Once Upon A Beast

by KB Winters

  “I think you may be correct, Mia. As sad as that might be.” Henry looked tired, beaten. A little like I thought I looked. I wondered if I’d dodged a bullet or lost the man who might have become the love of my life.

  “I’m sure you’ve heard that Mr. Maxwell is retiring in a matter of days,” Henry continued.

  I cleared my throat, which was suddenly threatening to close. “Yes, I have heard. It’ll be a huge loss to BC Records when he leaves.”

  The old man’s eyes narrowed contemplatively. “It will yes. Have you thought about your future here?”

  “Some,” I admitted. I wasn’t about to tell him how much.

  “I spoke with Hudson before he left.”

  That surprised me. My heart started hammering. I didn’t know why I’d thought he hadn’t spoken to anyone before he’d disappeared. Of course, he would’ve spoken to Henry, at the very least.

  “You did?” My voice was more breathless than it should have been.

  “I did. We agreed it would be best if you took over Mr. Maxwell’s position. Hudson even left some notes for you before he left on client files he needed you to take over immediately.”

  My heart should have soared at the news, but it didn’t. It felt like a hollow victory. Even if I didn’t know whether Hudson had instructed Henry to give me the position because he thought I deserved it and not just because of our deal, it felt wrong not having him there promoting me himself. I needed to know.

  “Thank you, Henry, but I just don’t know—”

  He cut me off. “He was quite insistent, Mia. As was I. You’re the perfect fit for the position. The only reason we didn’t offer you the job the moment Mr. Maxwell turned in his resignation was because Hudson thought he could handle it himself.” Henry was surprisingly forthcoming, but his shoulders sagged, and it was clear he was just relieved to have someone to speak to.

  He had answered my question though. It meant more to me than I could explain to Henry to know Hudson trusted me with what he’d thought was a job only he should be doing.

  “Thank you, Henry. To both of you. I’ll do my best. Please tell Hudson that, when you speak to him.” I was pretty sure he’d hear from Hudson before I did.

  “I will, Mia. Does this mean you’ll accept our offer?”

  “Absolutely.” He breathed an audible sigh of relief at my answer.

  I said my goodbyes and swept back into the fishbowl, finding the chatter had died down a little, but not nearly enough. It took everything I had not to get up on my desk, whistle, and tell people to get the fuck back to work.

  I was definitely not as happy as I thought I’d be at being promoted.

  Chapter 18

  Hudson

  For most people, there would have been a sense of homecoming when they arrived back in their hometown. That warm feeling wasn’t there for me. I’d checked into a hotel when I’d arrived and crashed until morning, barely waking long enough for meals, to listen to bullshit news stories, and to drink myself into a stupor until the world faded, and I was asleep again.

  Even though I’d disconnected my cell, I found myself checking the blank screen every so often and growing pissed when it blinked with “no signal.”

  Rolling out of bed, I ordered pancakes and a shitload of bacon for breakfast and headed for the bathroom.

  The shower was huge, bigger than my entire bathroom as a child, and I blasted it as cold and hard as it could go. I shrugged out of my pajama bottoms and stepped into the razor-like blasts of water.

  It woke me up for what felt like the first time in days, so I stayed under the spray until my body was as numb as I was feeling.

  I dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, leaving my feet bare and my hair dripping as I let room service in.

  I couldn’t help but compare that morning to the one only a short week earlier when I’d been surrounded by the love and laughter and the smell of fresh French toast at Mia’s parents’ in California.

  As fluffy as the pancakes were and as crispy as the bacon was, it fell short. It tasted like shit and made me feel even worse.

  The suite I’d booked was magnificent. Bigger than my childhood home with a view that rivaled my beloved office view in Portland, but it failed to make an impact.

  I padded to the bedroom, brushed my teeth, and went through the motions without thinking. Surprisingly, I even managed to shave.

  It was time to get my head back in the game. To do that, I needed a phone. Then, I needed to put the past to rest and find my brother.

