Smoke and Wishes (Best Wishes #1)(60)
Certain aspects could only be described as solely Hudson. A hanging garden was suspended off to one side while other portions had small sections of forest. Unfortunately, the serenity of the space was ruined by the dark, gloomy storm clouds shifting ominously above the hanging vines and flowers. The areas between the trees and grassy knolls were torn to shreds, books and picture frames had been tossed around, everything was destroyed.
I shifted from one foot to another, astounded at the disarray and desperation I felt here. The sound of crushing glass reached my ears. Glancing down, I tucked my hair behind my ears to see what I had stepped on. My boot was halfway covering a shattered picture frame. Shifting slightly, a family portrait stared up at me. A young Hudson with his arms around two even younger girls, a man and woman stood behind the three of them. Adoration saturated their features. Even in the gloomy atmosphere of Hudson’s mind, the joy and love on their faces couldn’t be diminished. Footsteps sounded behind me, and even though we were supposed to be working on attacks, I couldn’t bring myself to continue with the lesson.
“What happened here, Hudson?” My voice was quiet and echoed within the destruction, pulling my attention from the glossy photograph.
“Like you would care, Lucie,” he huffed, his voice was harsh and cold. My heart ached. How could he think I don’t care? If only he knew just how much. I had an idea as I turned to look at him.
“I do care, Hudson, about all of you.” Tearing down my mental shield, I projected my emotions to him. All of the sadness, anger, and hurt I had been carrying since our fight. The fear of losing them, the warmth they gave me, and the hope that everything would be okay. I knew I was successful when his eyes widened, the sorrow I saw there was enough to break my heart.
“I know the point of the exercise is to attack and defend, but it looks like you’re suffering enough all on your own, no help necessary.” Gesturing to the destruction around me, I shook my head. Sympathy ran through me; I hated that he felt the need to avoid anything remotely emotional. Someday, if and when things were better, I vowed to help him through that. As an empath, he should be in tune with his emotions, not against them. I pulled out of his mind before he could say anything.
Opening my eyes, the classroom surrounded me. Tears rolled down my cheeks unchecked. Quickly, I wiped them away with my sleeve. Hudson opened his eyes; his face stricken when he looked at me. I turned and grabbed my bag before heading to the door of the auditorium. Cam was busy with another student, and I noticed Alex watching me with a frown on his face. Steeling my spine, I walked over to him.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t at our session last week, but I’ll be there tomorrow,” I gave him a clipped nod and started towards the door before he could respond.
Landon
Following Logan into Cam’s dorm, I slammed the door shut behind myself. Nik, Dante, and Cam we already situated in the living area, somber expressions on all of their faces. Dante in his standard seat, the first armchair within the room, while Cam took the second instead of his usual rolling office chair. Nik leaned against the wall facing the door and living room, arms crossed in front of his long-sleeved black shirt with Grigori perched on his shoulder.
This is honestly the last place I want to be right now. I would much rather go to the gym and put this aggression to good use, get some training in. Obviously, pummeling Hudson to a pulp wouldn't be productive at the moment. But it would make me feel better. Logan sat in our usual spot on the loveseat, but I didn’t join him. I had way too much pent up energy to sit down right now. The last couple weeks have been shit, and I’ve been having a pretty hard time keeping a lid on my Rage.
“I spoke with Lucie today,” my head whipped around to look at Cam. He was leaned back in his seat, ankles crossed while his arms were resting lazily behind his head. The thick frames of his glasses glinted in the light of the room as he surveyed our reactions. “She’s not upset with any of us, not even Hudson, but she doesn’t think it would be smart for her to come back around all the time until we clear the air between all of us. Have to say, I don't blame her. This has really turned into a shit show.”
She doesn't hate us. I felt like I could breathe again. Since the party, I’d worried she wouldn't want anything to do with us; we had promised everything would be alright after we had sex and we were wrong. The tightness in my chest eased as my fists loosened. The tension eased from my coiled muscles at the news.
“Then we need to convince Hudson to deal with his shit sooner rather than later. I hate not having her around. Even when I do see her in class, she’s distant and reserved…” Dante was rubbing the back of his head as he spoke. If the tightness around his eyes and the pursing of his lips was any indication, he was having just as hard of a time as Logan and I were. Nik cleared his throat, bringing me out of my inspection of Dante and back to the conversation.
“While getting Hudson to come around is important, we should probably discuss the reason behind all of this.” Cam’s words cut through me, the tension seeping back in at his statement. Is this about what happened between us? Because I swear, I will…
“Khloe, Brittney, and the other two bitches have been giving Lucie a hard time since the beginning of the semester.” It was Dante’s turn to look surprised, pinning Cam with a glare.
“What are you talking about? As far as I knew, they’d only ever spoken when we were around.”