Page 43 of Brat Baby
The asshole would probably make me stand there, waiting until the end, if I went down there. Knowing him, he’d get off on it too. Me, standing there all awkward, waiting like a good little girl.
Yeah, that is so not happening.
So, I lean back in my seat, making myself comfortable, crossing my arms and generally putting out anI don’t give two fucksattitude. Once the room is empty, Hudson finally deigns to look up from his laptop at the group of students desperately waiting for his attention.
Okay, maybe notdesperately. Still, they’re all eager for his attention.
He scans the students waiting in front of him with a smile on his face, which falters when it is clear I’m not among his adoring fans. An elastic band snaps around my heart when his head whips up in my direction, his eyes narrowing when he is greeted with my smirk.
Sure, it might be a wobbly smirk, becauseoh shit balls, I think I might throw up from the irritation in his gaze, but he won’t be able to tell from this distance. He continues to stare, seemingly trying to use telekinesis or some shit to get me down there.
I raise an eyebrow and hope he can’t see how my hands are trembling against my biceps. His eyes rove all over the half of my body that isn’t blocked by the table and seat in front of me. I let him have his fill. Because this is the whole point, right? To let them know what they are missing out on.
Hudson doesn’t call me out. He starts having one-on-one conversations with each of the students, and I simply wait. It seems they’d actually needed to talk to him, and he was making this shit up to get me to stay back. One by one, they file out of the room, until it’s just the two of us.
The last student, Gabriella, I think, glances at me with confusion before walking through the door. When it’s shut and we’re alone, Hudson finally looks back to me.
“Could you please come down here? I’d prefer not to yell what I’d like to ask you.” He walks around his podium and does that sit-lean thing against the edge of the table, hands clasped over his lap.
Whatever emotion is on his face, it’s hard to read. I haven’t seen it on him before, but it’s almost like he is nervous.
But nervous about what? That I won’t come to him? That I will come to him? That he’ll be caught talking to me? What would the issue with that be? I’m his student. He could be helping me out with my additional reading or whatever.
I force myself to keep my breathing even while every single one of my organs is vibrating. I uncross my legs, stand, and sling my backpack over my shoulder. I don’t rush as I carefully fluff my hair around my shoulders, then make my way down to him.
I have a huge lack of confidence in my voice coming out steady, so I stop a few feet away, one hand holding the strap of my bag, and remain silent. Neither of us speaks for a few seconds, my nerves ratcheting up with every second of silence that passes.
Hudson stares at me, his gaze tracing every inch of my face and body. Tension takes over his face the longer he looks, until he finally turns away, letting out a breath.
My throat feels thick and uncomfortable, and I honestly can’t stand here anymore, being so damn fucking close but unable to touch. So I do the only thing I can—I turn to leave.
I only make it a few steps away when a hand closes around my wrist and I’m pulled to a stop. “Kitten, wait, I…”
My entire being freezes over and defrosts within the two heartbeats it takes for him to say those three words. His warm chest presses into my back, and all I want in the entire world is to feel him wrapped around my body.
Slowly, I turn to face him, heart in my throat, and I know everything I am feeling is written all over my face. But I don’t care. He called me kitten. Not Emmy. Not Emery.
Kitten. His kitten.
Lines have formed between his brows. I reach up and smooth them away, both of us standing in this bubble that is just for us, just for this one moment.
“How are you? Are you okay?” His words are a whispered request, tinged with hints of pain and frustration that is mirrored by the sadness in his blue eyes.
I match his whisper, mostly because tears are burning my throat and I don’t think I can find my voice, anyway. “I’m…I’mokay. I wasn’t at first, but I’m working on finding my happiness again.”
Not a lie. I’ll have my happiness again once I have them back in my life the way I want them.
Hudson nods as he slides his hand down my arm until his fingers wrap around my hand in a loose hold. “This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. You are supposed to be ours.”
Pain pulses from my center all throughout my body, and I have to swallow several times to get a response out. “I want to be yours. I’ll do anything to be yours again.”
Hudson closes his eyes, shielding the ice blue from me, and takes several deep breaths. When he opens them, they are closed off from me again, sheets of one-way mirror glass, and he takes two steps back, our fingers breaking apart.
I let my hand fall back to my side.
“We have seven rewards left to gift you, and I was hoping you would allow me to take you to purchase a few items whenever you have some free time,” Hudson states, his voice the least animated I have ever heard it.
He stares at me, waiting for a response, but if he thinks he can be an asshole, toying with my emotions like that, and then cut me off, he can think again.
