Strangely Normal - By Tess Oliver Page 0,59
it to say, one involved a liter of tequila and another a Halloween party gone incredibly wrong.” He tucked his helmet between his feet.
“Did the bus driver put your Harley on the rack with the other guy’s bike?”
“I wish. I had to park it in the mall lot. Hopefully it won’t get towed.”
I broke off a piece of muffin and handed it to him. “Jude, why are you here?”
“Purely selfish reasons.” He stuffed the muffin into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed. “I decided I would much rather spend the day with you than my dad.”
I sat back and blew a strand of hair off my face. “It’s yellow,” I said quietly.
“What’s yellow?”
“Our apartment. The whole place has this weird yellow glow to it so everyone looks like they have liver disease. And it’s ugly and small and stuffy.”
“Would you stop, orphan Annie. I told you I don’t give a shit about that. Now tell me what your dad is like. I want to make sure he doesn’t hate me. Dad’s always hate guys their daughters bring home.”
I looked over at him. “Are you kidding me? Have you not heard me mention my dad’s obsession with Black Thunder?” I leaned back again. “You came directly from Nicky King’s loins. He will be falling all over himself when he meets you.” Jude was silent and I turned to look at him again.
His mouth was pulled tight.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
He cleared his throat and tapped his chest. “It’s nothing. It’s just that the muffin tried to come back up after you mentioned my dad’s loins.”
“Sorry, I won’t bring them up again.” I rested back and looked out the window. I decided to stop worrying about Jude accompanying me home. There was no way to avoid it now.
There was a frustrating amount of stops on the way to the freeway, and the bus filled up quickly. Two energetic teenage girls got on at the final stop and walked to the back. They sat down across the aisle from us and stared openly at Jude.
He hurled a charming smile their way. “How’s it going?”
They nearly fell out of their seats with glee.
“Great,” one of them chirped. “You look so familiar. Were you at Sadie’s party last night?”
“Yeah,” he pointed at them, “you’re—” he snapped his fingers, trying to summon their names.
“I’m Katie and this is Bree,” the girl answered.
“Right, right. Great party.” He leaned back and I stared long and hard at the side of his face. He seemed to be enjoying it and knew full well I was dying of curiosity.
“Who is Sadie?” The question could no longer be contained.
“No fucking clue.”
“And your under-aged groupie friends across the aisle?”
“Never seen them in my life.”
“And the party?”
“Nope. After my Dad and I went a few rounds, I needed to blow off some steam. I went to a bar in L.A. where some of my friends hang out.” He faced me now and his green gaze was sincere. “No girls, Valley. Just a few of the guys.”
“Why did you act like you knew them?”
He shrugged. “I get the, haven’t we met thing a lot. My dad has always tried to keep us from being photographed, but it’s impossible to avoid altogether. People see me in magazines and on line. Then they see me and they know I look familiar but they don’t know why. It’s just easier to go along with it.”
The bus chugged along onto the freeway, which meant the stops had ended and we would be heading into the valley.
I scooted down in the seat and Jude did the same.
“Your new found friends have not taken their eyes off of you,” I muttered through the side of my mouth.
“Can you blame them?” He pulled his jacket up over both of our heads, and we were in our own private tent. Even in the dark, cramped space beneath his coat, he looked irresistible.
I leaned over and kissed him lightly on the mouth. “I wasn’t too sure about this at first, but now I’m glad you’re coming along.”
His hand pressed against the side of my face, and he kissed me so long that the air beneath the leather coat grew hot and dense. He grinned at me in the dark of our leather shelter. “I think we’ve used up all the oxygen in here.”
“I was thinking the same thing.”
He threw down the coat, and the musty smell of bus air struck us. I leaned my head on his shoulder. “How long will your dad be staying?”
A