Chapter 39
Instead of replying to his question, Keith gestured for him to drink his tea.
Even though he was annoyed by Keith’s smile and
teacup.
what seemed like an attempt to prolong the time in replying. Hudson still reached for his
He loved the tea Keith served him every time he visited. It seemed to be able to calm him down. He had asked Keith where he bought the tea leaves, but Keith said it was his own special blend, so Hudson stopped asking. If he put some anti–anxiety meds in it, so be it. He trusted Keith with his life.
In truth, Keith had received this special tea blend from Cherise. Since Keith wasn’t such an asshole to her, even quite welcoming, and she knew Hudson loved to visit Keith, she asked him to serve this tea whenever Hudson came to him while in a bad mood.
Keith was skeptical at first, but knowing how much Cherise loved Hudson at the time, he chose to trust Cherise, and the tea worked wonders.
He had asked Cherise if Hudson would notice it was from her, but she assured him he wouldn’t. She used a different blend at home, just a simple blend so Hudson wouldn’t know she knew how to blend tea leaves. Maybe he needed to ask Cherise for a new batch since he was going to run out soon, but he doubted Cherise would want to give hirm any more, seeing how she had divorced Hudson.
While Hudson was sipping his tea, he welcomed the soothing warmth and feeling it gave him, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t still annoyed by Keith’s smile. He was fuming, and it seemed like his best friend was enjoying it.
“Hudson…” Keith finally said as Hudson was still enjoying his tea. “You are jealous of Logan and Julian.”
That was an answer Hudson had
swer Hudson had never expected, and he choked on his tea.
Keith laughed and patted his back hard while Hudson glared at him as he coughed hard and gasped for air until his tears ran down his face.
“f**k you” he shoved Keith, who was still laughing, and wiped his tears with tissues from the table.
Once Hudson had stopped coughing and regained his breathing back, Keith looked at him seriously. He needed to let his best friend see the truth about his own feelings for his ex-wife.
- sv. then what is it?”
“Hudson,” Keith said calmly, “You got angry and want to punch every man who got close to Cherise. If that is not jealousy,
Hudson snorted. “I hate her. Why would I get jealous? And you know I don’t do jealousy. I wasn’t even jealous when Emely chose Luis over me.”
“Are you?” Keith asked. “So what’s with you k*ssing her instead of punching Logan?”
“I told you it was to punish her for letting them touch her,” Hudson growled out his response.
Keith shook his head helplessly. This best friend of his was too stubborn to realize the truth or to own up to his feelings.
“That’s an…” Keith cocked his head to one side while rubbing his chin. “Unusual form of punishment.”
Hudson ran his fingers through his thick black hair in irritation. “I don’t know, Keith. I just couldn’t control myself when I was around her now. She told me she belongs to both Jullan and Logan now, and I just wanted to shut her up.”
“And what’s wrong with her belonging to Logan and Julian now?” Keith asked, kind of enjoying this conversation.
“Do you think it would be good for her reputation to belong to two men at the same time?” Hudson growled again and looked sharply at Keith.
“No one knew about it except us,” Keith shrugged. “And to be honest, Hudson, it’s kind of not your problem anymore.”
“How can it not be my problem?” Hudson snapped. “She was mine before. What would it make me look like to have an ex–wife who behaves like
a wh-”
Chapter 39
“A whore?” Keith provided the word when Hudson stopped his sentence.
“Don’t ever associate her with that word,” Hudson growled again, his rage resurfacing at the thought of people thinking Cherise was a whore.
“You wanted to say the word,” Keith pointed out.
“But I didn’t, and no one should! Hudson banged his fist against the table, rattling it and nearly toppling the teacups and pot because of the force he exerted.
Keith sighed and looked at his best friend before slowly saying. “Hudson. You spent three years married to her. It’s not strange if you developed any feelings toward her during those times.”
“Like hell I did,” Hudson glanced sharply at Keith. “I hate her, and you know it.”
“So what are you gonna do about it?” Keith asked patiently. “She’s not your wife anymore. She can be with anyone she wants now.”
Hudson rubbed his big hands over his face. “I don’t know, Keith. I don’t even know what’s wrong with me. I can’t seem to stay away fr and the damnest thing is my b*dy still reacts whenever I k*ss her. Even looking at her today gave me a hard–on.”
from her,
Keith’s eyebrows shot up, nearly disappearing beneath his hairline. “You got hard just by looking at her?”
“She was wearing this..” Hudson waved his hand around, not knowing how to describe what Cherise had worn because all he could think about was the glimpses of skin that enticed him,
“f**k,” he cursed, groaned, and placed his face on his palms. “What the hell am I gonna do with her, Keith?”
Keith looked at his frustrated friend and sighed. He had fallen so far down the rabbit hole and still didn’t want to admit it. What could he do as a friend now?
“Nothing..” Keith murmured, defeated by his attempt to convince his friend of his true feelings for his ex–wife. “Let her go, Hudson. She’s not yours the moment you brought Emely back and divorced her.”
At the mention of Emely, Hudson’s head snapped up; his eyes had turned bloodshot.
