Page 5 of Accidental Abduction

Twenty minutes later, I stowed my bike in the garage and traded it out for my car after a quick shower. I took the short drive into town to Viv’s condo where she met me at the door. Her hair was thrown up into a carefully sculpted messy bun and she had on a pair of designer sweats. This was about as casual as she’d get, and for once I wished she’d just relax and be herself. Twenty-four-year-old Viv hadn’t been afraid to wander around her place with her hair down in chaotic blonde waves and one of my old shirts. I hadn’t seen that Viv in a long time.

When I looked at her now, I often wondered if I’d hallucinated the girl I’d met.

“Finally,” she sighed, pulling the door open wider and gesturing me into her pristine looking place. “We need to talk, Hudson.”

Hudson

“Sorry I kept youwaiting for so long. Shipment was bigger this week with the party, and it took a little longer to get everything put away than I’d expected,” I apologized, leaning down to kiss her cheek. She scoffed and leaned away, my lips brushing the air as I walked past her. She slammed the front door harder than seemed necessary and followed me into the living room.

“Wouldn’t have had to wait if you’d come over here last night like I’d asked you to.”

Shit.Seemed like Viv was in a mood. Not that it absolved me of what she’d said. I had been prioritizing the bar over her for months. Typically, I’d push back and remind her I had tasks I couldn’t drop whenever she wanted me to.

“You wanted to talk about the party?” Changing the subject and avoiding a fight seemed like a better option.

She crossed the apartment, roughly pulling a garment bag from the coat closet. “I picked the costumes up yesterday.”

She flung it over the back of the couch, and I watched as she unzipped the bag, wincing when I saw the purple leather jacket inside.

“What?” she huffed, pulling the hangers out and draping them across the back of the couch. “Do you have a problem with what I picked out? You’re obsessed with that comic book girl. I thought you’d like this one. And we both know how good I look in tiny shorts and fishnets.”

“I’m not going shirtless.” She clearly picked out the Jared Leto era ‘Joker’ costume, but I’d rather wear a purple suit over being shirtless in an ugly purple crocodile skin jacket.

Part of me was stoked she’d be dressed up like a scantily clad comic book villainess, but I wasn’t sold on the couples costumes.

“You’re so vanilla sometimes. What’s the point of having all the ink if you’re going to cover it up?”

“I own the bar, Viv. Coming in shirtless, covered in face paint, and wearing a tacky purple trench coat isn’t my idea of fun.”

“Nothing is your idea of fun lately. You used to be more exciting. We used to have fun together.”

“We still have fun.” When I had weekends off, she dragged me all over the place to things I had no interest in. Unless it came to my hours at the bar, I let her do whatever she wanted when we were together. I just enjoyed spending time with her. At least I used to. “I worked a shit ton of extra hours lately so we could go to the party instead of me working it. I don’t know what else you want from me.”

“I want you to be spontaneous again. You used to be edgy and adventurous. Now you just obsess over the bar and hang out with Reid playing video games when I’m busy. When was the last time you did something that gave you a rush?”

“We… I…” Stunned, I sat down on her couch, resting my elbows on my knees as I tried to absorb her words. Maybe I had gotten too used to my routine to deviate from it. “What kind of spontaneous things do you have in mind?”

“It’s not spontaneous if I have to tell you something. God, I wished you’d just figure it out by now. I’m so tired of my girlfriends bragging about their sex lives and me being like ‘yeah, Hudson came over after his shift and fucked me missionary in my bed before he passed out.’Do you want to know some of the stories I hear from them? I feel like I settled for a dud that looked like a bad boy.”

“Viv, what the fuck? That was a cheap shot. You know I can’t...”

“Yeah, that’s the problem. All I hear is ‘I can’t’.Youcouldif you gave a shit.“ She crossed her arms over her chest, staring daggers at me across the space that divided us.

“What do you want?” Her girlfriends looked like little clones of each other, so I wasn’t sure what kind of dirty shenanigans they were getting up to. They seemed like the type to be afraid of breaking a nail rather than engaging in adventurous sex.

“Beth and Travis went camping last month, and he fucked her up against a tree. She had bark burn for a week. You don’t even want to leave the bedroom, Hudson. I feel like I’m never gonna get what they have. Marcy said Mason chased her through the woods behind their house with a mask, then carried her back to his car and they fucked in the driveway. When the fuck am I gonna get something like that?”

Having met those people, that was a bit of a surprise, but maybe she was right. We were still young, and we didn’t have any kids. Maybe we needed to spice things up a bit. Something needed to change because it seemed neither of us were happy. “Where did your friends even come up with that stuff?”

“If you were around more, you’d know we have a spicy book club. They’ve all convinced their guys to try out scenes from the books, but you won’t even let me fuck you in your office.”

“You were trying to get me to leave the bar unmanned on a Saturday during a rush. Do you have any idea what kind of chaos would happen if I left during that?” It was bad enough that she guilt tripped me because of my work hours, but when she tried to manipulate me into sex when I was on shift, I’d been pissed.

“Get someone else to watch the bar for once. God, Hudson, I want to feel like I’m more than some toy you just play with when you have time.”

“What do you want me to do? What’s something you want to try from one of your books?” If it wasn’t too off the wall, I’d try it out. Maybe we needed to find the spark again. I hadn’t realized she was so unhappy with howthings were between us.

“You know those white ghost masks from those movies that came out in the late 90s?” I knew what she was talking about. We’d watched the first movie together once, but she hadn’t really seemed into it. “I wouldn’t be opposed to you chasing me or pretending to kidnap me wearing one of those.”

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