“I’ll stay the entire time, okay? I promise. I’ll never leave your side, Hudson.” I had no idea why he was so afraid of doctors and hospitals, but he’d always fought me on going to them. I knew he hadn’t been going to the doctor twice a year for his wellness visits while at college. I paid for his health insurance and would have gotten the explanation of benefits in the mail if he had. He avoided doctors like the plague.
He shook his head. “No,” he mumbled. “I’ll be fine. I just need medication. Please, Kreed.”
I gritted my teeth, at war with myself. He was an adult and more than capable of making his own decisions. But at the same time, his fever was almost one hundred and four, which was entering very dangerous territory.
“I’ll give you medication, but if you don’t start improving in four hours, we’re going to the hospital. Understand?”
He breathed a sigh of relief then nodded.
“Okay,” he said softly.
I quickly poured medication into a medicine cup. He pushed himself up onto his elbows shakily, but his fingers trembled too much to hold the small cup. So, I held it to his lips, and he grimaced as he swallowed it down.
“That’s fucking vile,” he croaked before collapsing back onto his pillows unceremoniously as if holding himself up was too much of a strain.
I covered him back up, tucking the blankets in around him. “Get some more rest. I’ll come up in about an hour with some broth. Chicken or beef?”
“Chicken,” he whispered, already falling back asleep. “Blue Gatorade.”
I ran my hand over his hair, watching as he promptly passed back out, his lips slightly parted. In sleep, even when he was ill, Hudson was beautiful. There was no calculating gleam in his eyes. No smirk playing on his lips. And he didn’t hide behind the mask he’d perfected long before I ever met him.
“Sleep well,” I whispered. I gathered the thermometer, medicine, and medicine cup then headed into his bathroom. After putting everything away, I left his room and headed downstairs. Corvus was in the kitchen making a sandwich when I walked in, and he glanced at me.
“You knew, didn’t you?” I asked, unable to keep the bite out of my words. Hudson had all but said it outright when he’d called Corvus a bastard.
He nodded. “He asked me not to say anything.” He cast a worried glance toward the staircase. “He got worse, didn’t he?”
I grunted. “He needs a hospital, but he’s fighting me on it. So, we’re trying it his way first.”
“Not surprised,” Corvus muttered, going back to finishing his sandwich. “That fucking doctor screwed him up.”
My brows furrowed while tension bled into my body, turning my blood into ice. Another doctor was the reason Hudson was terrified of all of them? What the fuck?
“What fucking doctor?” I snapped.
Corvus froze then slowly turned to look at me. “You don’t know?” he asked, genuinely surprised.
Clenching my jaw, I shook my head.
“One of Bonnie’s exes. He had a taste for broken boys like Hudson.”
My hands curled into fists, my nails biting into my palms hard enough to draw blood. Red colored my vision.
Storming out of the kitchen, I headed for my office, where I’d left my phone on my desk.
Hudson didn’t have to worry about destroying my marriage to Bonnie because she was going to be fucking lucky if I didn’t strangle her for this.
Chapter Seven
Kreed
* * *
“What?” Bonnie snapped when she finally answered the phone. “I thought we agreed we’d leave each other alone unless I happen to be at the house. Why the fuck are you blowing up my goddamn phone, Kreed?”
“The goddamn phone I fucking pay for,” I snarled.
She huffed, and no doubt, she was rolling her eyes, too. She was the most entitled fucking bitch I’d ever met in my life. I was usually calm and collected, always keeping my temper in check, but after what I’d just found out, I was ready to blow a gasket. My rage felt uncontrollable.
