I sit there, taking sips from the bottle, and eventually my tongue and throat become so numb that I can’t even taste or feel it anymore. I don’t even remember why I was so upset in the first place. Oh well, no big deal. I pull out my phone and open up my music app. I turn on “Riot Girl” by Good Charlotte and put it on repeat. I’m singing along because I’m obviously a riot girl. I giggle uncontrollably but continue belting out the song anyway. It feels good to just let go and not think about anything.
Chapter 10
Hudson
After waiting in my Range Rover for fifteen minutes, I hop out and slam my door out of frustration. Chloe wanted me to take her home and repeatedly told me that she wouldn’t keep me waiting. Pulling out my phone, I notice a text from Ashtyn waiting for me.
Ashtyn: Hey, I just wanted to let you know that Chloe had a rough time in English today. Potter was being a raging bitch and Chloe left class super early. I’m not sure if she’s with you right now but I thought you should know.
What the fuck? That woman needs to get laid or something. Maybe she doesn’t know about what’s going on with Chloe, but I’m fucking pissed she made her cry.
Me: Thanks for the heads up.
Ashtyn: Of course. Take care of my girl for me.
I’m tempted to text her back and correct her. Chloe is our girl. Not just hers. Fuck that, she’s my girl. I don’t feel like going into a whole long conversation right now about it. Finding Chloe is my number one priority right now. I call her up, and of course it goes straight to voicemail. I toss my phone on the passenger seat and let out a growl of frustration. She can’t make anything easy on me.
I’m tempted to just leave, but I know that’s not who I am. Of course that’s something Jax would do, and he’s already been lucky enough to earn her heart.
Not that he deserves it.
I don’t know how I found myself in such a fucked up situation. My brother loves Erin, Chloe loves Jax, I’m in love with Chloe, and I don’t know how the fuck Erin feels. If I weren’t so miserable, I would laugh at the irony of it all. Here I am, a theater geek living in Ashland, Oregon, and my life is like a Shakespeare play.
Maybe we should all go hang out in the woods for a bit. We’ll all come back, in love with the right person, and lose a little dysfunction in the process. After a little magic and mind control from some crazy fairies. Yeah, that’s the shit that dreams are made of.
Passing by her locker, I’m very much aware of the lack of people in the hallways. It’s crazy how quickly this place empties out on a holiday weekend. I love Thanksgiving just as much as anyone else, and I know Mom will be pissed if I’m not home soon. She always gets crazy over the holidays.
If you were to ask anyone about the number one important holiday in the Hartley household, everyone would say Thanksgiving. Mom goes overboard with all of the planning and cooking. It’s always been her favorite holiday, and she cooks a feast to feed twenty families. It’s intense but so delicious. Even with the issues going on with Mom and Daa, there’s no way she would miss out on our usual family Thanksgiving.
I rub my belly at the thought.
I’m out of ideas of where to look when I hear the screeching of a dying cat. Maybe that’s too harsh, but Chloe shouldn’t be allowed to sing. Ironically enough, I find her sitting on the stage in the theater. Maybe we can find our way into that forest after all.
Unfortunately, my damsel is singing away, horribly off-key, while downing a pint of something. Great. She’s drunk. I guess she wants to start off her holiday by getting hammered.
Fuck.
I’m a complete idiot. This is the first real holiday she’s celebrating, or lack thereof, without her parents. She feels like complete shit right now, which is why she’s drowning her pain yet again. Honestly, I don’t blame her. Even if she had been healing through all of this, getting wasted is a little understandable.
Thanksgiving is a holiday surrounded around giving thanks. What is there to be thankful for when you just lost your parents? Not a whole lot. Especially in Chloe’s case. She still hasn’t noticed me, but then again, she’s too focused on screeching at the top of her lungs and ruining a Good Charlotte song. Just because she’s getting drunk at school, that does not make her a “Riot Girl.” I’m sure I have Ashtyn to blame for Chloe knowing their music. Not that it’s a bad thing, just when it’s coming out of her mouth. Her singing is just awful.
