“Fuck you.” She snatched her dress off the floor.
“Hmm, not your best work. You might want to practice the nicely part.”
My chuckle morphed into a full laugh when she stormed past me toward the bathroom, her head held high.
She was so easy to rile up.
Since Jules was taking forever and a day in the shower, I used the opportunity to clean up the mess we’d made in the living room—a toppled coat tree, knocked-over picture frames.
I’d just finishing straightening up when a boom of thunder cracked the silence. My head jerked up, and I crossed to the window and pulled aside the curtains.
“Fuck.”
Somehow, the light drizzle from earlier had exploded into a full-blown storm. Another crack of thunder rattled the old wooden bones of the house, and rain lashed against the windows in such thick sheets it created tiny, fast-flowing river systems on the glass.
“What’s going on?”
I turned to see Jules fresh out of the shower, her hair damp around her shoulders and her body wrapped in a tiny towel.
My cock perked with interest, but I ignored the horny bastard. It’d had enough for the night. It was time for my brain to take the wheel, and my brain told me the faster I got Jules out of here, the better.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t let her leave when it was storming like this outside.
“The apocalypse started while we were fucking,” I said.
She peered over my shoulder and rolled her eyes. “You’re being dramatic. It’s a little rain.” She fished her phone from the table where she’d left it.
“What are you doing?”
“Calling a car.” Her brow puckered. “The price surge when it rains is ridiculous—hey!”
I ignored her protest as I snatched the phone out of her hand. “Unless you have a death wish, you are not getting in a car in these conditions.”
“It’s rain,Josh. Water. I’ll be fine.”
“Water that cars can slide and get into accidents in,” I growled. “I work in the ER. Do you know how many car accident cases I see from storms? A lot.”
“You’re being paranoid. I’m not—”
Our phones shrieked with emergency flash flood warning text alerts.
“That’s it.” I shoved her phone into my pocket. “You’re staying until the rain lets up.”
I wouldn’t let anyone, not even my worst enemy, go home in these conditions. The chances were slim, but if anything happened to her…
My throat constricted.
I couldn’t have another death on my hands.
Jules must’ve seen the conviction in my eyes, because she sighed in resignation. “Can I at least borrow something to wear while I wait? I’m not spending the next God knows how many hours in my club dress.”
Half an hour later, she’d changed into one of my old T-shirts and we’d settled on the couch, arguing over which movie to watch.
“Too boring.”
“Too cheesy.”
“No horror. I hate horror.”
“That’s a kid’s movie, Red.”
“So? Kid’s movies can be good.”
“Yeah. If you’re a fucking kid.”
Jules responded with a sweet smile. “Funny you should say that, considering how hard you cried watching The Lion King. Last year.”
I scowled. Ava. How many times did I have to tell her not to share every single fucking thing about me with her friends?
“Mufasa didn’t deserve to die, okay?” I snapped. “At least I’m not such a wuss I hide behind my hands every time the poster for a horror movie pops up.”
“I’m not a wuss. I just dislike ugly things, which is why I try not to look at you—don’t you dare put The Ring on!”
“Try and stop me.”