Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Kreed
Hudson’s condition had worsened by the time I brought him broth and Gatorade an hour later, as promised. His bed sheets were damp from his sweat, and his teeth were chattering. Curled into a tight ball on the bed, he looked like absolute death. His skin was so pale it was damn near gray.
He couldn’t keep going like this. I had to take him to a hospital, even if it damn near made me sick to do so after what I’d found out.
He needed medical attention, and it was too late in the day to get him in to see his doctor, and an urgent care would more than likely send him to the hospital anyway with how terrible his symptoms were.
I set the broth on his nightstand along with the Gatorade then sat on the edge of Hudson’s bed. He slowly peeled open his eyes to look at me, and the expression in them gutted me. Hudson rarely showed his true feelings, but the trepidation there, along with the fear, split me wide the fuck open.
He knew what was coming, and fuck it all to hell, I hated having to do it to him.
“You’re gonna make me, aren’t you?” he asked, his voice raw and raspy.
I nodded and cupped the back of his head, stroking my fingers along his scalp. It always soothed him when he got sick, and I wanted to make this as easy as possible for him. “Yeah. I’m sorry. I know…” I blew out a harsh breath. “I won’t leave your side, Hudson. I fucking swear to you, I won’t.”
He swallowed thickly then coughed, his whole body rattling with the force. I gripped the back of his sweaty neck, wishing I could do something right at that moment at least to ease some of what he was dealing with.
“Corvus told you, didn’t he?” he croaked. When I sighed and nodded, he clenched his eyes closed. “I thought you knew already,” he confessed. “Thought that, just like everyone else, you didn’t believe it.”
I clenched my jaw and tightened my hold on his nape.
“No,” I growled.
He snapped his eyes open to look at me, shocked by the vehemence in that single word.
“I believe you, Hudson. The moment Corvus said something, I fucking believed you.” I leaned down and rested my forehead against his.
He trembled, though whether it was because he was cold or because someone finally believed what had happened to him, I had no clue.
“That’s why I’m swearing to you there won’t be a single fucking moment you’re alone in that hospital.
I won’t ever let anyone touch you like that again. ”
He nodded. “Can I—”
He broke off into a coughing fit. I moved back, waiting patiently for him to stop coughing so he could finish his sentence.
“Can I at least have the broth before we go? And a shower?”
I nodded. “Yeah,” I said softly. If it would make him a little more comfortable, he could have both. “Can you sit up?”
Using shaky arms, he pushed himself into a sitting position then scooted back toward the headboard.
I quickly tucked the blankets beneath his chin and pushed them behind his back, so he was enclosed in them.
Silently, I spoon-fed him the broth until he finally turned his head away, showing me he was done.
“Can you manage showering on your own?” I asked.
His lips quirked with a smirk, though I could tell he didn’t really feel it. Hudson just didn’t know how to not be an asshole. It was embedded into his psyche. A part of him at this point. Someone who’d gone through what he had didn’t just use it as a shield. It became a piece of their personality.
“Why? You going to help if I can’t?” he taunted, obviously needing to deflect from the softer moment the two of us had shared.
I arched a brow at him as I stood.
“If needed,” I retorted, and his eyes widened in disbelief. That time, it was my turn to smirk. “Cat got your tongue?”
He huffed and pushed the blankets down. I watched as he eased from the bed, stumbling a little once he stood. I gripped his upper arms, steadying him. He swayed toward me, his eyes shutting.
“This fucking sucks,” he croaked.
“I know,” I murmured. “Let me help you to the bathroom, alright? And I’ll get you a chair from the patio so you can sit on it while you shower.”
He nodded. Turning, I pulled him against my side then wrapped my arm around his waist before tugging his other arm over my shoulders.
It took twice as long as it should have, but eventually, I got him to the bathroom.
He grunted as I eased him down onto the toilet seat, and he swayed backward until he rested against the back, his head drooping toward his chest
“Don’t move,” I ordered.
He snorted but didn’t lift his head. “The fuck am I going to go, Kreed?”
I ignored his smartass remark and headed for the patio.
After grabbing one of the plastic chairs, I jogged back to his bathroom.
He watched through slitted eyes as I set the chair in the shower then turned the water onto the hottest setting.
Wordlessly, I turned to him and gripped the hem of his shirt, pulling it over his head.
I was methodical as I undressed him, leaving him in his briefs because no matter what decision I’d made after my phone call with Bonnie, I wasn’t ready to see all of him yet.
“Don’t want to take these off, too?” he asked, thumb hooking in the band of his briefs and weakly tugging them from his body until they snapped back into place.
“Just get in the shower, boy,” I muttered, helping him over the lip of the tub and onto the chair.
Once he was settled, I shut the shower curtain, then dropped onto the toilet seat he’d vacated.
“I’ll be right here in case you need me.
Take your time. Don’t rush. Last thing I need is you falling over and hitting your head. ”
“So thoughtful,” he grumbled.
I sighed and tilted my head back, closing my eyes. “Even sick, you’re a smartass.”
He grunted.
“One of a fucking kind,” he muttered, almost quiet enough I couldn’t hear him. I let his comment slide. Arguing with Hudson was never a good idea. He loved having the last word. And arguing with him while he was sick would just exacerbate his symptoms.
He was already going to be difficult to deal with once we got to the hospital. I just needed to save my energy until then. Because I would need every bit of it.