  Dakota should still be working construction at the same place, otherwise, they’d be able to point me in the right direction if his number had changed since we’d last spoken.

  I wolfed down my breakfast and set out to find a new phone and track down my brother.

  It was easy enough finding a cell provider and getting a new number. I fired off texts to Henry and Jenny and was considering one to Mia when I arrived at Dakota’s construction site.

  “You looking for someone, sir?” the security guard asked.

  “Yeah, Dakota Blake?”

  He repeated Kota’s name into his communications system, and I listened to it crackle before someone came through.

  “Who’s asking?” Dakota’s voice barked through the receiver.

  “Hudson, I’m his brother,” I informed the security guard, completely prepared for the string of curses Kota let loose at the mention of my name.

  “What the fuck do you want, Hudson?” Dakota asked, his voice tinny and distant over the security guard’s walkie-talkie.

  The guard unclipped it and offered it to me. “I just want to talk, Kota. What time are you finishing up?”

  “What the fuck do you want to talk about, Hudson?” His voice was gruff, cold.

  I hesitated at the resentment I heard in his tone. “I’m not doing this over a fucking comms system, Kota. Will you be free for lunch?”

  He was quiet for so long, I looked questioningly at the guard. He shrugged and shook his head. “It shouldn’t have lost signal.”

  “I’m here, Hudson. I’ll meet you out front for lunch.”

  I swore I’d bitten into ice cubes that sounded more forgiving. “Sure thing, Kota.” I breathed, relief already lessening the burden on my shoulders.

  True to his word, Dakota met me on the street outside of his construction site an hour later. I wouldn’t have blamed him if he’d blown me off, but I was still relieved he hadn’t. My talk with Mia about her life without Ryan had opened my eyes to how petty I was being about Dakota.

  There was no awkward hug, no handshake. Dakota stuffed his hands in his jeans. His shoulders hunched as he approached me. I had a weary look in my eyes that stared back at me from his face.

  It was uncanny how much we looked alike, despite the two-year age difference. Our mother used to tell people we were twins, saying one of us was either too big or too small.

  “What do you want, Hudson?” Kota lifted a heavy brow at me, his eyes distrustful and his stance defensive.

  “I just want to have lunch with my brother, is that so unheard of?” I was going for nonchalant, but the look in Dakota’s eyes told me he’d taken it as a challenge.

  I didn’t understand my brother, yet I understood him better than I did myself sometimes. “It is when your brother is the notorious Hudson Blake. What are you even doing back here?”

  My brows were knitted together. “I’ll explain if you have lunch with me.”

  “Fine, but it’s my pick and your treat.”

  “You’ve got yourself a deal, Kota.”

  “Don’t call me that,” he muttered, but led the way to a homestyle bistro nearby.

  We ordered enough food to feed an army, and Kota ordered a double shot of scotch on the rocks.

  “You’re allowed to drink on the job?” I raised a brow, not meaning to be condescending, but apparently coming across as an asshole anyway.

  Dakota scowled at me. “Not that it has anything to do with you, but my shift is over.
What do you fucking care?”

  “I do care, Kota. I wouldn’t want you getting hurt.” I answered as sincerely as I could.

  “Yeah, you didn’t give a fuck about that when you fled to the land of milk and honey and left me here to take care of Mom and Dad.”

  I cringed. I couldn’t deny it. “I had to get out, Kota. I asked you to come with me.”

  “I asked you not to call me that,” he growled.

  “Fine, I asked you to come with me, Dakota.” The emphasis I placed on his name was both unnecessary and sarcastic.

  His eyes flared. I wasn’t doing either of us any favors. My eyes drifted to the restaurant he’d dragged me to. It was decorated in the red and white Canadian colors. There were air hockey tables nestled in the corner and memorabilia lining the bar.

  I wondered if he was trying to make a point by taking me there when he spoke again. “You knew we both couldn’t just leave, Hudson.”

  “Yeah, why not?” I taunted him, my chin jutting out.

