Hudson (Anderson Billionaires #4) - Melody Anne Page 0,95
wanted to challenge him I’d have to get a hell of a lot bigger. The bastard died before that could happen.”
Daisy saw Hudson’s fists had clenched together as he’d spoken. He dropped a cup into the sink with enough force to shatter it if it had been a glass. She moved over to him, wrapping her arms around him from behind as she laid her head against his back.
“Then maybe this trip will be a good thing, Hudson. Maybe if you face those demons of the past it’ll help you appreciate your future,” she told him. He was tense beneath her touch.
“I think it’s absolutely pointless to look at the past. I want to focus on the here and now, on the future, on us, and on my work,” he told her. He turned and held her close, and she heard his heart thundering in his chest.
“We can’t have a future if you don’t know who you are and where you come from. It will always haunt you and be a shadow over everything you do,” Daisy told him.
She was feeling inexplicably sad about the conversation. Hudson didn’t say anything, just held on tight. After a few moments, she said, “I didn’t get to grow up with siblings, and I barely knew my parents. They certainly forgot that I existed most of the time. If it hadn’t been for my gramps I wouldn’t know what it’s like to have family. You’re lucky to have not only brothers who you love and love you, but this entire extended family who’d do anything for you. Don’t throw that away, don’t give up on them.”
“I’m not giving up on anyone,” Hudson told her. “I’m just focused on you and today and tomorrow. I don’t need yesterday.”
She sighed as she pulled back. “Hudson, you need to do this. You know I believe without our history we’re nothing. Washing away the past as if it didn’t exist is what’s wrong with the world today. We’ll never be able to move forward if you refuse to look back,” she told him.
“That’s ridiculous, Daisy,” he said, his body tensing again.
“The past can be healing. Give it a chance,” she told him.
“And if I don’t?” he asked.
She felt as if he’d stabbed her with those words. “I’m not giving you an ultimatum,” she said, but she did take another step back, not wanting him to touch her right then.
“It sort of sounds like you are,” he told her. Shutters had closed over his eyes. She was confused about what they were arguing about. She felt as if a wall had gone up between them.
“Maybe I am,” she finally told him. “I don’t think we have any shot at a future if you don’t understand who you are.”
“And maybe we don’t have a chance for a future because you only live in the past,” he said, more venom in his voice than she’d ever heard come from his lips.
“I think it’s time for me to go,” she said. She was unbelievably sad.
“I’m not going to beg you to stay. It seems I’m doing that all of the time, and maybe I’m tired of the game,” Hudson told her.
“I’m not asking you to,” Daisy said. She turned and walked from the room, grabbed her purse, and exited his house. She was halfway down the walk when he called to her.
“Daisy, this is stupid,” he said from the doorway. She turned back and found him still looking frustrated, the shutters probably still in place. Her heart felt as if it was breaking. She didn’t understand how a simple discussion had so completely come between them. It made no sense.
“I agree, Hudson. Go on your trip. You might find yourself,” she said before she turned around and walked to her car. She forced herself not to look back as she started it then drove away. She made it a few blocks before she burst into tears.
Had they just broken up? Had they ever really been a couple in the first place? She didn’t know what had happened or what would happen next. She was sad, inexplicably sad. She needed to go home and figure out what came next. Right now she didn’t see a future, and she was unsure of what mattered from her past.
She wasn’t sure what had happened between them or what was going to come next.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Hudson sat by the fire, his mood as cold and brooding as the morning mist. He didn’t understand why it had been so