31. Hudson
That evening, I was scheduled to stay at Parker’s place.
Somehow, he’d talked me past wanting to hurt him for the kiss he’d shared with Faith, so I went over to his mansion eagerly, curious if Genesis had already reached out and tried to snag him away from his fake girlfriend or not.
Parker owned a multimillion-dollar estate in a gated community, but he’d told me to come around to the pool house when I arrived because, apparently, that was where the weirdo was currently living.
When I’d asked why, he’d spilled out some long, convoluted story that had something to do with this kid he’d met at the counseling center once when Thane had forced him to volunteer. I guess the two of them had connected, and long story short, the kid’s grandparents were now Park’s official maid and groundskeeper who bunked in the house with the boy, while Parker camped out back.
Don’t get me wrong, his pool house was fully tricked out and probably nicer than any home I’d ever lived in, but still… The whole story was beyond me.
“So you got anything to drink around here?” I asked rhetorically as I stepped inside and dropped my overnight duffle bag by the door. Damien had packed some shit from my room at home for me, and he hadn’t been able to stop apologizing as he’d handed it over.
But none of this was his fault, not any more than it was Oaklynn’s or mine, or anyone else’s. Hell, I couldn’t even be mad at Brett for causing the whole ruckus. The dude had just died; he’d been ten years old and probably scared as hell at the time. I’m sure I would’ve dived for my best friend as well, seeking safety, if I’d been in his shoes.
Fuck, I owed it to him. He’d be alive right now if it weren’t for me.
And if he weren’t putting both Oaklynn and me at risk right now, I’d probably be fine with letting him chill in there for as long as he needed. But he was, and now here I was, homeless and bumming off friends, hoping he didn’t take control of me completely.
Across the room, Parker lifted his attention from the laptop he was typing on. He was sitting at the table in the kitchenette, and a fully stocked bar lined the wall behind him with just about every alcohol imaginable.
“You sure you should be drinking?” he asked with raised eyebrows.
I only shrugged. “Unless you got Oaklynn in a bottle back there, I don’t think a nightcap is going to make Brett come out and play any time tonight.”
He nodded. “Good point.” And sweeping out his hand, he added, “Help yourself.”
I damn near started to drool. Rubbing my hands together in relish, I went straight to the bourbons. “Oh, yeah. A little Pappy Van Winkle ought to do the trick.”
But as soon as I reached for the bottle, Parker warned, “Nope,” with a shake of his finger. “That’s only for special occasions. Sorry.”
I blinked at him. “Dude, I just learned I’ve been possessed by my dead best friend for the past ten and a half years, and that I now have the power to kill Archer’s girlfriend with my mere presence. My motherfucking doomsday is upon us. What the hell else does it take for an occasion to be special in your book?”
“When you get the damn ghost out of you, then we’ll Pappy it up. Alright? Until then, you can settle for some good ol’ Blanton’s.”
I scowled for a moment, only to think it through and tip my head, making a face to let him know I could deal with that. “Alright, then.” I reached for a chubby, squat bottle with a mini, metal horse on top and pulled the stopper.
After glancing around for a glass, I snagged one and poured myself three fingers, neat. Then I tipped my head back and let the alcohol slide down my throat, savoring every swallow.
The burn that followed was exactly the effect I’d been seeking.
“Damn,” I groaned as I set the glass down. “That’s some good shit.”
Parker, who’d been watching the whole process, must’ve agreed because he suddenly demanded, “Pour me some of that.”
I grinned and grabbed him one. “Yes, sir. What’s your pleasure? Neat, water, or ice?”
“Water?” Ohrley repeated with a grimace. “I don’t want to take a bath with it.” He held out his hand and wiggled his fingers impatiently. “Just give it to me straight, like yours.”
“You got it.”
Humming aloud, I poured him the same amount I’d given myself, then walked both drinks over to the table. He took his from me with a grateful nod, and I settled into a chair across from him, only to kick my shoes up on the seat beside his, relaxing fully.
Parker hissed after his first sip and glanced over at me thoughtfully. I could see the wheels in his head turning as he studied me, and I knew he’d say something soon enough, so I took another sip and waited until he finally announced, “You’re back to your usual self.”
Lifting my brows, I curiously murmured, “Who else should I be?” Other than Brett.
“It’s just…” He motioned a circle around my face. “Back when we went through this the first time, you turned all…not-Hudson, and you stayed that way until, well…” He shrugged, not mentioning the suicide attempt aloud. “But this time, you’re bouncing all over the place. One minute, you’re you, and then…you’re not. I can’t make sense of it.”
I shrugged and could only answer, “I told you it felt different this time.”
