Page 215 of Bridesmaid By Chance
I slip my sweatshirt over my head and adjust it on my shoulders and waist while I stare at Hudson sitting on the bed, watching every move that I make.
I heard everything.
Every bit of his conversation with Jude.
The moment he left the bed, I knew something was up, so I followed him and listened in.
I could hear the pain in Hudson’s voice—I felt it all the way to my toes. And the anger coming from Jude, I’ve only seen that a few times, but those few times, it was scary. But last night, it wasn’t scary.
It was…frustrating.
Infuriating.
Made me extremely upset with the one single man I’ve grown to count on my entire life.
How dare he?
How dare he think he can manipulate and control my life like that, without even talking to me?
Well, I’ll tell you one thing, it’s not going to happen.
I fluff out my hair and then walk up to Hudson and straddle his lap. He’s been pretty quiet all morning, not saying much other than asking me if he could get me anything or help me with packing my bags properly, not like the manic way I did it last night.
But the silence ends here.
He cups my ass as I wrap my arms around his shoulders. I can see it in his eyes that he’s counting down the minutes until he says goodbye. He’s thinking that there isn’t much time left, so he’s going to soak it all in.
Not happening.
“Tell me what’s going on in your head.”
He wets his lips and whispers, “Just how lucky I’ve been to have you.”
I run my fingers through his hair. “You say that as if it’s past tense.”
“Nah, just lucky.”
“Mm-hmm,” I answer and then get to the point. “Want to tell me about your phone call last night?”
His eyes meet mine; they seem so defeated. “You heard that?”
“Yes, I did.”
He nods and then leans back on his hands, giving us a few inches of distance, but I don’t let him get too far. “Your brother said some things that rang true in my head.”
“Did he?” I ask. “So you’re telling me after everything you said to me last night, after the way you begged and pleaded for me to stay, you’re just going to allow my brother to step in and disassemble us like that?”
“It’s complicated, Sloane.”
“Doesn’t seem complicated to me. Look me in the eyes right now and tell me you don’t have feelings for me.”
He looks me in the eyes, but he says, “You know that’s not fucking true.”
“Okay, so then why are you letting him control what happens between us?”
“I…I don’t know.” The defeated expression on his face nearly breaks me. “I want to do the right thing. I don’t want to manipulate you. I want you to make the choice.”
“Great. My choice is you.”
