by K E Osborn
“Hey Brigitte,” I say and she smiles and puts out her hand for me to shake.
I smile back and shake her hand lightly. “You can call me, Brige. Everyone else in the family does.”
“Okay, Brige it is. You seem to love Midas, he’s a real special boy isn’t he?” I ask and she nods emphatically.
“Oh yes, he’s my favourite. I wish I could take him home, but Mum won’t let us have a dog. She has allergies. You seem nice anyway. You’re prettier than Cassie. She was mean.”
“How was she mean to you?”
She shrugs. “She would never play with me like Huddy does. She would just sit back and talk to Mum. I think Mum liked her, but I didn’t.”
“I don’t like Cassie much either,” I whisper to her and she giggles.
“How’s school going?”
She smiles and blushes again. “Can I tell you something?” she leans in and whispers. I smile and nod. “But don’t tell, Huddy, he’ll get all moody about it.”
“I promise,” I say crossing my heart with my finger.
“I have a crush… on a boy.”
“Oh really? What’s his name?”
“James,” she says with a giggle.
“And does James know you like him?” I whisper.
She giggles again and nods. I smile at her and she gestures for me to come closer so I lean in.
“He told me I’m pretty and we hold hands in class when no one is watching,” she whispers in my ear.
I giggle and look at her. She’s beaming with happiness and I’m so glad she’s happy.
“And does James try to kiss you?”
She opens her eyes wide at me and shakes her head. “No way that’s gross! I don’t want boy germs.”
I laugh and shake my head. “No, of course not. Silly me.”
“Yeah, silly you. You’re nice though. Will you marry Huddy and have his babies?”
“I hope so,” I say and she smiles brightly and claps her hands together excitedly.
“And what are you two talking about?” Hudson asks coming over and sitting down next to me on the floor.
“Girl talk. It’s a secret, Huddy,” I say with a smirk and he frowns. “Sorry, couldn’t help it,” I tease.
“You’re lucky I love you,” he whispers in my ear and kisses my cheek.
“Eww Huddy, don’t kiss her. You’ll give her boy germs.”
I wipe my cheek and pull a frown. “Yeah Hudson, gross.”
“Hey Huds, where’s that porno calendar I bought you? I wanna show Flynn,” Holden says loudly. I look at Hudson and grin while he blushes.
“Holden Stone, don’t you dare talk like that in front of your little sister,” his mum berates.
“Oh, don’t worry Mum, Brige doesn’t even know what porn is do you, Brige?” he asks and she shrugs and pouts out her bottom lip.
“Is it like a type of pony?”
“Yeah Brige, it can include ponies,” Holden says.
“Holden stop it,” his mum says while the rest of us laugh.
“Sorry Mum. Brige don’t ever say the words porn or porno, okay? They’re bad adult words,” Holden says and Brige shrugs again and cuddles back into Midas.
“I don’t care, I don’t listen to anything you say, Holds.”
“That’s probably a good thing, Brige,” Flynn says as we all chuckle.
“Babe, are you feeling okay? I can get them to leave if you want?” Hudson whispers in my ear.
I shake my head. “No, I’m okay a little flat, but Holden’s entertaining me and your sister is just adorable,” I say and he looks over at her.
“She really is isn’t she?” he says and I lean into his side as we sit on the floor.
“Hudson, have you told Violet about the time you got your dick caught in your zipper?” his dad yells out to Hudson and I burst out laughing as I look at Hudson and he’s shaking his head at his dad and smiling.
“Thanks Dad, you’re an awesome parent,” Hudson says and everyone laughs except his mum who’s sitting back glaring at me with a look of disgust. I try to ignore her and listen to his dad and his brothers who are all taking great pleasure in making fun of him.
“What about the time Mum walked in on him masturbating, and Mum freaked out like he was the dirtiest thing in the world,” Flynn says and their mum screws her face up in disgust.
“Flynn don’t remind me of such vulgar activities,” she says making the boys all laugh.