  “Because they’re our fucking parents,” he bit out, his fists clenching on the table. He stuffed them back into his pockets.

  “Yeah? You bother to tell them that? I fucking raised you, Kota. They didn’t give a shit about either of us. Has that changed?” I didn’t mean to challenge him, but it had come out anyway. Dakota brought out the worst part in me. Or the most competitive.

  The set of his jaw told me I was right. “No, it hasn’t. Why the fuck you are you back here anyway, Mr. Big Shot Record Label?”

  “You kept up with me?”

  “Of course, I did. You’re my goddamn brother.”

  “I got deported,” I told him as if it was nothing, just as a waitress arrived with our food.

  She smiled at both of us as if she couldn’t believe her luck. Dakota’s jaw dropped at the bombshell I’d just let drop on him, and he waved her away without breaking eye contact with me.

  “They deported you?” His voice was soft, incredulous. His eyes wide.

  “Yup, I got in on Sunday afternoon.”

  “Where the fuck you been since?”

  “At a hotel. I didn’t sleep for most of the weekend, so I crashed right after I got in and only came to life this morning.”

  His jaw worked as he processed the information. “Damn. What’re you going to do?”

  I shrugged. “Don’t know yet. Figured the first step was to see you.”

  “Why?” His eyes pierced mine.

  “It’s time for us to bury the hatchet. It was as good a first step as any.” I didn’t have a better answer.

  “I can’t imagine that having been your first step. What happened?” Perhaps he knew me better than I gave him credit for.

  “Someone told me that as infuriating as family might be, they were still my family,” I admitted.

  “She sounds like quite something.” Dakota grasped my meaning immediately. It was almost amusing how alike we still thought, all those years later.

  “She was,” I confirmed.

  “She died?” Dakota paled, his fork clattering to his plate.

  “No,” I said quickly. “No, I meant she is something. She’s just not in my life anymore.”

  “Thank god. Don’t do that to me.” He laughed humorlessly.

  “Sorry, I didn’t realize the way it sounded until it was out. Speaking about family, how are Mom and Dad?”

  Dakota frowned. “You care?”

  “Of course, I do.”

  “They’re in that place you’re still paying for. I’m not pocketing your money.”

  “Didn’t think you were. They like it okay?”

  “Well enough.” He sighed. “You knew how much care they would need, Hudson. How could you just leave me with them?”

  “I could also tell you I knew what their care would cost, but I won’t. I was selfish, Dakota. I wanted more. I knew I wouldn’t get it here.”

  “So, you fucked off and left me to deal with them?” He slammed a fist on the table, drawing the attention of those around us.

  “For fuck’s sake, Kota. I didn’t disappear into the dark of night, never to be heard from again. I asked you to come with me. I was only ever a fucking phone call away, and I sent money for them every month.” I understood he felt like I’d saddled him with our parents, but the way I saw it, I’d done way more for them than he ever had.

  “Mom still cries about you. Thinks you don’t care.”

  “That’s bullshit, and you all know it. I’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on their care, and I’ve never gotten so much as a thank you. Now I get this shit from you?” I exploded, the emotions brewing in me finally finding an outlet.

  “Jesus, Hudson. What the hell happened to you?” He lowered his head into his hands, ruffling his hair before looking back at me. He used to keep it short but tousled, like mine. It framed his face now, falling almost to his shoulders.

  “I just had the pleasure of seeing how families are supposed to work. It opened my eyes to how fucked up ours is.”

  Dakota flinched at my honesty. “That chick you were talking about earlier have anything to do with this?”

  “Everything.”

  “Sounds like you had something special with her.”

  It took me a second to answer him. I drummed my fingertips on the table, trying to find the right words. “She was the only person I knew who didn’t hate me”

  Chapter 19

  Mia

  The office still felt strangely empty without Hudson there. Things had normalized some, and most people had started working after engaging in a few minutes of small talk in the mornings, but Henry hardly ever had the walls to the office clear and couldn’t seem less concerned with the work force.

