After three long hours on the road, Jude brings the car to a stop outside a five-storey apartment building. It’s a modern building with a cubic architectural design and balconies with glass balustrades.“Is this where you live?” I ask. He still hasn’t told me anything about what he wants to show me. “No. Come on,” he says, opening his door.I get out of the car and we head towards the entrance. We go into the building and to a lift lobby. When we get inside the elevator, he presses the button for the fourth floor.When we get out of the elevator, he turns to a door on the left and punches a code into the keypad outside. “You said you don’t live here, how do you know the code?”He gives me a secret smile and then pushes the door open. He holds it open and gestures to me. “After you.”I walk into the apartment and he comes in after me. In the entryway, there’s a door to the left and what looks like a closet to the right. I move farther inside and come to a spacious living room. It’s f

I was wrong.Simon is obsessed with that girl from Tuesday Night’s party. I’m sitting opposite him, sucking the life out of my chocolate milkshake while he narrates how from the moment he saw her, he knew she was the one.Now, Simon is not the kind of guy to talk about ‘the one’.Romance? It’s all unicorns and bullshit to him. When he talks about a girl like this, it’s because he wants to sleep with her. Or because he slept with her. As I understand, Keri–I’d already forgotten her name–hasn’t put out yet. And with the stars I can see in his eyes, that’s not why he still hasn’t forgotten her name after a full week. “Is she single?” I ask him. Isaac said she isn’t taken, but he also said she isn’t available. It would be such a bummer if Simon’s first venture into the land of flowers and hearts after so long ended in heartbreak.He rubs the back of his neck. “I think so.”I lift an eyebrow. “You think so?”He shrugs. “I haven’t asked.”“Wait.” I release my straw and focus on him. “I

“Yes, I do.”How can I forget her? Just at the mention of her name, I can clearly see her eyes roving up and down him like a detector.“She is a designer,” he tells me. “She introduced me to the industry. Gave me my first modelling job.”I nod and say nothing. I’m pretty sure that’s not what he wants to tell me. It’s just the tip of the iceberg.His eyes move away from me and focus on the wall behind me. “We used to have a thing.”I bite the inside of my lip. “A thing like…a relationship or–”“It was just sex.”Of course. “When?”“When I was in high school.”I get a bad taste in my mouth. “You started modelling at seventeen.”“We didn’t do anything until I was eighteen.”“Does it matter? How old was she, forty? Did she ask for sex so she could give you a job?”He shakes his head. “No. It wasn’t like that.”I take a deep breath. “Why are you telling me this?”There must be a reason. I’m not naive. Just from their interaction that day I could tell that whatever history was between them

By the time I get to the bathroom, I’m rethinking my decision. I might overdone my little show of self-control back there.I badly want to go back there and climb back on his lap. Or wherever it is he wants me so that he can do to me whatever he has in mind.I fan my cheeks as they burn. A musky smell assaults my senses and that’s when I remember my fingers are still covered in his cum. I turn on the tap and wash my hands.I have to change, and not just because there are spots of cum on my clothes. My panties are soaked. I have no idea how I’m going to walk back there and act like I’m only thinking about pizza.I’ve just finished washing my hands when the bathroom door opens and Jude walks in. I only get a single look at his face before quickly looking away. The look in his eyes has my stomach doing cartwheels. He shuts the door behind him and I can just tell I’m in trouble.“Did you think you can just run away?” he asks, making his way to the counter. I swallow and reach for paper

I’m brushing my teeth before bed when Jude comes into the bathroom and wraps his arms around my middle, his chin resting on my shoulder.“Are you mad?” he asks, looking at me in the mirror.I meet his gaze for only a second before leaning over the sink to rinse my mouth. He is still holding on to me when I put my brush away.“You weren’t actually going to let him go to a hotel, were you?” he asks.No, I wasn’t. He still shouldn’t have disregarded my opinion and told my brother he could stay before we talked it over. If I didn’t know he’s just doing this because of his wild idea to fix the ties between Trey and Jade, I would be offended.“It’s fine,” I tell him. Trey’s only going to be here for a few days, anyway. I’m sure his agent will find him an apartment soon.“I really want them to make up,” he says. “Your brother is a good guy and he is in love with her. He has always been in love with her.”“But she doesn’t love him,” I point out.“She does,” he counters.I sigh. “She broke up