Free Midnight Matings 13 Splash and Elegance by Gabrielle Evans Page B

cotton shirt. “You are without a doubt the shittiest mate on the planet.”
    Jude knew he wasn’t doing a stellar job, but he didn’t know if he would take it that far. “I’m trying, Whit. What do you want from me?”
    “Forget it. So, what’s the plan?”
    Taking a chance, Jude skimmed his fingertips down the back of Whitley’s neck, smiling when his mate shivered. “This is important, Whit. We don’t have a huge window to make this work. I promise I’m going to take good care of you as soon as we get out of here. Please trust me.” He was asking a lot of the man and giving very little in return, but he couldn’t take a chance that Whitley would bail on him.
Moving closer, he molded himself to Whitley’s back, wound his arms around his lover’s chest, and kissed the side of his neck. “We’re in this together, right? I’m hurting the same as you, but you know what? I’d want you even if I wasn’t.” It wasn’t just a line he plucked out of the air to gain Whitley’s compliance, either.
    Whitley was unlike anyone he’d met and very different than Jude assumed he’d be. There was something so lost about him, but he had an inner strength he hadn’t even realized yet. Even if it hadn’t started that way, Whitley was quickly becoming someone Jude could see himself falling for.
    “When we get out of this mess, I want the truth, Jude. I want to know everything. I think you owe me that much.”
    “Once we’re safe, we’ll sit down and talk for days if that’s what you want. I’ll tell you every thought I’ve ever had.”
    “That’s not what I want.” Whitley pulled out of his arms and turned around to face him. “I don’t need to know your life story up front. I just want to know the parts that involve me. This.” He waved toward the window, indicating their current situation. “This involves me, and I have a right to know.”
    He was right, of course. The less he knew, the better off they’d all be, though. This had seemed like such a great plan in the beginning, but now Jude just felt conflicted. On one hand, he needed Whitley’s help to get his brother out of that cell. On the other hand, Whitley wasn’t some spoiled, arrogant jerk like Jude had imagined a Turner to be. The guy had jumped right in to help him without demanding anything in return.
    Jude was still trying to navigate the line of right and wrong when his cell phone chirped with a text message from Arman, telling him that it was go time. “They’re leaving.”
    “Let’s get this over with.” There was none of the spark in Whitley’s eyes that he’d had while they’d been practicing moves in his backyard. He didn’t look worried or concerned like he had on the plane, or confused and frustrated as he had in the car. The anger from
moments before was gone, and he didn’t even appear shy and timid as he had when Jude had first met him. He simply looked vacant.
    The look made Jude’s insides shrivel and his gut clench painfully.
    It wasn’t supposed to be this way. He hadn’t set out to hurt Whitley.
    They were supposed to have more time together before he unloaded all this drama on the guy. Things hadn’t worked out that way, though, and now there was nowhere to go but forward.
    With nothing to say that could possibly make things any better, Jude simply nodded, grabbed his backpack off the floor, and reached for Whitley’s. His mate stopped him, grabbed the bag, and hoisted it over his own shoulder before turning his back and marching toward the door. It wasn’t heavy, but Jude figured it was something small he could do for the man. Apparently, he’d been wrong. Whitley didn’t want anything in exchange for his help. He didn’t want anything from Jude at all.
    That wasn’t exactly true. He wanted Jude to be a good mate.
    Anything would be a step up from how he’d acted so far, but Jude couldn’t worry about that just then. “There’s a service way the yard crew uses to navigate the grounds. We’ll