“Yeah,” he said quietly, only to scratch the back of his head and cringe. “I just can’t figure out if it’s better different or worse.”
I tipped my head curiously. “Why would it be worse?”
He could only shrug as a knock came at his door.
It started to swing open before he answered.
“Hey, Parker!” some kid in a T-shirt and ratted jeans called cheerfully as he came racing into the pool house. “You want to come up to the big house and play Mario Kart with me again?”
My eyebrows lifted in surprise, and Parker sent me a dark, warning scowl as I glanced between him and the boy with clear curiosity. Then, wincing at the rug rat, he said, “Not tonight, kiddo. I have company.”
Realizing I was there, the boy blinked at me in surprise, so I lifted my finger to wave. “Yo.”
“Who’re you?” he asked, wandering closer.
The kid was tall and lanky, probably nine or ten years old, and he had a headful of dark, shaggy hair. The most distinct thing about him was that he was missing the bottom half of his left arm.
“I’m Hudson,” I said with a bob of my head. “Who’re you?”
When the kid opened his mouth to answer, Parker surged from his chair and cut in. “He’s just leaving,” he told me as he set a hand on the boy’s spine and guided him right back toward the exit. “We’ll have a marathon competition this weekend,” I heard him promise. “How’s that sound?”
The boy lifted his brows with interest. “With potato chips and cola?” he wheedled.
“Sure,” Parker answered and gave him a nudge outside. “See you then.”
When the door shut behind him, Parker lifted his shoulders as he drew in a deep, bolstering breath. Then he turned to face me as if ready for the questions.
“Well, that was interesting,” I said and took another sip from my glass, watching my friend over the rim the whole time.
His eyes narrowed fractionally, and then he started back toward his laptop at the table without another word.
So I felt the need to say, “You coulda gone and played with him. You didn’t have to stay here and babysit me. Or hell, we all three could’ve enjoyed some Mario Kart together. I like video games, too, you know.”
“Nope,” was all Parker would say about the subject.
Then he took up typing on his computer as if nothing had happened.
I lifted one eyebrow. “Dude. Do you have a secret son you’re not telling us about or something? What the hell?”
That finally got his attention. “The fuck?” he countered as his gaze flew up from his screen to gape at me. “No! I don’t have some secret fucking kid anywhere. I was twelve when he was born. Jesus, Ive. Really?”
I shrugged. “Well, then, who is he?”
“I told you; he’s just some little fucker I met at the grief center when Thane forced me to go.”
“Really? Just some little fucker, huh? Just some little fucker who you moved into your house, gave his grandparents both jobs, and then started staying in your own pool house merely to give them their privacy? Come on, man,” I prodded. “What gives?”
“Both his parents died in a car accident, okay?” Parker grumbled with a telling lift of his eyebrows. “And his grandparents had been struggling ever since they took him in. So…”
He lifted his hands around the room as if that should explain everything, which it kind of did since both Parker’s parents had died the same way when he was roughly the same age.
“Ah.” I nodded with much more understanding now, only to wonder, “So why’d you send him away?”
“Because…” His jaw hardened before he rolled his eyes and finally admitted. “You’re kind of a bad fucking influence on kids.”
I blinked at him once, then shook my head and dryly accused, “Wow. This coming from the asshole who’s dropped the f-bomb half a dozen times in the last minute alone.”
I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d been around a kid.
“I’m just saying,” he started defensively. “You explained what masturbation was to Dugger and Younger when they were, like, nine.”
With a scoff, I waved him silent. “Whatever. I did no such…” After thinking it through, however, I lifted my brows and nodded. “Damn, I really did teach them how to jack off when they were that young, didn’t I?”
“Yeah, you did.”
“Well, I was only, like, eleven or so myself at the time, so that shouldn’t count.”
Parker didn’t seem to be impressed. “And you gave Alec his first cigar two months ago. Which made him puke.”
“Okay, jeez,” I caved. “So I’m no one’s role model. I still wouldn’t have hurt your little project.”
“He isn’t a project. He’s…”
When he faltered, not sure what to call the boy, I lifted my eyebrows to let him know I was waiting for an answer.
“Fuck you, man,” he growled. “He’s a good kid. And I want him to stay as sweet and innocent as he is for as long as possible. Okay?”
I lifted my hands in surrender. “Alright, alright. But, uh, maybe you shouldn’t hang around him either, then.”
He flipped me off.
I pointed. “See. I enter exhibit number one to the review board.”
When his phone rang, he snagged it from the table and answered with an irritated, I-have-no-patience-for-calls voice. “What?” After listening to the caller, he made a disgusted face and demanded, “Who the fuck is this?”
