Breaking Hudson

Chapter One

Colette

Hudson and I are like two peas in a pod, only he is the richer, more popular pea. I am the quiet, introverted pea. We have been friends since the third grade when he asked me if I wanted to play with him and I punched him in the face. I had just moved to town, and I was scared of everyone. I was newly adopted by my aunt and fresh out of an abusive home, so I was constantly on edge.

Through the years, Hudson has hung onto me and refused to let me stop being friends with him. He was always more popular, and I was… not. No matter how popular he was, he always made time for me. He knew I didn’t want to be around his other friends, so I never went to parties with him. I didn’t want him to get picked on for being friends with the nerdy little introvert that loved to learn and always had a book in her hand.

For over a decade, we have spent every Saturday night together. No matter what we have going on, we spend even just dinner together. His past girlfriends hated this, but he didn’t give much room for argument. His favorite thing to tell me is that it’s always been me, so I come first.

He owns a successful gym, and I work in an office as a paper pusher, so we are in two totally different parts of our life. I feel bad sometimes because I feel like I am holding him back. I have slowly been pulling away from him. It fucking kills me because I am literally in love with this man, but he’s never going to have a chance at real love if I am in the way. Maybe without him around, I can move on and find love as well. That’s laughable… I can’t even talk to the cashier at the grocery store most of the time.

I wasn’t supposed to work today, but I got called in anyway. My boss wanted me to scan in documents that I definitely could have done on Monday. I am so over this day. I just want to go home and go to bed. I am supposed to have dinner with Hudson, but I am about to cancel on him for the first time ever. It’s got to start somewhere, and the day after he went on a date sounds like a good time. I try not to be jealous, but I would rather scoop out my eyeballs with a spork than hear about some pretty and perfect blonde he fucked. I will never be her, and that fucking sucks.

When I step out of the office and lock the door, I get my phone out. I am dreading this conversation, but it has to happen. I take a deep breath and force myself to hit the button.

“Hey, Cole,” Hudson answers happily. “I expected you to call earlier. Where are we meeting?”

“I’m actually going to have to cancel tonight,” I say slowly.

“Woah, what? No,” he says. “What’s going on? You’ve never canceled on me.”

“It’s just been a long day. I had to go to the office and scan shit all day. I’m tired,” I say.

“You’ve fallen asleep more times than I can count when we hang out. Just come watch a movie with me or I’ll come over to your place.”

“Hudson,” I sigh. “I just want to go to bed, okay? All I am going to do is eat something random out of my freezer and read in bed until I pass out.”

“What’s wrong? Did I do something?”

“No, Huddy. You’ve not done anything wrong,” I sigh.

“Then why are you doing this? Seventeen years, and we’ve never spent a Saturday apart. Why now?”

“You have other friends, Hudson. Just go hang with them,” I say. “I’m walking home. I’ll text you tomorrow.”

“Colette, wait—” I end the call before he can finish his plea. Tears stream down my cheeks as I walk home. I quickly wipe my face and put my phone away. No tears, Colette. It’s not a big deal. He has other friends, and I have… me. I have myself and I am content being alone. Right?

I live a mile away from Hudson, but I have to walk through the worst part of town to catch the bus. From there, I walk a half mile home. I’ll get a car one day, but I get paid for shit. I’ve run into some sketchy people, but it’s not really bad until dark. Unfortunately for me, it’s dark outside.

I start walking down the same alleyway that I go down every day after work. I am suddenly regretting all my life choices about halfway through and it’s pitch black. I hear a commotion as one of the doors swings open. Instinct tells me to hide, so I jump behind a dumpster and crouch down.

“Where the fuck is my money?!” a man shouts. “I fucking told you three days.”

I peek out from behind the dumpster to see a group of men standing around one man that is on the ground with a gun to his head. I cover my mouth to keep from screaming, but I don’t look away.

“I’m sorry. I swear I’ll get it… No. No. No. please don’t. Wai—” His words are cut off when the man with the gun pulls the trigger. I let out a scream but slap my other hand over my mouth.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. What the fuck is wrong with you, Colette? The men snap their head in my direction, and I immediately jump up and back away. “Well. Well. Well. Who do we have here?” the man with the gun sneers.

“I-I’m s-sorry. I w-won’t say a-anything,” I stammer tearfully as all three of them start walking toward me. One of them tuts at me as they spread out in anticipation for me running.

“Oh, it’s too late for that, pretty girl,” the other man chuckles.

“Look at her. She’s shaking,” the man with the gun laughs.

“P-Please,” I beg. “Please, I’m s-sorry. I just wanna g-go h-home.”

“Oh, but you look so fun to play with,” the man with the gun says as my purse is ripped away from me by another. I stumble backward, but hands grip my waist as the other steps behind me.

