Hey Jude (Lennox Valley Chronicles #1)

Realizing I’m shivering, I pull the blanket over me. What am I going to do?

Jude eventually comes back with coffee and sets the mug on the nightstand. I sit up slowly as he pulls on his jeans. He sits down on the bed next to me.

“That was a smart move,” I manage to joke through my tears, raising an eyebrow at him as I glance down at his pants.

He smiles softly. “Can’t have you distracted.” He pauses, handing me the coffee. “You gonna tell me what’s going on?”

My brow furrows and I look away.

“Olena.” He gently pulls my face to his. “Look, I know something’s up. This isn’t normal. The nightmares…” He trails off.

I take a deep breath and look at him, tears falling again as I consider what I’m about to tell him. “Okay.” I try to blink away the tears. “You’re right.”

“Okay,” he says, a flicker of concern settling over his features. He watches me closely.

I put the coffee down again and wipe at my eyes, hugging my knees to my chest. “Sean has been texting me. And calling me, more recently.” I hesitate a moment before meeting his eyes.

He straightens and I see his jaw clench in the dim light. He doesn’t speak.

“He’s… I think he’s high sometimes when he calls. He thinks he can convince me to go back to Seattle. To get back together with him. I keep telling him no, but he…” I turn my head and breathe out a long, shaky breath. I don’t know how to explain the way Sean’s been acting—the way he’s been scaring me.

Jude looks at the floor, then back to me. “How long has this been happening?” he asks quietly.

“I don’t know, a few weeks? It’s not like it’s been all the time—”

“He’s been harassing you this entire time?” He stands, rubbing a hand down his face. “The entire time we’ve been… the entire time since I met you,” he says, gesturing between us, “this guy’s been bothering you? And you didn’t say anything?” A deep crease forms in his brow.

“Jude, I just… I kept thinking he’d stop, that he’d finally hear me saying no.” My shoulders drop at the obvious futility of wishing Sean away.

A pause. “Did he say anything else?”

I grimace. I can’t look at him.

Jude scoffs. “Is there more? What else, Olena?” His intense gaze bores into me.

My eyes meet his, pleading. “Look, please don’t be mad.”

He folds his arms over his chest, waiting, and I take a breath.

“Yesterday, when I came inside to take that call, that was him.” My voice is quiet, the shame that I’d lied eating me up.

He raises his eyebrows and a muscle ticks in his jaw.

“He… he got really angry.” I look down at my hands, grimacing. “And loud. And he said he was going to come see me, and talk sense into me… make me understand.” I can barely get the words out through uneven breaths.

Jude backs up a pace from the bed. He lets loose a breath and rakes a hand roughly through his hair. He’s silent for a moment, pressing his lips together. When he speaks, his deep voice is calm. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

I exhale hard. “I don’t know. I was scared… I just want him to go away, and I didn’t know how to make him stop.” My eyes widen, looking down at the bed. “I tried blocking him every way I could think of, but he just keeps…” I let my forehead rest on my knees as fresh tears spill out.

“So, let me get this straight, you’ve got some dirtbag ex harassing you and fucking threatening you? And you didn’t think you could share that with me?” Jude gestures toward his chest, his disappointment palpable. “And when your dad asked the other night… you just lied to him?”

I look up at him, pleading. “I don’t want them to worry about me. I don’t want you to worry about me.” I push my fingers into my hair, letting my head fall into my hands.

“Olena…” Jude paces in front of me. “Don’t you realize there are people in your life who want to worry about you? Who care about you? Who—” He cuts himself off, shaking his head with a grim look.

I lift my head at his words. “I thought I could handle it, that I could make him understand.”

“So, you were hoping, what, that this guy just wouldn’t show up here?” he asks, shaking his head in disbelief.