“And you’re the cunt who stabbed my brother. Big mistake.”
Phoenix stopped in front of Rafe, drew his leg up, and kicked Rafe in the balls. The guy crumpled to the floor like a piece of paper, clutching his crotch in agony.
Both Hudson and I gave him awhat the fuck was thatlook, but Nix shrugged. “What? I like to mix things up a bit. Dude will be pissing blood for days. You good man?”
“Yeah, where’s the fuck’s Creed?” Hudson said, rushing over to take me in his arms. “Are you OK? they didn’t touch you?”
“No, I’m fine. We need to get Thomas to the hospital.”
Noise erupted as what sounded like a fire alarm started, and our eyes shot to the far corner. Anton Creed and Xander had the sports bag and were trying to flee from the fire escape.
Hudson saw what was happening and went to stop them. Upon seeing Hudson, Creed shoved Xander at him and then burst through the doors.
CRACK!
A loud noise, like something impacting an object, echoed into the room. Another thud followed, and then my father appeared. Dashing inside with a metal, dented baseball bat in his hand.
“Daddy!” I screamed, rushing towards him, and throwing my arms around his neck. I buried my face in his chest, overcome with emotion.
“It’s OK, darling. Everything’s OK. Did they hurt you?”
“No, I’m fine. I’m just so glad you're here.” I looked past him out into the back alley and could just make out a shod foot on the floor. The foot of Anton Creed, whom my father had just knocked unconscious with a fricking baseball bat.
Releasing my dad, I turned and clutched Hudson, who was behind me.
And then my father took a step forward and placed his hand on my boyfriend’s shoulder.
“Are you OK, son?”
Those four words felt almost magical, and I could see from Hudson’s expression that he appreciated them.
“I’m good, Sir.”
Rolling his eyes and dropping the bat, my father took a step forward.
“Fuck that. Call me Richard, and come here.” Dad then grabbed Hudson against his chest and hugged him. I could see Hudson’s face over my father’s shoulder. He didn’t know what to do, but after around thirty seconds, he relaxed his arms and placed them around my father’s back.
Phoenix took it upon himself to join in and wrapped his arms around them both. Considering what we’d just been through, it was almost comical.
“OK, get off, Nix. You’re suffocating the fuck out of me.”
All three men broke apart as Tommo cleared his throat. “Er, a little help wouldn’t go amiss?”
The police came into the room and started to arrest Rafe and Sulton. Hudson pointed at Rafe and said, “This is the man who was involved in the knife incident at the beach on Friday night. You might want to add attempted murder to his crimes.”
Anton Creed was being lifted onto a hospital gurney as he was still out cold. I watched as they handcuffed his arm to one of the legs.
As another officer walked over to Xander, Hudson moved towards them.
“Wait,” he said.
The policeman stopped and turned to look at him. “By all means, take him in for questioning, but know this. He’s a victim too, in all of this.”
My heart swelled in my chest. Hudson was doing the right thing. Xander had made mistakes, but he’d been bullied and abused by his father.He didn’t deserve to feel the full force of the law.And Hudson Gage knew what it was like to be abused by your own flesh and blood.
At that point, I didn’t know that my judgment of Xander might come back to haunt me one day.
Taking a deep breath, I zoned in on what Hudson was saying. “I think your father will be inside for a long time. He’s a drug-dealing dick, but he’s still your old man. Something to think about when he asks you to visit him.”