“Colette Harter. Twenty-six. Lives at 678 West Hasten Street,” the man beside me says.

“I’ll make you a deal, sweetheart,” the man says as he presses his revolver underneath my chin to force my head back. I am trying to stay calm, but tears are steadily streaming down my face.

“W-What?” I choke out.

“Get on your knees and show me how badly you want to live,” he grins. “If I feel teeth, I’ll rip them out of your pretty little face.”

“Please don’t,” I whimper. “Please. I just want to go home.”

“The moment you interrupted my business, you no longer got a choice, Colette,” he leans in to whisper in my ear. “Get on your knees and suck my cock.”

When I don’t move, he pulls the hammer back. I instantly break and sink to my knees, making them all laugh. The man keeps the gun pressed against my head as I pull out his dick with shaky hands. As soon as I open my mouth, he grabs me by the hair and shoves himself down my throat. I gag violently and try to push away, but one of the men pull my arms behind my head so the man can start violently fucking my throat. I am trying to breathe through my nose, but I can’t. All I can do is gag and retch. I’m trying to keep my mouth wide open, so my teeth don’t hit him. It seems like this is never ending.

“Swallow, bitch,” the man grunts out as he starts to come. When the bile starts to rise, he is still going hard. I try to pull back when I feel it coming, but he keeps a tight hold on me. When my body tries to turn itself inside out and throw up, he still doesn’t pull away. It comes out of my nose and out of the side of my mouth as he moans and starts to come. The men are laughing when I drop to my hands and continue to gag violently. One of them grabs me by the hair and drags me up to my feet.

“Fifty bucks I can make the whore come,” the man laughs.

“You’re on,” another man laughs.

The man who has me by the hair shoves me toward a crate and the other two force me to lie back on the crate.

“Stop!” I scream. “Help! Someone help me!”

“Aww. She thinks someone is gonna come save her,” the man says as he pulls my skirt up. “A pretty little girl and a pretty little thong. I wonder what you taste like?”

“You sick bitch,” another man laughs. “Let’s spit roast this whore.”

“Hold her down. I wanna taste this cunt first,” he says as he rips my thong off. I am sobbing and cannot form words, but my brain is starting to disconnect from my body.

One of them covers my mouth as a tongue glides across my clit. I try to twist my body, but he grabs my inner thighs and squeezes hard. I try to fight the feeling of the quick flicks, but a moan spills out of me when he starts sucking. “She’s already about to come,” one of the men laugh. I am pushing on the man’s head, trying to get him to stop. All he does is suck harder, making my thighs tremble. When the hand comes off my mouth, one of them shoves his dick down my throat and starts to roughly assault me while an unwanted orgasm surfaces. No sooner than he pulls away do I hear a condom wrapper. He grabs a tight hold of my thighs away before ramming inside of me.

“Fuuuuck, this bitch is tight,” he groans and starts to move faster. My brain has had enough, and I shut down. My body goes limp, and they continue to take from me. I start missing chunks of time because the next thing I know, both men are moaning as they come. As soon as I am pulled up, vomit suddenly surfaces, and I throw up all over the man who just raped me.

“You stupid bitch,” he shouts as he slaps me across the face. I cry out in pain as I stumble back, bumping against a pile of trash. I feel around behind me to find something hard to swing, and my hand lands on what feels like a board. I have to get away. They will kill me. I don’t want to die. I just want to go home. When he steps toward me, I swing it at his head, and he hits the ground when a nail sticking out of the end embeds into the side of his skull. The other two men take their attention off me for long enough that I can snatch up my bag from the ground and sprint toward the end of the alleyway. I scream and force myself to move faster when bullets hit the wall beside me.

When I get to the end, I turn left and keep running as fast as I can. I’m afraid if I stop, they’ll kill me. I think I just killed that man. I just wanted them to stop hurting me. I didn’t want to kill anyone.

I keep running and running until my street comes into view. When I get to my house, I lock the doors and rush to my bathroom. I am panting and sobbing as I yank my clothes off and get into the cold water. All at once, the adrenaline rushes out of my body, and I bring myself down to the shower floor. I need Hudson. I shouldn’t have blown him off. He will know what to do. He always does.

I reach out of the shower and get my phone from my bag. I am leaning on the edge of the tub crying as the phone rings.

“Hey. Miss me already?” he teases.

“Huddy, I need you,” I sob.

“What happened? Where are you?” he says hurriedly.

“Home,” I sniffle. “Please hurry. Please.”

“I’m coming, Cole. What happened?” he asks.

“I went down an alley… I said no… I didn’t mean to hurt anyone…” I try to explain through broken sobs. “Huddy, I need you.”

“I’m close, baby. I promise, I’m close,” he says.