  The result was a lot of gossip, a lot of speculation, and a lot of distractions for those of us trying to get our work done. It was awful.

  Something pivotal was missing in our office. Something that drove us and pushed us and formed us to be our best. That something was someone. Hudson.

  Clive and the guy next to him were actually tossing a football around in the office. Not far enough to risk damage or attention from Henry, but enough to make it impossible to concentrate.

  I pulled my earbuds from my ears in time to hear someone yell, “Cut it out, guys.” But they weren’t deterred.

  Walking to a conference room where I would have some privacy, I dialed Tina’s number. She answered on the first ring.

  “Scorned brides’ support service. How may we be of assistance today?”

  I rolled my eyes at her greeting but suppressed a giggle. “How is it that you can always make me smile, no matter what’s going on in my life?” I asked, needing to know her secret.

  “Easy. I know you, baby girl. Besides, you got stood up at the altar a week ago. What else could you possibly be calling about?” She joked, but the reminder that it had only been a week twisted something in my stomach. It felt like only hours had passed sometimes and a lifetime in other moments.

  “You know me too well.” I hadn’t even spoken to Ryan that week, though he’d sent me some memes about what he wanted to do to Hudson. One day, I would have to explain the truth to him. It just wasn’t going to be today.

  “Yeah, I do. If you’re calling to ask for another gorgeous illegal immigrant to marry, I’m afraid I’m fresh out. I just had a runner last week.”

  “Has anyone ever told you not to quit your day job?” I asked dryly.

  “Never. I’m a hoot. Now, what can I do for you?”

  I sighed. “I don’t know. Things are so different at the office. Everything feels wrong without Hudson around.”

  “Have you spoken to him?” Her voice softened with sympathy.

  “Not a single, solitary word. For all I know, he’s lying in a ditch somewhere and never even made it to Santo Via Island.” Tears pricked the backs of my eyes.

  “Maybe you need to try to talk to him, baby girl?” There was a commotion at her end, and she pushed the phone against her chest as she
dealt with it.

  A muffled cry of “No Braden. Ashleigh, you know better than that,” sounded. I suppressed another laugh.

  “Okay, I’m back,” she said breathlessly.

  “You sound busy. It’s okay if you want me to call you back later?”

  “No. It’s okay. It’s not a class. We’re rehearsing for a concert in a couple of weeks’ time. You remember when we were kids and boys used to pull your hair when they liked you?”

  “Yeah?”

  “This class is in that phase. It’s usually fine, but since we’ve thrown them together for rehearsals, it’s like there’s a hair pulling contest. Only, the girls aren’t backing down. They’re pulling back.”

  I laughed. My first genuine laugh in over a week as I imagined what poor Tina was dealing with.

  “Sounds like a handful.” I giggled. “Pun intended.”

  Tina groaned. “Yeah, I’m sure it was. Back to you. You haven’t heard from Hudson since the wedding, huh?”

  “Nope.” It was all I could manage.

  “Have you tried talking to him?” More muffled admonishments rang out.

  “I haven’t. His number was disconnected by Sunday. I don’t have any other way of contacting him. I don’t think I can email him because everything gets rerouted to Henry.”

  “Ooh, there’s another one? Tell me about Henry. Maybe he can calm your aching loins.” She laughed again.

  “Shut up Tina. The man’s my grandfather’s age. And he’s not Hudson.”

  “Of course, he isn’t. Has it occurred to you yet that he might have Hudson’s new number, though? Presumably, the man hasn’t returned to the stone age, and he got a new number in Santo Via Island. Last I heard, they had phones and signal and stuff there.”

  I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought about that. My stomach sank. “By that logic, he could’ve contacted me the moment he got his new phone.”

  “Granted, but he just stood you up at your wedding and got deported. It’s not exactly a surprise that he might be too embarrassed to contact you.”

  “Hudson doesn’t get embarrassed,” I told her.

  “You’ve never seen him at his lowest. You did that day, Mia. Is it comprehensible to think that he may feel humiliated?”