The Fixed Trilogy: Forever With You(31)

When we were finished, Mira talked us into crème br?lée and coffee. We lingered over our dessert, enjoying each other’s company. Finally, she shoved away her plate. “God, I’m stuffed. And I have to go to the bathroom. Again.”

I’d gone with her the first time, but now I chose to stay behind, eager to get a few private words in with Jack. This would probably be my only opportunity, after all.

When Mira was out of earshot, I dove in. “Jack, I have a personal question for you, if you don’t mind.”

“About six and a half inches. But it’s not size that matters; it’s what you do with it.” Hudson’s dirty sense of humor obviously came from his father.

I rolled my eyes. “I’m serious.”

He looked as if he might be preparing a comeback, but perhaps the glare on my face changed his mind. “Okay. Shoot.”

“Sophia once told me that Hudson was a sociopath. Do you believe that too?” It was blunt perhaps, but I knew Mira would be back soon, and I didn’t know how honest Jack would be with her around.

“Sophia’s still claiming that bullshit?” Jack shook his head, his expression a combination of disgust and exhaustion. “One psychiatrist suggested it one time a handful of years ago. Hudson’s never been clinically diagnosed as such, and no, I don’t believe it. That boy cares. A lot. He just isn’t always able to express it. Blame that on Sophia too.”

I let out the breath I didn’t know I’d been holding. No matter what Jack’s answer, I already knew what Hudson was and wasn’t. But hearing the details of Sophia’s claim—and knowing his father didn’t agree—was a relief.

But his words brought up another question, one that had plagued me from the moment I’d met Hudson’s mother. “Why do you blame Sophia for his lack of expression? I don’t think you mean just her drinking. What did she do to him?”

“Well, if I’m going to explain that then you’re going to realize that I’m to blame too.”

“I can handle that.”

“But can I?” Jack considered a moment. Then he sighed. “Sophia wasn’t always hard like she is now. When I married her she was refined and serious, but she could be fun. But then I started building Pierce Industries. I didn’t have the money that Sophia came from. Her parents were convinced that she married beneath her. I wanted to prove them wrong, prove that I could be the man she should have married.”

“And you did.” Though Hudson had taken Pierce Industries to the top, it had been Jack that had built a solid foundation.

“I did. And Sophia wanted that too. But she hadn’t expected how lonely it could be, being married to a man who was married to his work. She decided I was cheating long before I ever did.”

His eyes glossed with sadness, or perhaps regret. “Not being around—that was my mistake. Her loneliness drove her to drinking. Alcohol made her more closed off. So it became a cycle—I wasn’t around because of work and when I was around, I didn’t want to be because my wife was a coldhearted bitch. I’d throw myself more into work, just to avoid her.”

I hid my smile. If I’d had to live with Sophia, I’d have done the same thing.

Reading my mind, Jack winked, but his somber tone remained. “Eventually, she realized the one person I would come home for was Hudson. He was my son. My firstborn. I made time for him whenever I could.” Jack’s eyes beamed with a love that only existed between a father and his child.

It made my heart soar—I really did love this man who loved my man as much as I did.

Jack swirled his finger around the rim of his coffee cup. “Sophia used my son to get to me. She dangled him in front of me to get my attention and pulled him from me just as quickly. Hudson was always a smart kid. He learned pretty early on that his mother used him as bait. Poor guy got caught in the middle of so many games. It’s no wonder he became good at them himself.”

My chest ached, picturing Hudson as a little boy, only wanting to be loved by his parents, instead being used as a pawn. “Was it the same with Mira?”

“No. Hudson had already become Sophia’s rival by the time Mira came along. Sometimes I think he fought his mother just to keep his sister out of her focus.” This idea seemed to make Jack proud. “Now does that sound like the actions of a sociopath?”

“No. It doesn’t. But I already knew he wasn’t. He has too much love in him.” Or was I just fooling myself? If he really loved me, why couldn’t he say it?

I felt a presence come up behind me, and I turned, expecting to see Mira.

“What the f*ck are you doing here with her?”

It wasn’t Jack’s daughter.

It was his wife.





Chapter Eight


Sophia’s fingers clutched the back of my chair. “Celia wasn’t enough? Now you have to steal this one from Hudson too?” Her voice was too loud, and people nearby were already starting to murmur.

Jack’s face said he was as surprised by his wife’s presence as I was. “Sophia. What are you doing here?”

“Spying on you, osbiviously.” She meant obviously, but her words were slurred and hard to understand. I’d never seen her that way. Never seen her that intoxicated.

“You’re drunk.”