Darker London

For the last four days, the house had been very quiet. Jude and Parker moved in separate areas - easy to do in the house that size - and barely saw each other. Parker had tried, two days ago, to apologize again, but Jude didn't want to listen. I'm still angry at you, was all she told the girl.

Maybe this wasn't being a very good mother, but fortunately for Jude she wasn't Parker's mother. She was her guardian. She would give her a house over her head and food and horses and everything else she needed, but she didn't feel like showing the girl any further kindnesses right now. Parker was seventeen, almost eighteen. She was a big girl now and had been with Jude two and a half years - enough time to predict (as well as anyone could) her moods.

( Read more... )

In the offices of Caldwell Law in Cambridge, Jude McKenna's phone buzzed and did a half turn on her desk. She ignored it as she finished typing up the deposition she'd been handed earlier. Her entire job at the firm consisted of being handed paperwork to type out or deliver, and then handing back coffee orders along with the returned and completed paperwork. It wasn't what she wanted to be doing ideally, but it had been a strategic choice. There were other firms where Jude's grades would have seen her rising more quickly, but Caldwell Law was better established and more prestigious. Jude was playing the long game, putting in the hours and making herself invaluable.

( Tell the truth, you know you cannot keep me safe )

When Jude got off the phone with Josie she had to remove herself from the house. Outside their two-storey home in Cambridge, Parker safely inside watching TV, Jude quite firmly punched a tree. Too firmly. She had to quietly make her way to the bathroom to wash it under the tap before Parker noticed. She was trying to overcome bad habits.

Well, she was trying to overcome them when Parker could see. Other than that, all habits remained intact. Like the habit of not taking kindly to the trashbag boys Stephie constantly slept with. Ry? Ugh. Jocelin? Complete Ugh. Scott? Fine, sure, but not good enough for her by any stretch. And now Miles.

( ADULTS. )

"Parker," Jude said in a tone that she thought was very calm, "if you change radio stations one more time I swear to god I'll pull this car over so I can strangle you. Just pick a station!"

Parker, in the front seat of Vivica, sighed heavily and sunk back against the upholstery. "I'm so bored of driving."

"That's becoming painfully clear," Jude said, eyes on the road. It was, at worst, only a two hour drive from Cambridge to London and yet Parker acted as though they'd been stuck in the car for two days instead. Parker was not the person to be trapped in a vehicle with. Parker was bloody annoying to be trapped in a vehicle with. "Should have got you more travel sweets," she muttered, glad they were at least getting close to their destination. Although she didn't want Parker too hyped up on sugar - she was already bouncy enough just coming back to London.

Pulling into the driveway at Victoria Lane, Jude considered that she could have called ahead, but showing up unannounced just had such a better impact.

Please, she thought as she climbed out, don't let anyone be kidnapped, dead, or in the midst of a breakdown. But those were all high odds and she tried not to dread it. If Parker was worried it didn't show - she was beaming as she bounced up to knock on the door, Jude following at a slightly more sedate pace but with a smile already happening.