Hudson clenched his jaw tight when we walked into the office. His eyes met mine, and he closed them, sucking in a breath. When he opened them, he was staring through the window, his hands firmly on his hips.
Warren closed the door behind him and came up beside me, the bottle of whiskey dangling at his side. King was pissed as he went behind his desk. His eyes moved over my body, from my tear-streaked face, bruised arm, torn up feet then back to my face and his jaw clenched.
He turned angry eyes on Hudson and looked a second away from vaulting the table.
“He didn’t do anything,” I said, taking a step towards the desk.
“Then who the fuck did?”
“That’s the goddamn problem,” Hudson yelled. “And I was going to fix it before War and those assholes grabbed me.”
He turned a dark glare at me. I lifted my chin and stared back. But my look softened when I saw the reality behind the rage. This hit him hard. He felt guilty, and the only way Hudson had ever dealt with his emotions was to blow up and smash out his frustrations. I wouldn’t let him do something stupid.
“You,” King pointed at Hudson. “Shut the fuck up. Waverley, sit down,” he paused for a second. “Do you need something, water or painkillers, or something else?”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m fine.”
“Wanna explain why my daughter looks messed up and you’re on the rampage?”
Hudson looked over at me, I could see the question in his eyes, and as much as I appreciated it, I wasn’t getting away without a proper explanation. I didn’t want to tell my father and brother this story, not after Hudson’s reaction. Theirs was going to be a lot worse.
It took me a long time to deal with what happened that night. Now I knew Hudson reacted to what he believed he saw when he went with that club girl. It changed everything. I could see he was hurting, but his anger was simmering dangerously high, and he couldn’t see past that. He had to hurt Andrew before he could process the rest.
No one at the club would have let Andrew get away with those threats, but the drug impaired my thinking. All I needed to do was go to them with the pictures and tell them what he’d done, and they would have stopped him.
Holding those pictures in my hand, knowing the influence Andrew’s family had, all I could see was Hudson and Warren in handcuffs. I wasn’t a dumb girl, growing up the way I had taught me lots of things. If I had been in my right mind, I would have kicked his ass myself.
I didn’t sit down as I recited the story for them. Neither did my dad. Warren did though, dropping on to the couch beside Hudson, looking between the two of us as I told them monotone the same story I’d told Hudson. I left nothing out.
When I finished, the three men were silent. Hudson was looking off to the side, not making eye contact with anyone. Warren looked as if hewanted to get up and come to me, but I shook my head, I didn’t want him to touch me right now.
King on the other hand, had that quiet, violent rage building up in him, not too dissimilar to Hudson. He was as ready to do severe damage to Andrew Reinhart, and his depth of feeling for me, again surprised me.
“I’d appreciate it if this never left the room,” I said, my shoulders back.
“You think I will not do anything about this?” King asked in a low, dangerous voice.
“Not for a second,” I answered. “But no one else needs to know why. You’re the President you don’t need to explain any of this.”
King narrowed his eyes, but he nodded.
“Is he still on the compound?” King asked Warren, who sent a quick text letting us know he was waiting for news on that.
“I’m going to kill him,” Warren said through clenched teeth.
“What does he do for the club?” I asked, stepping closer to my father’s desk, I knew they wanted to get back at Andrew but doing it Hudson’s way wasn’t necessarily the way to hurt him the most. “He said he was working with you, and he was going to make millions?”
King rubbed his hand across his jaw. “I’m not sure about that figure but he is getting plenty of money out of us. He’s the contractor for the houses we’re building.”
“He is?” I widened my eyes. So he did stand to make a lot of money, I’d seen those houses going up. It stirred a memory of seeing the ring on his finger. “He’s married?”
“Yes. A kid too,” King answered, tilting his head, scrutinizing me.
“Why the fuck do you care about that?” Warren asked, as his phone chimed with an incoming text. He checked it and cursed. “He’s gone. Guy at the gate said he left about a half hour ago.”
I inwardly felt relieved. Everyone’s emotions were too high right now. I didn’t want anyone doing anything rash.
My mind started working, I knew what went on in the club. Hudson had all but screamed he was a killer earlier and I knew what Ballistic was capable of, we’d all heard the stories growing up. I wouldn’t be responsible for anyone losing their life, which didn’t mean I couldn’t get revenge for what he did to me, not now I had the club behind me.
