Chapter 10
HUDSON
When I went to Maddie’s apartment, I never expected it to result in my phone blowing up a second time because of another set of photos that never should’ve happened. And although I wasn’t touching her in any of them, the story being told was even worse.
“Fucking hell,” I muttered, raking my fingers through my hair as I paced back and forth on my deck.
I knew I needed to call Serena to give her a heads-up, but I hated the thought that my actions would cause her pain. It was the last thing I wanted to do, but somehow, I’d messed up twice in one day.
Just as I was pulling her up in my contacts, a text came through from her. One that rocked my entire world.
I read it three times, the words blurring while I tried to take them in. My stomach twisted, and I had to grip the railing to steady myself.
She wasn’t just asking for a night or two. This felt final. Like she was drawing a line that could be the end of our relationship.
I couldn’t let that happen.
Heading inside the house, I grabbed my keys, jumped in my Range Rover, and drove straight to her Hollywood Hills house, my heart pounding the whole way.
I had to explain. The newest batch of photos looked horrible, but they weren’t what they seemed.
If I could just tell her what happened, maybe she’d let me in.
I needed to fix this before our relationship broke completely.
When I pulled up, her gate was closed. I punched in the code she’d given me when I finally convinced her how serious I was, heaving a sigh of relief when it still worked. I wasn’t sure what I would’ve done if she’d blocked me from being able to get to her house.
I parked in the driveway and rang the bell with a shaking hand.
When she opened it, the first thing I noticed was that her eyes were red-rimmed but dry. She looked exhausted, beautiful, and so guarded it hurt.
“Serena, please. Let me explain the photos. It’s not what it looks like.”
She didn’t slam the door in my face, but she didn’t invite me in either. She just stood there, crossing her arms over her chest as she waited for me to make things right.
I wasn’t sure how long she’d give me, so I spoke fast. “Maddie was running some errands for me. She called when she was done. Said her car wouldn’t start.
She’d gone back to her apartment before dropping everything off at my place.
But then she was stuck, so I drove over to help.
I called my car guy and had someone come look at it.
While we were waiting, she accidentally spilled coffee on my shirt.
One of the errands was picking up my dry-cleaning, and I changed into a new shirt so I didn’t have to drive home soaked.
That’s it. The photog must have caught me coming and going because of the earlier bogus lunch photo.
I already have people looking into how that happened, given the club's strict no-photos rule. I’m handling it. I swear.”
“Handling it?” she echoed softly, shaking her head.
“Yes. I have my team looking into the leak at the club.”
She angled away from me with a derisive snort. “If you want to fix this, you need to look closer to home, Hudson.”
“I know you think Maddie—”
She lifted her hand, stemming the flow of my words. “We’ve gone round and round on this for months now. But let me try to break this down for you one more time, using today’s events as an example.”
Judging by the cold look in her blue eyes, I figured this wouldn’t go well for me, but I would listen to whatever Serena had to say for as long as she was willing to speak to me. “Okay.”
“You had a meeting with studio execs at an exclusive, private club where taking a photo risks getting kicked out as a member or losing your job for the staff. Yet someone just happened to be around at the exact moment Maddie tripped to snap a photo that made it look like something was going on between the two of you. Does that sum up what happened earlier this afternoon?”
I nodded with a wince. “Yes, but—”
“It was a yes or no question, so you’ve already answered,” she snapped. “And I’m not done yet.”
Her fiery side only came out when she was really pissed about something, which didn’t bode well for me. But that didn’t stop me from appreciating how incredibly hot she was when she was all riled up. “I understand.”
“Then while the entire freaking world was speculating about the two of you, she stopped at her apartment after running errands. Instead of going back to your place, which was the point of the task she was being paid to complete.” She quirked a brow.
“Even though I’m willing to bet not a single place she needed to go for you was anywhere near where she lives.
Unless you’ve switched your dry-cleaning from the guy who’s done a great job for you for a decade? ”
“I haven’t,” I confirmed, only now starting to wonder why Maddie hadn’t come straight to my house after running errands.
“Then while she was at her apartment, her car broke down, and instead of calling roadside assistance so she could have it towed to a shop to figure out what was wrong…she asked you to come over to help.” Tilting her head toward my SUV, she added, “The guy who owns five vehicles but doesn’t take a single one of them in to be serviced because he’s got people for stuff like that. Do I have that right?”
I couldn’t deny the truth. “Yes.”
“How did your dry-cleaning get into her apartment, conveniently giving you something to change into between those photos that did not show your clothes in or out of her place?”
“She brought it up when she realized her car wouldn’t start.” Which made sense until I said it out loud.
“Which was such a lucky coincidence when she accidentally spilled coffee on you,” she drawled in a sarcastic tone. “Otherwise, you would’ve gone back out with a stained shirt instead of a totally different one, which changed the story from you looking like a slob to potentially cheating on me.”
The more she pointed out, the worse this all sounded.
“And why was someone staking out Maddie’s apartment for possible photos?
” she asked, her eyes narrowing. “I don’t mean this in a bad way, but I’m not sure how else to put it.
Paparazzi aren’t known to waste their time, and she’s a nobody in this town.
Even with the earlier photo, it makes no sense. ”
Fucking hell, the situation looked suspicious when she put it that way. “I don’t know.”
“There’s one possible explanation that seems obvious to me, especially when you consider all the other little things she’s done that you’ve let slide.
” She dropped her arms to her sides and planted her hands on her hips.
“Maddie found a new and improved way to mess with our relationship. One that proved to be much more successful because I’m done. ”
“Do you really think Maddie engineered all this?”
She didn’t answer, just looked at me with anguished eyes before quietly closing the door. That in and of itself was a response impossible to misconstrue. Serena truly thought Maddie was behind it all. That she’d been trying to break us up all along with each little thing I’d made excuses for.
And Serena meant it when she texted that she couldn’t keep doing this. The woman I loved had been pushed to the brink by my childhood friend, and I’d allowed it to happen.
I stood there alone on her doorstep, wondering what the fuck I was supposed to do now.
Even if Maddie was innocent and I could prove it, I wasn’t sure that would be enough for Serena to change her mind.
And after the way she’d laid everything out for me, I began to wonder if there was a chance she was right about Maddie.
It was more than possible that I had defended someone who’d been out to hurt the woman I loved for months. That I’d let Maddie’s “accidents” chip away at her while I kept insisting it was nothing. Even if they were perfectly innocent, that didn’t make it okay. Not while Serena was suffering.
I turned and walked back to my car, the weight of my blindness finally crashing down on me. I might have lost her.
And it was entirely my fault.
Now I had to figure out how to prove to Serena that I would spend the rest of my life making it right.