“Mum you really should be used to us by now. You married Dad and we’re just like him so why are you surprised?” Holden says and she frowns.
“I know and I wonder why every day,” she says with a slight smirk.
“Hey, come on now woman, you love me and you know it,” his dad says while he pulls her into him and kisses her passionately.
“Oh, c’mon guys.”
“That’s disgusting.”
“Get a room,” the boys all say in unison as Brige pulls a funny face and shakes her head. And I think that maybe his mum isn’t as tough as she lets on. Maybe she does have a funny side to her, and maybe she’s just annoyed that she didn’t know about me. I hope maybe we can be friends given some time.
“So Mr. Stone what do you do?” I ask and he chuckles and Hudson pulls me tighter to him.
“Well Violet, please call me Bill. I run the family business. We deal in motorbikes. If you haven’t already noticed I’m sure you can tell my boys and I are kind of bike mad,” he says and I look at Hudson and smirk. I wonder if he works there?
“And it drives me mental,” his mum says making me chuckle.
“I have noticed that Hudson seems to have a fascination with all things bike related,” I say looking at him trying to gauge his reaction. He is stern faced and is not giving anything away. From what I can gather and from the look of his brothers, I think they’re all in the biker gang.
“Yeah, he likes a good ride,” Holden says and his mum slaps him across the chest.
“Ouch Ma!”
“Well, you deserved it. Stop being so crude,” she says and he chuckles and winks at me.
I blush and cuddle into Hudson’s side further. He chuckles and kisses my head.
“I apologise for my boys, they can be utterly imbecilic at times, Violet. I honestly don’t even know where I went so wrong,” she says with a smirk and they all put their hands to their chest and fake a heart attack. I laugh as I see it’s a family thing and not just a Hudson thing.
I thought meeting his family would be scary, and at first it was. His mother’s reception to me was frosty, but she seems to be thawing as the night is progressing which is making me happy.
We spend the rest of the night chatting and the boys generally making fun of each other and their mother. Brige was getting tired so they decided they would head home after we ordered some pizza and ate as a family. Even though they aren’t my family by blood, it felt nice to be included, and if there is a family I could choose it would be Hudson’s.
We say goodbye while Hudson carries his half-asleep sister to the car and he straps her in.
“I love you, Huddy Bear,” she says sleepily and she kisses his cheek.
“I thought it was gross to kiss boys?” Hudson asks and she giggles.
“You’re not a boy, you’re my brother you idiot. You can only give germs to Violet ‘cause she’s not your sister, dah!”
“Okay, I see your logic, and as always you’re right. I love you too Brige. Have a good sleep and don’t let these baboons keep you awake,” he says and his brothers chuckle as they get into the van.
“I won’t, they know better than to mess with me.”
“Yeah, that’s right. Now go to sleep and be good at school tomorrow.”
“Night, Huddy Bear, night Violet. Oh, and I like Violet, big brother, she’s much nicer than Cassie. So can you keep her?”
Husdon looks back at me and smiles. “Yeah Brige, I’m gonna keep this one.”
“Okay, now go away I need my beauty sleep,” she says.
“God, you’re so demanding, little diva,” he replies and she sticks her tongue out as he ruffles her hair and she swats at his hands as he closes the door.
“Thanks for coming guys, it was great to see you all. I’ll make more time to come and see you, I promise,” Hudson says as he hugs his mother.
“I’d love that. Just no more secrets, okay?” she says and he purses his lips and nods.
“Deal,” he says and he lets his mum go and shakes hands with his dad.
“See ya mate. Happy birthday, now go and look after your old lady. She looks ready to collapse,” he says and glances over at me and smiles. He’s right, I am about ready to collapse. My cold is hitting me big time and any energy I had is now definitely gone.
“Yeah, don’t worry Dad I’ll look after her,” he says stepping back and taking me in his arms.
“Night, fucker,” Holden calls out as he gets in the van next to an already half-asleep Brigitte.