A second later, his eyes widened then jerked up to me, and he snapped his fingers twice to get my attention before he twirled his index in a circle as if to tell me it was go time.
Then, into the phone, he sniffed an uninterested, “Who?” just before he set the phone on the table and hit the speaker button.
“…s Gusano,” a familiar voice was telling him. “I attend Haverick with you.”
I sat upright in alarm and nearly spilled the last swallow of bourbon I had in my glass. Setting it down, I surged to my feet as Genesis finished explaining to Parker who she was.
“My dad owns the restaurant, Villa de Gusanos. I’m sure you’ve heard of it.”
On our end, Parker snorted. “Doesn’t that mean worm village in Spanish?”
I shot him a killer glare while a confused Genesis answered, “What?”
To me, Parker shrugged as if to say his own: What? What’d I say wrong? But on the phone, he sounded bored as he answered, “Nothing. How’d you get my number and what do you want?”
I ground my teeth, thinking this particular fish was going to wriggle right off the hook if he kept jerking her around the way he was. But he caught my expression and lifted a staying finger to assure me that he knew exactly what he was doing.
“I just saw you on campus today, is all,” she told Parker.
“Okay,” he answered dryly, letting her know he didn’t particularly care.
“And you were with that girl. Faith Woods.”
“Sounds familiar,” he allowed. “What’s it to you?”
“Well, I was just worried that you might not have all the information about her that you should. I mean, you’ve heard what they say she’s like. Right?”
Parker sent me an is-this-chick-for-real widening of his eyes before he sniffed into the phone and said, “I don’t give two shits what people around campus say.”
“But she’s a freaking tramp,” Gen cried desperately. “I heard her bed count number is, like, in the hundreds.”
I almost busted a gut laughing when Ohrley and I exchanged a dismayed glance. But…wow. Genesis was grasping for straws so desperately that it was actually comical.
With a shrug, Parker merely answered, “So she likes sex. Sounds like my kind of girl. Thanks.”
He made it sound as if he was going to hang up then, so Gen rushed to screech, “Wait!”
He purposely stayed quiet for a moment before he finally said, “What?”
“Well…” Her brain seemed to scramble for something to say before she blurted, “I like sex too. And I want it with you more than she does. Just thinking about you inside me makes me wet. And breathless.”
My mouth dropped open in shock, and Parker glanced at me with lifted eyebrows as if he liked the sound of that.
But seriously, what the hell? I’d been the perfect boyfriend for two damn months, and nothing, while Parker acted like a complete dick to her on the phone for thirty seconds and she was ready to throw down with him?
How fair was that?
The bastard grinned and waggled his eyebrows at me to rub it in. I flipped him off as he murmured a smoky, seductive, “I’m listening.”
“If you drop Faith,” Genesis crooned through the phone. “I’ll give you the best fucking night of your life.”
Lifting his hands at me to tell me he was in the game now, into the phone he uneasily answered, “I don’t know. I’m kind of attached to Ms. Woods. She knows just how I like it. And her pussy… Let’s just say there’s no fucking way something that tight has housed hundreds of cocks.”
“I’ll give you anal,” Gen bargained.
When Parker looked genuinely tempted by the offer, I waved at him to get his head back where it belonged. He scowled at me and then ran both hands through his hair.
“Now… Who’re you again?” he asked Gen indecisively.
I lifted my hands at him to ask what the hell he was doing. But he put his palm up to block me.
“Genesis Gusano,” she answered, clearly irritated. “I know you’ve seen me around. Five-seven blonde with double Ds, a twenty-seven-inch waist, and legs that won’t stop. I’m not forgettable.”
“Wait, wait,” he answered, pointing at the phone as if suddenly remembering something. “Aren’t you that chick I’ve seen hanging around that one douche? Hanson Ivers, or whatever.”
I sent him a dry look, and he silently laughed at me.
As I rolled my eyes, Genesis muttered a flat, “Oh. You mean, Hudson?”
“Yeah. Him.” Parker snapped his fingers as if everything had just become clear. “Look, I don’t do complicated strings or drama. If you already have someone who’s going to give me a hard time for having a little fun, count me out.”
“Oh, but Hudson and I aren’t serious.”
I lifted my hands and rolled my eyes, tempted to mutter a sarcastic, “Thanks, babe.”
“Yeah, I’m going to need some proof on that one,” Parker announced, clearly not believing her. “Because I don’t deal with pissed-off boyfriends looking for revenge.”
To which Gen said, “What do you mean?”
“Lose the clinger, and then I’ll consider giving your ass a little whirl.”
