“Her?” he asks.
Just that.
One word.
I let out a rough breath, dragging a hand through my hair.
“Yeah.”
He nods once, like that explains everything.
Because it does.
I lean back against the ropes, staring up at the wooden beams, trying to ignore the way her face keeps slipping back into my head.
“I don’t like it,” I admit, the words coming out rougher than I expect.
Jude doesn’t answer.
He doesn’t need to.
“She looks at me like…” I trail off, jaw tightening, because I don’t even know how to say it without it sounding like something I don’t want to admit.
“Like she needs something.”
A beat passes.
“And you want to give it,” he says.
Not a question.
I huff out something between a laugh and a curse, shaking my head.
“Yeah,” I admit. “And that’s the problem.”
Jude shrugs slightly, like it’s simple, like it’s nothing. “Then don’t.”
I push off the ropes, grabbing a water bottle, because if it were that easy, I wouldn’t be here, wouldn’t be trying to beat this out of my system like it’s something I can just shake loose.
“Yeah,” I mutter. “That’s the plan.”
But even as I say it, I know it’s already too late.
Because I’ve never wanted to break my own rules this badly before.
“But, Dex?”
I look up and find him staring at me, really staring this time, not just watching the fight, but studying me like he’s trying to figure something out I don’t even understand myself.
“Why don’t you want that?”
The question lands heavier than it should, like it hits somewhere deeper than I expect, somewhere I don’t have a clean answer for.
I look away, jaw tightening.
“I don’t fucking know.”
Jude nods once, like that’s answer enough, like he wasn’t expecting anything clearer than that.
