Judge didn’t want that for them, any of them, but all the same, he was glad to hear they’d not been entirely clueless.
The door behind him opened.
He twisted and watched Chloe slip out.
After she’d hit the bathroom to clean up the mess her crying jag had made of her makeup, she’d come out and most of it was gone.
She was as gorgeous as ever.
Now, a little puffy-eyed from the weeping and the sleeping, she was the same.
He knew she would be, puffy eyes and all.
Even so, his tension came back at her appearance, only to slide away again immediately as she sidled up to Judge then pressed against his side, wrapping her arms around his middle.
Jesus.
It felt like his fucking soul let out a breath.
He glided an arm around her shoulders.
Duncan took them in, his mouth curved.
“Hey, Bowie,” Chloe murmured shyly.
“You okay, honey?” Duncan asked.
She nodded, her cheek moving against Judge’s pec.
“Your mom’s worried. Sasha is—”
Judge cleared his throat.
Duncan’s chest heaved with a held back laugh before he kept on, “Everyone’s worried.”
“I’ll call Mom.”
“By everyone I mean Sully, Gage, Hale…and Matt.”
Fuck.
“I’ll connect with Sullivan, Gage, Hale. I’ll do that soon,” she promised. “But I need space, Bowie.”
In other words, Matt could fester in the situation he’d wrought by dragging Chloe through his shit and then blaming it on her.
Yes.
She’d been thorough when she pulled it together and then gave it all to Judge.
And he liked Sully and Gage more than he already did, and he’d liked them both a lot.
For his part, Gage had driven up from Tucson to “show her a good time” last night. He did this by taking her out to some club he could only get into because he had a fake ID, and then he used his allowance to buy her drinks and watched her purse while she danced.
But her blood siblings, they were another story.
“I’ll see to that,” Duncan promised.
“Tell Mom I’m okay, though, yes?”
“Of course, honey.” Then he looked to Judge. “She doesn’t drive down the mountain tonight.”
Chloe tensed at his side.
“Absolutely not,” Judge agreed.
“I—” Chloe didn’t quite begin.
Duncan cut her off by saying, “Come here just real quick, honey.”
Chloe didn’t protest further. She pulled from Judge, and Duncan folded her tight in his arms.
Judge shifted just enough to see the expression on her face was relieved, content.
And suddenly, Judge felt the same.
Duncan had to say no more, the hug said it all, so he kissed her cheek, broke their hug and ordered, “Eat. Rest. We’ll see you soon.”
Judge reclaimed Chloe, and Duncan clapped Judge on the arm, dipped his chin and sauntered away.
Judge felt Chloe’s head move and looked down at her to see her looking up at him.
“I have to work tomorrow, Judge.”
“So wake up early to get down the mountain.”
She scrunched her face.
He bent and kissed her nose.
When he lifted away, she didn’t hesitate to educate him about something important.
“There will be times you doing something that sweet will allow you to get away with being ridiculous. A very early morning on the line is not one of those times.”
“Sure it is,” he disagreed.
She glared but rearranged her face to watch and then wave as Duncan drove away in his Tesla SUV.
When the night swallowed his taillights, Judge guided her inside.
Straight to the kitchen.
There, he gave her a squeeze and let her go to get on with dinner, because he was starved.
She reached for her bag.
“You touch your phone, I’ll take it from you and throw it over my deck.”
That got him another glare.
“I’m not sure I’m a fan of this bossy,” she declared.
“They can stew in the pot they cooked up and tried to boil you in,” he said, dumping the ground beef in the skillet.
“That’s quite the metaphor,” she tossed at him.
He shot her a grin. “You’re not gonna get poetry from me either, doll, but you won’t go wanting to understand what I mean.” He paused then, “Or how I feel.”
She rolled her eyes, but she did it with lips curving.
She then explained, “I wasn’t going to connect with Sash…or Matt. But Mom needs to know I’m good and Sully might do something severe, like charter a plane to get to me or go over to Matt’s and punch him in the face. He’s overprotective, that one. I’d weed that out of him, but it’s immensely attractive and will serve his future partner well, once I’ve decided she passes muster.”
Judge burst out laughing, his relief complete because she was herself again.
He noticed her lips were again tipped up as she finished reaching for her phone.
When he saw the screen light up, he also saw it filled with notifications.
Shit.
Before she got into it, he said, “I want you spending the night.”
Her head came up, and her eyes found his.
He made himself clear.
“In my bed, next to me. Where I can be close to you. No sex. That’s going to be only ours, and I don’t want the memory of our first time clouded with something ugly. But I also don’t want you driving down in the dark, or after a big trauma and crying jag. It’ll worry the fuck out of me.”