Jude blinked, as if he’d forgotten Warren was there. “Uh… the end one. Just stop here.”
Warren pulled in and eased the handbrake up, but Jude didn’t move. Didn’t reach for the door or even his seatbelt. He stared at the house as if it might bite.
“You live with someone?” Warren kept his tone light. “That why you’re weird about the drop-off?”
“No.” Jude snapped his gaze towards him. “I’m not weird. I just…”
“Don’t want me going out of my way.”
“Right.”
“Thing is, I’ve got no way to go out of.”
Jude glanced back at the house. Still didn’t move. Warren tracked the tightness in his jaw. The wringing of his hands.
“So,” Warren tried again, “if you don’t live with anyone… did you forget to turn the light off this morning?”
Jude hung his head. “Looks like it.”
Warren paused. Calculated. Then gambled.
“Actually.” He stretched as if it the thought had only just occurred to him, “I’m at a bit of a loose end tonight. Was gonna hit the gym, but you’ve wrecked my towel, so that’s off the table. Figured I should try the local fish and chips. Can’t live by the sea and not have cod in batter on the beachfront, right? Know any good takeaways?”
Jude turned to him, brows raised. “It’s torrential rain.”
“Yeah…” Warren bit back a grin. “Solid point. Alright, any recommendations for places wedon’thave to eat soaking wet? Maybe one with tables and we can sit in?”
Jude blinked at him. “We?”
Warren shrugged. “Sure. Beats eating alone. Or hiding in my bedroom waiting for the… noises to stop.”
Jude gave a quiet laugh. A real one. And glanced down at his hands, towel bunched in his lap, then back up. “I know a couple of places.”
Warren grinned. Genuine, not tactical.
Not because he’d got his target to agree to something.
But because he was about to spend the evening with Jude Ellison. And, for a moment, it felt like the assignment had nothing to do with it.
Still, the job was the job.
He nodded towards the house. “Shall we pop in? Switch the light off?”
Jude looked back at the cottage, face shuttered. Then shook his head.
“Nah. Let it stay on. Keeps burglars away. And…” He hesitated a beat. “It’ll help when I get home later.”
Warren’s brow ticked up. “You planning on stumbling back pissed on vinegar?”
Jude smiled. Shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Oh, Mr Ellison, sir, you have a dark side.”
Jude turned to look out of his passenger window, hiding his face, but Warren heard his muttered reply of, “Like you wouldn’t believe.”
chapter ten
On This Day in History