“They know where I live, Hudson. Please,” I plead.

“Fuck. Okay. I’m on your street, okay? Where are you in the house?”

“The shower,” I whimper. “I just wanted the feeling to go away.”

“I’m here. Don’t you hang up until you see me. Okay? I’m coming in,” he warns.

“Okay,” I whisper.

I still involuntarily drop my phone and scream when the bathroom door opens. I end up curled in a ball on the shower floor, shaking.

“I’m here. I’ve got you,” Hudson says as he shuts the water off and pulls me up, then wraps me in a towel and sets me on my feet. He then leans down and tosses my phone back into my bag before handing it to me. “Let’s grab you some stuff, okay?”

“Okay,” I whimper. He leads me out and to my bedroom so he can sit me down. I am clinging to my towel as he gets a bag down and quickly throws clothes inside. He grabs everything he thinks I might need like my e-reader, journal, and the ultra soft throw blanket I sleep with.

“Stand up, baby. Let me help you get dressed,” he says gently. I nod and let him stand me up. His movements are slow as he pulls the towel from me and tosses it on the bed. I am still sniffling, trying to not openly sob again. “What happened to your thighs, Cole? Who did this?”

“Those men,” I whisper. “They… They hurt me.”

Hudson clenches his jaw and takes a deep breath. He doesn’t say anything. Instead, he pulls one of the many shirts of his that I stole from him over my head. It comes down mid-thigh, so when he has me step into underwear and shorts, it still looks like I have nothing on under it.

“Let’s go, Colette,” he says.

“I’m sorry,” I whimper as tears start to roll down my cheeks.

“For what, Cole?”

“For ditching you,” I sniff. “If I hadn’t… Maybe they wouldn’t have r… I can’t even say it. Why can’t I say it?”

“You don’t have to say it right now, sweetie,” he says as he slings my bag of items over his shoulder and leads me out of the room. “We need to go though, okay? I don’t trust the car down the block.”

“Okay,” I sigh.

Hudson leads me out of the house and hurries me to his truck. He has a lifted Silverado 2500 and I’m just over five feet, so he tosses my stuff into the back seat before picking me up and sitting me in the truck. I am happy about it because I don’t have the energy to climb right now.

As we are pulling out and driving down the road, a SUV pulls into my driveway. I immediately sink down into my seat, but Hudson pulls the center armrest up and pulls me over to lay my head in his lap. I stay curled up on the seat, trying to stay hidden for the drive over to Hudson’s house. He lives on a gated property, so I feel safer once we get into his driveway.

Hudson’s phone starts ringing but when I try to sit up, he puts his hand on my waist to tell me I don’t have to move.

“Hey, man,” Hudson answers. “No, I’m with Cole… No… It’s just not a good time, Dallas… I’m good… I’ll call you tomorrow… see ya.”

“Dallas Higgins?” I ask quietly when he ends the call.

“Yeah,” he says. “Let’s get you inside.”

“Thank you,” I whisper.

“Anything for you, Cole,” he says with a smile. “Do you want to shower or talk about what happened?”

“Both, really,” I say as we walk inside. “I just don’t trust I won’t melt down again.”

“Do you want me to help you?” he asks seriously.

“Like shower with me?” I ask, wide-eyed.

“Yes,” he says. “You can say no, Colette.”

“It’s just… You’re gorgeous and distracting, Hudson,” I say bluntly. “I’m… not.”

“Ah, but it’ll keep you distracted instead of curling up on the shower floor,” he smiles playfully. “Do you trust me with this?”

“Yes. I don’t think you’d ever hurt me,” I say. “Just self-conscious.”

“I’m going to break you of that one day, love,” he says as he sets my bag on his bed and walks to the bathroom. When he returns, he gestures for me to come with him. I sigh and go into the bathroom. Being distracted by the fact I’m about to get naked with my best friend is oddly nice for what I’m about to have to explain.

When I get to the bathroom, he tells me to undress and get into the shower before leaving the bathroom to gather clothing for us. I do as he says and get in. The warm water temporarily soothes me and I relax a bit.

A few minutes go by, and I scream when a hand touches my waist. I spin around and Hudson immediately hugs me. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. I should have warned you before,” he says softly.

“I don’t know why I reacted like that. I knew you were coming,” I mutter.

“Let’s do this. Close your eyes and talk. Focus on whatever you have to, but let me take care of you, okay?” he asks. “Also… you understand that showering gets rid of evidence, yes?”

“I can’t go to the police. I think… I think one of them is dead,” I admit softly.

“Okay. Just close your eyes and talk,” he says.

