Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Hudson
“Hi, Uncle Hudson!”
Another little girl came on the screen, her hair in pigtails as she grinned widely. “Hi, Uncle Hudson!”
I smiled despite myself as Violet and Hazel each waved dramatically at the phone, and continued to repeat the phrase, “Hi, Uncle Hudson,” until Sophia finally took the phone from them.
“Okay, girls. It’s back for finger painting. Your uncle needs to get off the phone and go back to work.”
“Work, work, work, work, work,” Hazel sing-songed.
“Work like Daddy!” Violet put in. “Daddy loves work.”
Sophia winced and then smiled into the camera. “Sorry about that. Let me just set them up really quick, and I promise I will ask you the question that made me call you in the first place.”
I let out a rough chuckle and waved it off. “It’s okay. It’s good to see my nieces.”
If you asked anybody in the family, I was probably the asshole of the group.
The grumpy one who didn’t speak much. And that was fine with me.
I had my reasons, and I had never been like Dorian who could smile and pretty much get what he wanted.
Or at least pretend he could. There was just something about my nieces and nephews who could make me do anything.
I still couldn’t quite believe we were all old enough to have nieces and nephews. Time flew when we were finally free of our father.
I didn’t get to see them often, since I didn’t live in Denver, but we were close enough that the girls knew me in person.
And since Flynn and I looked different enough these days with our facial hair, the girls could tell us apart.
Plus, I wouldn’t be caught dead in a suit.
Especially not for the upcoming show my agent wanted me to do.
I shuddered at the thought. I was already ignoring my agent’s calls, because he wanted me to do an entire art show down in Denver.
Hell no. He could sell my art, do whatever he wanted with it, as long as I didn’t have to deal with the paperwork or talking to people who wanted to judge my work.
They didn’t know what I was thinking while I did it, and I wasn’t doing it for them.
I was barely doing it for me some days. I liked painting.
It was something I was good at that wasn’t shooting things.
But I wasn’t about to let someone dictate what I was supposed to do or not when it came to my job.
And that meant I didn’t want to deal with assholes in suits who thought they knew better than me.
I didn’t know much, and wasn’t the expert on any of this, but sometimes I knew my own mind.
I could hear the girls giggling in the background as Sophia set them up with their water-soluble finger paints that I had sent them a couple of weeks ago, and then Sophia made sure the drop cloth was all ready to go.
They were going to be a complete mess later, but it would be an easier cleanup than otherwise.
“Thank you again for the paints. They come out of clothes as well. At one point I thought I was just going to have to get the girls naked and let them paint that way.” Sophia shuddered.
“That would make quite a spectacle down at the park,” I said dryly.
“Oh yes. I can just see it now. Either me or the nanny getting judged by other parents for not letting the kids get dirty enough or getting too dirty.”
I grimaced. “Other parents sound exhausting.”
Sophia grinned. “Tell me about it. Anyway, I wanted to thank you for agreeing to do the mural at the dance studio.”
I waved her off, wanting to duck my head. I loved what I did, but I didn’t like when others mentioned it. Weird artist shit and all that. “It’s fine. It’s a blank wall and you’re letting me do what I want.”
“Within reason,” she qualified, eyes dancing with laughter.
She had dark circles under those eyes, but I knew between work, owning the studio itself, and the girls, she couldn’t be getting a lot of sleep.
Cale traveled a lot more these days with his promotion, and I knew they had a nanny.
But maybe I should talk with some of the other siblings to see what we could do to help.
I might not be as physically connected to them as the others, but I wasn’t about to let one of us work ourselves to the grave.
“I’ll be down next month to work on it. My agent wants to meet with me anyway, so I’m not getting out of it.”
“I still think it’s wonderful that they want you to do an art show.” She held up both hands. “Not that you have to. Please don’t do anything that you don’t want to. But I’m glad that I’m getting an original Cage mural on my wall. I’ll be the talk of the town.”
I snorted. “Oh yes. Because everybody knows a Hudson Cage original by sight.”
Her lips turned down in a frown. “I don’t know, you’re more famous than you think.”
