Excerpt: Across the Hall - Kylie Walker

Excerpt: 

He told Ethan about his arrest. He’d come to terms with it and now he just wanted to put it in the past. He knew that he was lucky. Being wealthy and a successful businessman had helped him. If not for his high power attorney he would have just been any guy with a public defender and he may have ended up behind bars for a lot longer…and with a big ass ankle monitor on his leg right now. He stopped at the fireplace and looked at the photos of Ethan, his dead parents and his sister. He didn’t want to talk about his time in prison any longer. In an effort to give his friend a hard time and have some fun, he grinned and turned towards Ethan and said,

“Your sister is fucking hot. When did you say she’d be home?”

Ethan laughed too but then as serious as he’d ever said anything in his life he said, “There are millions of women in New York City. Stay away from my sister bud.”

“Or…?” he laughed again.

“You don’t want to find out.” Ethan didn’t sound like he was joking. Jude wasn’t afraid of him, but he wasn’t interested in screwing up their friendship either. “You want another beer?” Ethan’s subtle change of subject was not lost on Jude. He smiled and finished what was left in his beer bottle.

“I better not. I’d better go check on the movers. You have some nice art,” Jude was looking at the modern pieces hanging on the walls. There were some really nice sculptures near the fireplace as well.

“Thanks. I can’t really take credit for most of it. Jillian’s the one with the eye for art.”

The devil on his shoulder made him say, “Hmm…she’s sounding more and more interesting…”

“Jude…” the tone of Ethan’s voice told him he wasn’t kidding this time.

“Chill out man. I’m kidding. I’m just giving you a hard time.”

Ethan raised an eyebrow at him but he let it go. “So what are your plans after you get off house arrest?”

“I’ll go back to running my company at the helm instead of by phone or the prison visiting room. I’m seriously considering staying here in New York though. I have some good, strong people in the international divisions and I’d prefer to leave those to them and stay home for a while.”

Jude inherited his father’s business when he was twenty-two after his father died of a massive heart attack. It was a lot of responsibility for such a young man, but Jude was bright and he’d been exposed to his father’s business his entire life. With the direction of a board of directors who were faithful to the family and his mother who was brilliant in her own right, and a mentor that he couldn’t have done without, he’d done very well in the long run. He looked at the clock now and said, “I really should get back over there and make sure the place is getting set up right. It was great seeing you man. Maybe we can hang out again sometime.”

“Absolutely,” Ethan told him. He stood up and they hugged again before he left and went back to his own place. It was good to know Ethan would be across the hall…he was also looking forward to finally meeting his sister.