“I didn’t.” He scrubs a hand down his face. “I slept outside your house in my truck so I could be close if you needed me, okay? I didn’t leave you.”
The air leaves my lungs in one swift woosh, leaving me breathless and unable to speak. I wouldn’t know what to say anyway. I’ve never had anyone worry about me, not truly.Not for my wellbeing. My parents worry about me becoming destitute because I’m such a fuck up in their eyes. But I don’t think it stems from care about me, more so that I might sully the Miller name. And now here’s Hudson, who spent the night in his truck in case I needed him.
“You … you stayed. Out there. All night.” Hudson takes a step towards me again, closing the distance between us.
“Yep.”
“In your truck.”
“That’s right.” Heat radiates off his broad chest. He’s only a couple of inches away from me now, and I could make it nothing in a second if I wanted to. Andwowdo I want to. I want to kiss this man, standing in front of me with everything laid bare. Hudson said he still cared about me, said he still loved me, and now I’m certain it’s true.
It makes me realize I don’t hate him. It makes me realize Hudson has never been my enemy, and I still love him, too.
“What about Ruby?” I say, shifting the conversation before I admit to him what I’ve only just admitted to myself.
“What about her?” Hudson cocks his head, the corner of his mouth ticking upward.
“Well, she’s a princess, Hudson. Don’t tell me you made her sleep in a truck overnight with you.” I lean down and ruffle her ears. “Poor thing.”
“Oh, she’s fine. Jett hung out with her at home. She was also concerned about you, just so you know.” Now it’s my turn to cock my head towards him as I stand back up straight. “I had her trained as an emotional support dog for the firehall. Sometimes I bring her to particularly traumatic calls. I think the reason she was so attached to you right awayis because she could tell you were struggling. I feel stupid now, honestly. Because it was obvious the way she was behaving the first night you came over, and I should have seen it.”
I glance down at Ruby, who has now taken a seat by my feet and is pushing her head into my leg, staring up at me lovingly. Her tail thumps on the floor, and tears sting my eyes. I was so dismissive of her, and she was only trying to help. I lean down again, this time placing a kiss on her forehead and whispering into her fur.
“Thanks, Rubes. I don’t deserve you.” She pulls her head away so she can slurp my face, her flat wet tongue covering my cheek in drool. It’s as if she always knows exactly what I need, because it pulls a giggle from me that eases the pain in my chest.
“You know, Miller, this competition between us … the arts centre, I mean,” Hudson starts, reminding me of what I need to face today. I lost the vote, and I have to tell my boss. I’ll have to send him the final winning design, Hudson’s design. He’ll flip his shit and tell me it doesn’t align with VanTek’s portfolio, and it will be the end of the discussion about a promotion.
I take a few steps towards Hudson and perch on my tip toes to wrap my arms around his neck, placing a soft kiss on his mouth so he doesn’t keep talking. I’ve never been a good sport when it comes to losing—that’s no secret. But when I’m around Hudson, it doesn’t matter what games we’re playing, or what the score is between us, I feel like I’m winning. I want to live in the feeling for a while longer.
“I don’t want to talk about the vote today, Landry,” Iwhisper into the air between our faces. “My boss can wait. Today I want to spend the day with you and Rubes.”
Hudson kisses me back, wrapping his arms around my waist again. He smiles against my mouth.
“Okay, Miller. Today we can do whatever you want to do.”
CHAPTER 29
HUDSON
Wren askedto go to the swimming hole today, so here we are, driving along the same backroad as we did the other day, but this time we’ve stopped at the trailhead leading in the other direction. The trail we could both walk with our eyes closed.
It’s not a long hike in, but it’s almost straight up, and we’re both out of breath and sweaty by the time we make it through the break in the trees and spot the clear pool of water at the base of the waterfall. Ruby isn’t fazed by the hike; she loves it, bounding along beside us through the woods the whole way here. As soon as we reach the clearing with the waterfall, she’s off and running.
I was delighted when Wren suggested it, less delighted when she asked me to haul all her painting supplies with us. But I wasn’t about to say no. It’s been an escape for her. She wanted to avoid having to face her boss today and explain how she lost the vote. That’s not unusual for Wren, to avoid the hard conversations, to shy away from feeling vulnerable.Anything that has the potential to make her look weak is a threat.
Whatever her reasoning for wanting to spend the day together aside, she wanted to come to the swimming hole, and it makes me feel like not all the memories she has of me are bad ones. We spent so much time together here in the summers growing up, and I’m glad they haven’t been tainted by our breakup.
It makes me think Wren is almost ready to talk about it. The breakup. She’s becoming more and more inclined to revisit other parts of our past relationship, including the physical ones. That’s all I want to talk about. All I want to do is explain my side of the story she was too hurt at the time to hear. Again, I shied away from the conversation that could have saved her a decade of animosity towards me. But it would have hurt in the moment, and Wren doesn’t do hurt. She doesn’t do weak. She didn’t even allow herself to shed a tear when we ended things over the phone. She curtly told me our friendship would therefore be over, too—in her view, you couldn’t go back to being friends after having a relationship—and then she abruptly hung up before I could explain anything.
Before I could tell her that breaking up was for her own good.
Wren squeals with delight, yanking me back from my own thoughts as she runs over the rocks and crouches to feel the water.
“It’s ice cold, like I remember it.” And in an instant, she’s up, peeling off her T-shirt to reveal a black stringy bikini top. My cock stiffens in response to the sight of her here.I thought about this place, with her, often. It was the first place we saw each other naked. The day we came after Wren had been in a huge fight with her dad about where she was applying to university. She had worked all week putting together a presentation of reasons why she wanted to go to art school. It included several art schools she could apply to, why she was so passionate about it, how she could support herself while she did it. Even after all that, Ian Miller was adamant Wren should be applying for a real career. And he was paying, so what he said went.
She was so upset. Wanted to get away and escape, so I brought her here before either of us had time to grab a bathing suit. Turns out, we didn’t need them. And that was the day our childhood friendship and secret crushes turned into something more.
By the time I’ve found a spot of grass next to the jagged rocks to set down our towels and Wren’s bag of art supplies, she’s in the water up to her neck. She’s watching my every move as I take off my own T-shirt and shoes and wade in towards her. I take my time because the water is frigid against my warm skin. Goosebumps spread all the way up from my legs as I walk in up to my thighs.
