Page 38 of Coming Home

I scan the text message she just sent. “Ally!”

She leans over my shoulder. “What? It’s a candid picture. You guys are talking to each other.”

It’s honestly not a bad picture, but why would I send Huddy a picture of me talking to some strange man? Geez.

Lilian leans in and looks at the picture. “Oh.” She looks surprised for just a minute and then smiles. “Yep, that will do.”

I look between her and Ally. “What will do? What are you talking about?”

Ally just laughs. “Look, he either needs to fish or cut bait.”

My eyes widen. What does that even mean? Lilian has filled Ally in on my Huddy drama, and obviously she has thoughts on it. She leans toward me. “Look, if he’s not here in say, uh, twenty minutes, then we’re finding you a new man.” She starts muttering something, and all I can make out is “these damn Blaze brothers.”

“He’s not going to come here.”

No sooner are the words out of my mouth than Lilian nudges me. “Oh, you don’t think so? Look who just walked in. Shit, he must have been on his way already because that’s a record.”

Ally smirks and takes a drink of her wine. “Or he was sitting outside stalking her.”

I see Hudson walk in, and his eyes find me immediately. The whole way, he’s watching me until I’m squirming in my seat.

He stops next to me and looks at Lilian. “Hey, sis.” And then at Ally. “Hey there, Ally.”

The women both nod and look at him with smirks on their faces.

He sits heavily next to me. “Hey, Ellie.”

His eyes are burning into me, and I turn to look at him. “Hey, Huddy.”

He leans closer. The gold specks are gone, and his hazel eyes are a deep brown. His jaw is pulled tight, and I swear I’m not sure what the look is he’s giving me, but it feels at least ten degrees hotter since he sat down. “You look beautiful.”

“Thank you,” I tell him, my voice sounding way huskier than it should be. I pick up my glass of water and take a sip.

Austin and Ally walk away from the table, leaving Huddy, Lilian, and me.

Lilian makes a big to-do of stretching her arms and fake yawning. She’s not fooling anyone. “Well, I’m going to head home. Elle, you want me to take you to your car?”

I get up. “Sure, that would be great.”

Huddy stands up too. “I’ll take her.”

I shake my head. “No, you just got here. Stay.”

He grunts and puts his hand on my lower back. “I came for you. I’ll take you home.”

I swallow, and when I look at Lilian, she’s smiling ear to ear. “Uh, right, so I’m going to get home to Ford and Ollie.”

“We’ll walk you out,” Huddy tells her.

“No, you guys stay—”

Huddy cuts her off. “Do you know my brother? He’d rip me a new one if he knew I didn’t walk you to your car. Do you want to stay here or are you ready to go home?”

I clear my throat, unsettled by the way he sayshome. “I’m ready to go home.”

We say our goodbyes to Ally and Austin and make our way outside. After Lilian is in her car, Hudson helps me into his truck and then gets into his side.

“Uh, my car is parked at Blaze.”

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