Bound to be Tested: Emergence, Book 3 by Becca Jameson Page B

who used to be his closest friend.
    “Is she okay?”
    Oh, so right to the chase .
    Jason unlocked the back door and stepped inside, Jude on his heels. “What do you think?” he asked without turning around.
    “I didn’t mean for it to go down like that… Last night, I mean.”
    “Really?” Jason turned on him as he entered his office. “And how exactly did you intend for it to ‘go down’? Did you think she’d be sitting at the bar, waiting for you to return to her side? Perhaps wearing your collar?” He circled his desk and tapped on the surface with one hand. “Or maybe you thought she’d be with another Dom or married with a kid and one on the way. What the fuck were you thinking, Jude?” His voice rose as he finished the line of questions.
    Jude slumped into the chair Carlton had been sitting in the first time Jason entered the office this morning. Where was Carlton now? For his sake, he hoped the man was out to lunch or running errands.
    Jude swallowed. “I didn’t think. It was stupid and irresponsible of me.”
    Jason plopped onto his chair. “Ya think?”
    “How bad is it?”
    “The damage to Lori’s relationship with Margaret? Not sure yet. But that’s the only thing you should be concerning yourself with right now. Anything else isn’t yours to worry about.” Jason leaped up as anger coursed through his body. He rounded the desk and got into Jude’s personal space.
    What he wanted to do was slap him, but he was too big of a man for that sort of behavior. “What the fuck is wrong with you, man? Who do you think you are? Do you know what you did to that woman? You broke her spirit, ruined her for other men. Fucked with her mind until she was a shredded shell of her former self. She’s finally whole again and she’s been in a committed relationship for over a year.”
    He stepped away and paced back and forth to keep his hands from acting of their own accord. “Lori isn’t yours anymore. She’s moved on. I helped her for months to pull herself together. She’s. Not. Yours. Don’t toy with her.”
    Jason shook his head, nowhere near done. “How dare you show up here at my club after two years? The only excuse I ever came up with in my mind for your stupidity was that you had contracted some incurable disease and selfishly left to avoid some misguided notion that you didn’t want Lori to watch you die a slow death.”
    Jason stepped up to his old friend and leaned into his face. “Here you are, and you aren’t fucking dead. That really pisses me off.”
    Jude hadn’t said a word. He’d let Jason rant until he was exhausted and had said his piece. He wasn’t an ass about it. He maintained eye contact the entire time, which infuriated Jason more.
    “I’m sorry.” Jude was tired. His eyes were bloodshot, and dark circles surrounded them. The man looked like he hadn’t slept in weeks.
    Jason found it hard to care. “That’s it? You’re fucking sorry?” He flung his hands up in the air in exasperation.
    “Yes. Unfortunately that’s all I’m at liberty to disclose.”
    “At liberty to disclose? What sort of highfalutin jargon is that?” He turned and punched a hole in the drywall, thankful he’d missed a two-by-four.
    “It’s all I’ve got, man.” Jude dipped his head.
    “Well, it’s not good enough.” Jason flexed his sore fingers. “You were my friend. Forget what you did to Lori. I thought you and I were friends. You were the head Dom at my club. You nearly ran this place. I’d have given my right arm for you. What the fuck are you doing back here?”
    “I’m going to retire soon. I came back to finish my last year with the Army National Guard unit.”
    “Retire? You’re what? Thirty-eight?”
    “Yep. That’s twenty years in the military.” Jude stood, his hands hanging loose at his side. “I wish there was something else I could say.”
    “Well, if there isn’t, then there’s no reason to continue this conversation.” Jason pointed at the door.