Chapter 26
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SIX
WILDE
W hen I get to the swimming hole, I don’t need the sight of the bike or the dirty old boots to tell me there’s already someone there.
I can feel it in the ripples through the normally still air, in the way something inside me braces for a fight.
I swear, even from here, I can make out the ever-present bubble gum scent.
“You kept me waiting,” he calls the second he sees me. I can’t help noticing the clothes lying innocently by his boots.
I’m not sure how to feel about him showing up here.
I’ve calmed down after the other day, and as long as our conversation stays clear of that, I have no issues.
None beyond the general fact that he’s in my town at all.
Which is the real kicker. I’m not used to being out of control, and the way Hudson manages to stir me up so easily should have me turning and heading in the other direction.
I count to three in my head, giving myself a chance to walk away. When that doesn’t happen, I strip off my shirt instead .
Hudson watches every movement, and I hesitate for a second over taking off my briefs. It’s not something I’ve ever thought twice about, and I have to shake off that stupidity as I kick out of them in annoyance.
The water’s warm like I knew it would be, and I stride out into it, ignoring that Hudson is there at all. Except if there’s one thing Hudson can’t do, it’s be quiet, and as soon as I’m close enough, that mouth of his opens again.
“You have a lot of scars.”
It takes me a second to remember that the first time he saw me naked, he supposedly doesn’t remember, and the second time, I was half-submerged in the water.
Instead of answering, I dive under the water, eyes screwed shut as I float there for a moment just to get away from him.
When I come back up for air, he’s moved closer.
“I pissed you off the other day,” he says.
“Probably will piss me off again if you bring it up now.”
The water brings out the blue and gold tints in his green eyes. “I’m sorry. I mean, I’m clueless exactly what it is that I said, but … something got to you.”
“Nothing got to me.”
“Uh-huh. That’s why you chased me away. No reason.”
“I didn’t chase you.”
Those pretty lips of his almost reach a smile. “I like it here …”
“Enjoy it,” I can’t help but throw back. “It won’t be this way for long.” I don’t need to spell out my meaning for him to follow what I’m getting at.
“It might not be as bad as you think. Maybe whoever we sell to will barely be here at all.”
“Will you stop with Old End?” I ask him, but I can already read the answer before he has one for me. Old End is the start. He owns this place, and he’s planning to make as much out of it as he can.
“I don’t know.”
“Probably should figure it out, considering you have twenty-seven of us reliant on your decisions.”
His blond eyebrows flex into a frown. “I’m not the bad guy.”
“Good guys usually don’t have to say that.”
“Good guys usually don’t have wild men questioning their character.”
“Good guys don’t give wild men a reason to.”
We’ve drifted unconsciously closer, and I’m barely aware of the magnets tugging us together, only the aftereffects that leave us face-to-face with a few feet between us.
I want to ask why he’s here, but I know I’ll only get his usual smart-ass response.
After how we left things, I thought he’d be as content to ignore me as I was to ignore him.
The urge to fuck him again has been strong, but I’ve been able to push that down whenever I remembered the sickening feelings he left me with.
“You’re here hoping I’ll lessen your guilt?” I prod, hoping it will get me answers. “Not going to happen.”
“Good thing I don’t feel guilty.”
“You want something, then?”
I’m almost hoping he’ll say he wants sex because it will put an end to talking, but then I’ll have to figure out if I want to go there. Well, actually, want isn’t the issue. I know I want it, but I also know I shouldn’t.
Which one will win today?
“Is Ziggy an electrician?”
The question throws me. “Why?”
“He told us that he is. ”
Again, Ziggy telling them anything doesn’t make sense.
“Did you get that out of him the day you threatened him?”
“No.” Hudson’s smile finally tugs upward. “Today. He was working on our car, and I thought, you know what? If Wilde wanted to get rid of us, all he’d have to do is get one of his Wenders to cut our brake lines.” Hudson watches me for confirmation.
“Now, why didn’t I think of that?” I ask flatly.
“So he wasn’t there because you sent him?”
“Believe it or not, everyone here runs their own lives.”
“Good to know.” He’s still inching closer, and I haven’t backed up yet. “Then you won’t care if he helps us out with a little wiring?”
“Wiring?”
Hudson tilts his head from one side to the other. “Some wiring. Lighting. Then the full electrical needs for the place.”
Bile creeps up my throat at the thought of him using one of my Wenders for his job. “Ziggy can do what he likes.”
“Good to know.”
“Doubt he’d like that though.”
A little ha leaves him. “Don’t be so sure. I think Ziggy-zag has a soft spot for us.”
“Considering the way you’re destroying all our homes, don’t bank on it.”
“If that’s the case …” He gets close enough to drop his voice. “Why do you have a soft spot for me?”
