Page 200 of Bridesmaid By Chance
Jude won’t answer my texts or calls.
Stacey can’t stop crying and apologizing.
I’m stuck in a freaking foreign country, pretending to be a bridesmaid for someone I barely know.
And my husband refuses to text me back.
So this pink drink that is dangerously sloshing around as I enter the elevator is the best thing in my life.
The only thing in my life.
My true love.
The elevator doors part, and I head to my room, pulling out my keycard and unlocking the door. I push it open, walk in, take my shoes off, and head toward the couch, where I look up and find a man sitting on it.
“Mother of God!” I yell, tossing my smoothie and croissant in the air, only for it to splash on the ground and cover the entire living room in pink liquid. Hand clutched to my heart, I mutter, “You motherfucker.”
Ignoring me, Hudson casually lifts the room phone up and calls for the front desk, where he asks for someone to help clean up in our room.
I’m leaning against the wall of our room, breathing heavily and staring down at the one good thing that was going on in my life. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“I told you I’d be back.”
I stand taller and look him in the eyes. “Oh, right, how many days ago was that? Sorry, I assumed you were dead since I haven’t heard from you.”
I move into the bathroom, where I grab some towels and then carry them to the living room to start cleaning up.
“I have someone coming to do that.”
“Yeah, me spilling my smoothie because my husband, who hasn’t made contact with me in days, just decides to randomly show up and scare the living shit out of me does not constitute athemproblem. I can clean up.”
“Sloane, can we talk?”
“No,” I say and continue to clean.
“Please, Sloane.”
I look up at him and sit back on my feet, so I’m kneeling on the floor. “Do you think the use of the wordpleaseis going to change my mind? You have absolutely lost it, Hudson.”
I continue to wipe the floor, so he reaches for one of my towels. I gather it to my chest, nearly snarling at the man. “Get your own towels.”
“Sloane, can we please just stop for a second and talk?”
“No. You have two choices: you can jump off a cliff, which would be my preferred option, or you can finish cleaning this up and go get me anew smoothie, because it’s the only thing I was looking forward to today, while I go take a shower because I have to get ready for a wedding you signed me up for. But like I said, finding a cliff is preferred.” I stand and toss the towels on the ground and start to walk toward the bathroom when he grabs my arm to stop me.
I yank my arm away, but he follows…closely.
“Sloane, I was busy?—”
“Do not give me that bullshit,” I yell at him as I strip my shirt over my head, leaving me in a bra and shorts. I watch his eyes glance over me before meeting my expression. “I don’t want to hear one goddamn excuse from you. There is no way you were so busy you couldn’t at least text me back. People saying they’re busy as an excuse as to why they didn’t get in touch with someone is a fucking cop-out. It takes less than thirty seconds to text and let me know you landed. Just admit it, you had zero intention of talking to me.”
He drags his hand over his face, looking distraught.
Well, welcome to my freaking world.
“Do you realize that I was here, alone, with no communication from you, wondering what the hell was going on, while my world was falling apart?—”
“Why was it falling apart?” he asks, a pinch to his brow.
