I get in bed, and Hudson does the same. The minute my head hits the pillow, my eyelids get heavy. I throw my arm over Hudson’s hip and pull him close, burying my face in his chest. He smells like hotel shampoo and soap and one hundred things I don’t understand. But his body is warm and solid and I feellike I can finallybreathe,and the one thing I do understand is the sound of his heartbeat. It’s not racing anymore. His breath is steady. Relaxed. I listen to the sound of his heartbeat and it’s like a lullaby I’ve never known existed. Nothing makes sense right now.
He doesn’t hold me. He doesn’t speak. He just runs his fingers through my hair while I listen to his heartbeat until sleep steals me from him once more. And I swear as I’m drifting off, I hear him whisper, “It doesn’t have to mean anything.”
Chapter Eighteen
Hudson
Football season is in full swing and Halloween is right around the corner—not that it means much to me other than having to go to my mother’s house to help her pass out candy.
When people think about the holidays, they usually start at Thanksgiving. Halloween doesn’t really fit into the cheery holidays, considering it’s the opposite, but for my mother, the holidays start at Halloween, which means I am forced to spend time with her and my step-family at least one day a month for the next three months.
I swear she just uses this as an excuse to make me visit her, but whatever. I fight her the rest of the year. The least I can do is this… I guess.
“Mail!” Jason announces, coming in my office and handing me a few large inter-office envelopes. I double check that they’re addressed to me, because I’ve opened others many times before.
One is a certificate for a training I did because apparently we still need hard copies of these things even though everything is digital now.
The other is a letter envelope with two tickets to a Wolves game. I snap a photo of them to send to my father. It’s his Christmas present this year. I swore I would take him to a game last year, but we didn’t get to it.
Well, he did, but I didn’t go with him. This time I am.
Do I want to sit through a game? No, not really, especially since I’ll have to look at it all over again when I’m analyzing the data. I do that a lot—watch parts of the games to understand why things happen to help me figure out the probability of them happening again. It’s not always just numbers; it’s what’s going on too. Not just weather, but other players. Distractions. It could be anything. I like to take note of all these things, and I swear it’s my over-dedication that makes me good at my job… which is the reason I will one day have the VP position.
My phone alerts me of a text. It’s from Trey, so I check it.
Trey
Call me when you get out of work. I have news.
Me
Okay.
We talk every day, just little texts here and there, like a continuous conversation. I’ve never had a texting relationship like this with anyone. Usually, texts are for a quick thing you need to say that isn’t worth a call.
Not with Trey and me. We go back and forth constantly. It’s not that I have an issue with it, it’s just new.
Which fits for Trey and me, I guess, because there are a lot of new things when it comes to him. Like my sexual attraction, and the fact my dick gets all kinds of hard now when I think about him and what we’ve done. I’m not complaining. It’s nice to have something to do other than work, because yes, I’m that boring. Jerking off is my hobby now. I even almost sent him a picture once, but I work with computers and know that stuff is never private, so I didn’t risk it. All I need is for that to get out and my work to find out.
I get through the rest of the day fairly smoothly, and when I’m in my car, I call Trey on the Bluetooth.
“How was work?” he asks.
“Same as always,” I say as I back out of my spot and drive toward the exit.
“You know, I don’t know how you sit at a desk all day. I’d get really bored.”
“The numbers are actually very fascinating when you dig into them.”
He grunts. “Numbers are numbers. They never change.”
“Exactly the point.” I roll my eyes and turn out of the lot. “What is your news?”
He’s learned that I don’t like surprises… so, now when he has something important to tell me, it’snews.
“I’m not sure I should tell you this while you’re driving.”
“Why not?”
