Page 25 of Thrown Off Balance

“I’m not going to kiss you. Honestly, I'm not going to chase you. As long as Jude’s your boyfriend, I’ll consider that a sign you don’t want anything to do with me. That being said, I still think we’d be great together.”

Before I can respond to him, Cody climbs into the driver’s seat of his SUV and starts the engine. I take a few steps away from the vehicle and my hand flies up to settle over my chest. My heart is still beating erratically against my ribs. I face the car and wait to see what Cody’s going to do.

He rolls his window down and shakes his head.

“Get inside, sweetheart. I don’t want to worry about you the rest of the night.”

I nod my head, but my brain is still foggy. I stumble towards the door to the apartment and as soon as it shuts behind me, Cody presses on the gas and a moment later he’s gone.

“I don’t want to talk to you right now, Jude,” I sigh as I answer the phone. He’s been texting me all night and I keep telling him the same thing.

“I'm sorry. I know you’re mad at me.”

“Oh, really? And why am I mad at you?” My brows raise in surprise. I’d be shocked if he can actually answer my question correctly.

“I… I don’t actually know. I just know you are.”

“Then why are you apologizing? How can you say you’re sorry when you don’t know what you’re sorry for? That’s stupid.”

“Sloan,” he groans my name like I'm a child who is pushing his buttons and he’s done with it. “I'm sorry I upset you. Why does it matter what I did?”

“Because if you don’t know what you did wrong, you can’t truly be sorry! You’re just apologizing so I won't be angry at you anymore!” My hands are shaking with anger and frustration. I feel like this is my new normal when it comes to Jude.

“What do I have to do to make it up to you?” His voice softens and I narrow my eyes. He’s used this line more than a few times and now I'm realizing it’s all to make me happy so I stop being angry at him.

How many times was he clueless over what he did? How often did he apologize, but he really didn’t mean it? How frequently does he do this and I'm too dumb to realize it?

“Let me ask you a question. When did you realize I wasn’t with you at the restaurant?” I squeeze my eyes shut and try to count to ten. I need to stay calm or this conversation isn’t going to help.

“I noticed you were gone when Jax left. Why?”

“I walked right past you and got inside Cody’s car when Cody told Jax it was time to go. That’s how little you’ve paid attention to me since you met the Robinson twins. I'm tired of being a means to get you more time with Jax. I'm supposed to be your girlfriend, not your connection to professional hockey players!”

“You’re right,” he says softly. “I'm sorry, Sloan. I’ve ignored you every time we’ve been around them and that hasn’t been fair to you. Can you forgive me for being so wrapped up in Jax? I promise I’ll do better. How about we go out for dinner on Sunday? Just the two of us. Let me make this up to you.”

“Ok,” I whisper, unsure if this is the right choice. I'm not sure he can do anything to make this up to me.

Chapter 13

Cody

Pulling up in front of Sophia’s house, I blow out a long breath. I know questions will be asked and I don’t want to deal with them right now. Jax is going to pounce immediately because he’s nosy and doesn’t understand boundaries. Sophia will do the same because she might as well be Jax’s twin. Charlie will be more respectful, but she’s got the nosy gene too. We all do.

“You can sit in your car as long as you want, we’re still going to question you when you man up and come in here,” Jax calls from the front porch.

I roll my eyes and push my car door open. I might as well get this over with. The faster we get through the interrogation, the faster I can spend time with my family.

As I step onto the front porch, Jax opens the front door and motions for me to go in first. I spot Carter sitting on Charlie’s lap right away and make a beeline towards her as soon as I’ve washed my hands. If I have to deal with the questions, I can at least get my cuddles in with Carter at the same time.

“Hey, is Uncle Cody stealing you?” Charlie coos as I take the baby from her lap.

“She’s getting too big, Char. I think you need to have another one soon. Who am I going to cuddle when this one starts running around?”

I take the empty recliner and settle Carter on my lap. I let her grab my hands and play with my fingers before chewing on them.

“Um… Hello! I'm right here and this baby is twenty weeks away from coming out.” Sophia motions to her growing stomach.

“Which means if you alternate getting pregnant every like year or so, I’ll have never-ending cuddles. Right, Carter?” I tickle her little legs, making her giggle.