Page 74 of Caged

It’s like my world tilts on its axis for a moment before righting itself again.

She’s it. She’s the center. She’s the sun.

My phone vibrates in my pocket, but I ignore it and wrap my arm around her, rubbing my thumb over the spot covering her tattoo. And an idea forms. Until my fucking phone vibrates again.

Maddie looks up at me when I pull it from my pocket, and I can’t help myself. I brush a quick kiss over her lips and step away to answer my agent.

“Hunter, man. What’s going on?” I ask, but a long moment passes without him saying anything. “Hunter?”

“Hudson, I got some bad news this morning.” Shit. My stomach drops. The last time he said that to me, someone had gotten pictures of me and a one-night stand from Vegas—probably from her fucking phone—that we had to buy back so they couldn't be sold to any of those shitty celebrity magazines.

“Whatever it is, Hunt, just deal with it if you can. I’m enjoying my win. I’m enjoying my family. I’m not ready to think about work.”

“Are you at the game, Hud?” he asks, and I realize what I hear in the background. Hunter was in town last night for the fight, but he represents a few of the guys on the Kings team. He’s probably in the owner’s box right now.

“Yeah, man. I’m here.” I look around the room at all the smiling faces—except Maddie’s, who’s watching me and has already tuned in to something being wrong.

There’s a knock at the door before security moves aside to let Hunter in.

Heads swing our way as my family realizes someone has just joined us. Hunter lifts his chin toward my family, and Cade and Scarlet immediately walk over to him, followed by Lenny. Her husband is one of Hunter’s clients.

“Hey, guys. Could you give Hudson and me a moment?” Hunter asks but then changes his mind. “Actually...” He turns back to me. “Up to you, man. Do you want them to stay?”

“What the fuck, Hunt? What’s going on?” I feel Maddie before she makes it to my side and links her fingers through mine.

“I just got a call from Mason McGuire’s agent.” Hunter’s tone drops low, and my stomach drops with it.

“Does he want a rematch already?” Jace asks.

“No,” Hunter answers carefully. “He’s dead.”

I take a step back. Floored. “What happened? He was fine after the fight last night.”

This can’t be right.

The noise in the suite comes to a standstill. Someone must have asked them to shut off the audio pumping in from the stadium. The only thing I hear is my heart racing.

“According to his agent, he wasn’t feeling right last night, and his wife made him go to the hospital sometime around midnight. But it was too late. They did a CT angiogram when he wasn’t improving after a few hours, but the damage had been done, and he bled out before they could get him into surgery.”

I fall into the seat behind me and drop Maddie’s hand.

“It wasn’t your fault, King. They called it a berry aneurysm. It was a defect in the lining of his blood vessels in his brain. He was a walking time bomb. It’s amazing he managed to fight this long.” Hunter might say something else, but the buzzing in my head drowns him out.

All I hear was that I killed Mason McGuire.

* * *

Maddie

Hudson’s family goes into crisis mode while he sits quietly, in shock.

If I had to guess, he’s completely numb.

They’re all talking over each other as Scarlet and Becket both try to take control.

I look between all of them and decide to go for Sawyer. “We need to get him out of here.”

Sawyer turns to me, quiet for a second before realization dawns. “You’re right. Can we take him to your house? Once the news gets hold of this, they’ll have his place and Crucible surrounded.”

---