The Fixed Trilogy(Fixed on You, Found in You, Forever With You)(190)

Sophia scowled at her husband. “Stop attacking the victim.”

“Oh, Celia is anything but a victim.” Jack’s tone held a wealth of subtext. He obviously had his own issues with the Werner girl. On another occasion, I’d be itching to know what that was about.

Celia sighed—the kind of sigh that was for nothing but attention. “Please, don’t think of me as a victim, Sophia. I’m not complaining. I’m really not. I’m just…scared.” She wrung her hands in front of her. “I suppose it’s my fault. I stopped by the club one day—I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d be friendly. She asked me to coffee. I went, but I regret it now. That seems to have been the trigger point. She begged me not to tell you we’d met up.” She turned again to Hudson. “I should have told you immediately. I’m sorry.”

My only consolation at the moment was that Hudson refused to meet her eyes as well.

“This is ridiculous. You’re the one who suggested I didn’t tell Hudson.” Why was I even giving Celia the satisfaction of addressing her? “She’s twisting everything!”

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 fucking 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 fuck 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.