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She’s magnificent. This poor kid doesn’t stand a chance of handling her and I’m not sure I do either, but I sure as fuck want to.
“You got it, babe. You want a drink while you wait?”
Pathetic child thinks he can let a woman like Audrey wait for him for hours? He must be smoking some bad shit if that’s the case.
“Champagne. He’s paying so make it the good stuff.”
Audrey looks at me with a challenge and I nod at the kid, who she won’t be going home with, to go ahead. “You really think that kid can get you off, Aud?”
“I’m sorry, did I ask for your opinion?”
“Just saying, he probably thinks the G-spot is a band.”
Her eyes travel over me with disdain and my dick strains in my pants.“Oh, please. Like you’re any better.”
“If I remember rightly, Audrey, your actual words were ‘Oh, Hudson, fuck me, Hudson, you’re the best.’ So based on that, I’m leaps and bounds better.”
She sniffs. “I barely remember.”
“You never were a good liar.”
“Really? I’m an excellent liar.”
“Of course, you are. That’s why Steve Godsall found out that I was the one who hid basil herbs in his locker just before Principal Jobbie did an inspection.”
“I didn’t tell him.”
Her lips twitch and, for the first time since I walked away from her, I see something other than hate. I want to hold onto it, to wrap it in my arms and cradle the feeling. “Did you know Jobbie is what Scottish people call a shit? Our principal was literally called shit.”
Audrey’s eyes go wide before she bursts out laughing, her head falling back revealing the slender length of her throat, and it almost steals the breath from my lungs.
“Oh my God, I can’t breathe.”
We’re wheezing our way through our laughter when two glasses of Champagne appear in front of us. Luckily the bartender is now busy as the bar fills up and he leaves us alone.
“I missed this.”
Audrey sobers. “Yes, well, we didn’t exactly part on good terms, did we?”
“Not bad either. I’m sorry, Audrey.”
She puts her hand up to stop me. “No, I can’t.”
I see it then, the wobble in her composure, and realize I didn’t just hurt her, I wrecked her, and I have no right to open old wounds to appease my conscience. “I understand.”
I move to stand and give her the peace she deserves but she lays a hand on my forearm. Electricity rips through me at her touch, and I know I’ll never have that connection with anyone but her again. I’ve spent the best part of my adult life searching for anything that felt even half as good and failed. I met the love of my life as a stupid teenager and fucked it up beyond measure. My penance is to live knowing that I’ll never have that again. Yet I’m desperate to hold onto this moment, to freeze time and soak up every second of her intense focus aimed at me.
“How about this, we get drunk, have fun, but keep our pants on? No funny stuff. Just old friends spending an evening getting wasted at a biker wedding.”
I look around, seeing Eden’s family mixing with Ryker’s, and smile with a nod. “Deal. But to clarify, that means no sex, right?” Audrey gives me a look that would freeze the balls off most men and I wink. “Just kidding. Friends, fun, and champagne.”
“And no feelings of any kind. When tonight is over, we go back to ignoring each other. I can’t be your friend again, Hudson.”
The quiet way she says it twists inside me, with more impact than if she had screamed at me.
I hate that, but then, what choice do I have?
* * *
