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“Hey, Hudson, did you happen to see my bracelet in the hotel room before you left? I can’t find...” Her voice dies off and she comes to an abrupt stop when she reaches the top of the stairs and sees me sitting in front of Hudson. “Oh, I...” she stutters, clearly not expecting to see me.
“Now I know why you wouldn’t answer the question,” I grind out, my voice low as my gaze shoots back to Hudson. Every ounce of color has drained from his face.
“Lennon, it’s not what you...”
“Don’t you dare!” I stand abruptly, causing him to stumble backward a couple of steps before straightening to a full stand.
“Lennon, wait.” Hudson reaches for me but my feet are already moving.
I shove past Annabelle with so much force it knocks her backward into the folded door. I take off through the parking lot, feeling like I’m going to go into a full blown panic attack if I don’t get out of here.
It’s only seconds before Hudson catches up to me, his fingers closing around my forearm as he pulls me to a stop.
“Lennon, stop.” He tugs at my arm, giving me no choice but to turn and face him. “I swear it is not what you think. Anna...” he starts, but I hold up my hand to stop him.
“Don’t.” I shake my head, fighting back the tears that are burning the back of my eyes. “Don’t you dare tell me it’s not what I think.”
“But it isn’t.”
“Why were you with Annabelle, Hudson? What could you have possibly been doing in a hotel room with her if notexactlywhat I’m thinking?”
“She had too much to drink.”
“Oh yeah, this is starting off really well. You know what, don’t tell me. I don’t want to know. It won’t change anything anyway.” I rip my arm out of his grasp.
“Lennon.”
“I can’t do this anymore,” I blurt.
“She had too much to drink. I walked her to her room. She was a mess, crying, saying how she was so alone. I couldn’t leave her like that,” he rushes out.
“I’m sure you made her feel real good, Hudson. I sure as hell don’t need the details.”
“Nothing happened. I swear it, Lennon. I slept in the chair in the corner of the room.”
“You really expect me to believe that?” The question rips from my throat so loudly anyone within a few hundred feet can probably hear.
“Yes, because it’s the truth.” He attempts to reach for me but I take a full step back.
My chest aches, my stomach turns, and looking at him makes me feel like I’m being swallowed up by a black hole.
“I won’t be that girl. I can’t be that girl.”
“What girl, Lennon?” His voice is almost desperate and it drives the knife currently piercing my heart even deeper into my chest.
“The girl who naïvely believes every word her famous boyfriend feeds her when all the signs point to what she refuses to see.”
“You’re not naïve. Nothing is going on.”
“I can’t sit around in that big house imagining the worst then having you prove me right at every turn,” I continue like he hasn’t even spoken. “I’m sick all the time. I’m obsessed. I can’t think of anything else. You and Annabelle. It eats at me. It’s killing me. You’ve made me someone I don’t even recognize anymore. Someone that I hate. I can’t... No, Iwon’tdo this anymore.”
“Lennon, please.” Hudson grabs my hand when I attempt to walk away.
“Don’t!” I scream, ripping my hand away. “Donottouch me.”
“Please just listen to me. I didn’t do what you think I did. I could never do that to you.”
“It doesn’t even matter.” My chin quivers as tears begin to fall. “Whether you’re with her or you’re not, you’ve already made your choice. You chose to stay with her with no regard for how I would feel about it. Just like you’ve been doing for months. Even if you slept in the chair like you claim, which I don’t for one second believe, you still did so knowing it’s something I would have never been comfortable with. But then again, why should you care. You didn’t know I would come half way across the country to surprise you. As far as you knew I’d never find out. No harm, no foul, right?”
