“You might’ve mentioned it the night I had to carry your drunk ass to bed after Katie’s party.”
“What else did I say?” He looks suddenly terrified, like I’m holding a loaded gun.
I cup his face and meet his eyes. “A few things. Nothing incriminating. Nothing I took seriously at the time, anyway.”
I smile, soft and sad. “Looking back, the signs were there. I was just too stupid to see them.”
He shifts off my lap and settles beside me, our shoulders pressed together.
The warm brush of his skin sends a shiver down my spine. And, embarrassingly, makes my dick twitch.
Calm down. Now is the wrong time for a boner.
I need to change the subject. Fast.
“Wanna talk about what brought it on?”
Hudson pales and covers his face with both hands. His large hands that fit so perfectly around my—
Bad Cullen. Bad,badCullen.
I take a deep breath and wait. When he doesn’t say anything, I try again. “That’s not the first note you’ve gotten like that, is it?”
He drops his hands and rolls his head toward me, his bronzed face ashen with anxiety. “It’s the first physical note I’ve gotten. Someone has been texting me for a couple of months. It started out innocent, just good morning messages or a text telling me they liked what I wore to school. I never responded. Then one day, I had enough of the messages. I blocked the number. But the next day, a new number picked up where theblocked one left off.” His voice cracks, and he looks like he might vomit.
I link our fingers and give his hand a reassuring squeeze. “I’ve gotten a few. Ella and Hadley have too.”
He looks at me, wide-eyed and pale.
“I think you might have a secret admirer who is a little obsessed. They don’t seem to like your circle of people.”
His head falls back against the siding, his hands covering his face. He’s still gripping the crumpled notes, so I take them, looking for clues.
“I wonder why they called you a home wrecker.”
Hud tenses beside me, his breathing picking back up. “I need to tell you something.”
The way it comes out, raw and hoarse, puts me on high alert. “Okay,” I say carefully. “Tell me.” My brain instantly starts spinning through possibilities, each more insane than the last.
He swallows, his lips rolling inward. “I’m part of the reason you and Hads broke up.”
My stomach drops, my eyes narrowing. “What are you talking about?”
He squeezes my hand like he’s afraid I’ll pull away. His eyes are already pleading, but I don’t even know what for.
“I thought I was helping,” he blurts. “After I saw her slap you, I just… I couldn’t take it anymore. I just wanted you to see the holes in your relationship more clearly.”
I stare at him, full of disbelief.
“What did you do?” I hear myself ask it, slow and quiet, but my mind is lagging behind. My pulse isn't, though, beats surging with the next words from Hudson’s mouth.
“I lied,” he whispers. “About the condoms. Hadley never had that conversation with her girls.”
My jaw tightens with the revelation. Then he lands another blow.
“And then…” he swallows hard. “Ella and I sprayed perfume in your truck as a joke. To make it look like you cheated.”
It takes one second for the words to land before fury rushes in. I’m on my feet, pacing, fists clenched.
