Hudson & Greene (Miller’s Pointe #8)

Chapter 1

Hudson Mayers

It had been over twenty years since I’d stepped foot in this town.

Twenty-two years since my mother snatched me from everything I thought I knew, in search of something that fulfilled her.

After we left Millers Pointe, we ended up in Kentucky, then Maine, after that Chicago, and then finally, Vegas.

We settled there long enough for her to remarry some dying old nigga with enough money to keep her put until it ran dry.

The funny thing was, no matter how down on our luck we became, she refused to let me come back here.

Back then I didn’t understand why she wouldn’t just let me come back here to my father while she traveled the globe looking for where she belonged.

As an adult I now understood it as clear as day.

My mother had been selfish and was still just as selfish ’til this day.

As soon as I was able to make my own decisions, I left and didn’t look back.

I excelled in sports, every one of them, until it came time to choose which one I’d focus on.

That was easy though, because football had always been my first love, even when I was just a kid playing here with my father and cousins.

Those were times when life was much simpler, lacking all things that made it too much.

I stood outside of Guuds Ranch for a minute, just taking in how much it had changed.

My cousin sent me pictures here and there when we talked, but pictures didn’t do the real thing justice.

The ranch had grown a lot since I was a kid.

What used to be one house and a barn was now a fortress of land, with the main house and a few upgrades.

Then off to the side sat two more massive homes.

The homes weren’t too close, but they were close enough to give space for the animals on the side of each with a barn close to one.

I didn’t know which door to knock on until I heard humming and footsteps.

My eyes landed on a brown skinned woman carrying a metal pail with headphones in her ears.

I took her in, immediately noticing she was very far along pregnant, before she realized me standing there.

Instead of carrying that damn pail, she looked like she should have been in the house resting.

“Good evening. I’m looking for Jonas or Duhan—" I started, but a familiar voice gripped my attention before I could finish my statement.

“Versai. Drop the damn bucket with your stubborn ass. I told you that shit was too heavy for you and my son. And you wonder why Dai is so stubborn, she gets that shit from her mother.” I looked in the direction she had just come from.

Of course it was my cousin, looking like shorty had pissed him all the way off.

I couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped my lips.

“I was trying to help you out. And it wasn’t too heavy.” She dropped the pail at her feet and mugged him before looking back at me.

“Well to me it was. Now c’mon, get in the house since you insist on walking out here half-dressed.”

She sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes, which my cousin laughed off before looking directly at me.

“I know that ain’t my blood standing there looking lost,” Duhani greeted.

He dropped the bucket and moved toward me.

After a brotherly embrace he stepped back and took me in before introducing me to his girl.

“My bad, cuz, this is my fiancé, Versai. Sai, this is my cousin, Hudson. He’s Jonas’s son and gonna be staying over at the house. ”

She nodded politely, attitude totally different from what she had just given him moments prior. “Great to meet you. I made sure the house was fully stocked and everything was up to par for your stay.”

“Thank you, family,” I said before looking at my cousin.

“C’mon, I’ll walk you over there and give you a tour.” He leaned down to pick up the bucket she dropped and his.

“Well, I’m gonna call Jonas back since you won’t let me help you here. Maybe I can help him down at the lounge,” she tossed over her shoulder, moving toward the front door of the darker colored home.

“And get your ass cursed out in the process. Go rest please, before we be beefing ’cause you wanna be a busy body. I’ll be in there in a few.”

She didn’t say anything else and Duhani didn’t expect her to because he was leading the way to the home I would be occupying during my stay. When we reached the porch, he dropped the pails before stepping up to the door. He then keyed in a code, stepped back, and let me walk in first.

“The code is your birthday. Month and day.”

When I entered, I was completely taken aback. This motherfucker was decked out. From the outside I was expecting this to be a nice spot, but not this nice. It was a modern type of spot, spacious with dark tones on an open floor plan. Despite the coolness, it still gave a homey feel.

“When you told me you wanted to lay low for a while, I figured this would be you. Sai set everything up for you, since I don’t know nothing about anything going on in here.”

“Yeen have to do this, cousin. You know I would’ve been good with a couch or a cot.”

He laughed. “That’s nonsense, bro. This right here is you for as long as you want it.

I know how it feels to need time away from the city.

That shit drains you. When I showed up here, I didn’t have much of shit left in me, but something about this ranch and this space fed me more than any meal could. ”

I nodded. Duhani had always been like a big brother to me, from calling and making sure I was good to stopping through Baltimore to make games and have a few dinners.

“Give yourself time. I don’t know what you got going through that head of yours, but whatever it is, you’ll come out on top.

I’m glad to have you around for the holidays and I ain’t told your old man you here either.

He’s gonna be both pissed and excited that we didn’t say anything. You talked to him?”

I nodded. “Yeah, this morning. He was going on and on about needing a new bartender and you being stingy with who I’m guessing is Versai. I’ll probably creep up on him.”

Duhani laughed. “Nah, he isn’t letting that shit go. She used to work in a bar years ago. Now every time she walks in Guuds, he thinks she’s gonna tend to the bar. She doesn’t have a problem with it, but shit, I do. Look how pregnant she is.”

I chuckled, because that sounded like my father. “So, you and Versai? How’d y’all meet? She’s from around here?”

My cousin laughed. “Yes and no. She left when she was younger but came back two years ago a few weeks before Christmas and we’ve been together ever since.

