Page 36 of Crash and Burn

“Dinner was amazing. You hug pretty nice, too. See you tomorrow.”

I wrote back,“Your hugs are so good. Glad you liked dinner. You’re in for a treat shopping with ME tomorrow.”

“Did I say tomorrow?”

“Ha! No backing out. See you tomorrow, Hudson.”

“Night.”

I plugged my phone into the charger on my nightstand and rolled the covers up over me, resting my head on my pillow. I was emotionally exhausted. My weary eyes caught a small glimpse of the moon before I closed them and drifted to sleep with a smile.

Chapter 12

Hudson

“Dev, it’s fucking huge. I don’t think it’ll fit.”

“That’s what she said.” Dev laughed at herself hysterically.

“Wow.”

“Hudson, this is the tree. It’s so fat!”

She shrugged. “Look, I think it’ll be fine. You have to trim the bottom and we’ll have to trim the top a smidge. It’ll fit.”

I looked at her and rolled my eyes. “Fine. Let’s go.”

She jumped up and down, squealing with excitement. I lived for those moments. It didn’t take much to make Devina happy. She wrapped her arms around my neck and leaned in for a kiss. Before our lips could meet, she pulled back, smiled at me, and walked away. I tried to catch up to her, but I couldn’t.

“Dev, wait!” I lost sight of her. What the hell? “Dev!”

My eyes flew open, and I popped up in bed.Shit.I raked my hand down my face.Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to do this tree thing with Amelia,I thought.Was my dream telling me it’s a bad idea, or a good idea? And why couldn’t I reach Dev?These dreams were killing me. Devina was always just out of reach. I looked at my phone…8:45 am.Not bad.My phone rang and it was Carter.

“Hey buddy.”

“Well, hey there sunshine.”

“What do you want?” He’s always so fucking cheery. Always.

“What do you got goin’ on today? Lex wanted to take the girls Christmas shopping.”

“Aren’t Christmas gifts supposed to be a surprise?”

“Nah, man. I mean decorations and all that shit. Anyway, she wanted to know if you wanted to come?”

“Women and doing Christmas shit before Thanksgiving. Can we eat the Turkey first?”

“Women?”

“I’m taking Amelia to get a tree for my house and hers.”

Carter chuckled but didn’t say anything.

“What? Don’t start.”

“Hey, nothing. Sounds like a lot of fun. Glad you two are ‘friends’.”

“Spit it out. I didn’t miss that ‘friend’s’ bit. What, Carter?”

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