Page 134 of Bridesmaid By Chance
“Don’t.” I point at him. “Don’t you dare start with that bullshit. Nosexual innuendos. Talk about maturity. You’re over here yelling at me and then turning it sexual.”
“I just said I like biting. That’s it. You’re the one who turned it sexual.”
I fold my arms over my chest. “Please, if you didn’t mean it in a sexual way, then how the hell did you mean it?”
“It doesn’t matter,” he says, taking a step closer. “What matters is that what happened at the club was a disaster, and we’ll be lucky if we’re invited back.”
“They’ll invite us back. They didn’t seem to care. People were laughing.”
“Yeah, because that’s what I want, people laughing at us.”
“Jesus, Hudson, pull the stick out. Have a sense of humor. Won’t hurt you.”
Deadpan, he says, “I walked out of there with your hat covering my ass. There’s nothing funny about that. They’re not letting us back in.”
“Maybe you should have thought about that when you chose to wear such tight pants then, without freaking underwear! It was a recipe for disaster from the beginning. Ever think about that? Or maybe you shouldn’t have tackled me.”
“You were going to hurt someone. Maybe you shouldn’t have tried to send the ball into orbit. Not to mention, you touched my balls in public. Fucking poked them.”
“I was confused at what I was looking at,” I shout back. “I thought it was gum or something.”
“Jesus fuck, you didn’t think it was gum.”
“I don’t know.” I toss my hands up in the air. “I had no clue what happened back there; I blacked out.” I touch my head. “I honestly feel concussed after you ostrich-ed me.”
“If you say that one more goddamn time,” he says, exhibiting a great deal of irritation.
“It’s true,” I shout. “You ostrich-ed me, sent my head right into the dirt,ass out. I’m wearing that thong you just had to buy, and now everyone at the club has seen my ass in that thong. Everyone. Lucky that I’m the only one that saw your bubblegum balls.”
“Do not fucking call them that.”
“Well, that’s what they were. Do you wax down there? Jesus they were bald.”
His jaw ticks, his teeth clenched together. “I’m trying to have a conversation with you, Sloane.”
“No, you’re trying to blame me for what happened.”
“Because it is your fault,” he shouts, his arms thrusting out. “It all started with you.”
“It started with you,” I yell back. “You could have just let me hit the ball. You were trying to ride in like some hero, and you fucked it up. This is on you, not me. Don’t try to blame me for this shit. It’s insulting that you think you can.”
Fed up with him, I head toward the bedroom, attempting to move past him, but he stops me with his hand to my stomach.
“Let me by,” I say. “I don’t want to play these games with you, Hudson.”
“I’m not playing games, Sloane,” he says, his voice dark and dangerous. “This is my livelihood, and not just mine but my brother’s and my business partners’.”
“Then maybe think about your actions before you act on them,” I say.
“You’re really not going to take any blame on this?” he asks.
“Why should I? You anticipated something in your head that never happened and created a scene. You embarrassed me, you embarrassed yourself, and now you’re trying to figure out a way to place blame elsewhere.”
“You were not innocent in that entire situation, Sloane.”
“Sure, I didn’t handle myself well as my thong-covered ass was flapping in the breeze; excuse me for being awkward and uncomfortable, but I never would have been in that situation if you didn’t try to stopme from swinging in the first place. It started with you. So you can fuck off.”
I move past him and head straight into the bathroom, where I shut the door and stare into the mirror, feeling angry and disappointed. Just when I think we have a moment of clarity, a moment where things are moving along for us and we are actually sort of becoming friends, something like this happens. Hudson spirals, and the man I can’t stand shows up.