’Bout four months in she found out she was carrying Dai and I asked her to marry me.

Now it’s me, her, Dai, and my son who looks like he’s on some petty shit and gonna come on Christmas. We’re almost a week overdue.”

“Petty. Stubborn. To be honest, that’s giving me more of a you typa thang, cousin.”

He flipped me off. “Nah, Dai looks and acts just like her mother. I ain’t got a leg to fight on fucking with them.”

I laughed and we made more small talk before he stood up to leave. “Dinner is at seven. Come on over, unless you got plans.” He winked.

“What plans I’ma have, Hani? I’on know nobody here.”

“That you think. Don’t get in no trouble ’round these sticks. It’s easy to do just that.” He winked again before turning to go out of the door.

After Duhani left, I gave myself a tour of the place and I swear this place was massive, the type of shit you only saw on social media. Shit, it damn sure didn’t look like this when I was a youngin.

“At least tell me where you are, Hudson. You know we need to talk. You can’t just go missing like this, especially not now,” Ronny, my manager, said. I could tell she was stressed out, but her stress was the least of my worries.

“How do you think this will look? We haven’t even signed the contract yet.”

“If you think I care about how this looks, then you don’t know me at all after all these years.” I stared out the window at the land. This shit right here was peace.

“I do know you and I know you wouldn’t dare leave money on the table.

You like making it too much.” That’s where she was wrong.

I didn’t leave money on the table. Before I left, I’d given everything to Perry.

Everything included not only my medical records but all of the correspondence I was able to get from one of the on-field doctors, where they had been instructed to ignore any diagnosis that would put the game in jeopardy.

Perry was my lawyer and she was ready to do whatever I asked with the information she had been given.

The only questions were what I wanted and what was I without the very game that made me.

“Hudson, do you hear me? What about the contracts and everything we had lined up.”

“At what cost? Y’all expected me to play when everybody around me knew I wasn’t one hundred. Shit, the whole organization saw me go down but didn’t give a damn as long as I could get back up and put that fucking helmet on. I almost fucking died.”

“Hudson. I know. We all know that. But you didn’t die. You led your team to victory and got the help you needed.”

I laughed dryly. “At my own fucking insistence.”

“Where are you, Hudson? I’ll come to you and we can talk this out. We’ll add new clauses and hand—”

“I’m off the grid. I’ll probably be back after the holidays. By then I might feel like talking.”

“And how do you want me to spin that?” She sounded like she was about ready to pull her lashes out one by one.

“Shit, get with Marty. Y’all will spin that shit wonderfully.

If not, then oh well. See you when I get back.

” I hung up and dropped my phone onto the sofa next to me.

My eyes landed back on the TV. On the screen was the game that made me who I was.

The thing was, I didn’t know who that was.

When I collapsed on that field, it was just me.

When they told me I was cleared to finish the game I knew I wasn’t good to go.

I still took my ass out on that field and won, only to end up in the hospital that night with a severe brain bleed.

One seemingly missed by the team doctor who’d sent me back on that field.

I almost died that day and nobody in my immediate circle gave a fuck enough to speak up.

It took one doctor breaking down my condition for me to not walk my ass back on that field.

After everything was said and done, I spent a lot of time watching the game and trying to figure out who I was without it.

So much time that I realized everything in my life revolved around the game.

With football there was no happy medium for me.

It was all or nothing and that almost cost me my life.

A knock at the door had me on my feet. When I opened the door, I expected it to be my cousin, but to my surprise it was Versai, out of breath and rubbing her belly.

“Dinner is ready. He’s not going to come get you because he doesn’t want to smother you, but I will.

Because even though you don’t know me from a can of paint, I have no problem smothering you.

After all, we are family now, and I don’t much care for my own.

Your father, Duhani, and now you are all I have besides my cousin and my father from time to time.

Now come eat.” Her words were aggressive, but she meant well.

I laughed. “Okay, family. Let’s get over there.”

The walk over to my cousin’s house was brief. When we walked in the door, the aroma of seared steak filled my nostrils.

“Thought I asked you not to go over there messing with him, baby?” Duhani looked up from the toddler sitting on the counter to Versai.

“Thought I told you I’d think about it?” Versai moved to his side and kissed the side of his face. “It worked though. Now you can do less brooding.”

He laughed, then looked toward me. “Drinks are in the fridge. We’re having steak burgers. Everything on it still good to you?”

“Yeah.” I nodded, moving to the fridge. Once I had a drink, I took a seat at the island, eyes locked on the toddler in her own world with a bowl of fruit near her father. Versai had left the room, leaving just us three. The feeling here was what I missed, that feeling of belonging.

“You good over here?” Duhani asked, eyes jumping between me and the burger he flipped.

“Yeah man, just thinking. It’s something about this place that just makes me think, you know.”

“Good or bad?”

“Good, I guess. Feels like home and I haven’t felt like I was home in a while. Between all the moving around as a youngin, and traveling during the season, I never quite felt like I was home. Everything was a means to an end.”

“Well, I get that, trust me I do. It’s okay to be lost sometimes, but this place right here will always be your home. And the thing about home is no matter how long you’ve been away, it’s always home. Lean into that. Shit, lean into family, and I promise you’ll find whatever you’re looking for.”

“Aight, bet.”

“You up for going to see about your father in a few? It’s holiday season, meaning his old ass ain’t leaving Guuds no time soon. Figured I’d take him a meal.”

I nodded. Cool with me.