24
AMELIA
Monday, May 26 | 8:30 a.m.
Jude was a drug.
I was thoroughly convinced that being wrapped up in his arms was more potent than any sedative. The last few nights at the cabin had been fraught with insomnia.
It was too dark.
Too quiet.
Too musty.
Too lonely. I had grown accustomed to living with my brother. Maybe it was the twin thing, but ever since Jude had drugged me and thrown me over his shoulder to fake a very real kidnapping, it felt like part of me had been ripped out of my chest.
I hoped Joel was okay. I hoped he wasn’t in as much emotional agony as I was. I hoped he wasn’t lonely. I hoped . . . I hoped he had learned his fucking lesson.
It didn’t help that Jude couldn’t sleep either. He was constantly up at all hours of the night, doing his rounds to makesure everything was secure. I appreciated it, but I also had the distinct feeling that it wasn’t normal protocol. It seemed like an anxious habit he used to cope.
But cope with what?
Valentine coming after him? Kidnapping me? The fact that neither of us knew how to get out of this mess?
Jude’s arms tightened around my middle, pulling me closer to his chest as he shifted in his sleep.
Dawn broke an hour or so ago, but Jude was still asleep.
He never slept this long without waking to make his rounds.
That wasn’t lost on me.
A soft breath escaped his nose as he burrowed his forehead into the back of my neck. His fingers flexed around my arms as he held me tighter and tighter.
God, when was the last time he slept like this?Usually, when I slept, I slept like the dead. It took at least seven alarms to get me to rouse.
But Jude? He rarely slept, which made the depth of his sleep all the more bizarre.
Even though it was likely to get quite muggy today, the night had been cool, and the fire that Jude had stoked before we went to sleep was long gone.
Still, I was snug as a bug.
I shouldn’t have been.
I should have gouged his eyes out. I should have choked him. I should have snuck out. I should have kneed him in the balls and made a run for it.
Instead, I snuggled closer, closed my eyes, and exhaled as the length of his beard tickled my temple.
I had just drifted back to sleep when the wide expanse of his hand slid up my hip and rested on my breast.
Oh my god.
I clenched my thighs as sparks of delight danced up my legs and simmered in my core. My mind went back to yesterday, when he flipped me and pinned me to the ground. About the way his chest pressed against mine. The ferocity in his eyes. The way he worked and manipulated my body until I was begging for him.
Maybe he was right. Maybe I was just looking for something to take the edge off. But was that so wrong?
Jude’s hand tightened around my breast. Not uncomfortably so. Just enough to—oh god.His thumb smoothed over my nipple. I bit my lip, but the whimper still escaped. I couldn’t squeeze my legs tight enough. It did nothing to ease the instant ache he had lit inside of me.
