He ends the call, and I don’t blame him for that. I squeeze the phone in my palm and bang my head on the steering wheel.
Why can’t you just fucking speak, Hudson?!
My phone vibrates, shocking me for just a moment. I glance at the screen.
Trey.
I swipe it to answer and put it on speaker.
“Hello? Are you okay?” he sounds concerned now.
And finally, I’m able to respond.
“No.”
“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” The panic in his voice is evident; there’s no denying I’ve worried him. That wasn’t my intention, I just need someone to talk to, someone to distract mefrom going over the edge. Normally I’d call my mom, but Trey… “Hudson, tell me what is wrong.”
“I… I just…” A choked sound leaves me, and I take in a ragged breath. “Panic attack.”
“Fuck. Shit. Okay. Just breathe, okay.” I hear him getting up and shuffling around. I rest my head on the wheel again, the rain drowning out the sounds around me. I focus on breathing, the way I know I need to, while I listen to him mumble to himself. “What can I do? How can I help?”
“Just… talk,” I say.
“Uh, okay. Um, shit. The airport is really fucking busy, and there was this guy across from me that was definitely cheating onsomeone. You ever seen those videos of people finding cheaters and then blasting them all over the internet? It’s actually kind of funny. I thought about doing that, but I didn’t really want to get in the guy’s business, so I just let it go. But I heard him get off the phone with someone, and the conversation felt verypartner-y, and there was even an ‘I love you’ at the end. Then he gets a call from someone else, and the conversation was definitely flirty, and he mentioned meeting at a hotel in a tone that told me it wasn’t for work.”
“You’re so nosy,” I say with a laugh.
“Some things never change, Huds. Where are you? What’s going on?”
“Got caught in the storm. My tire blew. I’m on the side of the highway in a torrential downpour.”
“Fuck,” he hisses.
“I can’t… I just can’t… do this right now. Sometimes I—”
“You don’t have to explain it to me, Huds. Not right now. Just focus on yourself, okay.”
I let out a shaky breath, closing my eyes as I try to focus on the sound of his voice, but it’s difficult. My heart is racing, my skinis too hot, and there’s a weird smell coming from the vents that I can’t be certain was or wasn’t there before…
“Where are you?” he asks firmly.
“Don’t know.”
“Send me your location.”
“What? Why?”
“Just do it!”
I stare at my phone, confused for all of two seconds before I realize what’s happening.
“You can’t come here, Trey.”
“Like hell I can’t. You need help. I’m not far. Send me your location, Hudson. Don’t make this difficult for me because I’m leaving this airport whether you like it or not.”
A tear strolls down my face as I send the text to him with my pinpointed location.
Chapter Eleven
