The Fixed Trilogy(Fixed on You, Found in You, Forever With You)(315)

Hudson must have nodded, because next she said, “Liar. You’re you. Hudson Pierce. You would have found a way to be with her anyway.”

“The minute I showed her any interest, you did too. Going along with your game was the only way to protect her.”

“Whatever,” Celia echoed my thoughts. “If it’s true that your interest was what attracted me, then the way for you to protect her would have been to run from her. Far and fast. I don’t buy it. You wanted to play.”

I hated to admit she and I were on the same page, but we were.

It was Hudson’s answer that surprised me. “You’re right. I should have run. I couldn’t. So I did the next best thing.”

A memory flashed into my mind of the first time I’d seen Hudson at the bar of the club. I’d known immediately that he was someone I should run from. The words far and fast had even occurred to me. Against my own conscience, knowing my faults and my weaknesses, I’d gone after him anyway.

Could I blame him for doing the same?

“I didn’t want to play the game with her,” he said next. “And I don’t want to play ever again.”

More movement. Then Hudson returned to the bar.

I should have moved. I should have moved! My pulse accelerated, and again, I held my breath.

“You don’t mean that, Hudson.” Celia stood as well. Her heels gave her away.

God, please don’t let her join him. Hudson was at least focused on his glass. She’d see me for sure.

Thankfully, she stayed where she was.

“Remember what it’s like?” she asked him. “The adrenaline rush? To stage a situation, knowing exactly how it will play out because you studied the characters so well you understand what they’ll do. There’s nothing like it.”

“You’re destroying people’s lives!”

“You taught me!”

“Then learn this next lesson well—it was wrong. I. Was. Wrong.”

Their words flew back and forth again. My heart continued to thud in my chest as they sparred. It was thrilling, exhilarating to hear him fight her.

Did that mean I thought of her as a worse enemy than him? Because I wanted him to defeat her?

Until that afternoon, I’d thought of them as a pair. Two of a kind. Now, my feelings were changing ever so slightly.

Hudson turned again to face her. “And of all the lives I’ve destroyed, Celia, I’m most regretful for what I’ve done to yours. But I can’t be responsible for that anymore. You have to decide now who you’re going to be. This is not who I’m going to be.”

Damn tears at my eyes again. Not wanting to move while I was still in his sightline, I let them fall freely. If it was true—if he really was done with his games—well, it made me proud.

Why the fuck I even cared, I couldn’t say.

“Then you’re out,” Celia said, resigned. “That’s fine. I’m not. And I’m not done with the Alayna Withers experiment.”

My stomach sunk. My break-up with Hudson should have won me a reprieve from her games. I’d never be away from her, would I?

Hudson thought I would. “Oh yes, you are done with Alayna.” He stepped further into the room, again out of my sight. “And don’t give me the line that you play to win. I can think of some times that you’ve lost. You’ve lost big, if I recall.”

“That’s cruel.” She actually sounded hurt. I hadn’t realized the woman had feelings.

“Ah, but isn’t that one of the requirements to playing the game?” His awful, caustic tone both frightened and elated me. It was scary to think Hudson had it in him, but it was delightful that he used it on my nemesis.

“Tell me, I’m curious,” Hudson began now, “what exactly was your plan with Alayna, anyway? After I dropped out and refused to break up with her, you created your befriend-and-frame scheme. When that failed, then what? The books with the quotes, the stalking—what was that supposed to do?”

I swear I heard her shrug. “I don’t know. Push her over the edge. Make her doubt you. Drive you apart.”

Hudson chuckled. “It seemed like random flailing to me. Guesswork. That’s not how we played.”

“It worked, didn’t it? You’re not together anymore.”

Oh, how I wanted to knock the glee out of her voice. It was another one of the worst parts of breaking up with Hudson—Celia took it as a victory.

He wouldn’t let her take the credit, though. “Believe it or not, that has nothing to do with anything you did.”

“Really? I thought for sure telling her we were lovers had been the final nail in the coffin. Especially when I gave her proof.”