“Were you not at the Raven the other night?” he asked.
She pressed her lips together.
Now she caught his drift.
“He knows she’s into him,” Judge continued. “He’s being gentler with her. He’s putting the effort in to coax her out of her shell. They’re co-workers, they need to get along, communicate, co-exist in a healthy and meaningful way on a team. But like I told you, and that night at the Raven proved, Alex is not his type.”
“So if it was any female who went to this detention center, he’d react?” she inquired.
“Maybe, I don’t know. Probably,” Judge answered. “It isn’t chauvinistic, or it isn’t intentionally or maliciously so. It’s just the way he was raised. What I’m saying is, if she were to go back, he wouldn’t step in to stop it, but he wouldn’t like it.”
“For her or any woman?”
“Definitely her, because he sees Alex as vulnerable now. But probably any woman.”
She looked back to the view on another “Hmm” and sip of wine.
“Chloe,” he said her name in a warning tone.
“They were cute together.”
They were, when they were flirting at the Raven.
Judge would never have called that, but seeing it, the tentative way Alex was connecting with Rix, because he was obviously her type, she was not his, but they had a ton in common, it had seemed awesome.
Natural even.
Especially since Rix was that guy. A protector. A provider.
Alex didn’t need that, in all but the ways that, regardless of Rix’s physical condition, he’d be able to give it.
A societal and emotional buffer.
Rix was outgoing, and since she wasn’t, he’d move mountains to make sure she was comfortable, to stand between those situations and her, or represent for the both of them when that needed to happen.
Judge had never thought of it like that, but in those senses, it was a match made in heaven.
He had to admit they were also cute as fuck, cat and mousing it all over the offices the last few workdays while they’d been getting ready for their trip tomorrow.
Judge wanted to think it was just that Rix was a natural flirt, it was friendly and harmless.
But he’d worked with the guy for years now, and while doing it, Rix had worked alongside a number of women at the store, subordinates, and up in the corporate offices, women who were his superiors, and Judge had never seen him act like he’d been around Alex this past week.
He was friendly with all his co-workers, he’d joke around.
But he wasn’t teasing or playful…which was also part of that more that Judge had been noticing.
Still more of it was that heated look they’d exchanged at their lunch last Tuesday.
That was definitely more.
It could be Rix was putting additional effort into it because Alex was a hard nut to crack. Even in the beginning with Judge, she was quiet, reticent, and only really bloomed when she was in her element with the program, dealing with the volunteers, teachers, and mostly the kids.
He liked her because she was dependable, crazy organized and excellent at what she did.
But it had taken a lot of flights together, traveling to take the kids on hikes or to meetings in schools that he finally broke through and got to know her a little better.
And that was only a little better.
He studied his woman’s profile.
Then he said, “You hatch a plot, you might regret it.”
“I also might not,” she replied, then took another sip of wine, and he sensed she wasn’t considering whether or not to hatch a plot, she was already plotting.
“This is my best friend we’re talking about, doll,” he said gently.
She looked to him again. “Indeed, so isn’t it time he found someone to make him happy?”
“How do you know that will be Alex?” he asked.
“How do you know it won’t be?” she returned.
“It’s a risk. A big one.”
She had an answer to that too.
“Life’s a risk, mon beau. A big one.” She leaned over the arm of her chair and caught his forearm. “Honey, he’s downing every beddable female in a six county area. You told me he was not like that before the accident. You told me it was Peri and only Peri, he didn’t even look at other women. You didn’t know him before Peri, but you two have shared, and from what he’s told you, you know he was a relationship guy. She shredded him when he was at his lowest point. I may be playing armchair psychologist, but I don’t think it takes a degree to see this change of behavior has some impetus. It could be he’s proving the man he is even if he’s lost his legs. It could be he’s living his best life because he had a near-death experience. It could be he’s acting out some revenge against Peri. What it isn’t, is the real Rix.”
Judge had not thought of any of this before Chloe, but settling down, finding his one, he’d thought of it. Because Rix had found his one, and then he lost her.
He’d also talked to Chloe about it.
“I mean, for heaven’s sake,” she continued, “he had a quickie with the flight attendant on your dad’s plane when we were flying to Texas for your mother’s funeral. We all had our minds elsewhere back then, but that was incredibly inappropriate.”
“It was,” he muttered. Then he stated straight, “But Chloe, these are big issues to tackle, and they’re Rix’s to tackle. Anyone attempting something like that will need support. And I can speak from experience, having a good woman at your back when life punches you in the throat is the way to go.”
She sent him a soft smile.
“But I’m not sure Alex has that in her,” he finished.
“She’s a Sharp of the Coddington-Sharps, isn’t she?”
Of course she’d put that together.
He nodded.
“Her mother is in line for the British throne,” she stated.
“Way back in line,” he said by way of confirming.
“Mon Dieu.”
“Yup.”
“She’s money, Judge, old money. Ancient money,” Chloe pointed out.
“I don’t see—”
“And she lives in an essentially one-room house in the mountains. I’ve been there. It’s charming, and very her, but the trust fund she undoubtedly has means she could probably buy the entire mountain and carve it out for a reflecting pool for her castle. She might not be skipping-through-the-office happy, but that’s just not the woman she is. However, she’s clearly content in her own way. She enjoys her job. She’s spoken to me of her friends, and she’s obviously fond of them. She’s built an entire life outside the one she was born into. One that has claws so sharp, they bleed you dry before you’re able to speak your first word. And they dig so deep, you can never get free. So you go through life, especially the women, as a bloodless automaton, or, as it seems her sister might be, a bloodthirsty vampire, but you do it doing what you’re told, not rocking the boat, not stepping out of line, and absolutely not sullying the family name. Alex is beautiful and she’s bright and she’s left that all behind and is living her own life.”
This was no lie, Alex was all of that.
“And you think she can’t take on big, bad, damaged John Hendrix?” Chloe concluded.