“Emely…” Hudson let out a heavy breath. “I didn’t mean to.”
“You didn’t mean to what, Hudson?” Keith pressed on. “You didn’t mean to parade her in front of everyone and treat her gently, showing everyone how much you favored her over your own wife?”
Hudson kept quiet. Could he tell Keith what truly happened? Why he brought Emely back?
“Did you not think that Cherise has feelings and she had put everything – her heart, her love, her EVERYTHING for you, even willingly being bullied by your friends and mother and sister, and you still had to rub it in her face by bringing your pregnant mistress?”
“Even then, I saw Cherise’s hospital record and how bad her injuries were,” Keith cut him off. “And the first thing you asked of her was to apologize to your mistress or choose to divorce. Even if you hate her, you were heartless, Hudson,” Keith laid everything out. He never pulled back from telling Hudson the truth, but this was the first time he said all those things without restrictions.
“I never meant to divorce her!” Hudson bellowed, startling both himself and Keith. “I never meant to divorce her, for fuck’s sake, even though I hate her,” he repeated with a softer voice.
“Even though I thought she was a gold digger, even though she comes from the countryside, even though she was boring. I could sleep peacefully when I was with her. And she never created any trouble for me. She was the perfect housewife until she got jealous of Emely” Hudson said, not realizing he had admitted a lot from his words.
“Then why did you divorce her if you didn’t want to?” Keith asked, withholding many of the things he wanted to point out for now from Hudson’s own admission.
Chapter 39
(C)
“She chose It Keith, Hudson replied, his shoulders slumping as if he was shouldering a heavy burden. “She killed Emely’s baby, for God’s sake, Was it so difficult to apologize?”
“Do you think Cherise is that kind of person?” Keith asked as he looked at Hudson with intensity know Cherise would apologize if she did something wrong. She is or was that type of person”
guess you were wrong. Hudson snorted, going back to his domineering and asshole attitude. “I guess we were all wrong. She was just pretending to be meek when she married me. You saw how much she has changed now.”
“I heard from Miles that even though Cherise was injured at that time, she was still trying to help Emely before you barged in and shouted at her, accusing her before even knowing what truly happened, Keith said, ignoring Hudson’s new accusations of Cherise.
This paused Hudson from retorting to Keith Cherise had somehow said the same thing to him, and Katherine had hinted the same thing earlier today at the Angelworld Jewelry store
Could Emely really be the one causing her own miscarriage? But why would she do it? There was no point in doing it.
Hudson didn’t want to believe it. Emely was not that type of woman. She was gentle, and it was impossible for her to do such a cruel thing to her own baby.
“No matter what, Cherise pushed Emely, causing her to fall and have a miscarriage, and she didn’t even show any remorse about 11. Hudson’s heart denied Emely being so evil. He would rather pin the blame on Cherise
“I would have divorced you too if I were Cherise, Keith said bluntly
“What do you mean by that?” Hud
Hudson glared at him.
“For three years, she gave you everything, and in the end, that was what she got–distrust,” Keith pointed out. “You didn’t even investigate or anything”
“What was there to investigate?” he asked Keith with irritation. I’ve asked Cherise, and she challenged me instead. I asked Emely about it, and she said it was Cherise’s fault for being jealous of my relationship with her. She only asked Cherise to cook her an omelet, and Cherise just pushed her away
“As your wife, it was her right to be jealous and not to be bossed around by your mistress.” Keith said calmly.
“No, she didn’t have that right,” Hudson replied sharply. “I never loved her, and she knew İL”
“If you say so,” Keith said finally. There was no point arguing about this anymore, what with his best friend being so stubborn about it.
“So, are you going to marry Emelly?” Keith changed the subject.
Hudson let out another heavy sigh and leaned back again, staring at the celling one more time.
rhim.
“I have to,” he muttered so softly that Keith had to strain his ears to hear h
“Why?” he asked. “Why force yourself if you don’t want to? If you still have that strong reaction toward Cherise, why not remarry her?” Keith tried to convince Hudson to get back together with Cherise.
“You know the only good thing about Cherise was the S*x,” Hudson said, not bothering to hide the fact or be embarrassed about IL
“And that you could sleep peacefully when you were with her Keith pointed out lazily
Hudson ignored his words. He could sleep peacefully with Cherise, most probably because he was tired after their vigorous S*x sessions.
“Are you still in love with Emely?” Keith asked as he poured himself another cup of tea
Was he? Hudson thought to himself. He was in love with Emely, yes, but his feelings had changed. She had become more like a family. He
wasn’t in love with her anymore.
– JJ MM M
Chapter 39
“I have to marry her, Keith,” Hudson repeated.
“Why?” Keith asked again. “I asked you if you are still in love with her, but you didn’t answer me, and as your best friend, I can assume you not in love with her anymore. So why is there a need to marry her?”
Should he tell Keith? Maybe it was time to let him know. Maybe if someone knew about it, he wouldn’t feel so guilty anymore.
Hudson let out a shaky breath before saying, “Because Luis died in my pl
my place. He died because of me.”
are
