Page 24 of Commit

“Fuck, sorry, I thought you heard me come in,” Hudson apologizes as I try to stop my heart from beating out of my chest.

“How do you move so quietly?” I gasp, backing up to put some space between us.

“Occupational hazard,” he answers, making me frown. I thought he was a driver. Though if the rumors are true, he’s a driver for one of the city’s mob bosses, so I guess being sneaky is part of that. I don’t comment on that, having no desire to swim with the fishes.

“Do you know where Abbot is?”

He takes a step closer so he can grab his own bottle of water, which is when I notice what he’s wearing: a sweat-soaked white T-shirt and gray sweatpants.

Oh, no. Oh no-no-no-no-no. I like to think I’m strong, but I’m not gray sweatpants strong.

A whimper slips free, so I do the only thing I can think of. I fake tripping and stub my toe on the counter, which isn’t fake at all. A curse replaces the whimper as I bend over to check my now sore toe and freeze when my ass grazes something hard that is most definitely not the counter.

I bolt upright and limp away. “I just remembered I have a thing—” I’m out the door and hobbling up the stairs before I can finish the sentence because God only fucking knows what would have come out.

I duck inside the first room offering me safety, which just so happens to be the one that’s solely mine, and close the door. Sliding down to the floor, I stare at my throbbing toe in disbelief. Did that just happen? How the fuck am I ever supposed to leave this room again? Maybe I can get Abbot to deliver food up here, so I never have to leave it.

I bang my head against the door lightly, not wanting to give myself a headache. Because then I’d have to leave the room to find painkillers, and as I’ve already established, that’s not an option right now.

It’s on bang six or seven that something registers, and I pause. In all my embarrassment for acting like a raving lunatic, I failed to process that Hudson had a hard-on.

Hudson had a hard-on.

The question I’m almost afraid to ask myself is: did I interrupt him doing something or someone… or was the hard-on because of me?

Chapter Eight

Hudson

Ishouldn’t laugh. Fuck me, she’s adorable. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a human turn that red, and now I’m tempted to follow her and see how red I can make her in other places.

I shake my head and adjust my cock before opening the water and taking a drink. My goal had been to put some distance between us. She’s not ready for me, and honestly, I’m probably not ready for her. Anything that happens between us will wreck whatever remains between Abbot and me. Although we’re more strangers than family, I’m reluctant to throw away any chance at reconciliation for pussy that might not even mean anything to me in a couple months.

I look toward the door Starling practically ran out of, remembering the feel of her ass against my cock, and growl. I know I’m full of shit. Something tells me that once I slide inside Starling, I’ll never want to leave, and that’s the fucking problem. For a man who built his career around loyalty, am I willing to give up my son for a girl I barely know?

I tug my phone from my pocket when I feel it vibrate and see it’s Atlas.

I answer and speak before he can. “Tell me there isn’t another body.”

“There isn’t another body,” he says wryly. “At least not that we’ve found. I know you’ve been digging; I’ve asked Kenzo to check around as well, but so far, he hasn’t found anything mentioning numbers being carved into people.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing,” I admit, rubbing a hand down my face.

“If there are no other bodies, it most likely means I’m the target. Unless Emma had a client that was pissed that she left. It seems too symbolic to be random.”

“That was my thought too. Anything else?”

“Nothing new if that’s what you’re asking. How are the kids?” he asks, forcing a grunt from me. “Oh dear, trouble in paradise already?”

“I think your idea of paradise and mine are completely different.”

“I hope so. My idea of paradise is located between Ivy’s thighs, the same place that if you went, you would die.”

I snort. “I think of Ivy as the sister I never wanted, and you know it.”

“Which is why you’re still alive. Now tell me what’s going on over there that’s making you sound like you want to break something.”

I hesitate, then remember all the shit Atlas put Ivy through and figure if anyone can understand my level of crazy, it’s him.