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cooked.” For the first time since he met
the man, Jude suddenly became a human instead of a fucking robot.
    “So,
you’re saying you feel safe with me in the house?” Will leaned back in his
chair to watch Jude’s bubble ass retreat down the narrow hallway to the front
parlor. “Ah baby, I didn’t know you cared?”
    “Fuck
you!” Jude’s voice echoed back to him.
    “Not
tonight baby, Daddy has a headache,” Will called after him, he smiled at the
sound of heavy footsteps pounding up the stairs and then the distant slamming
of a door. And for the first time in weeks, he didn’t feel so damned out of
control. He had a place to stay for as long as he needed it and someone to talk
to that didn’t judge him or want to discuss his career and his plans for after
his career ended. Or try to get him to marry them just so they could get their
manicured fingernails on his bank account. And home cooked food several times a
week that he didn’t have to pay for with money or sex. Life was good. He helped
himself to seconds of the tangy pasta with bacon. Life was very good.

 
    Chapter
Five
     
    Jude
stood at the French doors on the second floor balcony overlooking the courtyard
restlessly watching as snow fell in the courtyard. He’d lived in New Orleans
for five years and never once remembered it being this cold. Not cold enough to
snow at least. There was a couple of winters that he thought his fingers were
going to freeze off walking from his dorm to his classes, but there had been no
snow involved.
    The
coffee in his hands kept him warm. The heating in the house did a great job,
but it was just too cold—the chill continued to creep in. The world outside was
gray and lifeless. He shivered. The silence in the house and the chill added to
his restlessness.
    Slater
had left early that morning to run some errands. He hadn’t waited for Jude to
get up. But he’d left a note. He’d never left a note before. And he’d never
given Jude his cell number before either. The bike was still tucked up next to
the house under the tarp, so Jude figured he’d taken a taxi. Not his business.
If the team hadn’t lost last Sunday they would have played tomorrow, and he
would have been home alone anyway with Will being at practice all day.
    As
the day wore on and the weather turned worse, Jude started on his third pot of
coffee and paced the small den as his laptop sat open and blinking at him, the
presentation he was working on only half finished. He liked having the coffee
maker upstairs along with the mini fridge and the small bar in Levi’s workout
room. No need to constantly run down the stairs to get his fix.
    At
four o’clock the house phone rang, and for some reason Jude expected it to be
Levi. “What’s wrong,” he answered expecting the worst.
    “Don’t
cook. I mean if you were planning on cooking. I’m picking up take out on my way
back.” But it was Will, and Jude had forgotten all about eating in the
unnerving solitude.
    He
repressed the urge to ask the man where he’d been all day. Not his business. He
thought about calling Jasmine and seeing if she wanted to get together. But he
didn’t want to go out in this weather. “Not a problem. I was working and
forgot. Take out will be great.”
    “Anything
you’d like? I’m open for suggestions.” The voice on the other end sounded far
away. Jude went to the front window overlooking the street. There was no
movement outside.
    Nothing
stirred. The snow seemed to be sticking to the ground now. The neighbor’s car
wore a dusting of white.
    “I’ll
eat anything. Whatever you bring back is fine with me. The snow is starting to
cover the ground. I’ve never seen anything like this….well, here. I’ve seen
snow before. It’s cold.” He had no idea why he said that. After last night and
the almost comfortable dinner with the man nothing felt right anymore.
    “Tell
me about it. I swear my fingers have frost bite. I should have stayed home.” Will
laughed a