Chapter 28

OLIVER

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My hand unclenched the wine bottle, letting it clatter on the counter with an unsettling CLANG.

I started to fan myself. Oh my gosh. My first altercation.

My heart was doing ten jumping jacks per second. My hands were clammy. Sweat prickled my entire skin. If my outfit was uncomfortable when I first started wearing it, then it now felt like I was wearing sandpaper that clinged to my skin.

I just made my first ever real enemy, I thought frantically.

My head was spinning in circles. Never would I have imagined myself getting into an altercation with someone. In a goddamn club.

For Judah Adams.

Oh my gosh. My brain was going to explode. How does someone deal with having a real enemy? I had my fair share of bullies, but they’d never threatened to beat me up. They’d normally insult me but rearing up to charge at me like a bull? Dylan the douche had just turned my world upside down and not for the better.

My phone suddenly buzzed, interrupting my train of thought – or rather train-wreck of thought – before I fished it out of my purse on the barstool next to me.

My eyes studied the screen. It was a message from Casey.

×××Notification×××
Sw ur text msgeee. Stll in clxb. Enjying lyf.

Egmrtjruei ridx8eijedjrjd183h3xhe7

I had to roll my eyes. Casey only texts like this when he’s drunk.

Me: Nvm

“Take it that’s your friend,” the bar tender spoke, startling me so much I almost dropped my phone. At first, I thought he was eavesdropping on our text messages, but then I looked up to see his gaze on Jude.

I smiled nervously. “He’s an aquaintance.”

The bar tender glanced at Jude then at me once more, a frown carving itself on his face. “You don’t get into fights like what I’ve just witnessed for an aquaintance.”

On another day, I would have completely refuted that but not today. I was too tired, both physically and mentally, to argue.

My phone buzzed with another notification from Casey. I sighed, knowing that the next thing I was going to read was more incoherent babbling but the text made me stand straight.

×××Notification×××
Hey, it’s JJ. Casey just passed out. We’re outside the entrance.

Me: Meet you there

“He’s saying someone’s name,” the bartender alerted me. He was cleaning up the drink that Jude spilt on the counter.

“What do you mean?” My eyes landed on Jude again. He was, true to the bar tender, mumbling something under his breath.

The bartender shrugged. “Someone named Oliver.”

“What?” I focused on Jude’s voice, my world starting to spin again. That was a lie…or so I thought. At first, his voice was indistinct until I moved closer, and I heard it.

“Oliver, Oliver, Oliver.” He took a deep, shaky breath and continued. “Oliver.”

What in the world?

I moved until I was sitting on the barstool right next to him. My thoughts in a whirlpool of utter confusion, I touched his shoulder tentatively, like I was touching an electric wire. “Jude. Jude.”

He didn’t answer. However, he continued calling my name, oblivious that I was sitting next to him.

“Jude.” I tried again. “It’s me. It’s Oliver.”

He suddenly went very still. My breath also froze at the same moment. I thought he’d passed out until he raised his head, his eyes glossed over for a moment before they landed on me. “Oliver.” He breathed. The stench of alcohol hit me in the face like a freight train, but my name sounded magnificently angelic when he said it that I did not mind it at all.

Before you could say, ‘What a night’, his hands were suddenly around me, pulling me into his chest. A gasp was wrenched out of me. Before I could fully process it, his nose came to my neck and he took a full breath. “You smell so fucking good.”

“Jude.” I tried getting off him but his grip was like an anaconda’s coil. The guy was incredibly strong. What the hell?

“Have I ever told you you smell so nice?” He said huskily, digging his nose further into the curve of my neck. The deep timbre of his voice ran through me so viscerally that I swear I could feel it in my bones. How could he sound even hotter when he’s drunk?

His hands began moving up and down my torso, lightly up my back before suddenly stopping on my hair. His finger slowly began twirling it. Oh my gosh. What is he doing?

I tried more than ever to get out of his grip but it was just too tight. He raised his head, my neck getting a blast of cold air from where his nose once was, and suddenly, I was staring up at him. His hazel-brown eyes stared back at me, glazed and unfocused. Up close, I could definitely study his face; he seemed to have grown a light moustache and a scruffy remnant of a goatee which made him look even more scrumptious.

“I want to kiss you,” he slurred. “For the dare…for the dare we didn’t do.”

“We did,” I swallowed, surprised at the fact I managed to speak coherently. I didn’t realise being this close to him would make my mind go haywire. I was barely managing to string up words. “We did kiss. At Rockwater mall. Remember?”

“I don’t give a fuck,” he whispered, “I want to do it again.”

I was breathing quickly now. My body temperature was in the thousands of degrees and I was damn sure it wasn’t from the room’s conditioning. I was still smelling alcohol from his breath though how it didn’t turn me off was such a mystery to me.

“Can-can I do it, Ollie?” He drawled and with a jolt, I realised it was the first time he’d ever called me that. Called me Ollie.

“No, Jude. You’re drunk.” I tried getting out of his grip for the third time but he wouldn’t budge. “This isn’t right. JJ is waiting for us.” I tried looking for the bartender for help but all I could see was Jude’s chest. I couldn’t even angle my face away from him. Shit.

He drew closer. “Please.”

He skimmed his lips on my forehead. A shiver ran through my entire being.

“Pretty pleaseee…Pretty fucking please.” He drew closer. I held my breath and shut my eyes, absolutely petrified but not like when I was with Lionel. This time, I couldn’t identify why I was petrified, which scared me more.

My eyes suddenly flicked open. Jude was now inches from my face. I braced myself.

Three, two, one…

Nothing happened.

I opened my eyes to find him staring at me, a puzzled look on his face. He suddenly released me and turned away from me.

I sat back up, heat creeping into my cheeks. Did that just happen?

“I went to get more stock and I still find you here?” The bar tender’s voice came up behind me. “What did I miss?”

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These two chapters were…interesting to say the least. ( ￣▽￣)
Do you think Jude will remember this?
Don’t forget to vote and comment.

~StarsandDust