“Y—you want me to break up with Hudson?” She sounded stunned by that, as if she hadn’t even considered the idea.
But Parker was merciless when he answered, “Thought you two weren’t that serious.”
“We’re not,” she rushed to answer.
“Then drop the dead weight, and you have yourself a deal.”
There was a pause, and I had to admit, it did my heart good that she didn’t immediately agree to break up with me. I mean, that’s exactly what I wanted her to do, but it was nice to know I mattered some after all the nice shit I’d done for her these past two months.
“But he’s not the jealous type,” she insisted. “I’ve been with at least half a dozen other guys since he and I have been together, and he hasn’t minded once.”
My eyebrows shot up in surprise. Because… Oh, had she, now? But then I shrugged, because really. Who cared?
“He won’t go after you in a mad rage, I swear,” Genesis assured Parker.
“I don’t give a shit,” he insisted. “Knowing you just rolled out of some other guy’s bed just before crawling into mine gives me extreme hygiene concerns. I don’t like it.”
“Hey,” she squawked. “I’m clean. I swear.”
“Then prove it,” he taunted.
“Fine,” she spat back hotly. “I’ll get you proof that Hudson and I are over.”
And with that, she hung up on him.
“Holy shit,” I breathed. Slumping down into a chair, I blew out a long breath as my head started to go a little dizzy. “Did that really just happen? She honestly agreed to?—”
My phone dinged with an incoming message, and my heart jerked in excitement.
I fumbled in my haste to tug my phone from my pocket. And as soon as I checked the screen, I shouted, “Yes! It’s her.”
“Well, what did she say?” Parker demanded, coming around the table to read the screen over my shoulder as I opened the message.
I’m so sorry, Hud, but I don’t think this is working between us. I’m breaking up with you.
“Well, that’s it,” Parker cheered, slugging me on the arm. “You’re free.”
“Let’s just make sure.” Tucking my tongue between my teeth, I wrote back.
What? No! Give me another chance. I can make this work, I swear. There’s got to be something I can do to change your mind.
“Gah, no wonder why she’s dumping your ass. You are truly pathetic,” Parker decided as he read my reply.
I rolled my eyes. “I can’t seem too okay about it. She might get suspicious.”
He sniffed. “And now you’re pathetic and paranoid.”
“Stuff it,” I shot back without any heat as a single-word answer appeared on my phone.
No.
“Well, that answers that,” Parker commented with an impressed shake of his head. Then he glanced at me and lifted his eyebrows. “This bitch is ruthless. She’s starting to turn me on for real.”
I winced. “Eww. Just don’t come crying to me when your dick falls off after getting it near her poisoned pussy.”
While on my phone, I wrote:
Can we still be friends?
Gen didn’t even bother to reply to that.
I tried another text.
I don’t want to lose you. Please.
And another.
Babe?
Nothing.
I nodded in approval. “I think she just blocked me.”
A moment later, Parker received a text with a screenshot of our breakup.
We glanced at each other. And smiled.
Fist-bumping, we took a moment to celebrate our win. I was free of Genesis.
I was free of her without losing my damn job.
I almost couldn’t believe this was real.
As Parker started to type a response, I lifted up to see better. “What’re you telling her?”
“Meet me at the campus library,” he read aloud as he wrote. “Nine tonight. Don’t wear panties.”
My eyebrows shot sky-high. “Are you seriously going to meet her?”
Parker furrowed his brows and sent me a look. “Fuck no. Jesus. Do I look like that big of an idiot to you?”
“Damn,” was all I could murmur. “You’re almost as cold as she is.”
He seemed pleased by the compliment, even though I hadn’t meant it as one. “Thanks.”
Exhaling, I set a hand on my heart and gazed around the room with all my new freedom. “Gah. I can’t wait to tell Faith this worked.”
But as I glanced at my phone, I didn’t open it.
I looked over at Park instead, knowing I shouldn’t, even as I said, “It’d sound better in person, though. Don’t you think?”
His brows lifted briefly. “Possibly.”
Clasping my hands together, I brought them up to my mouth and chewed on my knuckle. “But, no,” I decided, trying to be a good boy. “I need to stay away. With everything going on, I should stay away, right?”
When I met his gaze, seeking guidance, Parker merely looked at me as if I was insane to ask him for advice.
“I should stay away,” I announced.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” he burst out. “Just go already. One of us should get laid tonight.”
“Dammit.” That was not what he was supposed to tell me. But I started to scramble from my chair, anyway, already heading toward the door.
I only made it five steps before skidding to a stop, however.
“Wait.” Whirling back, I said, “Do you have a tie?”