Page 148 of Bridesmaid By Chance
What a roller coaster.
“I, um…I kind of panicked this morning when I didn’t see you,” I say, wanting to be fully transparent with him. “I thought you regretted last night, which I know is not the case now, and I get sort of emotional, which I hate myself for?—”
“Why?” he asks.
“Why what?”
“Why do you hate yourself for getting emotional?”
“Because this is casual, you know. Sure, we’re married, but we’re not married forever, and I don’t want you thinking I’m catching feelings or anything. I think I was just embarrassed, and that embarrassment morphed into emotions. Like I said before, the only other guy who?—”
“Do not say his name,” Hudson says while taking a sip of his coffee. “Do not fucking say his name.”
“Okay, well, he was the only other one I had a good time with, and I was nervous that, I don’t know, something was wrong with me or I don’t know. Just a lot of doubt.”
A kid on a scooter zooms past us, startling me right before Hudson takes my hand in his. He brings my knuckles to his lips and gently kissesthem. When he pulls away, he says, “I’m sorry I made you feel any less than what you are, which is perfect.” He kisses my knuckles one more time. “In all honesty, I walked out this morning, looking to…hell, looking to put distance between us.”
I knew it.
I felt it.
His energy was off last night.
“But when I got downstairs to the lobby, I felt this stab in my chest, like I was doing the wrong thing.” His eyes meet mine. “You’re not the problem. You’re the release.” He clears his throat. “So I got coffee instead to bring back to you and talk. And I’m sorry that you felt insecure or embarrassed. You have nothing to feel embarrassed about. Absolutely nothing.”
“Okay.” I stare down at my coffee mug. “So why were you going to leave then?”
“Because my life is fucked,” he says softly.
“What do you mean?”
He drags his hand over his face, looking visibly distraught. “Last night I got a call from Hardy. Our dad is suing us.”
“Suing you?” I say, my brows turning down. “Why exactly is he suing you again?”
“Because we started our own business, and he’s not happy about it. He’s not happy we left him. He’s not happy that we’re working with the Cane brothers and hates everything about our business model. And because he is not a normal human, he wants to take it out on us, and that’s exactly what he did. The threat has been hanging over our heads for a while now, but yesterday, the papers were served.”
“I’m so sorry.” I press my hand to his leg, scooting in closer. “That’s…that’s really shitty, Hudson.”
“That’s not even the worst part.” He shakes his head, laughing as if he can’t believe it. “He actually might have partial ownership over everythingwe’ve done since leaving his business because there’s apparently fine print about our trust fund money, that if we use it to invest in anything, he has part ownership.”
“Wait, seriously?”
Hudson nods. “Yes, so everything Hardy and I and your brother have done up to this point basically will benefit my father.”
“Oh my God, Hudson. That’s terrible.”
How could someone’s father do that to them? Someone who is actually family? I mean, my parents were never in my life; we were raised by my grandma, and it is true we often felt like we were a burden to her, but I could not imagine growing up with someone who is supposed to love me and protect me just automatically trying to destroy everything I’ve built.
“What are you going to do?”
He shrugs, looking utterly defeated. “No idea. I guess just wait and see how fucked we are after the lawyers review everything.”
“There isn’t anything you can do?”
“I really don’t know, Sloane. Honestly, I don’t want to think about it.”
“I can understand that.”