Hudson waves as Flynn gets in the car and punches Holden in the arm. They then proceed to wrestle in the van until their mother knocks on the window, they then split up and sit down in their seats. It makes me giggle to myself that they react that way. They make fun of their mum, but when she tells them off they listen. She really is like a matriarch, even if they do seem a little out of control.
“Love you, Hudson. It was nice to meet you, Violet,” his mum says.
“Love you too, Mum, thanks for popping by,” he says and she gets into the front passenger seat of the van.
“Happy Birthday,” she calls out and Hudson smiles as he wraps his arms around my waist and pulls my back to his front. It was good timing. I feel like I could fall over at any moment, so having his body to lean on as support is a great help.
“Bye,” he calls out as his dad pulls the van out of the driveway and out onto the road.
“C’mon old lady, let’s get you inside and to bed, hey?” he whispers in my ear and then leans down and picks me up cradling me to his chest. I wrap my arms around his neck and he walks us inside and straight to the bedroom. I flick off the light switches as we go and when we make it into the bedroom, he takes me over to the bed and sits me down. I’m so exhausted I can’t even think. He leans down and pulls the jumper off over my head and it’s only then that I realise I didn’t have on a bra when his family was here.
“Oh man, I didn’t even have a bra on, no wonder your mother thought I was trashy,” I say.
“Hey, she doesn’t think you are trashy. She was only being rude because she was angry at me for not telling her about you. I’m sure I’ll get an earful tomorrow on the phone from her,” he says and then leans down and pulls his track pants off me as I shift my weight so he can pull them down.
“Why didn’t you tell them about me?” I ask and he bites his lip and sits down on the bed next to me taking my hand in his.
“I didn’t say anything because we’re all over the place. I have no idea where we’re going, and I have no idea if you even wanted them to know about you. I just want to be sure before I got them all excited. You know what I mean?”
“You’re not sure if you will stay once I’ve told you everything?” I ask as a lump forms in my throat.
He shakes his head. “No, it’s not that, I think it’s more of I’m not sure if you will stay once you’ve told me. I’m not going anywhere, but Vee, you tend to run when it gets tough and I guess I was just protecting myself from that. Look we don’t have to talk about it tonight, you’re sick and we’re both tired. I just don’t want you to feel pressured into anything that’s all. Vee, I want to make things official between us. I want to be able to tell people you’re my girlfriend officially and not have to worry that you’ll run because it’s getting too serious. It has been six months, Vee. Our relationship is a weird one, I’ll give you that, but I think after six months of practically living together, I should be able to at least call you my girlfriend without the worry of you running when I do.” He looks me in the eyes, his blue and green eyes are shining so brightly and I can tell he wants this. I want this too, and in the back of my mind I know Danny would want me to be happy, so holding on to Danny is something I need to stop. I need to give myself to Hudson fully, every inch of me, including my frozen heart and if at the end, when I tell him he leaves me, then at least I gave it my all.
“Hudson, I want to be your girlfriend—”
“But?” he asks raising his eyebrow at me.
I smile and shake my head. “No, buts babe, I’m in. I’m all in and tomorrow night when we get home from work I’m going to tell you everything. My past, my family, my… job, everything,” I say and he smiles so brightly I’m sure his cheeks are hurting.
“Seriously? You want to tell me everything? It’s not because you think I’m pressuring you though, right?”
“No… no, you’ve never pressured me into telling you and honestly I’m a bit of a bitch for not telling you sooner and having the faith that you won’t judge me and leave me. I know you wouldn’t do that now and I feel safe telling you, but not tonight, it will take too long and I’m exhausted. Plus, it’s your birthday and I want to spend the rest of it cuddled into your side in bed,” I say and he leans in embracing me tightly.
“Thank you, Vee. Thank you for finally trusting me and thank you for believing in me. I love you baby, nothing will ever change that. Nothing in your past and nothing in our future. If you’re all in, then so am I.”
I love the way he said our future. “God I wish I could kiss you right now, damn stupid cold,” I say and he smirks and leans in suddenly pressing his lips to mine. I pull back, but his hand comes up and holds my head to him. I fight for a bit, but then the powerful surge I feel when he touches me flows through my body and takes over. I open my mouth and kiss him back, he moves me down so I’m lying on the bed and he kisses me passionately into the early hours of the morning.
