I tuck a strand of hair that has fallen out of my ponytail behind my ear. “Same thing,” I grumble.
My brother grasps both my forearms. “Look. I get you’re pissed. Hudson should have been up-front with you about what his father wanted in exchange for the money. He wasn’t honest with me, either. Not until yesterday but I think he was humiliated. It’s embarrassing to have to ask for money and get forced into a corner.”
I know that. I’d just been so shocked and hurt, the words I heard throwing me back to other times, other men.
“You need to listen to what he has to say,” Braden says. “And you also need to decide if you really think Hudson is like theguys who came before him or if he’s different and deserves you. I happen to think he does.”
And that is saying something, I know. My twin never approves of anyone I date. Nobody is ever good enough.
“Who hit him?” I ask, ignoring his words for now. I’ll deal with my life and with Hudson on my own terms.
As if they’d planned it, Braden holds his hands up just as Hudson had. “You won’t hear who from me.”
“Men!” I shout at him just as a group of players exit the locker room, laughing and rowdy, drowning out my yell.
Chapter Eight
Brianne
Ihate being stubborn, but I mean what I told Braden. I need time to process what had happened, and that takes me a couple more days. First I’ll have to separate my past from my present, and that isn’t easy. It means I have to remember the assholes who used me, and there hadn’t been just one.
Then I’ll have to deal with the fact that Hudson didn’t trust me enough to tell me the truth when all I’ve done is stand by his side. I went to New York, subjected myself to his rude parents, waited at the hotel while he went to ask his father for the money, and held his hand during his brooding silence on the flight home. He’d had a few weeks since then to open up, and he hadn’t. Trust is important, but is it a deal breaker?
I suppose that depends on his reasons, and I haven’t let him explain. Which brings me to now, looking at myself in the mirror and admitting I’ve been exactly what my brother called me. A stubborn princess and it is time I act like an adult.
After stopping at a sandwich shop on the way to the clinic, I drive downtown and pull into the gravel parking lot. My hands have healed, and I’m not surprised when I see Jimmy standing by a dumpster in the back of the lot. I draw a deep breath and climb out of my car, food in hand, not surprised when Jimmy walks toward me.
“Hi,” I say, holding out the sandwich I bought him.
“Is that for me?” Surprise fills his gritty voice.
I nod. “There’s water in there, too.” And also a twenty-dollar bill, but since I don’t want a repeat of last time, I don’t mention the money. He’ll find it soon enough.
He grabs the bag, and this time I release my grip fast so he doesn’t drag me down. It helps that I am wearing sneakers and not heels.
“Take care, Jimmy.” I walk toward the building, in my mind already thinking about all the improvements Hudson and my brother can make once they are ready and excited about the prospect.
I let myself in, discover a full waiting room, and resign myself to wait. Striding up to the desk, I smile at Nikki. “Hi. Do you think I could wait in the back office until Hudson has time to talk?”
The brunette smiles. “Sure. Dr. Northfield is the only one here, so it may be a while.”
“That’s fine.” After the torture I’ve probably put him through, I deserve to be kept waiting.
I make myself at home in the office Hudson and Braden share, smiling at the pictures on the desk of my twin and Willow, whose wedding is coming up in a few months. They plan a small affair at a local catering hall because Florida is just too hot to hold an outdoor event.
An hour passes and then another. The longer I wait, the more my nerves increase. Did Hudson not want to see me, or is he just so busy he can’t make time yet? My stomach knots, and I try to kill time scrolling social media on my phone and occasionally attempting to read a book on an app, but I can’t concentrate. I am afraid I pushed him too far by not talking to him after the game, but then I remind myself of the filled outer room and try to calm down.
After a while, I rest my head on my arms on the desk and shut my eyes.
***
Hudson
What a fucking long day. I had back-to-back patients, each one serious in its own way, and with Braden needing the day off and Thomas having abdicated the place to us, I’ve been on my own. Thank God for Janie, the nurse we recently hired, who is as reliable as she is efficient. Even Nikki abandoned us midday when her mother called because she’d had an accident, and Nikki had to rush off to be with her. I haven’t had five minutes to eat, let alone sit down and take a load off my feet.
I open the door to my office and stop short at the sight that greets me. Bri sits in my chair, head resting on her arms on the desk, her dark hair falling over her shoulders and face. Even so, I know it is her, and my heart starts beating again for the first time since my fuckup at her mother’s house.
I suppose that Nikki, in the frenzied worry about her mother, forgot to tell me Bri is waiting, and I wonder how long she’s been here.
