Page 23 of Mr. Perfect

“Otherwise, it would mean…” Felix puffed out a frustrated breath. He didn’t know because he refused to allow himself to consider what it meant. “Jude has lived here for months and never once approached me. I’m not hard to find.”

“Until this week.”

“We ran into each other at the Rotary meeting this week. He didn’t seek me out.”

“Or maybe he did,” Rocky countered.

Felix glanced over at his friend, noting the sly grin on his handsome face. “You think he orchestrated my Rotary speaking gig?”

Rocky laughed. “Running into you at a public event where you’re not likely to cut off his balls is smarter than showing up on your doorstep or calling you out of the blue.”

Easier too. Jude called it working smarter, but Felix thought it was lazy. “You think Jude’s the one behind the joint venture with the news station?”

“Could be,” Rocky said. “You said it wasn’t the first time the two media outlets worked together though.”

Felix narrowed his eyes as the seed Rocky planted started to take root and spread. “Jude would be aware of the history.” And use it to his advantage. Also lazy. “What was Jude’s advantage? What had he hoped to accomplish with forced proximity?”

“Really, Felix?” Rocky asked. “Think about it.”

Because you’re here.Felix didn’t want to think about it.

“What did Jude do to you in college to make you pretend to hate him so much?”

“I can’t stand you, Major,” Felix groused.

Rocky blew him a kiss. “About as much as you can’t stand Jude Arrow?”

“Don’t make me pull this SUV over and dump you out on the side of the road. It’s a scorcher out there today, and we’re still an hour away from Atlanta.”

“You’re not getting into Gentleman Jack’s without me, so…”

Rocky had Felix there. “Fine. Jude told everyone in our journalism class that my mother was a trailer park whore.”

“Bastard,” Rocky said. “I can’t believe he spread such vicious rumors about you.”

“He’s a duplicitous bastard, but he didn’t lie about me.”Just to me.

Felix had trusted Jude with a truth that hurt him more than any lie ever could, which was why Jude’s betrayal sank deeper than Felix’s bones. It felt like a permanent scar on his soul.

“Kelly did whatever it took to get by. First, it was to feed a drug habit. She sobered up by the time I was in eighth grade but finding a good-paying job with her reputation was impossible. She sheltered me from the truth for as long as she could. Kelly never brought the men to our trailer or exposed me to her lifestyle in other ways. You know how kids are though. Their parents hadn’t hesitated to talk about the trailer trash at the dinner table, and my classmates had eagerly filled my head with the harsh truth about my mother.”

“Fuck, Felix. I’m so sorry,” Rocky said.

“It’s okay. Kelly and I are in a good place now.”

“How the hell did Jude find out? He’s from Atlanta, and you attended Emory University there, right?”

Then, as if fate really wanted to fuck with him, a Jude Arrow promo came on the radio. Felix changed the station, wishing he could also steer the subject in a different direction. Instead, he said, “Yeah.”

“How in the world had he known about your personal business back in Savannah?”

Felix sighed deeply.I believed in him. I trusted him.“I foolishly confided in him.”

“You loved Jude,” Rocky said softly. “It explains so much.”

Felix tightened his grip on the steering wheel and his heart. “I did. He betrayed me.”

“The son of a bitch better hope we don’t run into each other,” Rocky growled. “I’ll fuck up his pretty face really good.”