Chapter 16
I ran after Hudson, but I would never catch up to him. I stopped and reached inside my top. I had stored my phone in my bra because the pockets on these jeans were impenetrable.
I dialed Warren, still moving, with even less care than I had on the way up here. My feet were killing me, but I couldn’t let Hudson do what he was planning, despite Andrew deserving it.
“Wave, it’s not a good time,” my brother answered.
“Warren!” I didn’t care what was going on with him.
“Wave? Are you okay?” he was instantly alert from the tone of my voice.
“Stop Hudson. He’s headed back to the party. Get to him before he finds Andrew.”
“Andrew?” he sounded confused. “Why, what’s going on?”
“He’s going to kill him. Warren, it doesn’t matter why. Just stop him. He’s coming now, from the lake. Warren, please.”
“Okay, okay. Where are you?”
“Stop asking questions, just don’t let him get Andrew.”
I hung up and then pumped my legs and arms faster, running like Michael Myers was on my ass. This was a worse scenario than a masked lunatic with a knife in the woods.
I couldn’t even take the time to wrap my head around what I’d learned tonight. He’d been there. He’d seen it happening, and I had no idea, all these years… He thought I cheated on him first.
I shook away those thoughts as the back of the clubhouse came into view. There were people dancing and laughing, enjoying the party. I was still too far, but I could see Hudson storming his way through crowds and they were getting out of his way.
“Shit.” I hurried faster. I’d be lucky if I didn’t break a damn leg at this rate. I thanked Christ I’d taken off Lily’s sandals while cursing at my bare feet.
The sounds of shouting rose over the music. I pushed my way through guys responding to the commotion. They were surging towards the shouting, where normal people would shy away.
Warren and a couple of guys surrounded Hudson. They were holding him back as I looked around. I couldn’t see Andrew, he’d either ran when he saw Hudson coming or, more likely, Warren listened to me and intercepted Hudson before he could find Andrew.
He was struggling against the men holding him, roaring out for them to let him go. Questions were being asked around me, what the hell was going on, who had caused this, why did Hudson look like he was going to murder someone?
My father waded through the crowds and got into Hudson’s face.
“Hustle!” He gripped him with both hands, grabbing fistfuls of his cut and jolting him. “Look at me. Right here. Now.”
Hudson stopped his frantic fighting and looked at his president. He might have stopped, but he was no calmer. In fact, his look was even darker than before. King kept hold of him, staring into his eyes. All around us had gone quiet.
“Gonna have trouble if I let you go?” King asked. “Hustle?” he snapped when he got no reply.
“No,” Hudson gritted out.
King took his time, but he let go of his cut. He glanced through the crowd and saw me, his eyes narrowing, before turning to Warren, who shook his head. He had no clue what was going on either.
“Inside, now,” he snapped. King pointed his finger at me. “You too. Everyone else shows over,” he shouted. “Enjoy the rest of the party. War.”
He tilted his head, then turned and walked away.
“Waverley,” Warren reached out, pulling me into him, his eyes questioning me, taking in my appearance. “What the fuck?” his eyes darted to Hudson, then back to me, his brows raised. “What happened to you?”
“Long story.”
Warren shook his head. “Well, you better get your story telling hat on because King will not let this go. Come on. Wait, where are your shoes?” War looked down at my feet.
“Really?” Hudson asked. “We have more important things to worry about than her shoes. Let’s get this done,” he snapped and turned, muttering. “I’ve got someone I need to kill.”
“Sounds like a usual patching in party,” someone shouted behind us, and laughter rang out.
Everything went back to normal, at least to those around us. Warren grabbed my hand, reluctantly I allowed him to pull me along.
Hudson looked all around us. “You see Andrew Reinhart?”
Warren looked confounded. “Why the fuck is he such a big deal?”
“Is he still here?”
Warren shrugged. “I haven’t seen him in a while. I don’t know. Someone give me something before we get in there and face King,” Warren said, heading for the clubhouse door.
King had already gone through to his office. As we passed, Warren grabbed hold of a guy.
“You know Andrew Reinhart?”
“The construction guy?”
“Yeah. Find him and bring him into the clubhouse when you do.”
I ducked my head. I didn’t know what to say. I still hadn’t processed it all myself yet. Finding out Hudson was there that night hadn’t sunk in.
