Chapter 31
31
HUDSON
She was pulling away from me. I could see it clear as day, but I couldn’t stop it. I watched her walk away toward the bar, knowing she needed space. She needed her sisters. She needed something I couldn’t give her, and as badly as I wanted to scrabble after her and beg her to need me, I was sure it would only push her further away.
Cassandra sat at our table, eating her slice of cake. She’d come as the date of one of the groomsmen—I didn’t know which, and it didn’t matter anyway. They all were useless pricks as far as I could tell. Cassandra had spent most of dinner flirting, and I’d done my best to be polite without showing too much interest.
My slice of cake sat untouched in the seat next to her, but I grabbed a piece from the next table as I walked, winging around to sit across from Cassandra. “Hi, Hud,” she said, smiling brightly. It had taken only moments for Cassandra to begin calling me “Hud,” but the word on her lips didn’t have even a fraction of the effect as those moments Claire said it shyly. “Did your date ditch you, too?” she asked, a grin tilting her lips.
I found Claire easily across the crowd. She was holding a drink and looking around the reception area. I doubted she was looking for me, but I waved her over anyway, and was pleased when she began to cross the distance to me.
“Who’s this?” Claire asked as she reached the table, looping to stand next to where I sat. Her fingers found the hair at the back of my head, running through it possessively. I’d dated women who thought jealousy was a love language, but that wasn’t Claire. This was more evidence her mind was in a bad place.
“I’m Cassandra,” Cassandra replied before I had the chance. “I’m Billy’s date, not that you’d know it.” She gestured with her chin to the dance floor, where all of Ethan’s friends were singing along with a song I only vaguely recognized. “You must be Claire,” Cassandra continued, slicing off a bite of cake. “Hudson couldn’t stop talking about you all through dinner.”
“Nice to meet you,” Claire replied, the chill melting from her expression and her fingers stilling on my neck.
Cassandra swallowed her bite of cake with a smile. “My friend Kelsey and I were debating whether Hud gushing over you was sweet or annoying.”
“Which won?” Claire asked, and the question surprised me, coming from Claire. I offered her a bite of cake, but she shook her head.
“Annoying, of course,” Cassandra answered brightly. “But mostly because my date doesn’t remember I’m here.”
Claire sat down next to me, pulling an untouched piece of cake from the spot to her left. “Billy walked with Alexandra, right?” she asked, slicing a bite of cake off with her fork. “He seemed nice enough, just a little shy. Are you two dating?”
Cassandra glanced back at where Billy stood. “No. We’re friends, that’s all. He just needed a plus one.” I snorted, doubting the truth in Cassandra’s version, even if she believed it.
Claire’s eyes widened, and she sat forward in her seat, the start of a smile tilting her lips. She was stunning. “You know that’s bullshit, right?” she asked. Cassandra looked shocked, and Claire turned to me. “It’s bullshit, right, Hud?”
I draped an arm over the back of Claire’s chair, letting my fingers settle on the bare skin of her upper back. “It’s bullshit,” I confirmed. “He wouldn’t have invited you if he wasn’t interested.”
Cassandra glanced behind her again, looking doubtful, but I could see what she couldn’t. Billy’s eyes had drifted back to her over and over all night. “You guys don’t understand. We’re friends. He doesn’t see me that way.”
I snorted, and Claire shot me a look I couldn’t read but didn’t like. “You’re gorgeous. There’s no way he hasn’t noticed,” Claire said. “And he keeps looking over here. Go dance.”
“You think?” Cassandra asked. “I don’t want to read the situation all wrong and screw things up.”
“I don’t think you have to worry,” I replied.
Cassandra stood, looking nervous, and Claire stood with her. I missed the feel of her skin under my fingertips. “There’s Emily,” Claire said, her eyes following her sister, who was headed toward the B&B.
I knew I should give her space, but I stood. “I’ll come with you,” I offered. Claire looked as if she might protest, but then she nodded, reaching a hand toward me. I didn’t hesitate to lace our fingers together, catching up in a single stride as we headed into the B&B.
