After a scalding hot shower, Shaney put on another pair of oversized sweats and a shirt, and then wandered down to the kitchen. Passing through the living room, Shaney stopped in front of several pictures on the mantle of the large river rock fireplace. In one of the photos, Hudson stood on a dock next to an older man with salt-and-pepper hair. They shared the same smile, twinkle in their eyes, height, and build. They each had an arm flung over the other’s shoulders and were grinning as if they shared a secret. There was a palpable love in that photo. The man had to be Hudson’s grandfather. The grandfather who’d been electrocuted. How many of Hudson’s horrible memories had surfaced when he’d thought Shaney had been electrocuted?
Hudson came from the kitchen and approached Shaney.
“Your grandfather?” Shaney asked.
Several unrecognizable emotions crossed Hudson’s face, but then the corners of his mouth lifted slightly. “Yeah.”
“How old were you when he died?”
“Twenty-two. Come in the kitchen. I made some sandwiches.”
Shaney got the hint. No talking about his grandfather. Shaney obediently followed.
“Sit.” Hudson pointed to the chair at the table. His tone was softer than usual.
Shaney sat and Hudson placed a plate with a turkey sandwich and potato salad in front of him. Hudson sat across from Shaney with his own plate. When he smiled, Shaney relaxed. He grinned back and then wolfed down everything on his plate to the amusement of Hudson. Shaney then demolished a second helping as well. When finished, Shaney patted his bulging stomach, the international sign for a good meal.
“Thanks,” Shaney said as Hudson cleared his dish. Hudson nodded and put their plates into the dishwasher. He turned and leaned back, casually gripping the edges of the counter next to his hips. There was contemplation in his gaze. Shaney worked at tearing his napkin into small bits. The uncomfortable silence stretched and Shaney squirmed in his chair. Was Hudson waiting for him to speak? Never one to back down, Shaney drew in a deep breath and started.
“It all began that day you and I went to that cabin on the north end of the pond…”
Shaney spilled every agonizing detail in one rambling, convoluted story. He refrained from looking up, fearful of the expression he’d find on Hudson’s face. Hudson listened, didn’t interrupt or judge. When Shaney finished, he was drained physically and emotionally, and his napkin was a shredded pile of paper fibers.
“That’s when I woke up here,” Shaney concluded. Wow, after hearing the story aloud, even Shaney doubted the veracity of the tale. What the hell would Hudson think? Shaney hazarded a glance and the expression he encountered wasn’t the mortified disbelief he’d expected, but closer to pondering, wondering, and…something reminiscent?
When Hudson finally spoke, Shaney startled. “I scrubbed those symbols off of your body and you’re fine.”
Shaney’s cheeks flushed with heat at the thought of Hudson bathing him.
“I don’t know what happened at the cabin the first time we were there, but you were electrocuted and that no doubt fucked with your nervous system. When you should have been getting medical attention, your friend and his cult buddies were practicing some insane form of voodoo on you.”
“It wasn’t voodoo. And Todd would never hurt me.” Drug me against my will and kidnap me, but never hurt me. Right? It was all way past fucked up.
“Todd’s caught up with some messed up people doing some messed up shit. Who knows what they’ve got him to believe?”
Shaney gripped the sides of his seat. It was too much all at once. The tower was leaning, and one strong wind would bring it crashing down. Had Todd and Caleb been wrong? Had he really been suffering the aftereffects of an electrocution? Away from the cabin and Todd’s sadistic friends, he was perfectly fine. Well, except for being two steps from a nervous breakdown and a broken heart. Otherwise, he was just peachy.
Hudson touched Shaney’s shoulder and knelt beside the chair. “You look exhausted. How about you lie down in my room for a while? Get some more sleep.”
“Would hiding under the covers for the next month be over the top?” Shaney mumbled, releasing his death grip on the chair.
A velvety chuckle caressed Shaney. “As long as I can snuggle in with you, it sounds good, baby.”
Oh, balls, did Hudson just tell Shaney he wanted him in his bed for the next month?
Hudson regarded Shaney with a fondness that brightened his ruggedly handsome face.
“I like it when you call me baby,” Shaney confessed, itching to reach out and touch skin.
Hudson’s smile faded, taking on an edge of seriousness. “I like calling you baby. Come on.”