“You’re being awfully soft, Kreed. You forget I plan on ruining your marriage that quickly?”
“I haven’t forgotten,” I assured him. “Hard to forget your stepson coming on to you as if you’re not married to his literal mother.” I cast him a pointed glance through the corner of my eye as I backed out of the parking stall. “Can’t forget you’ve threatened to out me before I’m ready and that you don’t care about a single boundary I’ve laid down.” Didn’t matter that I was still preparing to give Hudson what he wanted. He still needed to be told what he planned was wrong. No one had ever cared to correct him before I stepped into his life.
“Boundaries,” he scoffed in typical Hudson fashion. “Fuck your boundaries, Kreed. If you can let my mom constantly be seen in the tabloids, to let her constantly attempt to tarnish your reputation with all the other men she’s seen out with, and all her drunken escapades, you think for one fucking second I believe you give a shit about society? About your fucking boundaries? I laid a clear boundary about no fucking doctors and hospitals, but you just completely disregarded that.”
Oh, he was on a fucking roll today.
I rolled my eyes and headed toward the street I needed so I could get to Waffle House. “You were sick. There’s a difference.”
“Well, I’m sick of seeing you with my fucking mother,” he spat. “How about that, Kreed? You going to obliterate your own boundaries, so I’m no longer sick over that, too?”
I so badly wanted to tell him my plan. Tell him I’d already told my lawyer to draw up divorce paperwork. That I planned to leave his mother and not give her with a single penny since she’d signed a prenup before we got married. I wanted to tell him I was his, but I didn’t want to reveal my cards too early.
When Bonnie got the paperwork on Monday, she’d no doubt storm into the house and cause a scene, and I wanted Hudson to have the glee of seeing her lose everything she’d ever wanted and had never deserved. Then and only then would I tell him he had me in whatever way he wanted me, and I planned to announce it in front of Bonnie.
Because I wanted him to have the smug satisfaction from that, too.
Was it cruel of me to make their relationship even worse than it already was? One hundred percent. It was one of the worst things I could possibly do. But after all the hell she’d put Hudson through, he deserved to have this moment. To finally take everything from her she’d ever given a fuck about. She’d had a hand in stealing his innocence. She’d destroyed his happiness. Had fucked him up six ways to Sunday.
I would make sure he got to have this. And honestly, after several years of dealing with Bonnie and remaining celibate with only my hand for company, I fucking deserved this, too. I deserved to be out and fucking proud about it. I deserved to be with who the hell I wanted to be with. Because Hudson was right. Bonnie was constantly in the tabloids, always getting caught doing some dumb shit that put me in the headlines, too.
At least, this time, I would be in the headlines because I put myself there. Because for once, I’d choose me. And I would choose Hudson, too.
“Nothing to say?” Hudson taunted, his voice cold and hard.
I grunted. “I know you well enough to know no matter what I say, you’ll bite back with something else.”
His laugh was void of any humor, and it sent a chill down my spine. When he’d been snuggled up to me for the past several hours, seeking my comfort and being so goddamn vulnerable in that hospital, it had been easy to forget just how cold Hudson could be. But no matter how he’d been while he was ill, I could never forget Hudson’s true nature.
Especially when he felt backed into a corner and was uncomfortable. It would take a while for him to feel normal again after being forced to endure doctors and nurses for hours upon hours.
“Fucking pussy,” Hudson muttered before turning to stare out the window.
I sighed and hit the indicator to make the left turn into the Waffle House parking lot. Hudson froze for a second, then slumped, a frown pulling at his lips as I slid the car into a parking stall.
“You’re really getting me a waffle?” he asked quietly. As if he suddenly regretted spewing all his anger at me.
“Mm-hmm,” I hummed, unbuckling my seatbelt. “Sit tight. You want a sweet tea to go with it?”
He nodded, his jaw clenched tightly as he avoided my gaze, staring pointedly ahead at the restaurant. Wordlessly, I angled out of the car, and only when I knew he couldn’t see my face did I let a smile curve my lips.
Hudson had always been disarmed, the fight killed inside of him, when I did something nice he never expected to happen. Had I said I would stop at Waffle House? Yes, but he never expected I actually would, especially after the way he’d just treated me.
I would wear down Hudson, bit by bit, just by being me, just as I always had been. He could lash out at me all he wanted. He could manipulate me to his heart’s content. Because he wasn’t Hudson if he didn’t.
And I had to admit I’d probably been falling for Hudson for a while. While I thought distance had been doing us good after that night in my bedroom, where he’d caught me getting off then helped me finish, it’d clearly done the complete opposite. Because my desire for him had never faded, and now that he was in front of me, claiming he wanted me and would stop at nothing to have what he wanted, I couldn’t deny I wanted him just as badly.
Just one more day, and Hudson and I would both have what we wanted. What we fucking deserved.
“Welcome to Waffle House. Eating in or getting it to go?” the lady with pink hair asked as she smacked on a piece of gum. The cook, who was busy flipping eggs, had a cigarette tucked behind his ear and kept glancing at the clock as if he couldn’t wait to take his next smoke break.
The food was about to be good as fuck.
“To go,” I said, sliding onto one of the red barstools. “I just need a waffle. And a sweet tea, light ice.”
She nodded, popped her gum, then hollered for someone to make a waffle.
Chapter Eleven
