The Ex-Change novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: Off the Record

The wrap party ended at one in the morning, and I was the last guest who still had a drink in her hand.

Jude found me by the coat check, took the glass out of my fingers and put it on a tray.

"You've been holding that for an hour," he said. "It's flat."

"I'm sorry. I don't know what to do with my hands."

"Come on. I'll walk you up."

We got into the hotel elevator together, and the doors slid shut.

It was one of those old brass cages with mirrored walls, and in the mirrors there were four of us, and none of us were smiling.

I looked for the little red light in the corner.

I found a black dome in the ceiling, and nothing glowing.

"It's off," I said.

"What is?"

"The light."

Jude didn't look at the ceiling.

He looked at me.

"I noticed."

The elevator climbed. The number over the door went from one to two, and my pulse went with it.

"You said four years of apologies," I told him. "In front of three hundred people. You said I'd kept the receipts."

"I meant it."

"Why?"

"Because I watched you stand up in a white spotlight and tell the truth about a man who made you small for four years." His voice was rough. "And I wanted to be standing next to you when you did it."

I should have said rule one.

I put my hand flat on his chest instead.

His heart was running as fast as mine.

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