The Fixed Trilogy(Fixed on You, Found in You, Forever With You)(239)

“I know for sure. There’s no way he was with her.” It wasn’t the first time Mira had stated her opinion on the matter.

Jack agreed. “He’s been disgusted with her ever since she seduced me.”

Mira scowled. “Seduced you? As if you weren’t part of it.”

“Yes, I was part of it.” Jack grinned devilishly. “But there are very few men who would turn down a naked woman in their bedroom, no matter what their marital status.”

“Oh, I don’t know. It’s not unheard of.” Paul Kresh came to mind. I’d been naked in his office once. All it earned me was an arrest.

The waiter delivered Jack’s drink. Mira rolled her eyes but didn’t comment on his beverage choice again.

When the waiter left, she asked, “If Hudson’s so disgusted with Celia, why are they even friends?”

Her question was one I’d asked myself many times over the past few weeks. It never occurred to me that Jack might be the one with the answer.

He took a swallow of his drink and sat back in his chair. “Hudson blames himself for who she is now. He feels a sort of responsibility for her.”

Mira’s forehead twisted in confusion. “I don’t get it. Why would he be responsible for who she is?”

Apparently Mira didn’t know about the true history of Celia and Hudson—how he’d manipulated her into falling for him and then slept with her best friend. It was that betrayal that had driven her to sleep with Jack in the first place. As some sort of revenge.

Jack met my eyes, confirming he knew more than his daughter. “It’s a long complicated story. If you want to know more, you’re going to have to ask Hudson. Or Celia.”

“Yeah, that’s not happening.” Using her spoon, Mira fished out an ice cube from her still full water glass and stuck it in her mouth. Surprisingly, she didn’t pursue the long complicated story further.

While hearing from Jack had been insightful, my one haunting question remained unanswered. “Okay, they’re friends and he’s supported her and he’s never been into her and she knows that—so why is she after us?”

Jack sighed. “Beats me. It’s probably another one of her games. She’s fond of them, you know. And she’s good at them. I put nothing past her. She’s a calculating, conniving woman, and she hates to lose.”

“Great.” I rubbed my hand across my forehead, trying to ease the headache that was quickly approaching. “How the hell are you supposed to get out of her grasp?”

“Let her think she’s won.”

Our meals arrived then, and the conversation turned lighter to talk of Mira’s baby and her decision to not find out whether she was having a boy or a girl and what colors she was planning for the nursery. Despite the earlier tension between her and Jack, they settled into an easy groove, and I found myself more relaxed than I’d been in days. Lunch with the two was just what I’d needed.

When we were finished, Mira talked us into crème brûlée and coffee. We lingered over our dessert, enjoying each other’s company. Finally, she shoved away her plate. “God, I’m stuffed. And I have to go to the bathroom. Again.”

I’d gone with her the first time, but now I chose to stay behind, eager to get a few private words in with Jack. This would probably be my only opportunity, after all.

When Mira was out of earshot, I dove in. “Jack, I have a personal question for you, if you don’t mind.”

“About six and a half inches. But it’s not size that matters; it’s what you do with it.” Hudson’s dirty sense of humor obviously came from his father.

I rolled my eyes. “I’m serious.”

He looked as if he might be preparing a comeback, but perhaps the glare on my face changed his mind. “Okay. Shoot.”

“Sophia once told me that Hudson was a sociopath. Do you believe that too?” It was blunt perhaps, but I knew Mira would be back soon, and I didn’t know how honest Jack would be with her around.

“Sophia’s still claiming that bullshit?” Jack shook his head, his expression a combination of disgust and exhaustion. “One psychiatrist suggested it one time a handful of years ago. Hudson’s never been clinically diagnosed as such, and no, I don’t believe it. That boy cares. A lot. He just isn’t always able to express it. Blame that on Sophia too.”

I let out the breath I didn’t know I’d been holding. No matter what Jack’s answer, I already knew what Hudson was and wasn’t. But hearing the details of Sophia’s claim—and knowing his father didn’t agree—was a relief.