Page 6 of Secret Hudson

She makes a face. “No way. You know how pissed he’ll be when he finds out I wandered out of the hotel without security...and then wound up being swarmed by the media?” Sheshakes her head and continues to mutter on her way to the sofa. “One minor attack on your life by a crazy person and no one ever lets you do anything without a bodyguard.”

I smirk, although, it's only partially funny. I get where Blaise is coming from. I don’t think I’d ever get over almost seeing the love of my life get killed right in front of my eyes either. Then, I remember she still has her phone out and I rush after her.

“If you’re not getting ahold of Blaise, what are you doing with your phone?” I’m on standby, preparing to wrestle it from her grubby little hands if need be.

“Prank calling whoever is first up in my call log. Let’s see. Oh, sweet. It’s Francis.” Her assistant.

“Don’t you think Francis is going to know it’s you before she even answers? Caller Id and all that?” Too much caffeine on an empty stomach is turning Ava into a five-year-old. And not one who's particularly technically inclined.

She's busy giggling to herself and it takes me a second longer than it should have to realize why. She has Hudson’s home phone laying in her lap. No idea when she swiped it, but she's already done dialing and holding his phone up to her ear.

“Hello, is this that Francis biotch that’s been banging my husband?” she says in what is undoubtedly the worst Jersey accent in the history of accents. “What? How did you know it was me? Whatever. You suck. Yes, I had coffee on an empty stomach. What does that matter? Hello? Hello?” She looks up at me. “Francis hung up on me.”

I reach down and take the phone before she has a chance to dial anyone else. “Yeah, no fucking kidding.”

Then the door opens, and Hudson is back. “You guys aren’t making long distance calls, are you? Starving artist here and I can’t afford that shit.” He grins

“Hey, starving artist,” Ava climbs over the back of the couch to stand next to me. If I didn’t know any better, I would swear she's shitfaced. “Any chance you have a car?”

He nods. “I do. But I doubt it’s up to your standards.”

“Ava doesn’t have any of those.”

She shoots me a dirty look, then sort of shrugs like she knows I'm right. After, she directs her attention back onto Hudson. “So, I was thinking, and you can totally say no, but, what if Royce and I borrowed your car and took it back to our hotel, since I’m guessing you can’t just abandon your shop...and then, whenever you get off, I could send a car for you and you could come and meet up with us wherever we’re at. I’d love to look at more of your work and talk about having you take some shots of the band. Actually, we have a show tonight. Maybe you could stay for that and I could see you in action. I’d pay you, obviously. For that, and the use of your car. And gas. And I’d feed you,” she rambles, and I can’t tell anymore if it’s from being high or fearing a rejection from Hudson because she knows if she blows it, I’ll never forgive her.

When he doesn’t say anything in response, and actually turns away, I have to throw my hand up over her mouth to keep her from digging herself...and me...in deeper.

As luck would have it, he comes back around to face us while I'm still smothering her.

Holding out his keys and cocking one brow, he says, “You guys have a weird relationship. You know that, right?”

We nod. “We do.” Isn’t ‘til I hear Ava’s muffled response ring out at the same time as mine that I remember to drop my hand from her mouth.

“Thanks. This is huge, you have no idea.” Ava clutches the car keys to her chest, extensively exaggerating her level of gratitude.

“Sure. Although I don’t really get why you would rather take my shitty old Ford over having one of your limos come and pick you up.” He doesn’t seem like he minds. Just like he’s curious. And who wouldn’t be?

“Her boyfriend doesn’t know that she wandered off yet, so she can’t call him for help. By the way, Ava, where does he think you’ve been all morning?”

She smiles. “With you.”

Fucking awesome. “He knows that you came to see me, but not that you did so on your way out?”

“Mm-hm.”

“So, when we get back and he finds out you were gone this whole time –“

“I’m going to act wide-eyed and innocent and tell him you required coffee and, as your manager, aka personal slave, I had no choice but to venture out and find you some even if it meant I had to risk being attacked by crazy people.” She's doing the wide-eyed thing already. Except she never looks fucking innocent. And even Blaise, safe in the buffer of his love bubble, can see that.

“Well, thanks for that, friend. Just so you know, I’m going to start hanging out with Derek more. I’ll get into a lot less trouble that way.”

She nods toward Hudson who's silently watching us as if we're an improv duo putting on a routine for him. “You’ll also meet a lot less sexy baristas that way.”

Point taken. Even if it does make Hudson and I both avert our eyes and clear our throats uncomfortably.

“Anyway, you’ve got my keys. I better get back down to the store.” He points at the stairs in case we forgot where it was.

“Wait, I need your number, so I can set everything up for this evening.” Ava pulls her phone from her pocket, finger hovering over the screen waiting for him to rattle it off.

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