Page 124 of The Mountain Echoes

I straighten, but before I can walk away, Hudson grabs my arm. “Please…can we talk?”

I look pointedly at his fingers. He loosens his grip and then drops his hand away. “Talk,” I instruct.

He sighs, runs a hand through his over-gelled hair, and locks his eyes with mine. “This is long overdue.”

I give him a look that says, ‘Get on with it, this is borin’.’

“I’m sorry.”

“For?” I ask, though I can guess. And it’s not long overdue, it’s so past due that it’s unnecessary. Also, considering how he turned out, he did me a favor by getting my baby sister pregnant.

That thought doesn’t hurt like it used to. In fact, I feel nothing but pity for Hudson.

“For?” He gives me a puzzled look.

“Yeah, what are you apologizing for?”

He grimaces and then nods. “I don’t deserve your forgiveness. I know that. I’m not expecting it, either. I just want you to know that I regret what I did. Hated how I treated you. If I could go back….” He shakes his head. “But we can’t go back, just move forward. I was a stupid kid. She told me she was pregnant, and I panicked. I thought…maybe it was the right thing for me to do.”

I don’t bother to point out that she didn’t get pregnant all on her lonesome. He fucked her fair and square and that, too, without protection. So, his apology and explanation are both bull-fuckin’-shit.

“Is that it? ‘Cause I got a shit ton of work to do.”

“She wasn’t, Aria,” he continues as if I didn’t say anything. “She wasn’t pregnant. It was a lie.”

I never suspectedthat.Never. “Hudson, I?—"

“But we were already married, so…. We told Rami she had a miscarriage. Broke his heart.”

These two deserve each other, I think, as I feel nothing but relief. Celine was the dog who caught the car. She wanted my fiancé, and she got him and now…she can fucking keep him.

“I loved you, Aria.” He looks at me with his red-rimmed, alcohol-laden eyes. “Istilllove you.”

Unbidden, genuine laughter bursts out of me.

He looks stricken.

“Oh, come on, Hudson. You don’t get to rewrite history because your life turned out to be a mess.”

He flinches.

“Look. I don’t want your apology, sad and pathetic as it is. I don’t want your love or…whatever the hell you feel ‘cause I don’t think you know what love is. I don’t think you’re capable of it, and neither is Celine.”

His expression folds in on itself, quiet, raw. “I know what love is, Aria. You taught me that.”

“And in turn, you taught me what betrayal is.”

He smiles like it hurts. “I’ve paid…no, I’m still paying for that, Aria.”

“Are you?” I snap. “You live in a big fancy house. You throw around money you don’t earn on luxuries. Come on, Hudson, you’re livin’ the life.”

“You know that’s not true.”

His eyes are pleading for something…redemption? Like hell he’s going to get that from me.

“Hudson, I think you did me a favor,” I finally tell him. “I’m happier than I’ve ever been.”

“I’m glad you’re happy, Aria.”