“Okay,” I say with a sigh before closing my eyes. “I got off the phone with you and was walking home. I have never walked through the sketchy part of town at night before, but I just wanted to go home. I walked down the alleyway between some random business and a restaurant. There was a noise, so I ended up hiding. These people came out, and there were three men, and this one guy was on the ground. They were talking about how he owed them money or something, I guess. One of the men shot him and I screamed. I was trying to keep quiet, but it stunned me for a moment. I stood up and backed away, but I was too scared to turn and run. They spread out and got to me fast… The guy with the gun put his revolver under my chin and basically told me that if I didn’t want to die that I needed to suck his dick. I… he pulled the hammer back. I was scared out of my mind, so I just… did what I was told. He took over immediately though and was violent about it. I kept gagging and trying to pull away because I knew I was about to throw up, but he wouldn’t stop. Even when I did throw up, he still didn’t stop. It came out of my nose and everything… Once he finished, the other two guys forced me to lay on this crate thing. They were making bets that they could make me have an orgasm. Two of them held me down while the guy who bet he could started… eating me out… that was the most disgusting feeling. One man took to forcing himself down my throat while the other guy put on a condom and raped me… I must have blacked out or something because I don’t remember most of it. After they raped me, he pulled me up to stand and I immediately threw up all over him. He got pissed and slapped me. When I stumbled back, I ran into this pile of trash. I felt around to see if I could get anything to defend myself, and I found something that felt kind of like a board. When he got close enough, I thought he was going to hurt me again… I hit him on the side of the head. I didn’t know there was a nail sticking out of it. I just wanted him to stop. I just wanted to go home… The nail stuck into the side of his head. Like his temple. He hit the ground, so I grabbed my bag and ran. They shot at me, but I got out of the alleyway before they could get to me. I just kept running until I got home. I got in the shower, but ended up sitting on the floor. That’s when I called you.”

Hudson doesn’t say anything for a moment. He is kneeled down, washing my legs, but he is tense. He is angry and it’s strange to see him like this. He is such a sweet and caring man. Even when he’s pissed off, I’ve never seen him like this. When he stands up, he hugs me. “I’m so sorry that happened, Colette,” he says softly.

“Thank you for coming to me,” I say when he pulls away.

“Thank you for trusting me,” he says, cupping my cheek. “You have fought me for a long time about moving in here. I’m not giving you a choice anymore. They will be looking for you, and I don’t want you alone. Okay?”

“That’s very possessive of you, Huddy,” I say with a small smile.

“I’ll accept it,” he chuckles before turning serious again. “No one hurts my girl and gets away with it. I promise you right now, they will pay for what they did to you. There is a lot that you don’t know, but it’s time that you find out.”

“I trust you,” I say.

“Tell me why you canceled on me. The real reason,” he says.

“I feel like it’s only fair, considering you just washed evidence of a gang rape off of me,” I say. “You went on a date last night and I didn’t want to hear about it. I’ve been trying to pull away from you because I feel like you will never find happiness with a woman if I’m always around. It sucks, and I hated every minute of that, but you deserve all of the good things that the world has to offer. Having me around is making you miss out on things.”

“I didn’t go on a date last night, Cole. I was with Riley,” he smiles. “I never took you for the jealous type.”

“I don’t know who Riley is. Really, I don’t know who any of your friends are,” I say. “The last time you went on a date, I had to endure the conversation where you explained how you fucked her in the backseat of your truck. Maybe I am jealous. I know that it will never be me and I’m only getting in the way.”

“Back up,” he grins. “Did you just say that you want me to fuck you in the backseat of my truck?”

“I… I’m not going to answer that,” I say as a blush heats my cheek and I drop my head. He gently lifts my head and he’s still smiling. “If you are about to make fun of me, please don’t.”

“Why would I make fun of you for liking me?” he asks simply.

“Because we are too totally different people. You are a big muscly jock and I’m a tiny little nerd with a big ass,” I say, and he laughs heartily.

“We are more similar than you think,” he says. “We listen to the same kind of music. We play the same kind of games. We enjoy the same movies. I mean, yeah, I own a gym, but I don’t understand what that has to do with the dump truck you’re carrying around.”

“Dick,” I laugh and hit his arm. “I just mean that I’m not your type.”

“What is my type then, Colette?” he asks, with an eyebrow raised.

“Blonde, pretty, outgoing, big tits, big ass, and a small waist,” I say. “That’s literally what all of your ex-girlfriends look like."

“Describe yourself like that,” he says.

“I’m quiet, anxious, a bit ugly, and fat,” I say.

“You are quiet, yes, but there is nothing wrong with that. You have anxiety, but so do I. Just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not there,” he says before stepping closer and gently grabbing my chin so I can’t look away from him. “If I ever hear you degrade my best friend again, I’ll tickle you until you pee yourself. Got it?”