Claire veered us toward the bathroom once we were inside the building, as it was the most likely spot for Emily to be heading, but the door stood open, the room empty. “I’ll look in the bridal suite. She might’ve left something up there or in my parents’ room.”
“Do you want me to check your parents’ room?” I asked.
“Do you mind?” she asked. “My dad has a key. You could run out and get it while I look up in the bridal suite.”
“Sure,” I agreed, leaning in to give her a quick peck on the cheek. She grabbed my lapels, holding me in place and deepening the kiss. I wrapped my arms around her and enjoyed the feel of her lips. I was grinning when we parted. “I’ll be back,” I assured her.
“Good,” she replied, smiling softly. It was the most relaxed I’d seen Claire since the evening began.
Charles was easy to find on the dance floor, enjoying the hell out of an ABBA song with Juliet, and though Juliet had made my visit miserable all week, I couldn’t help but find their relationship charming, not unlike my own parents. Under different circumstances, I may have grown to like Claire’s mom and dad. “Pardon me, Charles?” I said, and he turned to look at me, still swaying to “Dancing Queen.”
“What can I do for you, Hudson?”
“Claire was looking for something and she thought she might’ve left it in your room. Would you mind us borrowing the key?”
Charles dug in his pocket, pulling out the key and setting it in my hand. “Help yourself, son.”
I smiled my thanks and Charles and Juliet resumed their dancing.
Back inside, I took the stairs up to room 202, which was marked on the key. I wondered if anyone had ever found one of these keys and broken into a room. I imagined not, or they would’ve stopped giving them out with the room number, as modern hotels had.
I thought I might find Claire while I was walking to the room, but I didn’t, and at the door labeled 202 I slipped in the key and swung open the door.
“Oh, fuck,” I said, the words coming out of me in a tumble as I turned away from the sight in front of me, but I couldn’t unsee it. The backs of Grant’s thighs were bare as he pounded into a woman he held propped against the wall. Except for one long leg, which was bare and wrapped around his middle, her body was covered by his, and though her head was now tucked into his neck, in the moment before she’d hidden her face I’d recognized her well enough.
“Shit,” Grant said. “Hudson, wait.” My hand was already on the knob, ready to walk out, as I heard rustling behind me.
I didn’t need to be part of this bullshit. I pulled the door closed and nearly crashed into Emily and Claire. “What’s wrong?” Claire asked, but I didn’t have time to answer before Grant stumbled through the door behind me, his shirt and pants still unbuttoned. “What the fuck?” Claire said.
“It’s nothing,” I muttered.
Emily ignored me entirely. “Were you having sex in my parents’ room?” she hissed.
“It’s not what you think,” Grant said, his eyes darting to me to see if I would confirm his story.
Claire’s eyebrows shot up, and she looked at me. “Did you walk in on him?”
Grant’s expression begged me to lie.
“I turned around and left really quickly. I didn’t see anything,” I muttered. It was a lie and everyone knew it.
“Who’s in there?” Emily asked, pushing forward to let herself into her parents’ room.
Grant stepped in front of the door, his fingers stilling on the button he’d been fixing. “I’m a grown man, Emily. I can have sex and it’s none of your business.”
“You were seriously having sex in my parents’ room?”
“I didn’t know it was your parents’ room,” Grant protested. “I had the key from when it was the groomsmen’s suite.”
“I can’t believe you,” Claire huffed, and I looked at her curiously, because she didn’t look affronted, like her sister did. She looked upset.
Emily pushed forward, determined to go into the room, and Grant had to make the choice to forcibly stop her or to step aside. He took a step to the right, sighing deeply. She walked to the middle of the room, looking around. “No one’s here.”
Claire glanced at the bathroom, but didn’t move from where she stood.
Grant had finished buttoning his tux, though his bowtie lay open around his neck. “This is bullshit. I’m going downstairs.”
“Who was in here with him, Hudson?” Emily asked, and Grant paused, his back stiff.
Tomorrow I would be out of Claire’s life, so I didn’t need to be involved in this family’s drama any more.
“I didn’t see,” I lied.