For some reason, her singing aside, I can’t help but love her. This beautiful broken girl. Unable to stand in the shadows any longer, I start striding down the aisle. “There you are. I’ve been looking all over for you, Chloe.”
She jumps half a foot in the air. I can’t help but laugh as her eyes go wide and focus on me. “Dammit, Hudson! You just scared the shit out of me. I think I just peed myself a little too.”
“TMI, Chloe. Seriously though, let’s get out of here.”
With an overly dramatic sigh, she grabs her bag and starts to get up. I hear voices coming up the hallway outside and my entire body stiffens. I bring my finger up to my lips and Chloe pauses where she’s at. Swiftly but quietly, I move up to Chloe and get on the stage. Her entire body is stiff as a board as I whisper in her ears, “Don’t say a word. I heard some voices outside the door. We’re going to head backstage and hang out in one of the dressing rooms. The last thing we need is for you to get caught drinking on school property.”
She slowly nods her head as I grab her hand and pull her backstage with me. Five minutes ago she was laughing and screeching at the top of her lungs without a care in the world. I guess the thought of risking what little she has left sobered her up pretty quickly. As we step behind the curtain and continue our path to the dressing rooms, my breath leaves me as the door to the theater is opened. Chloe releases an audible gasp as muffled voices carry their way toward us.
Our palms are sweaty as I continue dragging Chloe behind me. I make my way all the way to the end of the very narrow hallway and around the corner. This dressing room is never used, so hopefully, even if someone heard us, they won’t be able to find us. I quickly open the door, shoving Chloe inside before joining her and shutting the door behind us. She hasn’t said a word, but I’m very aware of her quickened breathing in the darkened room.
I turn away from the door and run my hand along the wall until I find what I’m looking for. I flip a switch, and the lights on the vanity light up. Chloe’s transfixed on it. Quietly, she whispers, “Won’t they be able to see the light from under the door?”
I shake my head but realize she’s still looking at the vanity and not at me. “Nobody comes back here anymore. All of the other dressing rooms were remodeled, but this one has been left untouched. Besides, I turned on the vanity instead of the overhead lights so it wouldn’t be as bright.”
At some point while I was talking, she switched her focus to me, but after nodding her head, she’s looking back at that damn vanity again. Why is she so focused on it? It’s old and beat to shit. Nothing special with it at all. While she’s still in her trance, I pull my phone out of my pocket. It’s almost four o’clock. I’m not sure how long we’ll be waiting, so I grab the chair from in front of the vanity and take a seat. Chloe is still glued to her spot, off in her head somewhere.
Instinctually, I get ready to send a text to Jax, but then I notice my lack of bars on my phone. I’m in here often enough—well, I used to be—that I should know you don’t get reception in here. I don’t know the details exactly, but something with how they wired the building makes it impossible to use cell phones anywhere within the theater. It’s fucking genius, but I could use my phone right about now.
Shaking her head, she comes out of her trance and pulls up a chair from the corner of the small room. “So, how long do you think we’ll have to wait in here?”
I bring my right hand up and rub the back of my neck. Shoving my phone back into my pocket, I move my gaze over to Chloe. She has her body all huddled up in that chair while she’s hugging her bag. At le
ast she realizes the seriousness of the situation. For both of us even. Just because I wasn’t drinking doesn’t mean if we get caught they won’t put the blame on both of us. Fucking Chloe. “I don’t know, Chloe. But you should have thought about that before you decided to bring fucking liquor to school. What were you thinking?”
Her eyes start to glisten and she turns her head away from me. She takes in a few deep breaths and sniffles a couple of times before turning back to me. “I wasn’t thinking, Hudson. I haven’t been thinking a lot lately.”
“Well, maybe you should start.”
