Page 41 of The Hopelessly Bromantic Duet
Jude takes a long pull of his beer, then sets it down. “So what happened? How did it stop?”
“Research,” I say, a small note of pride in my voice. “I knew the biggest advantage I had over Robby was my brain. So, I researched online how to deal with bullies. Most of the solutions—bring in an adult, tell the bully to stop, weren’t my style. Butact bored—I was really good at that. When Robby would start up, I’d just roll my eyes, open a book, do something else.”
“Don’t feed a fire,” Jude says, delighted. “And it worked?”
“Over time. But the biggest thing that worked was me realizing eventually they didn’t have any real power over me since I’d already renamed myself. Their stupid rhymes weren’t going to last forever, but I had a name I finally liked. I had something that mattered to me.”
“You did. You really did.” Jude’s eyes hold mine, and there’s a new look in his—gratitude, maybe? A touch more vulnerability? It’s hard to say, but whatever the emotion is, it brings that tingly feeling back to my chest for all new reasons.
Reasons that have nothing to do with my dick and everything to do with the organ in my rib cage—with what I’m feeling for the man across from me.
I might be more than slightly infatuated.
“Thank you for telling me, TJ,” Jude says. “I couldn’t figure out why you’d hate a name so much. I thought maybe it was that you simply wanted a cool name. But I get it now. I get you.”
“I don’t think I’ve told that story to a lot of people,” I say, but that’s not true. IknowI haven’t told anyone besides my brother.I didn’t even tell him till middle school ended and I’d escaped the line of fire.
Jude gives a soft smile like he’s glad he earned the tale. “Were you out in high school, then? Or did the name thing make it hard for you?”
“I came out to my brother when I was fifteen, then to our parents a little while later. They’d just gotten a divorce.” Even though I poured out way more of myself to Jude than I thought I would, he’s not getting the story of my parents’ divorce. No one is. That goes to the grave. “I waited till the dust settled from that. And then I was pretty much out from my junior year of high school and onward. And no one gave a shit what my initials stood for. Everything else was more interesting, you know?”
“It ran its course,” he says. “But it stayed with you. It shaped you in unexpected ways.”
That’s one way of looking at it. “It did.”
Jude lifts his beer, clinks it to mine. “Cheers.”
“For what?” I ask, confused.
“For saying something hard. I know you didn’t want to tell me that.”
Funny how a week ago I wanted him to work my name out of me in the bedroom. I should keep that secret too, but fuck it. He’s easy to talk to. “Honestly, I’d been hoping you’d get my name out of me with your tongue. But now that I’ve given you the whole sorry story, I think I’m glad I didn’t say it in bed,” I tell him with a smile.
Jude pouts, all over the top. “Dammit. I would have liked to use my tongue for that noble purpose.”
“And that’s why you’re a member of The Oscar Wilde Society of Often and Well. Because you understand noble purposes for tongues.”
“I absolutely do,” he says, then drops the volume, sliding into a low, sexy tone. “I bet it’d have taken five minutes, tops.”
I smile wickedly. Shake my head. “Nah.”
“You doubt my tongue?”
“That’s not it,” I say.
“Then what are you saying, TJ?” He says my initials in his most seductive voice.
I lean a little closer. “I’m saying that with you, it would have only taken about one.”
Jude murmurs appreciatively and stares hotly at me. Then, he seems to shake it off. “Incidentally, I’ve got a Robby in my past—although he went by Robert. He was, however, also a total wanker.”
“Tell me about your Robby.”
“My ex from uni. I was crazy about the twat. He dumped me when uni ended. Nothing butI just don’t feel the same.”
“Ouch. He’s a real top bloke.”
Jude smiles at my attempt at an English accent. “Asuperdipshit,” he says, emphasis onsuper, using one of my favorite adjectives. “But here we are, you and me, a couple of great dicks.”