Elle.

When I woke up the next morning it was a little passed 1 p.m, though I had tried to stay awake with Jude it didn't happen. He smiled at me, noticing I was awake, and he bloodshot eyes were what I noticed first.

"We probably should've stopped over night. You look dead tired." I scooted up in the car seat and fumbled around looking for my cell phone. 14 calls from Ryan, 2 text messages from McKenzie and one from...Reni? "You're going to New York aren't you?" I sighed and typed a quick "Yes, please try and calm Ryan down for me." then slammed the screen shut.

Jude had been mumbling something along the lines of, "Yeah, good idea." Before turning off onto a side exit for Richfield, Denver. I hummed as I watched the buildings pass by.

I looked over giving him a sly look. "Are we getting a hotel?"

"More like a motel." His tired smirk lacked luster as his turned into an abandoned looking Motel 8. I grimaced staring up at the sign's flickering neon 8. "Oh come on, Elle. It's not that bad. Plus this will be cheap so we can get a nice place to stay in New York."

I laughed opening the car door, thankful I could stretch my legs. "We won't need a hotel; we can stay with my uncle." My tone was confident as I got my duffle bag out of the back seat.

"Your uncle that you've never met and have no clue where he lives?"Jude smiled and linked our hands together.

I huffed and followed him into the dirty lobby. "I will find him. I know the church he preaches at, it can't be that hard right?"

Jude shrugged before walking up to the check-in desk and getting us a room key.

Once I had finished exploring our dinky room I flopped down onto the only bed and caused Jude's eyelids to snap open. He mumbled before snuggling his face into my side.

"I'm glad you came with me, Elle." Jude only pulled away slightly, making me decipher a few words.

I smiled and ran a hand through his hair. "Me too, want to know why?" I didn't give him a chance to answer before blurting out "We passed an Olive Garden on our way in."

Jude sent me a cheeky grin before rolling over on the bed and sitting up. "Well I guess I better change clothes."

-

We were seated in a dim lit corner of the restaurant, I was thankful there weren’t many other customers nearby. There had been a burning question I’d wanted to ask Jude since I had meet his siblings and tonight seemed like the perfect time to ask.

“How did Caroline become a foster parent to all of you?” I took a sip of wine, which I lied about my age to get, and twirled some alfredo noodles onto my fork.

Jude leaned back in his chair and stared at ceiling before he replied, “Well we all came in different ways. When my grandma became tired of me she found an ad online for someone adopting kids and shipped me off.”

I looked down at my food and felt sick; he was only four years old and traveling in a plane alone. “I’m sorry Jude. How did she get Avery?”

“His mom was a single-parent and just couldn’t afford to keep him. He was going to met her once but Caroline forbidden it when she found out.” Jude looked back down and concentrated on my fork still twirling the noodles. “Arabella’s is the funniest to me. Her parents were God awful rich, but her mother’s pregnancy was an accident.” His eyes flashed up to mine with a slight gleam. “She slept with her husband’s brother.”

A hand quickly found its way to my mouth to cover the gasp it had released. Jude laughed and resumed his previous gaze of the ceiling. “Her mom went away on a “business trip” once she started showing. Caroline and her worked together.”

I let out a breathy “Wow.” And asked about Kimberly and Rob. Jude answered about the first sibling mentioned by saying. “I don’t know about her, she’s really quiet you know. She never told us her story and Caroline didn’t feel like informing us.” He paused to steal a drink from my glass earning him a frown. “Rob on the other hand still has contact with his family, which is weird. His mom had him in high school and I she didn’t want to keep him. I think the agreement was he would go back when his parents got married but he didn’t want to leave.”
Jude laughed before adding. “And I know why.”

I gave him a puzzled look to which he smirked at and mumbled. “Kimberly had just moved in then.” I laughed then nodded making a small “Oh” sound.

The waiter then came bringing us the check and we soon left facing the cold air of Denver.

-

The Motel 8 hadn’t changed at all since we’d been gone, well maybe for the worst. I’m pretty sure we were the only tenets in the building except the rats. Jude seemed beat considering he flopped down onto the bed with a thud soon as he was fully through the door.

I walked over to my duffle bag and shuffled through for proper pajamas, skimming past the lingerie I’d brought. Hey, I had to be prepared for anything right?

I smiled to myself before slipping out of my jeans right in front of Jude, it’s not like he would be looking, soft snores were already floating from his mouth.

Once the tank top and boy shorts were carefully placed over my body I crawled into the bed next to him and place a quick kiss to his lips and mumbled “Good night.”