The Fixed Trilogy: Found in You(81)

Hudson stepped away, looking out across the room toward the windows.

Celia followed after him, putting a hand on his shoulder. Again he flinched away.

She straightened her spine. “I don’t know if you know this, Hudson, but when I talked to her that day, she was obsessing over some guy from the past—Paul something or other. She was trying to set up a deal with his company so she could be close to him.”

Rage spread through me like wildfire. “You f*cking bitch.”

Jack put his hand over mine, trying to calm me.

Celia stepped closer to Hudson. “I’m only here because I’m worried Laynie won’t get the help she needs. You have to help her, Huds.”


All I could see was red. “The only help I need is a cleanup crew for after I destroy your pretty face.” I lurched from my chair. Immediately Jack and Brian were at my sides, holding me back.

“Laynie!” Brian admonished.

Jack was more soothing. “Stay calm. Getting violent isn’t going to fix anything, even though it might feel good.”

“Do you hear her, Hudson?” Sophia stood and faced her son’s back. “She threatened Celia. In front of everyone.”

“Mother, stay out of this.”

I held on to Hudson’s words like a lifeline.

“Hudson, you have to get rid of her. She’s dangerous. Celia tells me she has a record. Why on earth would you let her into your life when you knew these things about her?”

“Shut up, Mother.” Hudson spun, brushing past both women. He stopped in the center of the room, finally looking at me.

I clung to his eyes with mine, trying to get my balance as the world tilted around me. I couldn’t read everything in his expression, but I could see definitively the one thing he’d told me so many times—I’m with you.

Sophia’s voice sounded muffled and far away as I remained in the safety of Hudson’s gaze. “It makes sense why she’d be obsessed with Celia. She knows you belong together, Hudson, and she’s jealous. Celia was pregnant with your baby. She can’t compete with that, no matter—”

Jack let go of my arm. “Aw, shut the f*ck up, Sophia. It wasn’t even Hudson’s baby. It was mine, you ignorant bitch.”

Then my connection with Hudson was lost as all hell broke loose.

Celia’s skin went ashen.

Hudson’s face blazed with anger. “Goddammit, Jack.”

If I hadn’t been so dizzy from the accusations that had occurred before, then I would have been more of a participant in the scene. Instead, I was frozen, watching in horror as the secret unfolded at lightning speed.

“It’s my business to tell,” Jack said, “and I’m tired of this lingering lie.”

“It wasn’t a lie we told for you,” Hudson said.

“I never thought it was. It was to protect Celia’s ass. And I’m sure some of it was you protecting your mother’s feelings. Heaven knows why you care about how she feels when she obviously cares nothing for how you feel.”

“I don’t understand.” Sophia sank into the sofa.

It was Celia’s turn to be comforter. She sat next to Hudson’s mother. “Sophia, I’m so sorry. It was a mistake. I was drunk. It was a long time ago.”

Jack laughed. “You weren’t that drunk. And I know what you’re all thinking, but she seduced me, not the other way around.”

“Your baby wasn’t Hudson’s?” Sophia didn’t want to believe it. I could hear it in her tone.

Celia continued to plead for forgiveness.

Jack headed to the bar and began making a drink as he spoke to no one in particular. “Hudson stepped up because he knew her father would freak about the age difference, though Warren’s had some pretty young little mistresses himself. Granted, it’s different when it’s your daughter. Anyway, Hudson said he felt responsible for some reason or another. Never could figure that one out.”

He turned to face the room, glass in one hand, decanter in the other. “But I’ll tell you what, and I can’t prove any of this, but I’d bet my life that the whole thing was a set-up. She knew Hudson would claim that baby. That’s the only reason she came knocking on my door to begin with. To trap him.”

“That’s low, Jack,” Celia seethed.

“You’re one to talk.” I said it under my breath, not wanting to draw attention to myself.

She caught my words anyway. “Let’s not forget why we’re here. Not to discuss the past but to discuss Laynie’s future.”

“I think that topic is on hold for the moment.” Jack brought the glass of amber liquid to his wife.

Sophia took it from him, her hand shaking. “You and…Celia?”

“Don’t act so surprised. We haven’t been faithful to each other for years.”

Sophia took a long swallow of her drink. Then she stood and threw the rest of it in Jack’s face. “You coldhearted *. I’ve always been faithful.”

Jack wiped bourbon from his eyes. “One word for you sweetheart—Chandler.”

“Chandler is yours. I don’t know why he doesn’t look like you. I’ll get a blood test to prove it if you want me to. And despite the myriad of affairs you’ve had over the years, I would never have thought you’d stoop so low to sleep with your son’s girlfriend.”