Page 3 of All the Beautiful Things
“I promise,” Dad said. His chin shook and his eyes were so damn sad.
“Thank you.” I sighed with relief, although I already knew he would.
Dad had already started looking into her story. He didn’t share that with me, but one day I went to use his laptop and found articles online. Of Lilly. Of her brother. Her father. The sentencing. He’d been searching for hours.
His gaze searched my face in a way that if I wasn’t already freezing, would send chills down my spine. Almost as if he could see my end coming faster than I could. “And don’t worry about Hudson. He’ll come around. Just give him some more time.”
“I know he will.” Because he was stubborn but full of heart and goodness like the man who raised us. Of that, I had no doubt. I sniffed, then laughed. “She’s also really pretty.”
A quick laugh burst from him, making me smile as he kissed my cheek. “Don’t get your hopes on that one, Melissa.”
My hopes were the only thing I had left. So that night, after Dad left, I prayed extra hard for that, too.
I had nothing to lose.
But Hudson—he had everything to gain. And maybe, just maybe, I could help him, too.
1
Hudson
My head throbbed a low, steady beat as I woke right before memories of last night hit me hard and fast.
I jolted in bed and scanned my room. Outside the crumpled sheets next to me and the indentation in the pillow she’d slept on, all evidence of Lilly being there was gone.
“Shit.” I scrubbed my face and threw off the covers. Last night was incredible. Her body. Her heart. Her trust. She gave me everything she had, and I was the asshole who took it when I’d been drinking enough to know better, drinking enough to think it was a good idea too.
And it’d been incredible.
The way she loved me with her hands and her eyes and her expressions… for a brief moment I felt a single sparkle of hope I could salvage everything we had together once she learned all the shit we’d been hiding.
I’d practically pleaded with Dad last night to tell her today before it went any further.
It would have been bad enough before last night. But today…
Things had changed.
We had to.I had to.Even if it risked ruining the fairy tale holiday images Dad wanted for her. After last night, there was absolutely no way I could continue with Lilly until she knew everything.
I used the restroom in my bathroom quickly, intent on finding her. She couldn’t have gone far. And it wasn’t like she could hide in my condo. There wasn’t anything except the living room—
“Oh fuck,” I rasped. My heart thumped a wild warning bell inside my chest.
She’d showed up out of the blue last night, taken me by such surprise, I hadn’t had time to do anything.
I raced out of the bedroom, the door slamming behind me.
No way was she finding out like this.
I pulled to an immediate stop as soon as I saw her.
Lilly. Face ravaged with pain and confusion, holding the photograph of Melissa and me.
She’d come to one of my last baseball games in college.
Icy guilt and fear twisted and coiled inside me, sending a ferocious chill down my spine as I took in Lilly’s pain-filled features.
“Who is this?” she asked, voice so scratchy like she’d been screaming for hours.