At this moment, I believe him. I know nothing can tear us apart and that our love is strong. Tomorrow night I will tell him everything… about Danny, Caiden, and my parents. How they’re all dead. About my house and lastly about my job, and then when he gets over the shock I will finally tell him that I love him. I haven’t told him yet, even though he knows that I do telling him will be a big deal and I want to make sure he’s over the shock of my job before I tell him so it truly sinks in that I love Hudson more than anything in this world!
And I never want to lose him.
Ever!
His lips connect with the back of my neck and I smile as I slowly wake up. I love waking up next to Hudson. It’s the best possible way to start every day. I turn my head so he knows I’m awake and he leans in, kissing my lips softly.
“Good morning little firecracker,” he whispers against my lips.
I smile and open my eyes to look into his. “Good morning my rock,” I say and he grins widely then pulls my shoulder so I lay my back down on the bed. He moves in over the top of me and presses his chest to mine.
“I love waking up to you, even if you’ve been snoring all night because you can’t breathe through your nose.”
“Shut up, I do not snore.”
“Uh-huh, whatever you reckon, baby,” he replies and leans in kissing me on the lips again.
“You’re so going to catch my cold if you keep kissing me like that you know?”
“I have a sore throat now, so I’m pretty sure I’m already infected, but that’s okay I don’t mind sharing your girl germs. As long as your lips are against mine I don’t care what I catch, as long as I get to kiss you,” he says leaning in and kissing me again as I giggle. “Baby, I would do anything for you, you know that, right?” he says with a serious look in his eyes.
“I know, just like I would do anything for you,”
“Well, I better get ready for work. I can’t have another day off, they’ll slaughter me,” he says and I purse my lips wondering if he’s actually being serious that his biker boys would hurt or even kill him for not showing up today.
“What’s with the sad face?” he asks as he gets out of bed.
“No, it’s nothing, just a little anxious about tonight and how you’ll react when I tell you everything,” I say and he walks back over to my side of the bed and leans down.
“It’s not going to change a thing… I promise,” he says then leans in kissing the tip of my nose.
He walks into the en-suite to use the bathroom and I can’t help but feel nervous about how tonight will go. He knows I’m hiding something big, but I’m positive he doesn’t know what my secrets are. I honestly don’t know how he will react.
If I stay home today, I’m going to worry myself sick, so I get up and go into work. I do actually feel a little better and if I stay in my office then, hopefully, I will not infect anyone.
I make my way the en-suite and Hudson is in the shower and I use the loo. That’s how comfortable we are with each other now, I can pee in front of him and it doesn’t bother either of us.
“Go back to bed, Vee,” Hudson calls out as he looks at me through the foggy shower screen.
“No, I think I’ll head into work today. There are some bills that need paying and stuff that needs sorting. I’ve had too many days off and I need to get back into the swing of things,” I say as I finish up.
“Are you sure? I don’t want you to over exert yourself, or make yourself sicker,” he says wiping the fog away from the screen.
“I’ll be fine, if I feel too sick then I’ll come home. I promise.”
“Okay, but if you feel sick at any time you come straight home, and if you can’t drive you ring me and I’ll come to pick you up.”
“Okay, thanks for the offer, but I’m sure I won’t need it. I do feel a little better today so I should be fine,” I say and blow him a kiss as I wash my hands and then I walk out to get dressed.
While Hudson is in the shower, I make a start on breakfast. Well, it’s more like lunch at this time of day, but it’s my first meal for the day so I still call it breakfast. I put on the coffee machine and place some croissants, which Hudson bought yesterday, into the grille filled with ham and cheese. The breakfast of champions. I smile at myself and continue pottering around the kitchen until Hudson comes out, dressed in his usual jeans, tank top, and leather jacket. He can make anything look good, but seeing him in his leather jacket just makes me hot for him instantly.