Page 45 of Lords of Misrule
“Yeah, I fucking know. I mean like a temporary one. A sprain or a strain. Something that you have to get evaluated for, have some rest days. Maybe you decide to go home for a second opinion. Buys you a few days up with your family. We can make do without you for one game.”
“Yeah. Okay.” Hudson tilts his head back and forth.
“Sounds workable…” Finn nods along.
“Just one thing…” Hudson shakes his head. “How the hell did I come into possession of a medieval painting worth 30K? My grandparents know I have a draining bank account. That I play hockey and have zero funds to show for it. Never shown interest in art before. They’re going to be suspicious.”
“Fuck!” I kick back off the table, tilting my chair onto its back legs, and close my eyes. “Can you just say you won it in a poker game or something? Don’t you rich kids do shit like that?”
“I’d have to have money to enter a high-dollar poker game, and we’re not exactly at Yale here with a bunch of other wealthy heirs.” Hudson shakes his head.
“What if it’s mine?” Charlotte asks.
“What do you mean, what if it’s yours?” Finn puzzles at her. “Like you gifted it to him?”
“No, but maybe I inherited it. And maybe I’m looking to sell it because I’m running out of money too.”
“And Hudson’s just helping you out of the goodness of his little fucking heart?” I raise a brow at Charlotte.
“No. He’s my boyfriend,” Charlotte says it matter-of-factly, and Hudson’s brows raise, and his eyes light.
“Oh yeah?” Hudson grins.
“Hush you.” She elbows him, grinning before she turns back to me. “I’m his girlfriend he met here. Maybe another down-and-out discarded heir with not much money. Maybe the painting was left to me by a rich aunt or uncle. But I need the money more than I need the painting. Hudson wants to help me and remembers his family friends back home.”
Her proposal isn’t awful. Not at its core. But her pretending to be Hudson’s girlfriend? I don’t like it. The two of them running off alone together to visit his family.
“And I want to introduce her to the only family I still like—my grandparents. I do like them, but they’ll also eat that up. Especially my grandmother.” Hudson looks at her but his eyes land on her hair. “But we’ll have to change a few things. Lose the violet and get you some clothes that make you look like you run with their crowd. Then you’d fit right in, Duchess.”
There’s another exchange of grins between them, like two co-conspirators who are only too excited to head off to some secret retreat together.
“What about your real fucking girlfriend? Doesn’t she live up there?” I don’t like how excited he’s getting about this, at all. I’ve suspected for a long minute that Hudson wants to be more than just Charlotte’s friend. That he’s been working the friend zone like he’s trying to finesse his way into the goal, and it pisses me off. I’d rather he just says he wants to fuck her and be done with it. Fuck knows he loved watching her get railed by Finn and me.
Hudson sits back then, looking uncomfortable. “I don’t know… I could talk to her about it.”
“The fuck you will. No one is in on any of this except the four of us. You hear me?” I look at Hudson as I rock back again.
“I hear you.” His jaw tightens. He’s never liked the fact that I’m the boss around here. We might be good friends, but that part of his upbringing, the one that doesn’t want to bow down to anyone else—especially someone without money or a family name—still revolts at the idea of listening to me.
“Good.”
“Does she even have to know you’re in town? I thought she lived in another city anyway?” Finn asks.
“Yeah. I could go without seeing her. I’d feel like a dick, but it’s possible. My grandparents don’t pay close attention to my dating life, so they wouldn’t know the difference.”
“Okay. So let’s not overcomplicate it then.” Finn’s calm and collected as always. “You guys go up there as a couple. Hudson skips seeing or telling his girlfriend. There’s no reason he should run into her anyway, and then the two of you can play like you’re together for the grandparents. Easy enough.”
Charlotte and Hudson nod along like it’s a reasonable solution.
“Fine. Just don’t fuck it up. We need this painting sold. If you can go out there this weekend—before the new year—get it done.” My chair lands back on all four legs with a thud, and I leave the room. I don’t need to see the two of them giggling about getting to take a trip together.
Twenty-Five
Charlotte
When Hudson and I arrive at his grandparents’ house, I nearly choke on my own tongue. The place is a gated mansion on a sprawling property with a long driveway. The house is surrounded by a tidy front lawn with a forest bordering the outer edges. It looks like it could be a modern fairytale castle tucked away in the woods. With the snow gently falling around it, it looks like it only needs a glass globe to be the perfect little fantasy.
“I’m sorry. You’re related to these people?” I stare at Hudson from the passenger seat as he puts the car in park. It’s a rhetorical question really. I know the answer, but all this doesn’t compute with the guy I know. Other than the fancy clothes, he’s a pretty humble laid-back guy, if not a little too good at making new friends and chatting people up. I suppose that comes from a lifetime of learning to make small talk at charity events and golf clubs.