With her gaze straight ahead and fixed on my face, she replies, “Yeah, maybe I should.” She sticks her tongue out and slowly drags it along her bottom lip, and her eyes intensify with heat. The temperature rises in the room as both of our breathing becomes labored and I lean my body forward. Relaxing her body, she lets go of her bag. It clatters on the floor, and that loudness whips our attention back to where we are.
She starts to get up, but I put my hand in the air and quietly get up from my chair. I put my ear against the door and listen. I expect to hear voices and footsteps down the hallway getting closer to us. Any minute now, we should be getting busted. But we don’t. As I stand here trying to hear anything other than the breathing in this room, I hear nothing. Stepping back from the door with a relieved sigh, I turn around and she’s back to huddling her body. “I don’t hear anyone out there. I’m going to go check it out and I’ll be right back.”
Her entire body is trembling and her voice is shaky. “Please don’t leave me.”
I make the couple of strides across the room that it takes to get to her, and I kneel down in front of her. I wrap my arms around her body and she quickly melts into me. Letting my warmth dissolve all of her fear and panic, I whisper in her ear, “I’m not leaving you. If someone is still out there, I can distract them and get them out of the building so you can slip out. If no one is out there, we both can leave and everything will be fine. Trust me. I would never leave you.”
I lean back to look up into her eyes, and she slowly nods her head. Reluctantly, I let go of her body and stand back up. I stare at her face for a beat longer before turning around and heading out the door. I quietly shut the door behind me and lean against the door. I shake the fogginess from my brain and start heading back down the narrow hallway. I don’t hear any voices or movement, so that’s a good sign.
I make it onto the stage and pause a moment to listen again. I don’t hear anyone, so I peek out from behind the curtain and breathe a sigh of relief when I don’t see anyone standing out there. That relief only lasts for so long before it hits me. I jump off the stage and run down the aisle, only to be met with exactly what I knew was coming. Oh no no no no. Shit.
Reluctantly, I head back up the aisle. I’m dragging my feet the entire way back to Chloe, absolutely dreading this conversation. I reach my sweaty palm out to the cold brass doorknob and turn it achingly slowly. Pushing open the door, I’m met with Chloe’s expectant face and I say the only thing I can think of. “So, there’s good news and bad news.”
Chapter 11
Chloe
As Hudson walks out of the room, I hug my bag to myself again. I peek over at the vanity and can’t help but think of Mom. This one is beat up and old, but I’m sure back when it was new or at least in good condition it looked a lot like the one she had. She had one of those cool vintage old Hollywood ones, with the globe light bulbs that surround the mirror. Every time I sat down at that thing and pretended to put my makeup on, I always felt so glamorous. Just like a movie star. I always hoped that one day she would give it to me. Maybe on the set of my first movie.
But now it’s long gone. Along with anything else we had in our house in Santa Barbara. I wish I at least knew what happened to everything in our house. It’s my own fault, really. If I had responded more and actually talked to someone, anyone, then maybe I would know what happened. I could have gone to my parents’ funeral and gotten my goodbye. Not like that would have been a substitute for the fact that I will never truly get to say anything to my parents ever again. They’re gone and never coming back.
My eyes start welling up with tears when I hear footsteps coming down the hallway. I straighten up in the chair and wipe at my eyes. Taking in a deep breath, I hold it in while the doorknob slowly turns. When the door is pushed open and Hudson is standing there, I finally let myself release it. His face is blank as he steps into the room and says, “So, there’s good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?”
Frowning, I shrug my shoulders and he continues. “The good news is there’s nobody out there.” I get up out of my chair and start moving toward the door when he puts his hands up. “The bad news is they locked the door on their way out.”
I cock my head to the side and ask, “Okay, what’s the big deal? Even though the door is locked, we should be able to go, right? Unless…is there an alarm?”
“No, there isn’t an alarm. But the doors are chained shut on the outside. There’s a lot of expensive equipment in here and they take that very seriously. Especially if they’re borrowing stuff from the Shakespeare Festival.”
