“Yeah,” Judge replied. “We’ll take my car.”
Oh no we wouldn’t.
I was limiting our time together to the absolute least it could be.
Thus, no riding around in cars with them, and when we were finished, I was leaving him and going home.
That was to say, going directly to Duncan’s (and Mom’s now, I guessed) for dinner.
Then I was going home.
I straightened to declare, “I’ll follow.”
Judge shook his head. “We’re all going to the same place. There’s no need for you to drive.”
“I’ll follow.”
“Chloe—”
I stared into his eyes and said low, “I’ll follow.”
His expression shifted again, contemplative, and something else.
Something I looked away from because I understood it, even if I didn’t.
Remorse.
“You get to ride with me,” I told Zeke.
That made Rix enter the conversation. “No, he doesn’t.”
I leveled my gaze on Judge’s friend. “I’m sorry, but he does. He’s exceptionally well-behaved, and I’m afraid it concerns me, his being around you. I don’t want anything to rub off.”
Rix’s eyes widened in shock at my insult, or anger, I had no idea and didn’t linger to find out.
Judge grunted with the effort not to guffaw.
“Leash?” I demanded of Judge.
“By the door,” he told me.
I twisted, looked, moved that way and took it off the hook.
Then I called to Zeke, patting my leg (something I didn’t have to do, I had the leash, he was already bounding to me), “Come, mon chou, let’s get some fresh air.”
Zeke was in concurrence with this, I could tell. He was very good as I put on his lead. And he was very good as I walked him to my car to sit in it and await Judge pulling out of the garage that was a level below the rest of his house, built into the incline of the mountain.
And I managed to do this without thinking once about the glimpse of perfect vista I saw off his deck from the wall of windows at the back of his house. Or the manly, rustic décor in his home that looked inviting and comfortable. So much so, I wanted to invite myself into it and get very comfortable.
Therefore, we were ready when Judge backed out in his Cherokee, Rix in his passenger seat.
And then we were on our way.
* * *
Considering my earlier hypothesis that Rix could wrestle a bear, I shouldn’t have been surprised that he could keep up with Judge while hiking.
What was vexing was that they both openly (if not verbally) expressed surprise that I could.
“She probably does spin classes or something,” I caught Rix up ahead, walking beside Judge, saying to Judge under his breath (loudly) after we’d been hiking a trail for a good fifteen minutes.
To which I, coming up the rear, said (also loudly), “I wouldn’t be caught dead in a gym. Too many people there to work out, no interest in admiring my outfits.”
Judge turned his head away from Rix and grinned huge at the vista.
Even in profile, it was a sight to behold.
Rix glowered over his insanely broad shoulder at me.
The vista was so gorgeous, it clearly caused Judge to temporarily lose his mind, because at this point, he declared, “Zeke and I are gonna go on a quick run. He’s dying for it. We’ll be back. But while we’re gone, you two learn to get along.”
And with no further ado, Judge twisted and reached long, tugged Zeke’s lead from my hand and took off running.
Although it was clear that our pace was driving Zeke around the bend (so being a good dog dad, it was a moral imperative for Judge to give that puppers what he needed), I halted entirely, such was my shock that Judge left me with a man who really did not like me.
For what reason, I did not know.
It wasn’t like I left Judge at the altar (an unfortunate thought, because it brought up the next one, which was Judge looking handsome in a bespoke tuxedo, surrounded by walls made from trailing white wisteria, waiting for his bride).
“We’re not gonna get this shit done if you just stand there,” Rix informed me.
I came out of my Judge-in-a-tuxedo-among-wisteria trance and focused on Rix, who had also stopped about five feet ahead of me on the trail.
I didn’t start moving again.
I asked, “Can I please understand why you have a problem with me when, until very recently, I’ve never met you?”
He turned his black-haired head to look up the path where Judge and Zeke had disappeared, he then looked back at me.
After that, he simply raised his thick brows.
“I’m sure your good looks and defined muscles allow your Neanderthal act to work on some women, but I’m afraid I must inform you, I’m evolved, and therefore require speech. Full sentences if you’re able,” I stated.
“We’re gonna be honest?” he asked, walking back to me. “Then here’s the honesty, sweetheart. I’m sure with your looks and that ass and that attitude, you expect men to drop like flies. And I bet that’s a fun game for you. What I’m not a fan of is when my boy,” he jerked his head to the trail, “does it, and you crush him under your four-hundred-dollar heel.”