She turns toward him and catches his eyes, swallowing hard before going on. “I … heard everything you said.”
Hudson just stares at her, not knowing what to say and looking completely dumbfounded, just as the rest of us … though not Tanner, he seems to know exactly what’s going on.
“What … what did he say?” Ilaria rushes out, her eyes wide, completely captivated by Addison’s confession.
Addison bites her tongue, and I realize that whatever this is about has more to do with letting Hudson know rather than outing whatever secret he’s been hiding
“Goddamn it,” Ilaria says, focusing her attention on Hudson. “Yo, Hudson. Truth or get thrown in the lake. What did you tell her?”
Hudson doesn’t take his eyes off Addison, swallowing hard as Tanner’s hand tenses on my thigh. Silence surrounds us, even the crickets seem to shut up as we hang on Hudson’s every word. “I told her that I’ve been in love with her for the past two years.”
The girls gasp as the guys’ jaws drop, having absolutely no idea he felt that way. I can’t tear my eyes off the two of them, watching as a silent tear slides down her face and drops to her chest before hastily wiping it away. “I’m sorry,” she whispers. “I’m just not …”
Hudson nods, his hand slipping into hers and holding it tight. “I know that,” he says. “I’m not looking to be your whole world right now, I know that’s not what you need. But if and when you’re ready, I’ll be here. Until then, you’ve got someone who’ll do everything in his power to make sure you’re happy and protected. That’s all I want for you, Addie.”
Another tear falls, and she leans forward, pressing a feather-soft kiss to his cheek before standing and walking away. Tanner goes to stand, but I press my hand to his arm. “Don’t,” I tell him before catching Hudson’s concerned stare. “She just needs a minute. Give her five and then go talk to her. Trust me.”
And just like that, Hudson nods, both of their worlds colliding.
Chapter 23
TANNER
The soft glow of the moonlight shines down on us, and I can’t help but notice how it illuminates Brielle’s messy hair, making it look like a halo around her head. She’s so fucking gorgeous it kills me.
She sits down at the lake, her toes barely brushing the water as her and Ilaria talk about who the fuck knows what. Arizona and Jax disappeared an hour ago after Jax failed to keep his mouth shut about the whole Ari is in love with you bomb that Riley accidentally dropped. Pretty sure that means Jax is going to try to actually talk to her, which is bound to be entertaining. I don’t think that idiot has ever actually talked to a woman before, you know, when his end game wasn’t to get in her pants. This would be a real and raw conversation, something that could have Arizona running back here with a broken heart.
I was talking to Riley for a while, but he disappeared to pee about twenty minutes ago, and I haven’t seen him since. The fucker probably fell asleep. We’ll have to send out a search party at some point. However, knowing Riley, he probably found a hole in a tree he can stick his dick into and is currently being ravaged by a swarm of angry bees.
Logan and Chanel are about two minutes away from fucking by the fire, and with Hudson ducking away to talk to Addie, I feel the rest of my night should be focused solely on my girl. Though, with Hudson talking to Addie in her tent, I can’t seem to let the frustration go. They’ve been in there for well over an hour, and at first, I could hear the soft discussion about what she wanted, but at some point, it slowly morphed into conversation about what Colby did to her, and while she’s spoken to me about it over the past two weeks, she didn’t quite give the same kind of details as she’s sharing with him. I guess Hudson was right.
Addie has been holding on to all of this, and I wasn’t the right person for her to confide in, despite how badly I wished she could. I’m her big brother, and though that will never change, sometimes the people we need in our life aren’t always the ones bound by blood.
I can hear her soft cries, and they tear at my chest, but she needs this more than anything in the world. Sometimes you have to tear yourself apart, rebuild with what's left, and start over. I’m grateful she has Hudson to help her. Though, if the fucker thinks he’s going to share her tent, he can think again. Over my dead fucking body. He can sleep outside her door for all I care, though I’m not going to suggest it because knowing him, he’ll do just that.