I slump back down in the chair. So we’re locked in. What does that even mean? Someone has to come in here eventually, right? I look at Hudson’s face and notice the slouch in his posture. Moving up his body and landing on his face, I let out a gasp. No one is coming in here. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and the school will be locked up tight for the next four days. We are trapped in here all weekend. This can’t be possible.
I get up from the chair as my heart starts racing and my entire body flushes with heat. My breathing quickens and I can’t catch my breath. I need to get out of here. I need air. I’m gasping for anything at all, but it won’t come. My head starts pounding as I hear my heartbeat throbbing. This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening.
Hudson wraps his arms around my body and whispers into my ear, “Chloe, focus on me. Breathe.” I shift uncomfortably and he lets up on the tightness of his arms around my body. “Just keep breathing and listening to my voice. It will be okay, I promise you.” He continues whispering into my ears, but I focus on his heartbeat against my own as I close my eyes. Slowing my breathing down, I try to match my beat to his, and slowly the pace starts coming down. The pounding in my head fades and my entire body tingles as it slowly starts cooling down.
I’m aware of my body moving, but I don’t open my eyes until we suddenly stop and Hudson sits me down. I peer over at him as we sit front row in the theater. Taking a deep breath, I ask the only thing I can think to ask right now. “What the hell just happened?”
He shrugs his shoulder. “I have no idea. But if I had to guess, you just had a panic attack.”
“Shit.” He nods his head. “I need another drink.”
He chuckles but then becomes serious. “Yeah, well, that’s kind of what started this problem in the first place.”
I blush slightly. I know he’s right. What the fuck was I thinking? Oh, right, I wasn’t thinking. Plus, that bitch Potter fucked with my day. Somebody needs to put her in her place one of these days. That will show her. Speaking of drinks, I’m suddenly aware of how badly I need to pee. With all of the adrenaline coursing through my body the past hour, I wasn’t even thinking about it. Oh, but man, I need to pee. Hudson’s spacing and not paying attention to anything. I’d love to leave him to his thoughts, but man, I need to go. If I weren’t sitting, I’d start hopping and dancing around. “Please tell me there’s a bathroom in here somewhere and I don’t have to go find a bucket or something to pee in.”
Leaning his head back on the chair, he lets out the best laugh ever. It’s completely uninhibited and one hundred percent real. “No, you don’t have to go scavenge for a bucket to pee in. We passed the bathroom while we were backstage. There’s running water and a vending machine back there too. Although it’s not in the bathroom. Fortunately, even though we’re stuck in here, we should be fine.”
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“Wait. Can’t we call someone?”
“Nope. Phones don’t work in here. I don’t know the specifics, but they have an electronic device that jams signals or something.”
My head falls in defeat when I remember something. “I watched an episode of one of those crime shows one time, and they said you can make emergency calls on your phone with no service. Is that true?”
Hudson nods his head and his grim expression transforms into a huge smile. “I think you can! Pull out your phone and try it.”
In my excitement, I forget that I killed the battery blasting Good Charlotte earlier. I turn it around and show the phone to him. “My battery is dead. Try yours.”
His smile vanishes. “I left it out in my Jeep.”
“What are we going to do? Won’t your parents worry? I can’t believe I got us into this situation. I’m so fucked up right now.”
He crosses the room and pulls me into a hug. “Hey, stop right there. You’re not fucked up. Maybe a little sad, but we’ll work through this. My parents are so off in their own issues right now they probably won’t even worry about me. We’ll be fine.”
“Yeah, except for the boredom.”
He smirks and replies, “Well, I guess we’ll have to figure out something to do, then.”
Heat covers my body from head to toe at that thought. I can be okay with figuring out something to do with Hudson. I know both of our minds are thinking about the same thing, and my body is more than ready for that. Breaking the tension, he clears his throat and says, “Well, why don’t you go to the bathroom and I’ll go scrounge up a feast from the vending machines. We can meet back here in five minutes.”
Falling for Hudson (Marlowe series Book 2) Page 8