I perched on the ledge of the tall building, watching. It was late, almost 12AM on a Thursday. But it was my job to be here, to overlook the city, to survey his every move.
There was a reason that I was sitting on this particular building. I had a clear view through his bedroom window. I knew he knew I was there, because he kept glancing out and over my head. Classic surveillance move.
He was shirtless, lying on his bed, just waiting for me to mess up, to make a wrong step. I could tell from the smirk on his gorgeous face that he knew that I eventually would. And as the thought of his voice saying the words “you couldn’t get me if you tried”, I made my move and jumped from building to building, seeing as they were closely packed together. And that’s where I made my mistake.
As I landed on his building, my foot slipped and I started falling between a building on 45th Street and his building on Sherman Avenue.
Crap! The ground came closer and I picked up speed. I stuck my arms out so that my palms were scraping against the brick walls. As I approached the only window on this side of the building, his window, I gritted my teeth and pushed as hard as possible on the brick, neglecting the searing pain rushing through my palms so that I wouldn’t see him and his I-told-you-so expression. But as I slid lower to my embarrassment more than my death, I closed my eyes and I thought to myself, he’s gonna bug you with this for only God knows how long.
“Why, what a surprise,” said Jude, as he opened the window and caught onto my wrist. I dangled and struggled in his grasp. “Fancy seeing you… drop by all of a sudden. And at this late hour. My, my, Blake. Where are your manners?”
He dragged me into his room and helped me to my feet. His touch burned my palms with an insane fire.
“Ouch! Get the hell off of me!” I shouted at him. I yanked my hands out of his and cradled them to my chest. He gazed down at them and, for a millisecond. I could see sincere sympathy in his emerald green eyes. But as fast as it appeared, it vanished, and he squinted at my wounds.
“What happened to you? Is that a piece of brick stuck in there? Blake, you need to get that cleaned out. Come here. I’ll do it for you.” Jude held out his hand toward where I sat on the floor. Reluctantly, I handed him my forearm and not my hands, so that my palms wouldn’t burn again. I knew that seeing me hurt would get rid of the teasing situation, for now.
As I stood up, I thought how good it was to have someone like Jude. I smiled to myself and he looked at me.
“What? You think the fall was insanely hilarious and embarrassing for someone with all your expertise as I did?” he asked with the same arrogant smirk on his gorgeous face.
But then again…