Page 135 of The Surrender

“Then why the fuck is she still here?”

“Please, Amelia.” He braves moving closer. “I’m fucking lost.”

I back up, and he stops, his entire upper body rolling.

“Don’t do this, please.”

“Do what?” I ask. “Walk away from a man whose sole intention was to seduce me as payback to a man who pissed him off?”

He looks like he could explode, and that just riles me more. He has no right to be angry. He should be on his fucking knees begging for my forgiveness. Not that it would make any difference. I’m done. Which begs the question of why I’m still here.

“Pissed me off?” Jude asks through his teeth.

Something behind him catches my eye, and when I see what, my jaw muscles are instantly sore from tensing so hard. He turns to see what’s got my attention. “Fuck off, Katherine,” he says calmly, making her head retract in surprise.

I blink, just as Katherine’s husband emerges from the double doors, taking in the scene. He looks at his wife. Then at me.

Katherine doesn’t take one bit of notice of him. No. Her attention is on me. The problem. “It’s for the best,” she says. “You don’t fit in around here.”

“This isn’t about you, Katherine.” I’m calm. “It’s so much more relevant than you.”

She coughs over her indignation, looking at Jude. For backup? She doesn’t get it, so returns her attention to me. “You thought you could turn him against me by having your car vandalised and blaming me?”

“I know it wasn’t you.” I hold Jude’s gaze. “It was Leighton Steers. He found out I was sleeping with Jude. Thought I was playing dirty to win business and get ahead of him.”

Jude flinches, and Katherine huffs. “Do you believe me now?” she says, going at Jude, taking his arms.

Jude stares at her blankly as she gazes at him with hope. “Rob.” He takes Katherine’s arm and walks her back to her husband. “Keep her the hell away from me.”

I watch, stunned, as Katherine fights Jude’s hold, yelling at him, and Rob observes, not a scrap of emotion on his face. “Jude, I th—”

“I said, fuck off!” His bellow echoes around the grounds of Arlington Hall, his body shaking from the force inflicted on his strung body.

“Are you forgetting what I know?” she yells. “Do you want me to tell—”

“Go to hell, Katherine,” Jude snaps, passing her to her husband before shoving a finger in his face. “I don’t want her near me. I don’t want her here, I don’t wantyouhere. Grow a fucking pair, Rob. This”—he waves a hand between them—“isn’t fucking love.” Turning, he comes back at me, and my feet start to walk me backwards.

Are you forgetting what I know? Do you want me to tell—

Leave.

I turn and walk, checking my Uber app, wilting when I see my car is still ten minutes away.

“Amelia.” Jude’s breath is laboured as he comes after me, his long legs eating up the distance between us. “Stop walking away.” He lands in front of me, and in a blind panic, I spin and start pacing back towards Arlington Hall. I can’t hold him off for ten minutes. I can’t look at him. The confliction is fucking with my head. Hate him. Love him.

Katherine’s wailing like a banshee, chasing Rob’s heels as he walks away from her. He gets in his car, slamming the door, and she starts hammering on the glass, screaming endless insults at him. “You always knew you were the consolation prize. You knew! You can’t bail now, you can’t leave me!”

Rob reverses out of the space, but he doesn’t get to drive off. Katherine puts herself at the front, blocking him, yelling for him to get out.

I stop abruptly and face Jude. “What does she have on you?”

“What?”

“What does she know, Jude? What is she holding against you that meant you wouldn’t tell her to fuck off the moment she started meddling?”

“Nothing. She’s just—”

“The night we ate out with my friends. When Nick showed up. You saw him, didn’t you? That’s why you left the table, so he wouldn’t see you with me and expose your lies.”