Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
Hudson
I didn’t even open my eyes before panic ensnared my lungs, stealing my breath.
It constricted around my chest like a boa constrictor, and the shaking followed immediately after.
I didn’t have to open my eyes to know I was in a hospital.
That I was somewhere unsafe. I could smell the disinfectant in the air, hear the low murmur of nurses and doctors and the beeping of the machine to my right.
The blood pressure cuff was tight around my arm as it inflated, and the staticky sound of the TV in my hospital room was the kind of sound you only heard in hospital settings.
“Easy, baby. Hudson, baby, open your eyes and look at me,” Kreed commanded, his warm hands cupping my face and immediately settling me.
My eyes snapped open, and our eyes slammed together in a connection so strong, the breath was stolen from my lungs for an entirely different reason.
Kreed looked tired and stressed, the lines around his eyes pinched.
His brows were furrowed low over his chocolate eyes, and his lips were set in a deep frown.
He looked as if he’d aged twenty years while I’d been asleep.
“Kreed?” I croaked.
A small smile tilted his lips.
“Hey, baby,” he said softly. “You knew I wouldn’t leave you alone once I could get to you, didn’t you?”
Swallowing thickly, I nodded while I suddenly remembered what’d landed me in the hospital.
My fucking mother had brought one of her toys to the house, and he’d stabbed me in his attempt to get rid of me.
She’d been screaming something about it not being part of the plan, and then, Corvus showed up just as I blacked out.
“Corvus?” I croaked.
“I sent him to a nearby hotel to get some rest,” Kreed said quietly, his hands still not leaving my face.
“He’s safe, Hudson. I promise. They didn’t touch him.
Police showed up almost immediately after he did.
Bonnie and the man she brought to the house with her are sitting in holding cells.
According to what my attorney found out, they’ll be transferred to county until their court appearances on Friday. ”
I closed my eyes, swallowing thickly. Bonnie had always been a work of fucking art, but to attack me because Kreed wanted to divorce her?
“She’s lost her fucking mind,” I said quietly.
Kreed grunted and took a seat on the edge of my hospital bed. “I’m sorry she targeted you, baby. I fear I made it worse by telling her we were together—”
I shook my head and grabbed his hand, lacing our fingers together.
“No,” I said, my voice firm. “Bonnie has always been like this, Kreed. It’s not the first time she pulled some bullshit like that, and if she hadn’t been arrested, I promise it wouldn’t have been the last. The moment she let him into the house, I knew she’d brought him to teach me some kind of lesson. It’s what she’s always done.”
Kreed clenched his jaw. “How did I not fucking know about any of this, Hudson?”
He sounded angry and upset with me, something he’d never been before. My lips flattened, and I stared at a spot on the wall just behind his shoulder.
Sighing, Kreed stroked his thumb over my hand. “I’m sorry. I’m not angry with you. I’m angry with her and every other motherfucker who hurt you in the past. I hate that I never knew. If I did… Christ, Hudson, I would have removed her from your life long before now.”
“I don’t like talking about it,” I confessed. “Virtual therapy helped a lot.” I smiled at him. “Thanks for that.”
He grunted.
“But she rarely came around, Kreed. You gave her money, which kept her distracted and happy, and you didn’t dictate what she could and couldn’t do.
Because of you, I finally got to know what safety felt like.
I got to know what it was like to go to sleep each night without fear that someone she was dating would come into my room and toss me around a bit.
There was always food to eat. I never wanted or needed for anything, Kreed. Nothing except you.”
He leaned in and rested his forehead on mine.
I closed my eyes, inhaling the scent of him, even if it was now mixed with the scent of the fucking hospital, which I hated.
It made my stomach turn a little, but I focused more on the scent of his cologne and body wash and the detergent he used to wash his clothes.
“Now, you don’t want for that, either,” Kreed said softly.
“Because you have me, baby. Always.” He pressed his lips to mine in a soft kiss.
“The media will have a frenzy, not only over me coming out as pansexual, but also because you’re technically my stepson, and you’re younger than me by a good bit. ”
I shrugged. “The media can kiss my ass.”
He chuckled, the sound low and throaty, and something warm fizzled through me.
“I love you,” he said quietly. “I love you so goddamn much, baby. I was terrified I was going to lose you yesterday.”
I shook my head, a smirk tilting my lips. He leaned back, and I opened my eyes. “After I just got you? Not a chance in fucking hell, Kreed.”
He snorted a laugh and leaned in to kiss me again. A light knock sounded on the door, and a nurse walked in, immediately killing the mood and filling me with trepidation. She smiled warmly at me, but I didn’t trust her for a fucking second.
“I’m just here check your vitals, hon,” she told me as she made her way around my bed and to the machine that monitored my heartrate, oxygen levels, and blood pressure.
I tracked every move she made, my jaw clenched tightly.
Kreed stroked his fingers through my hair, reminding me I wasn’t alone.
That he’d never leave me alone in the place I feared the most.
She hummed as she worked, occasionally asking me how I felt and if I needed more pain medication, but I felt fine.
There was a slight discomfort in my abdomen, but not enough to cause me actual pain.
Kreed told me it was more than likely due to my morphine drip and I’d probably feel it more once I was released later that day, to which the nurse agreed.
Once she left the room, Corvus walked in.
He stood in the entrance for a moment, his eyes steely and his shoulders tense, and then, he stormed over to the bed.
I half expected him to hit me with how upset he looked, but he just wrapped his arms around me in a hug so fucking gentle, my throat closed up with tears I’d never let fall.
“I’m glad you’re alive,” he said quietly.
I hugged him back. “And leave you to a life of misery without me?” I joked. “Forget it, bro.”
He huffed a laugh and released me.
“I checked the house before coming here,” he said, looking at Kreed. “The police have cleared out all their things, and it looks like the cleaning crew you hired is finished, as well.”
Kreed hummed, nodding. “Good. He’s getting released later today, so he’ll need rest.” He looked at me. “I’m sure you want your own bed.”
I shook my head, a smirk tilting my lips. “Nope. I want yours.”
Kreed’s laugh was warm and husky. He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Alright, baby. My bed it’ll be.”