He shrugs. “It’s the dad in me.”
“Friends with benefits,” I supply for him.
“Seriously? You and Haley? Huh.”
“Huh.”
“So how long has it been official?”
“Couple months, I guess.”
“And you never thought to tell any of us about it?”
I lift a shoulder. “I guess not. I mean, it crossed my mind a lot, but it never happened. Look, I know it was wrong to hide it, but Haley just got Rae back. She didn’t want to lose her.”
He gets this far-off look in his eyes and I know he knows exactly what I’m talking about consideringhealmost lost Rae not too long ago.
“See, you get me.”
“I do, but Rae doesn’t see it that way. She’s pretty hurt.”
“I may have eased her pain some.”
“How?”
Suddenly feeling uncomfortable, I check the back of the plane again, sure that this time I’ll hear them fighting.
There’s nothing except a few passengers annoyed over me repeatedly turning around.
“I love her,” I say to Hudson once I turn back to him. “A lot.”
“Does she know?”
“I fucking hope so.”
“No, Gaige, does she know what she’s getting into with you?”
I gulp and meet his eyes, only to slide mine away again. His stare is too intense, too serious.
“No.”
“Fuck,” he utters.
Fuckis right.
We landed at McCarran International back in our original seats. Whatever happened with Haley and Rae, neither of them want to talk about it. I tried getting Haley to give me some details, but she refused to speak with me.
Her silence even surprised Tuck, who lifted his eyebrows in question as we exited the plane. I simply shrugged, not having any idea what to say.
We all met up at baggage claim so we could collect Tucker’s guitar. He laid out his rather relaxed schedule, guided us to our taxi, and took off in his for a rehearsal, promising to meet up with us later that night.
“You guys want to head to the hotel first to get cleaned up and relax? Maybe meet around six for dinner?” Hudson questions.
We all agree and direct the driver to our hotel. After we check in, we file into the elevator, taking turns getting off at various floors: Hudson, Rae, Maura, and Tucker on one, Perry and Dallas on another, and finally, Haley and myself on a separate one.
Standing in the elevator feels like we’re standing on opposite ends of a football field, yet it’s suffocating…so I guess it’s really nothing like a football field at all.
“Hales…”