“You’re confusing a horny need to shut you up with being soft.”
“I don’t think I am.” Hudson settles within a foot of me, eyes roaming my face. “Do you ever shave off that filthy beard?”
“No.”
“Clean it up, at least? ”
“No.” The most I do is messily trim it when it gets too long. “I noticed you shaved your balls.”
His whole face lights up. “Waxed. And I knew you were checking me out.”
“Bit hard not to when you’re putting on a display.” My lips are burning with another question. “Is that the only place you wax?”
“Nope.” He grins. “Ask me where.”
“Where?”
“My chest and stomach. Men like a smooth surface to play on.”
“Not me.”
“Haven’t heard you complain yet.”
If he gets any closer, he’ll feel how hard he’s made me, so I keep those few inches of distance in place. It doesn’t matter though. Hudson’s steady gaze has tension wrapping around us like thick humidity before a summer storm.
“Your hair could use a trim too.” He reaches out, fingers tipping into the hairline above my ear before I snatch his wrist in my grip.
“Was Ziggy all you came here for?”
“Yes.” His voice dips lower, hand dropping until I release him from my grip. “But he’s not why I want to stay.”
The clear plea for sex makes my pulse inch higher.
Fuck, it’s ridiculous how much I want it.
How he can infuriate me and leave me desperate for more.
It’s been two weeks since we fucked. Normally, I go a whole month without getting off with another person, and it isn’t an issue.
Now, we’ve done it twice in two weeks, and I know, without a doubt, that I can’t wait another two weeks to be in Wayward again.
Hudson’s making me insatiable.
“Why do you want to stay?” I push him .
“Because you’re fantastic fucking company.”
“Liar.”
He laughs again, the small type of laugh that gives his lips purpose. “I haven’t seen you all week.”
“I know.”
“It pissed me off.”
“You? Angry? I’m shocked.”
“I left my window open and everything.”
I have no way of knowing if he’s telling the truth or playing with me. “You’ll let all the bugs in.”
“Not what I was hoping to catch.”
The question that’s been burning on my tongue since last time comes out before I can stop it. “Why? I know what your appeal is, but why the hell are you bothering with me?”
I’ve obviously shocked him. “You think I’m appealing? I thought I just annoyed you to the point of orgasm.”
“I never said you didn’t.”
“Fine. Here’s a deal. I’ll tell you if you tell me.”
I shift that offer around in my head. Do I want to know badly enough to confess how attracted to him I am?
It should be obvious by how often I want to fuck him, but wanting sex and being attracted are two very different things in my experience.
And when it comes to Hudson, what we’re doing, it’s not only about getting off.
I don’t need to come this often. I never want to come this often.
This frequent boner is all him.
“Fine,” I grunt. “You first.”
“Deal. I’ll trust you.” The challenging look he levels me with taunts me not to follow through.
“You intimidate me. Everything about you is designed to look scary. Untamable. And I know that when we fuck, neither of us has to deal with feelings afterward. Getting to you makes me feel powerful. Unstoppable. ”
Like I thought, sex is a game to him, like everything else in his life. Considering it usually isn’t anything more than a transaction for me, I can live with that. He can feel as powerful as he likes as long as he knows I’m in control.
“Now you,” he reminds me.
But after hearing what he said, confessing that he’s the most beautiful man I’ve ever met doesn’t sit right.
Being a pretty face isn’t something he had to work for or even something he did on purpose.
It just is. And so I keep that side quiet and say, “It’s the only way I can make you do what you’re told.
And the controlling side of me really fucking loves to see someone so stubborn give in, all because I told you to. ”
An exhale shivers from him. “Both of our reasons are fucked-up.”
“They are.”
“I don’t care though.”
I didn’t think he would, but those four little words feel like they’re saying more than they should. “What now? We fuck again, then pretend it didn’t happen until we give in the next time?”
“No.” He moves so fast I don’t have time to move away.
Hudson’s chest and torso press to mine, hard cock slotting against my own, and my hands find his hips under the water.
There’s nothing that gets my blood pumping like a solid man against me.
“I say that we fuck again. Then instead of pretending like it didn’t happen, we do it again.
” He nips at my earlobe. “And again. And we give in to the fact that as long as I’m in this town, we’re going to want each other, no matter whether we actually like each other or not.
My body wants your body, and your body wants mine.
We need to stop fighting it. Just give in.
Enjoy the one good thing we can get out of crossing each other’s paths. ”
I’m so used to fighting. I’m so used to being in control of everything in my world. What he’s asking for: open-ended sex that will end when he leaves isn’t something that can be controlled.
“Why can’t I stop wanting you?” I groan.
“It’s chemistry.” His lips tease mine. “Now, do you agree to the deal? Or am I walking out of here?”