“I’d rather not be.” I rubbed my hand over my chest, that lingering doubt edging its way through the storm. Was it any wonder the voice of that doubt varied between my father and Michelle? It didn’t take a therapist to get to that point.
“As in just famous enough to be able to afford two homes?” Sophia raised a brow before looking over her shoulder to check on the girls.
I winced and looked around the nearly bulldozed house I currently stood in. “Without having to use extra Cage money that is.”
“With what that you have planned for it, you know that all of us would do what we could to pitch in.”
“I know.” I ran my hand over my chest, not realizing what I was doing until her gaze went to the gesture. I let my arm drop. “Anyway, once it’s done, you and the girls can come and take a look. Just not right now because it’s not safe for two-year-olds to toddle around.”
“That makes complete sense. And thank you again for everything.” She turned and called out, “Say goodbye to your uncle, girls!”
“Goodbye, Uncle Hudson!”
“We love you.”
My cheeks heated as I said my goodbyes and hung up.
I could always tell the twins apart, even though I knew Sophia sometimes had issues with it when she was tired.
It must be a twin thing, but either way, Violet and Hazel had to be some of the cutest human beings out there.
And Sophia and Cale were doing a damn good job with them.
I put my phone in my back pocket and looked over the land that was now mine. I’d bought it from Dorian after the mudslide had taken out some of the property. It wasn’t pretty, and it was going to take a hell of a lot of work, but once the contractor came in to help, it would be a little bit easier.
The old Ackerson place had been full of secrets long before Dorian had taken over. Our father had used it to hurt our family repeatedly, and I had a feeling our dad hadn’t been the first one to use the place for illicit ongoings. But it wouldn’t be that way anymore.
Once I was done, it would be something a Cage could be proud of.
At least our generation of Cages. Because I was damn lucky that I had had a refuge to come back to after getting back from deployment.
I had been broken, mentally and physically, and no amount of therapy would’ve worked if I hadn’t had the lake.
I knew that, and so did my therapist. So this place would be a refuge for those who couldn’t do it on their own.
A place for veterans to breathe once they could, to be with their families, or connect with their friends that they couldn’t see otherwise.
And they wouldn’t be charged a damn penny.
I had enough money, despite what I joked about with Sophia.
I was a little more famous than I let on, and I used that to hoard as much cash as possible for this place and others like it.
I had things to do in my life that had nothing to do with…
My phone buzzed again, interrupting my thoughts, and I looked down and scowled. Today seemed to be a day for siblings. “Hello, Isabella.”
“I hear that tone. But you promised.”
I frowned. “What? What did I promise?
The sigh was loud enough to make my lips twitch.
“Tonight is the Spring Flower Party. You promised you would come. In fact, you were bullied into it because you lost a coin toss, but you still told us you would be here after you lost the bet. I expect you at five o’clock tonight.
It’s early because there will be children and teenagers there, but you still need to show up.
As you know, the Cages need to show their faces at events like this. ”
I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed right back. “That damn thing is tonight?”
I ignored the laughter that sounded much more like Weston than it did Isabella.
My friend would pay for this. “It is. I sent you a text about it yesterday, and it’s on your calendar.
You know, the shared calendar that we Cages have?
You might not answer back in any of the group chats often, but I know that you know that I know you have a calendar that you use. It’s color-coded and everything.”
I resisted the audible groan. I was as organized as the next guy, but the connections and over the top Type A of some of my siblings nearly drove me over the edge.
“Aston and Flynn color-coded the ridiculous platform. James is the one that adds random shit to it just to annoy me.” I paused, remembering a time where a certain person had added timeslots for excessive brooding and labeled it as Grumpy Ass Mother Fuckin’ Hudson. “On that note, so does Theo.”
“Our brothers do love to annoy us. But that’s why we love them. And that’s why I love you. But you’re coming tonight. You haven’t been out of your cabin for like a month.”
Because it had been a month since I’d nearly killed a man on Scarlett’s property.
She’d had no idea how close I had been. With just a few movements, I could have snapped his neck and not felt an ounce of remorse.
The fucker had laid his hands on her. Just like the old man had done to her mother. And Scarlett had been scared.