all I smell is him. Looking up at him, I say, “I’m stealing this shirt.”

“That’s fine,” he says and it saddens me how sick he looks. Then again, I hope it teaches him not to be drinking his problems away.

“You look like crap,” I say as he pulls the door open for me.

He nods. “I feel like it.”

As I pass by, he grabs a handful of my butt and I roll my eyes. “Obviously not, since you’re getting frisky.”

He laughs, snaking his arm around my waist and pulling me so that my back is to his chest. Nuzzling his nose in my hair, he whispers, “I’m always up to get frisky when it involves you, baby.”

Butterflies go nuts in my belly as we head toward the dancing room. Kissing my temple, he whispers, “I missed you last night. Did you sleep good?”

Ugh. Nodding, I say, “Just fine.”

“That’s good. Saturday you aren’t getting away. You’re staying to party and then sleeping with me.”

I smile. While I love this side of him, the demanding one, the one that needs me so much he can’t breathe, I love giving him a hard time even more. “Is that a demand or a request?

He smiles in my hair, his teeth tickling my earlobe, and then he says, “Let me reword that.”

“Good idea,” I tease.

“Please, come party with me Saturday and sleep with me afterward.”

“I think you keep forgetting I’m not one of your quick lays – you have to respect me.”

“No way, I’ve never mistaken you for one,” he says, kissing my neck. “You’re too special.”

Smiling a little too hard, I say, “Well, then good, I’ll be there.”

“That’s right. You better say yes,” he says roughly in my ear before nibbling on my neck and making me weak in the knees. I laugh out loud as we reach the door to the studio. I push it open, trying to get away, but he takes me in his arms, crashing his mouth against mine, slamming me against the door. Moving my hands, I wrap my arms around his neck, holding him tight as we kiss hungrily.

His hands slowly move up my waist and climb up my ribs, but before he can reach my breasts, someone says, “You two aren’t alone.”

Breaking apart, we both look to the side to see Skylar and Rachael sitting on the wall with their phones out in front of them. Rage fills me from the top of my head to the tip of my toes when my eyes meet Rachael’s. She’s wearing a hurt look, almost devastated, and I don’t understand it. Why is she looking at us like that?

“What are you doing?” I ask as Skylar stands, grabbing my bag and clothes to hand to me.

“I wanted to make sure your stuff didn’t get jacked, so I waited. And she wouldn’t leave for some reason, so we’ve been waiting,” she says, and then stretches her arms above her head. “I’m tired. I’m going back to the dorm for a nap.”

“Thank you,” I say as she walks out the door.

“No problem. Be good,” she says, pointing a finger at me. “And you,” she then says to Rachael, “don’t be such a bitch all the time.”

When I look back at Rachael, she’s standing, her arms crossed across her chest, still wearing that look on her face. I ignore her, putting on my clothes because I don’t trust myself to say anything to her. I am still so mad at her and don’t trust her as far as I can throw her. Which wouldn’t be far. It’s just shitty what she did, what she claimed.

While I don’t trust myself to speak to her, Jude must not care because he says, “That was superlow, Rach.”

She shrugs as she looks down at the ground, wringing her fingers together. “I just don’t get it. I don’t know how you could lie to my face the way you did.”

“The same way you just did,” he says with a shrug. “I never promised you forever, and don’t say I did. I said if I decided to start dating, I’d call you.”

“But you didn’t,” she says, looking up at him, and I see her eyes swimming with tears. “You called her.”

“I didn’t call her. She took over my thoughts and my mind. I couldn’t stop it,” he admits and her shoulders drop. She takes in a deep breath, and it honestly pains me to see her like that. I know it doesn’t make sense, but no one wants to see someone hurt, even if they are a raging bitch like Rachael. She obviously cares for him – a lot – and he doesn’t realize it at all.

“You love him?” I ask suddenly and both of them look back at me.

“What? No,” he says with a chuckle and then looks back at her. “What? Seriously, Rachael? We fucked like twice. It was nothing.”

“Wow, jerk,” I say, smacking his arm. “It might have been nothing to you, but it was something to her.”

“Fuck off, Claire, you don’t know anything,” she sneers. She then starts to walk toward us, going for the door, but Jude stops her, taking her arm in his hand.

“Really?”

She doesn’t look at him as she shrugs. “I’ve known you for like ever, Jude. How did you not know?”

She then shakes her arm from his grip and leaves, slamming the door behind her. Looking back at me, he asks, “Should I go after her?”

“If you want to, by all means,” I say, but I’m not sure why. I don’t want him to chase after her; I want it to be done, but maybe it can’t be done without his saying whatever he has planned to say to her. “I didn’t know y’all knew each other for a while.”

Still looking at the door, he shrugs. “We went to school together, but I never knew. Not that I cared one way or another, or do now. I can’t control what she feels, and I don’t feel bad because I know I didn’t give her any reason to fall for me.”