“Didn’t say I minded.”
Jude looked at him properly then, eyes narrowing behind the glasses as though weighing the truth of it. Testing if Warren was taking the piss.
He wasn’t. Not even close.
And for the first time all day, he wasn’t sure he was playing a role either.
The corridor hummed faintly with the muffled clatter of classrooms reawakening after lunch, but here it felt suspended. Just the two of them. Jude, clutching the papers tight to his chest as if they were armour. Warren, still dangling the crisp packet between his fingers like a peace offering. He told himself he was trying to read the man—properlyread him—past the surface level attraction he had no business entertaining. That was what he should be doing. The job. The target. The cover.
But before he could, a thunder of Year Tens crashed down the corridor, half-tucked shirts, booming voices, barging shoulders, no sense of space. The spell broke in an instant.
Jude stepped aside, sliding into teacher mode with ease. “Shirt in, George, please.”
The group barely acknowledged him. Muttering. Laughing. Not breaking stride. And before Warren could even think aboutwhat he was doing, he barked, “Oi! Lads!” Voice cutting like a whip through the corridor.
Five boys halted mid-step, turning as one. Eyes wide, postures snapping straight as if they’d been barked at by a drill sergeant.
“Mr Ellison gave you an instruction.” Warren folded his arms, crisp packet dangling from his fingers and muscle pulling beneath the polo in a way he knew landed without him needing to say more.
The lads noticed. Of course they did. He did itforthem. But it was Jude’s gaze, lingering a beat too long, making the heat creep under Warren’s collar.
Christ. He fancies me.
Normally, Warren would’ve marked that as a win. Leverage. An easy in. But he wasn’t meant to be playing the honey trap game here. And the reaction hitting him was something else entirely. Not tactical. Not useful. It stirred low and deep, in places he hadn’t dared imagine, desires he’d buried under years of discipline. And suddenly, standing there in a bloody school corridor, Warren felt the ground shift beneath him.
The tallest lad, already sprouting a patchy beard with trousers hanging halfway to his knees, grumbled and tucked his shirt in.
“Good lad.” Warren got himself back in check. “Now do everyone a favour and invest in a belt. We don’t all need a front-row seat to your Tesco boxers.”
Mumbled replies and laughter went off down the corridor.
Jude raised his eyebrows. “Nice delivery.”
Warren shrugged, suppressing a smirk. “Keeping the Worthbridge standards high.”
“And the waistbands, I see.”
That pulled a laugh out of him before he could stop it. And Jude smiled back. Unguarded. Striking in a way Warren hadn’tprepared for. He caught it. Filed it. And told himself, again, this was part of the job. Befriend him. Build trust. Ease him in gently.
Even if that smile landed harder than it should have.
But his training reminded him of the more important detail, though. The Year Tens hadn’t listened to Jude. Not until Warren stepped in. That didn’t sit with the idea of Jude as someone grooming for Reid’s benefit. He was liked, maybe. But not feared. Not obeyed. Not a ringleader. See-through, in some ways. That could make him perfect cover.
Or maybe Jude Ellison wasn’t here to recruit at all.
“I’d better…” Jude waved vaguely towards the Humanities block.
“Sure.” Warren stepped back a pace. Then he pivoted, unwilling to let it end there. “So… this quiz team you’re on?”
“Captain of.” Jude rolled his eyes, nodding to the crisp packet in Warren’s hand. “Unless you’re here to strip me of that too.”
“Wouldn’t dream of stripping you.”
Jude’s gaze dropped quickly and unguarded, before snapping back up as another group of kids thundered through the corridor giving him the chance to slip back into teacher mode. “Where’s your tie, Melissa?”
Deflection. Clear as day. Warren clocked it, and the chuckle slipped out before he could stop it. He liked Jude’s flustering around him. How his throwaway lines landed hard enough to paint colour across his cheeks.
Liked itfar too much.
