Page 8 of Angel's Forever

Hudson laughed slightly. “I care about you as a friend, and I love Nico and Gaby. I want them and you to be happy, because if they are happy then that in turn makes me happy. Please consider this. None of us want to see you go back to Sicily and live your life alone when you could have been here with us. As for how it will all work, I guess we will just have to work it out as we go along. However, we all need to communicate with each other and let everyone know how we are feeling if something doesn’t feel right, and we need to be honest with each other.”

Hudson paused for a moment before he continued.

“Nico and I are heading off to Detroit next week for a couple of days. Spend some time with Gaby and stay the night. If something happens, it happens, and you do not have to feel guilty about that. When we come back, we can all sit down and talk again. What do you think?”

Gino sat there for a while and looked at each of us in turn, as if trying to gauge if it was what we all wanted.

Nico, who had been silent throughout this discussion, spoke. “Gino, I really don’t want you to go home. It would break my heart, but as I said, I can’t stop you. If you don’t want this, or really think it won’t work, then please say. However, if there is a slight thought in your mind that you could live with this, then please consider it. The only thing we would expect from you is your exclusivity within our group. That you would only be with one or all of us.”

Nico smiled over at Gino, desperately trying to convince him. It was then that Gino spoke.

“I can understand wanting exclusivity, and to be honest, there is no one else I want to be with. If I can’t be with you, then I would live the rest of my life lonely. I’m willing to give things a try, but you all need to tell me if this arrangement isn’t working. Especially you, Hudson. I never wanted to come between you and Nico, and I feel that I have today. I should have stopped things a lot sooner—”

Hudson immediately stopped him. “What’s done is done. I can’t blame either of you if you have had those feelings for so long. I’m not angry, as I said. Perhaps disappointed, if I’m honest, but that is between me and Nico, and we will sort that out between us. We have two days together to talk, but it doesn’t affect my friendship with you. And yes, I will tell you all if this isn’t working, and you should all do the same, but we can at least try.”

We had overcome the hurdle and all been honest about things. I was sure we would do a lot more talking over the coming weeks, but for now, Gino was part of our family, and I couldn’t have been happier.

Chapter Five

HUDSON

WE WERE IN DETROIT and had just finished our board meeting, which had gone well. Business was good, the board members were happy with their bonuses, and everyone agreed with the business plan for the next year. For me, this trip was what I needed. It wasn’t about being back in Detroit, but two nights with Nico.

We had spoken a lot over the past couple of days, but this would be the first time we had been alone together since Friday night. We had agreed that we would each spend a night with Gaby and then a night with the three of us before we went on this trip. The next two days were just about us.

We had both decided that, for now, we wouldn’t tell Trent or Kristen about Gino joining our relationship. We wanted to see how things went before we made it public knowledge. We were heading back to Trent’s place for dinner and then would go down to the guesthouse to spend the night and the following day together. Nico was going to help Kristen in the kitchen just in case Christian, their son, woke up and needed her.

As soon as we got to Trent’s, Nico headed into the kitchen and I went out back to meet Trent on the deck.

“Kristen thought you could use another beer.”

He took the beer from me, and I sat down in the chair next to him.

“So, how’s Gabriella? Have you heard any more from Vincent since we last spoke?”

I had kept Trent up to date with events in New York, so he knew everything that had happened. Even the situation with Viktor. I wanted him to know everything just in case he heard any rumors or Vincent approached him.

“Gabriella is doing fine now. She is a lot happier now that Viktor is also looking out for her. It has taken a huge worry off her shoulders. I know I’ve mentioned it so many times before, but thank you. If it hadn’t been for you, I would never have seen Gaby again. She is perfect for us, Trent. I’m not sure how we both managed to live without her.”

Trent just laughed at me before he replied. “I’ll remind you that you said that when she is eight months pregnant and calling the pair of you all the names under the sun for getting her ‘knocked up.’”

I knew he was only joking, although Kristen had been a bit of a bitch toward the end of her pregnancy and all of us had stayed out of the way if we could.

“You can remind me all you like. I will take whatever Gaby gives me, as long as I get a beautiful baby at the end of it.”

As if on cue, we could hear the cries of Christian in the background just as Nico came out, stopping Trent from going to check on his son.

“Don’t worry, Trent. Kristen has gone to check on Christian. She thinks he is probably just hungry and will go right back to sleep. Dinner is almost ready if you want to come in.”

We both followed Nico back into the kitchen. Although he had a huge dining room in the house, on evenings like this, we all preferred to sit in the kitchen to eat. Something about it made it seem less formal and more like a family meal.

“We really need to bring Gaby with us next time. She hasn’t seen Christian in so long, and he is growing up so fast.”

Nico and Trent looked at me, both with mischievous expressions on their faces. Of course, it was Trent who chose to comment on my statement.

“I think someone is trying to make Gabriella broody for a child so he can practice more.”

I couldn’t believe what he had just suggested, especially considering what he knew she had been through. I was about to chastise him for saying it when both he and Nico burst out laughing.

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