Chapter 17
Chloe
“Are you sure it was him? A lot of people look like Hudson in LA.”
Jade, Mariah, and I were sitting in the living room, and the bomb Jade had dropped on me was making my whole body vibrate with stress. I felt like I was going to throw up.
Jade shook her head sadly. “Chloe, it was him. I’ve seen him enough times to know that it was Hudson in the VIP with another woman. We locked eyes for a second and then he ducked down. If it wasn’t him, then why would he act so guilty?”
“Yeah, Chloe,” Mariah added. “It wouldn’t make sense for a random guy to avoid Jade like that. Have you texted him or anything?”
I sighed and hunkered down lower into the couch. “No, not tonight. Well, wait… he did text me and ask me if I was out tonight.”
“When?” Jade asked with her eyebrow raised.
“I don’t know.” I grabbed my phone to look at the time he sent the text message. “It was 8:45.”
“Yup. That is around the time I saw him, and I remember because I had my phone in my hand at the time. It was him, Chloe. Trust me, it was him and he was with a little chick with pink hair and a bunch of tattoos. I could see her too.”
The conversation me and my mother had just a couple of days ago echoed through my mind. I wasn’t sure how my mother had managed to be right without knowing the situation, but that was pretty standard for her. I didn’t want to believe it though. Not right away. “Hold on. I can call him, and we can get to the bottom of it right now.”
Jade nodded resolutely. “Yeah, call him. Put his ass on speakerphone, too. If he tries to deny it, I will call him out on it. I’ll even tell you what he had on. A black, collared shirt, and sunglasses on his head. That’s all I could see because he was so high up.”
I called his cell phone, but he didn’t answer. It was almost midnight and it was unusual for him not to be awake now. Even if he was sleep, he would pick up with a groggy voice and ask me if everything was alright. I called him again, but it was the same response. “He didn’t answer.”
“You should just take my car and go over there, Chloe. Go to his house and see what’s up. There’s no point in letting this fester all night and driving yourself crazy wondering who he’s with. Just go. Do you want us to drive over there with you?” Jade asked.
“Yeah, we can go,” Mariah said. “We can all go over there and whip his ass. Bust the windows out of his car, too. We can do it all.”
“No, I need to go by myself. Also, that is a massive overreaction. I really don’t want anyone going to jail tonight, Mariah. I am sure this is just a misunderstanding. I mean, he said he just wanted to stay home tonight, so I left him alone. You guys probably just have it all wrong.”
“I hope we do, Chloe. I hope we do.”
I put on my sweats and a t-shirt, then headed straight to Hudson’s place. When I got there, I rang the doorbell, but nobody answered. I called his cell phone, but again, it kept ringing until the voicemail picked up. What the fuck is going on, Hudson? I went back to my car across the street and sat quietly in the driver’s seat, wondering what exactly I had gotten myself into with this man.
Just as I was about to start the engine, a car pulled up to Hudson’s house, and the back door flung open. I wrinkled my eyebrows as I watched Hudson stick his leg out of the car, and then stumble to get to his feet. Is he drunk? Hudson fell to the concrete when he tried to shut the door, and when I got out of my car, I could hear the driver screaming at him before they sped away. He was laughing when I got to him.
“Hudson? What the fuck? Seriously?”
He looked at me as if I was a ghost. His eyes widened. His mouth opened, but he couldn’t get the right words out, so he stuttered. “Chl… Chl… Chloe. What… What are you doing here?”
“I am wondering what the fuck is going on with you.” I looked at his clothes after I got him to his feet. He had on the same collared shirt that Jade said he would be wearing, but the first few buttons were undone. “Why is your shirt unbuttoned? And why are you out? You said you were going to stay home and rest, but you’re out drinking?”
“I can explain… just… help me in the house and I will explain.”
His breath reeked of liquor as I put my arm around him and helped him inside. When we got to the door, I noticed the scent of a woman’s fragrance emanating from his body. As soon as we were in his living room, I pushed him onto the couch. He plopped onto the cushion face-first as my eyes began to water. “You smell like you’ve been partying with underwear models, Hudson. Can you just tell me what the fuck is going on?”
“What? I was um, I was um…” He laughed out loud as if it was a joke. He was too drunk to hold a coherent conversation and I knew it.
“Fuck it, Hudson! I’m not doing this. If you can’t be honest with me, if you’re going to lie and screw around, then it’s over. I’m not a side piece. I’m not going to risk everything just so you can get your rocks off with me during the day, then troll for something better at night. Lose my number. Ignore me at work. We’re done.”
“Noooo… But Chloe, wait... wa... wait.”
He tried to stand up, but he fell back to the ground like a ton of bricks. I closed the door behind me and cried all the way to the car. I couldn’t believe that I had let this happen. I had let myself get distracted from my work, my plans, by a man who didn’t give a shit about me.
How could I have been so stupid?