Page 91 of All the Beautiful Things
“So, who goes first?” I asked. “Because I swear I heard something tonight about you refusing to marry that woman, and I think that’s kind of a big thing.”
His body tensed behind me before his forehead settled at the crook of my neck. His breath was as warm as the water and almost as soothing. “I really want to tell you everything, but it’s a long story. And you’re the one who came home with blood on you, so maybe we can start there?”
I’d prefer to avoid it. Hudson met Manny once and he’d threatened to rip off his dick and shove it down his throat. Or something along those lines. With his hands on me and the night such a mess, my memories were hazy. With a heavy breath, I said, “I went to dinner with Angie and some of her friends.”
He reached for the washcloth and squirt soap into it. “Yeah? That’s good. She’s a good friend.”
“She is.” I slid my hand down his thigh to his knee. “Anyway. We went out to dinner. When we were leaving, some of Josiah’s friends pulled up.”
“Josiah?”
“Angie’s brother.”
“Right. Forgot about him.” I’d told him before about Angie being concerned with him. About spending Thanksgiving with him. “These the bad friends?”
“One of them. Well, I recognized the car… from where I used to live.”
The black car. White racing stripes. I’d probably have nightmares about the sound of the missing muffler for a while after this. I tightened my grip on his knee, needing to feel something other than the memories assaulting me.
His hands tensed on my shoulder. Washcloth forgotten, he twisted me until he could see my face. “The guy who hurt you.”
“My old neighbor. He stepped out of the car and…”
“Josiah is friends with a guy like that?”
“I think that friendship ended tonight. I froze when I saw him, and then he said something. And I don’t know… it’s all, hazy, but it clicked for Angie I guess and then Josiah. He remembered Angie crying about me being at school and looking hurt. And he lost his shit. Punched Manny in the face before I could leave.”
A sob wracked my body, followed by tremors I couldn’t stop. My whole body reacted to remembering the way Josiah reacted. For me. He hadn’t even hesitated after everything clicked for him.
Hudson’s hand slid down my body. Slowly, he gripped my hips, turned me to face him. Water splashed over the edges and bubbly water spilled all around us. The margarita glass in my hand shook and I set it down before I dropped it into the bathtub.
With hands so calm, so gentle, Hudson cupped my cheeks as I settled on his laps, legs wrapped around his back.
“Good. I’m glad. He touch you? Hurt you?”
“No. He said some stuff but I was far enough away.” I squeezed my eyes closed to forget the images in my head. Blood. The punching. Screaming. Josiah being hauled off him and then running toward Manny again. Blue and white lights. Hudson slid his hand to the back of my head. His grip on me was firm, but comforting. His eyes dark pools of anger and love. “I should call them. Angie. Cops were pulling up as she threw me in an Uber and I… I should make sure Josiah’s okay.”
“Tomorrow,” Hudson said and the firm lines around his eyes, the cut of his jaw told me not to argue.
Still, I did. “He was hurt because of me.”
“No. He was hurt defending you. There’s a big difference. And I’m glad you had that.”
Tears immediately welled in my eyes and I couldn’t blink them away before they started falling.
“Shit. Lilly. Come here.” He pulled me against him, wrapped his arms around my lower back and pressed our bodies together so there wasn’t an inch of space between us. And instantly, I felt him. His arousal hard beneath me.
“Ignore that.” He grimaced. “Natural reaction from your body doing all that moving.”
I laughed through my cries and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. “I hated seeing Josiah fight like that. It reminded me of the last night I had with Josh, when he beat someone up and all I could think of was the same thing happening again. But then, I was glad for it because when I saw that guy I just… I could see what he wanted to do with me.”
“Hey.” He cupped my cheeks. Drew me again until I couldn’t see anything but him and the earnest expression on his face. “Any man who did what he did to you deserves more than a few punches. Swear to you, Lilly. Josiah’s probably pretty pissed he couldn’t do worse.”
“Yeah, but if he was arrested—”
“You want me to call the station? I’ll pay his bail if he was. Get him out.”
“You’d do that?”