Despite his words, I had a different view of that night. I had to own some of the blame for what happened to me. I’d spent the last five years dealing with it. Hudson had only just found out. I couldn’t fault him for his reaction, especially knowing he had seen it.
Inside the clubhouse, Warren asked us again what was going on.
“Andrew Reinhart raped your sister five years ago. And I’m going to kill him.”
On that bombshell, Hudson walked towards King’s office.
Thanks, asshole.
Warren pulled up short and whirled around on me. “What?” he shouted.
I put my hand over his mouth and glared after Hudson. “I will explain, but not here,” I said in a harsh whisper, looking around at the people in the room. The last thing I needed was this spread around the compound. It was bad enough I’d had to explain it once already. “He’s exaggerating.”
“I’m fucking not,” Hudson called out.
“Jesus Christ,” I groaned. I walked to the bar and grabbed a bottle of whiskey before following Hudson down the hallway.
Warren was right on my ass, asking questions all the way. I opened the bottle and took a swig, trying to chase away the taste of vomit in my throat.
He grabbed my arm before we got to King’s office, turning me so he could look me in the eye. Right now, he wasn’t the VP. He was my brother, and I could see the hurt in his questioning gaze.
“Is what he just said true?”
“To a degree,” I hedged.
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” His voice was low, menacing, and there was a look in his eyes that rivalled Hudson’s. “I will take that motherfucker down if he hurt you.”
“Can we please just go in there to talk about this?” I asked, and he watched me take another swig of the whiskey. He looked like he was about to argue, but I shoved the bottle at him. “Here, drink this. You’re going to need it.”
Hudson clenched his jaw tight when we walked into the office. His eyes met mine, and he closed them, sucking in a breath. When he opened them, he was staring through the window, his hands firmly on his hips.
Warren closed the door behind him and came up beside me, the bottle of whiskey dangling at his side. King was pissed as he went behind his desk. His eyes moved over my body, from my tear-streaked face, bruised arm, torn up feet then back to my face and his jaw clenched.
He turned angry eyes on Hudson and looked a second away from vaulting the table.
“He didn’t do anything,” I said, taking a step towards the desk.
“Then who the fuck did?”
“That’s the goddamn problem,” Hudson yelled. “And I was going to fix it before War and those assholes grabbed me.”
He turned a dark glare at me. I lifted my chin and stared back.
But my look softened when I saw the reality behind the rage.
This hit him hard. He felt guilty, and the only way Hudson had ever dealt with his emotions was to blow up and smash out his frustrations. I wouldn’t let him do something stupid.
“You,” King pointed at Hudson. “Shut the fuck up. Waverley, sit down,” he paused for a second. “Do you need something, water or painkillers, or something else?”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m fine.”
“Wanna explain why my daughter looks messed up and you’re on the rampage?”
Hudson looked over at me, I could see the question in his eyes, and as much as I appreciated it, I wasn’t getting away without a proper explanation. I didn’t want to tell my father and brother this story, not after Hudson’s reaction. Theirs was going to be a lot worse.
It took me a long time to deal with what happened that night.
Now I knew Hudson reacted to what he believed he saw when he went with that club girl.
It changed everything. I could see he was hurting, but his anger was simmering dangerously high, and he couldn’t see past that.
He had to hurt Andrew before he could process the rest.
No one at the club would have let Andrew get away with those threats, but the drug impaired my thinking. All I needed to do was go to them with the pictures and tell them what he’d done, and they would have stopped him.
Holding those pictures in my hand, knowing the influence Andrew’s family had, all I could see was Hudson and Warren in handcuffs. I wasn’t a dumb girl, growing up the way I had taught me lots of things. If I had been in my right mind, I would have kicked his ass myself.
I didn’t sit down as I recited the story for them. Neither did my dad. Warren did though, dropping on to the couch beside Hudson, looking between the two of us as I told them monotone the same story I’d told Hudson. I left nothing out.
When I finished, the three men were silent. Hudson was looking off to the side, not making eye contact with anyone. Warren looked as if he wanted to get up and come to me, but I shook my head, I didn’t want him to touch me right now.
King on the other hand, had that quiet, violent rage building up in him, not too dissimilar to Hudson. He was as ready to do severe damage to Andrew Reinhart, and his depth of feeling for me, again surprised me.
“I’d appreciate it if this never left the room,” I said, my shoulders back.
“You think I will not do anything about this?” King asked in a low, dangerous voice.